You’re tired of your struggle with food and body image, and you feel like there’s no resolution. No one is talking about what it means to be a man and struggle with food and eating. You’re concerned about how much you think about food, your eating patterns of binge eating, your relationship with exercise and your body. You’re worried that you’ll be misunderstood and not taken seriously if you seek help, but you would love to feel different than you do now.
The pressures from media and culture to “look the part” have wreaked havoc on your life, severely impacting your relationship with your body and food.You’ve spent so much time and energy worrying about your weight and body size and maintaining a certain body physique, and you feel defeated and drained.
For you, it might be gym culture that has left you feeling mentally and physically exhausted. All the bulking and cutting, countless hours in the gym, and obsession with “optimizing your health” has taken a serious toll on your body. You feel fatigued and question how much longer you can maintain this strict regimen in the pursuit of “masculinity”. You’re wondering how everyone around you is able to withstand the mental and physical tolls of “being a man”.
Or instead for you, maybe you’ve never felt like you “fit the part” when it comes to expectations around your body as a man. Maybe you’ve never had the body shape and size that you've been told you “should” have and this has severely impacted your self-esteem and confidence. This may have led to incidents of dieting, trying to cut out foods, binge eating and emotional eating.
You feel odd and confused for struggling with something that is stereotypically associated with women, and you’re worried that you won’t be taken seriously by friends and family.You fear judgment from others. And if you do seek treatment, you may be concerned that you won’t be able to connect with a woman dietitian. The good news is: we are here to help you.
Our Seattle dietitians are here to help you recover from disordered eating and male eating issues.
At Bravespace Nutrition, our dietitians can relate to your experience with struggles with food as a man whether that’s from disordered eating or an eating disorder. We know how isolating this can feel, and we are here to ensure you receive the support you deserve and we want you to feel validated in your experience as a male with struggles with food and eating. You may be experiencing binge eating, emotional eating, overeating, and just generally feel out of control at times with food. This is ok and welcome here.
Our trained eating disorder specialists are equipped with the tools necessary to help you repair your relationship with food and your body and challenge the harmful messages you’ve received from diet and wellness culture. Our dietitians at Bravespace Nutrition use a client-centered and holistic therapeutic approach to help you heal, regardless of your gender, age, ethnicity, etc.
If you don’t have an official eating disorder diagnosis or if you’re unsure if you have disordered eating behaviors, we’re here to help you address your food and body-related concerns. You can’t do this alone, and you don’t have to!
How do you know if you have an eating disorder or disordered eating as a man?
There are different kinds of eating disorders, including: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, pica, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED), rumination disorder, etc.
While each eating disorder has different diagnostic criteria, there are some common signs and symptoms of eating disorders in men:
Withdrawal from social activities and social isolation
Restriction of certain foods or entire food groups
Preoccupation with weight, body size, or appearance
Intense obsession with maintaining a particular body composition
Frequent dieting or participation in dieting programs (such as intermittent fasting, keto, etc.)
Excessive exercising or exercising despite the presence of injury or illness
Frequent body checking to assess appearance
Obsession with maintaining a particular body-mass-index (BMI)
Going to the bathroom during or right after meals
Frequent commentary on appearance or weight
Feelings of shame, embarrassment, or guilt about food or body image
Strict food regimens, such as weighing out food, meal-prepping, counting macros, etc.
Although there is a difference between an eating disorder and disordered eating, both are equally deserving of attention and treatment. While an eating disorder is a diagnosable psychiatric condition, disordered eating is a way to describe particular eating behaviors. Disordered eating can eventually lead to the development of an eating disorder. If you are concerned that you may be struggling with disordered eating or an eating disorder, we encourage you to seek help, even if you think it’s “not that bad”.
What causes eating disorders in men?
It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of an eating disorder, and in most cases, it’s not one singular cause but rather a multitude of psychological, social, and biological influences that result in the development of an eating disorder. Additionally, each eating disorder is different and will have different causes from person-to-person.
Some risk factors for eating disorders in men include:
A family history of eating disorders - If someone in your family or someone you know has struggled with an eating disorder, you are at an increased risk for developing an eating disorder yourself. The psychological, genetic and environmental influences of family could alter your self-perception and body image, affect your own personal relationship with food, or create emotional distress that leads you to use your eating disorder as a coping mechanism.
Coexisting conditions - Research shows that eating disorders often coexist with other mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), etc. If you’ve been diagnosed with one of the previously mentioned conditions, you are at an increased risk for developing an eating disorder.
Financial struggles - Some eating disorders arise while trying to cope with the financial burdens of needing to pay for food and groceries. Some individuals, especially during the ages of 18-25, struggle to find ways to pay for food and groceries. As a result, you may reduce portion sizes, eat less often, or avoid eating all together in order to reduce the financial strains associated with paying for food.
Societal pressures to “look like a man” - Just as diet culture teaches women that there is a “right way to look”, men also experience this same pressure to look a certain way. Wellness and fitness influencers are glorified for their “alpha-male” physiques (achieved by overexercising and starvation) and abnormal food rituals (like weighing out food to the gram) in the name of “control and will power”, despite exhibiting signs and symptoms of eating disorders and disordered eating.
