What does someone with an eating disorder look like to you? For many, it's a skeleton-esque teenage girl; after all, eating disorders don't happen to men, right?  This couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s time for us to rethink how we treat eating disorders.

I started my journey with weight loss in September of 2021. My jeans had long since been getting progressively tighter, my belt was no longer comfortable to wear, and the number on the scale kept growing. I asked myself: “What can I do better?” Well, Google, as always, had the solution. I was bombarded with information about trendy fad diets that promised rapid and permanent weight loss; needless to say I was intrigued. After an hour of scrolling through the boundless depths of diet-related articles, I decided I would follow the keto diet. 

My parents were predictably disapproving of my decision after I had asked them if we could eat lower carb foods for dinner. They said I didn’t need to diet, and that I was in the average weight percentile for a male my height. I saw differently, I saw a fat, disgusting person, and I wanted to change that. 

I started to skip meals with the excuse I was full. I started to purge virtually all salt from my diet. I started to purge most carbs from my diet. I started eating 1000 calories or less daily. Guess what? I lost weight, 25 pounds to be exact, but I didn’t quite yet feel comfortable in my skin. Something was wrong.

Perpetual headaches, hair loss, and a complete loss of energy were the cost of achieving the new me. After a trip to the doctor confirmed to my parents that I had lost a sixth of my body weight while also gaining three inches in height, we agreed, after much denial and argument, to meet a dietitian. 

Today, with the help of my dietitian, I am learning that it’s okay to eat. My family and I have worked together to carefully increase my caloric intake along with getting a healthy balance of food. Many of my worst symptoms are subsiding, and I am on track to becoming healthy again. However, how did I, a male whom at a first glance one would assume is healthy, suffer from what is almost entirely associated with teenage girls?  

Eating disorders are not relegated to only half of the population. According to Healthline, “Behaviors often associated with eating disorders, such as binge eating, purging, and fasting for weight loss, are nearly as common among men as they are among women.” However, despite the rates of behaviors associated with eating disorders being nearly equal, men comprise only 33% of diagnosed eating disorders (National Eating Disorder Collaboration). 

There is a heavy social stigma against men suffering from eating disorders. Many are told that they just need to “suck it up” and eat more instead of getting professional help. Many develop and later justify their eating disorders due to the sports they play. Many more are in denial that they have a problem at all. 

This stigma is causing millions of males such as myself to suffer from undiagnosed or untreated eating disorders. If we want to further protect and improve the lives of our youth, if we want to further the health of our nation’s boys and men, then it is time to overcome this stigma, it is time to accept that eating disorders are suffered by both men and women alike. Only then will we be able to provide the help necessary for all who fall victim to an eating disorder.