How Do Men Deal with Eating Disorders and Body Image Issues

In today's discussion, we delve into the sensitive topics of eating disorders and body image issues, with a particular focus on their impact on men.

It's crucial to shed light on these often overlooked aspects of mental health, as societal expectations and stereotypes can contribute to the stigma surrounding these issues in the male population. Join us as we explore the unique challenges faced by men, aiming to foster a more inclusive and empathetic understanding of the complex relationship between body image and mental well-being.

▼ Timestamps ▼
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00:00 - Preview
00:16 - Introduction
03:06 - Image issues
06:41 - How dysmorphia manifests differently
09:07 - Rational vs Irrational
12:17 - Muscle dysmorphia
17:06 - Image related comparisons
22:24 - Social media
28:02 - Orthorexia nervosa
30:23 - Questions

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All guests of Healthy Gamer are informed of the public, non-medical nature of the content and have expressly agreed to share their story.

#healthygamegg #bodydysmorphia #maleissues

[ponternal]

The worst part about male body dismorphia is not muscle but the parts you cannot change. If you are short or balding or have a small package it is socially acceptable to make fun of you.

[rosiex]

Gentle reminder to all the guys out there that even though the voices in your head say you need to be extremely tall or muscular to be considered attractive, you don't. Keep going, I hope you end up kicking body dysmorphia's arse.

[SNOWSOS]

Whenever I explain my body dysmorphia to people it's immediately brushed off "you look great", like anytime I open up the person isn't listening to what I'm saying and minimizes it.

[jo]

Body dysmorphia has ruined so many relationships, I wish it was taken seriously and addressed more often

[sweetest-mia]

Offering a friendly cyber-handshake to the fellas for female and male body dysmorphia solidarity 🤝 💚

[UniqueYoutubeHandle]

I was really hoping Dr. K would touch on male pattern hair loss. As a guy in my mid twenties it has been a massive detriment to my mental health the past 4-5 years. It absolutely does manifest as social anxiety for me and have such a hard time being present with other people and putting myself in situations to grow I already struggled somewhat with my self-image but this has become a seemingly insurmountable obstacle between me and confidence in myself.

[ahaanbanerjee]

As a young guy who has suffered from body dismorphia for a long time, i want to point out how important this topic is. I used to be a fat kid for a long time in my life, and was incredibly obese, until i got into bodybuilding when i was the age of 15. During the process of bodybuilding, i did see a lot of changes in my body as it grew better more functional and more healthy, but everytime i looked in the mirror i felt incomplete and unsatisfied. I took my diet and training to extreme amounts in order to improve my physique and got a lot of "gains" but it never truly made me feel complete. I was really insecure and tried to cover up parts of my body that i didnt like much, such as my legs in order to hide them from myself and others. But in the long run all of these did not yeaild any real solutions. After getting educated a lot abou this issue however and learning that my body health and physique was better than a vast majority of others, i started to gain some confidence and pride in my hard work. Trying to look different isnt a problem, trying to get better is not a problem, comparing yourself to others is also not a problem. The problem lies in how u train your mind to percieve these situations and idelogies. To all the guys out there, dont be ashamed in you body or face, a large part of it is genetic or cultural, even if you are unhealthy by being fat or skinny you can always work on yourself. Good luck!!

[charstar]

One form of male body dysmorphia that I think is rather common but wasn't specifically touched on in this video (though does relate to the alpha/beta nonsense) is dysmorphia related to penis size. I imagine that YouTube might not be the best place to have that conversation, but I would be very interested in a follow-up discussion focused on genital-based body dysmorphia (not limited to men). It is generally an uncomfortable discussion to have and making those uncomfortable discussions approachable is something of a speciality of this channel.

[inplane]

As someone who's gotten into bodybuilding at a young age, it's scary how much the fitness industry has changed with the explosion of social media influencers.

The memes of TREN, juicing-up, and how it's becoming "cool" and socially acceptable to gear up as long as you're humble and funny about it is going to damage a lot of young lifters in the long run. And it's going to play exactly into body dysmorphia, where kids wont look exactly like their idols when they're taking all that substance they were sold on. I know a lot of fitness influencers don't gear up *that much, * but it's still something that needs to be looked into rather than encouraged.