Exposure to the toxic-nature of gym culture - Many men who struggle with an eating disorder or disordered eating have fallen victim to the toxicity of modern gym culture. Fad diets, like the keto diet and intermittent fasting, are encouraged in the name of “optimal health”. In fact, modern gym culture normalizes disordered eating by encouraging trends like cutting and bulking, perfect consumption of specific macronutrient portions, and intense fixations on body appearance and body composition. Such strict food rituals and preoccupations with physical appearance lead to the development of eating disorders.
How is your body image as a man affected by diet culture?
Eating disorders don’t discriminate by gender, and anyone of any gender can experience an eating disorder or disordered eating. While girls and women are taught by diet culture to value the pursuit of thinness above all else, the expectations for boys and men are different and our nutrition counselors understand this. Men’s body image issues are very real and serious, and tend to impact your confidence, emotional health and wellbeing. Diet culture teaches men to pursue a muscular, yet lean, body type: six pack abs, v-line, large biceps and quads, etc. These expectations weigh heavy on you.
Fitness influencers (who are oftentimes using steroids or medications to achieve these body standards) are glorified for their dedication and self-discipline, and they make you feel like a failure if you are unable to achieve these same standards. This has caused you to enter an unhealthy cycle of self-criticization and blame, and turns you towards disordered eating in an attempt to self-soothe and to try to achieve these unrealistic body standards.
Many men also develop muscle dysmorphia, a form of body dysmorphic disorder, which is defined as:
A preoccupation with worry that one’s body isn’t “strong enough”, “big enough”, or “muscular enough”
Engaging in repeated behaviors, mentally and emotionally, in response to perceived physical flaws (such as body checking, flexing in mirrors, dieting, etc.)
Some signs of muscle dysmorphia include:
Tracking and/or counting calories
Excessively exercising
Excessively body-checking or checking one’s appearance in reflective surfaces
Use of steroids or performance enhancing drugs to alter appearance
Strict adherence to a diet or “perfect formula” of macronutrient portions
Avoiding social interactions involving food
Avoiding social situations requiring minimal clothing (such as the beach, pool, etc.)
Eating multiple meals a day, despite not being hungry
Muscle dysmorphia, along with other body dysmorphic disorders, can cause you to develop disordered eating behaviors or an eating disorder as an attempt to control your physical appearance and cope with your distorted body image.
Why are men underdiagnosed, undertreated and underrepresented in the diagnosis of eating disorders and body image struggles?
Women are 5x more likely to be diagnosed with an eating disorder than males. - but why?
Men are often reluctant to share symptoms with their healthcare provider - Males are taught to conceal emotions and bear the weight of their mental and physical issues proudly without help. Many males don’t want to discuss mental health symptoms with their healthcare provider out of fear of judgment or a misunderstanding that doctors can’t help with struggles with food and body image. As a result, they don’t receive a diagnosis or help for their eating disorder.
Attribution of symptoms to other conditions - Many doctors misdiagnose male patients as having other issues, such as constipation or hormone conditions, and don’t think of eating disorders as the diagnosis and cause. Gender stigma in eating disorders has taught healthcare providers to only consider eating disorder diagnoses in thin (often young) females, and generally not in males. If an individual does not receive a diagnosis or receives a misdiagnosis, they are less likely to get treatment.
Lack of research on males and eating disorders - Gender bias extends into research of eating disorder pathology and treatment. Males are not represented in the research, and as a result, they are less likely to be diagnosed and treated for their eating disorders.
Mental health stigmas associated with gender - Cultural stigmas teach you that “women are emotional and men are not” by using phrases like “be a man” to invalidate males and their emotional experiences. This can cause males to feel like they shouldn’t seek help for their mental health struggles, and that they should hide their challenges with food or the eating disorder.
Issues in screening for eating disorders and disordered eating - Most eating disorder screening tools use the pursuit of thinness to indicate an eating disorder, when in reality, eating disorder screenings need to extend beyond the pursuit of thinness to include a male’s experience of muscle dysmorphia and other forms of body dysmorphic disorder.
Even if there is an eating disorder diagnosis, men are not seeking help early as much as women despite the high occurrence of male eating disorders. Part of this is because many residential eating disorder treatment centers are female-only, and the majority of eating disorder specialists are female. Some men express avoiding getting eating disorder support for fear that no one will understand their experience.
It can feel scary to take the first step to get help with the eating disorder or food and body image struggles. Our eating disorder counselors know this and want you to know that no matter how “ok” you think things may be, you deserve help.
What if I'm a gay or bi-sexual man who is looking for body image and eating disorder support?
LQBTQIA+ folks experience specific stressors that make you more vulnerable to develment of poor body image, disordered eating or eating disorders. This includes bullying, fear of rejection or loss of family, experiences of violence and/or PTSD, discrimination, in ability to meet body image “ideals” and stigma. While research remains limited on the LGBTQIA+ community, the existing research for men with disordered eating and eating disorders according to the National Eating Disorders Association shows:
Gay and bisexual boys reported being significantly more likely to have fasted, vomited, or taken laxatives or diet pills to control their weight in the last 30 days.
