Men struggle with body image too

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By Tommy Hatto

I used to be totally different person... *Trigger Warning*

You wouldn’t look at me today and think I had spent many years struggling with my weight, or with my appearance, or with a lack of control over my life.

You wouldn’t realise the number of times I’ve been in and out of the GP’s office, the hospital because my body was self-harming from the inside out.

The purging, lack of sleep, obsession with the gym, restriction of calories, isolation. As a teenager, I lost out on a lot of ‘normal’ teenage experiences.

But moreover, the embarrassment and shame I felt that as a man - I was going through this. Believing this was something only females went through, the loneliness I felt by having nobody to talk to.

But I’ve erased the shame I feel by talking openly about my own experiences, to provide safe environments for other men to share theirs too.

And so many bravely have.

A reminder to understand that eating disorders show no gender bias. They don’t discriminate and they can manifest themselves in many different ways (like being obsessed with ‘gains’ and gym culture).

Check in with anyone you feel might be going through some tough times.
Nobody should go through an eating disorder alone.