Hi everyone, not sure if this is a little out they’re to post on this board but I am curious?

In the past I have suffered from a slight eating disorder, I will tell you the story and maybe some of you guy's can tell me yours if you have any?

When I got to my lowest weight I was obsessed with dieting and working out, I was in the wrong frame of mind to tell you the truth, I didn't look at what I had done and the fact I had lost 6 and a half stone, I still saw the overweight person when I looked in the mirror!

One day I was out with my friends and had a moment of weakness and ate a KFC meal! I then went home and got very depressed and made myself sick, I then continued to do this for months, until my fiancée found out, she was great really supportive and together I beat it. I won't lie to you and sometimes I think about what I did and for a second I consider it! But that’s as long as it lasts... I know feel better and have left those dark day's behind me!

I have a real problem with telling people this as I am embarrassed and in today's world you never hear of men with eating disorders. My friends don't know this and most of my family don't know this either, but I do need to talk about it as sometimes the clouds feel like they are going to return.

I haven't posted this out of self pity and if you have an issue with it please just move on to the next post. I am telling my deepest thoughts here and I don't want anyone to mock that.

Thanks guys, you are all great.

Bravo, Sam. You're a strong guy to let the cat outta the bag like this here.

While it's true that more females have this problem than males, the statistics, IMO are not terribley accurate, in that males are probably much less likely to let anyone know about it then females.

Plus, these days, with all those crazy sites dedicated to basically glorifying eating distorders, (driven mainly by females, I've read), it's only getting harder and harder for the light to shine through to most people dealing with it.

For EG, years back, I used to know two college girls who were roomates who both were bullemic, (lemme check that spelling), bulimic, and together, they of course, facilitated each other further into lowered health.

I congradulate you on taking control of it, and if talking about it here helps you continue controlling it, then post on.

Good on your girlfriend for being there for you too.

Enjoy the hopefully sunny in the UK weekend, it's AWESOME over here 'cross the pond.

I used to starve myself because it was an "easy way out." I literally starved myself for days, and had nothing but water. I did lose weight, but the whole day I felt like crap, and really tired, and when I did eat after starving I threw up (I don't know why). I discovered the world of exercise and saw that that is really the "easy - and fun way out."

I'm so happy to read what you've wrote! So many people think that eating disorders is only a female thing, but they are on the rise with men (esp. young men involved in sports). Bravo for sharing.

I'm really glad i found this thread because recently i have been having problems myself.

Basically i will allow myself only to eat dinner every day and only one apple otherwise. It takes all my concentration to not eat during the day and i feel like shite when it gets to the end of the week and i have only had 5 proper meals.

I have been doing this for months now minus one month when i went on expedition doing lots of physical work and where i only ate rice and beans for a whole month.

During that month i lost 1 and a half stone and felt amazing but got back home and put a lot back on again just eating normally, which lowered my morale massively, leading me into starvation and bingeing.

When i binge, unlike a lot of people, i can't seem to make myself sick. I have tried and tried but it doesn't work, so i did laxatives instead and after that i thought "what am i doing?" and it knocked me to my senses a bit.

I really do still want to lose weight but i am trying to seek some help for my mental state when it comes to bingeing and also how to get fitter.

Please help, because i'm worried that my bingeing will take over and because im not chucking it all back up i am putting on weight very quickly.

thanks

Starving yourself makes you retain your bodyfat, and insteads burns muscle. That's why when you see starving Africans, they look like skin and bone, because they have no muscle or fat. When you see yourself drop weight because you're starving or really cutting back calories, it's muscle mass that you want to keep, not fat.

Yeah, thats the last thing i want to do too because I am a swimmer and need my muscle. The thing i'm having trouble with now is the whole binge factor - its sllowly consuming me and when i get the urge i feel totally and utterly helpless and just go with it.

Hi Sam,
First, thank you for your honesty. Second, there is a traineo community for eating disorders in case anyone is interested. Third, eating disorders definitely do exist among men, but they arent as prevalent. I know of an anorectic male. Usually men dont go for help as often as women do. On that note, the best way to get better is to get treated with professional helped-usually a combination of psychologist/psychiatrist and nutriontionist and maybe medications. I would first see your internist and discuss with him/her. I know it may be embarrassing to discuss but this is your health and if you cant discuss it with a professional then you need to find a different professional who understands. there are plenty out there so keep trying until you find the right one. also, a really good website is:
www.something-fishy.org

Helen, you need to eat quality foods consistently to control the urge to binge. Sounds like you are letting yourself get too hungry too often and your body needs fuel. This is likely messing up your metabolism. Think "health, strength, fitness".

Why is it easy for me to say this, but so hard to actually follow this? I've had a ton of friends tell me I've gotten too thin. I've kept up my intense exercise, reached my goal weight, and haven't added any calories. When I think about it, I realize I should. I'm just in the habit of bringing a travel mug of tea and a granola bar, when I'm at work or school from about 3-11pm. I'm tired and it's easy not to eat when I get home. I hate to even admit all this, but if I can't be honest in anonymous cyberspace, am I helping myself? No.

I can relate, I never had any physical problems such as binging but when I was in college I did the opposite of the freshman 15 and got down to about 160 pounds after weighing about 230 at the beginning of my senior year in highschool. Even at 160 pounds I still thought I looked fat. Luckily I found beer about that time and liked beer more than being skinny.

I don't mean to marginalize the topic but that's basically what happened.

Im so glad you have been able to beat your disease.

you dont need to tell anyone what has happened to you but dont feel embarrassed. today my boyfriend was telling me how he used to starve himself for wrestling and he told me about how many of his friends who are boys do it and some of them cant stop. I feel so bad for those boys.

it is just as easy for guys to be anorexic or bulimic as girls