Gay men are thought to only represent 5% of the total male population but among males who have eating disorders, 42% identify as gay.
Gay men were seven times more likely to report binging and 12 times more likely to report purging than heterosexual males.
Compared with heterosexual men, gay and bisexual men had a significantly higher prevalence of bulimia, subclinical bulimia, and any subclinical eating disorder.
Elevated rates of binge-eating and purging by vomiting or laxative abuse was found for people who identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or “mostly heterosexual” in comparison to their heterosexual peers.
You deserve the help and support as a gay or bi-sexual man, and our Seattle-based eating disorder dietitians want to support you in a recovery space that includes all of you. We seek to understand the unique challenges that you have faced that has lead to a dysfunctional relationship to food and your body. We understand that you too have been impacted by impossible beauty and body standards, and may have experienced some really difficult things in your life. You deserve to live a life that is free of body hatred and less consumed with thinking about food.
At Bravespace Nutrition, eating disorder treatment for men in Seattle, WA looks like this:
Meeting with you weekly to monitor, evaluate, and support your progress in healing your relationship with your body and food.
Encouraging you to become curious about your relationship to food and your body-where things started, how you got to where you are, and more.
Developing healthy coping mechanisms to support you during your eating disorder recovery.
Leaning how to stop using disordered eating behviors such as binge eating, purging, overexercising and dieting.
Improving your relationship with food and decreasing the occurrence of eating disorder and disordered eating behaviors.
Ensuring you feel safe, validated, and supported in your eating disorder recovery journey.
Challenging food rules, myths or beliefs when appropriate.
Challenging internalized beliefs and distorted perceptions of self from cultural standards and expectations.
Unlearning diet and wellness culture’s toxic messages about weight, food, and body appearance
What’s holding you back from seeking counseling for men struggling with food and body image in Seattle, WA?
“I’m worried that my dietitian won’t understand me because of my unique struggles with food and my body as a man.”
We understand it can be challenging to seek help because there aren’t as many men as there are women in the eating disorder treatment field. At Bravespace Nutrition, our client-centered therapeutic styles ensure that you will feel understood, heard, and valued in your recovery journey. Our eating disorder specialists are trained to help you mend your relationship with food and body image, and center your lived experience as a man in this world.
“I thought eating disorders were only for women and girls.”
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Diet culture has created a false narrative that tells you that only white young women struggle with eating disorders and this is not true. The reality is, anyone of any race, gender, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status can suffer from an eating disorder.
“I don’t want to be perceived as ‘weak’ or ‘cowardly’ for receiving help for my eating disorder.”
We understand how difficult it is to seek help for your eating disorder. Men are taught by society to hide their emotions, put on a brave face, and push through. Society doesn’t tell you that there is great strength in addressing mental health struggles and unlearning diet culture. You deserve to have a calm space to express your emotions and mental health struggles without being questioned, dismissed or denied. At Bravespace Nutrition, our dietitians are here to support you, validate you, to help you learn, and to work through the emotional challenges of disordered eating and eating disorder recovery.
“I don’t think I have a problem. I am just really disciplined when it comes to eating and exercising.”
As eating disorder specialists, we hear this statement often and this largely due to the normalization of disordered eating behaviors for men in our culture as well as society ignoring disordered eating in men. If you are reading this, deep down you know that things are off and we want to encourage you to trust that feeling. If there is a lot of your time and headspace being taken up by eating and/or exercise, you deserve help and support. We as dietitians believe that male mental health matters. So, even if you believe things might be ok, they may not be. And, if you’re looking for help for men with eating issues in Seattle, our dietitians are the support you’ve been looking for.
“I’m worried I won’t be taken seriously by friends and family.”
If you are pushing off seeking help for your eating disorder because you fear judgment from friends, family, or loved ones, we want to emphasize that you are valid in your struggle with food, exercise, and body image regardless of what anyone says. It can be challenging to face scrutiny from those around you during treatment, especially from those that are closest to you. At Bravespace Nutrition, we want to empower you in your recovery journey and give you the strength to challenge yourself and others.
Help with eating issues, disordered eating and eating disorders for men in Seattle, WA
Making the first step towards recovery can be intimidating, but the rewards of a positive relationship with food and exercise are worth it. You don’t have to continue to struggle with food on your own as a man. Our eating disorder dietitians are honored to help you in your recovery journey from our Seattle, WA-based counseling practice. To begin working with us, follow these three steps:
Meet with our dietitians
Start enjoying a life free from your eating disorder
Other Services Offered at Bravespace Nutrition
We offer a variety of services at our Seattle, WA-based virtual eating disorder practice. Other Services include support for body image concerns, chronic dieting, binge eating, and intuitive eating. We also offer specific eating disorder treatment for Bulimia treatment, Anorexia treatment, Orthorexia, and business coaching. To learn more please check out our FAQ, blog or resources page!