[blacktuxwidow]

I hate the fact that i dont have a remotely close jawline even tho im healthy 60kg 176cm tall. My family is just not built that way so our chin is further back resulting in almost a dubble chin and almost no jawline at all. That's it, thats my rant. Whenever i look in the mirror (i avoid them a lot) i just push my chin automatically forward because i get more of a jawline then. Ugh

[Chloe-pdxd]

I never comment on youtube videos but this is a topic I'm so passionate about and I'm happy you are talking about it. You can see from these comments, and you don't have to dig far into social media platforms like Instagram and reddit, to see how prevalent eating disorders are. As someone who struggled/continues to struggle with disordered eating habits, orthorexia, hx anorexia, body dysmorphia, and muscle dysmorphia, I'm very interested in this topic. Especially with how social media plays into it. I'm a nursing student and avid bodybuilder, and I'm writing my honors thesis paper on the topic of social media's impact on eating disorders and our eating habits. There is so much misinformation out there, so much comparison, and a lot of people who are struggling. Please talk to someone you trust about your feelings and consider therapy. There is a line between self improvement and running yourself into the ground because of perfection and low self esteem. Also if anyone has ideas/studies to help with my thesis feel free to reply :)

[regentcid]

I hadn't considered social anxiety and being unable to name feelings through the lens of body dysmorphia, but that makes a lot of sense for my own issues. Thanks again, Dr. K.

[cables]

As a highschool I did football and track and was in amazing shape
Now I'm in my 20s working full time and I really let my body go to shit, and now I hyper fixate on the things I don't like about my body. And it's been rough

[dldietz]

It's also worth exploring someone's overall sense of self and the impact it has on body image. I feel like for men, it's really easy to extrapolate their struggles in life and place blame squarely on how they look. It doesn't help that there are communities of men online that exclusively reinforce this idea that looks are the issue.

[-VexyRS]

I struggle with body dysmorphia every day. Saw a photo of myself taken by someone else last night and I’m seriously struggling today… Perfect timing for this video to be honest. It seems you always cover what is most pressing to me in the moment.

I am obese. Not morbidly or anything, but larger than I’d like. At one point I had a speed addiction and I starved myself on purpose, and lost well over 40 pounds in a single month. I kept moving the goal post, and I always wanted to be skinnier.

I projected pride and happiness with my body image, but that was just the speed talking. I was still angling my selfies, avoiding mirrors, wearing baggy clothes… I have never wanted to be muscular; just skinny.

I see someone else in the mirror. A carefully constructed image of myself in the correct light and angles, making me look more like I want to look. Social media is great for this, as I get my fix by seeing myself through this lens in my tiktoks and snaps.

When I go outside, I am always aware of how I’m perceived. I despise being seen for who I actually am.


I’m working on this. I’m trying new things and I’m attempting an adjustment of my lifestyle recently. I’m letting negative self-talk stay fleeting thoughts, and I’m slowly learning to express myself in both my style and conversation.

I struggle a lot with food, as I have autism and ADHD (wombo combo), and my “safe foods” are not healthy. I can’t make routines effectively, and I can’t take stimulant medication without relapsing.

Atomoxetine is making the bar for executive function lower, but I’m still haunted by the fear of judgement on my character, so making healthy social choices is still a monstrous challenge.


This turned into a bit of a rant, but I wanted to say that I appreciated this video, even if it wasn’t addressing my problem specifically.

And for others like me: it’s getting easier, and better, but it takes time. It takes hardship, relapse, reflection, and trying again. Over and over, but it works. I’m still on my way, but I haven’t lost hope. I still have to admit how hard it is so I can feel good about even trying at all.

EDIT: Taken some action and gotten through the worst couple of days of starting a diet. I have a massive headache, but that'll pass. I'm keeping up with my vitamins and hydration, and I have a friend who's helping me with that part. I reckon it's going to benefit me to show myself I'm capable of discipline, and among the other actions I'm taking in my life, this should hopefully contribute to making me feel better about myself better than last time.

[AdamKirbyMusic]

I am not a bodybuilder (am generally into fitness though), but I find the Youtube bodybuilding scene interesting and watch certain channels. I absolutely think that online bodybuilding communities and social media in general are creating a MASSIVE amount of body dysmorphia in men. You literally have channels that push the notion that if you don't have visible abs you are fat. Then you have the proliferation of superhero movies where jacked and shredded actors lie by omission about the PEDs they took for the role. This is the same for all of the fake naturals in the "fitness" space that you only see with perfect lighting, perfect angles & posing. And surprise surprise, with this environment of comparison men are getting hit with the exact same psychological fuckery that women have had to deal with for ages.

[jimbryant]

I have struggled with BTD for a long long time. I'm 64 now and I realized that it's something you don't outgrow, in Factor gets worse as you get older. It's a mind game. I've had many many cosmetic surgeries and I actually think they've helped over the years but it still hasn't been enough. I never thought I was ugly, I just thought I looked average and always wanted to look like a movie star. It's called chasing Beauty and and you always fall short. I just need to find some therapy to help me get over this issue late in life

[alandouglasbr]

I'm aware I've had body dismorphia for several years, and it has affected my emotional state and social life quite a lot. The thing is, it's so hard to talk about this with someone, first cause it is so embarassing to admit that you don't look good, second cause you fear not being understood and that people won't take your concerns as valid. I used to look waaay worse when I was younger tho.

[mylegispotato]

To me the most helpful resource was actually randomly getting a good-looking girlfriend who also had body image issues. I just couldn't really believe that she thinks about herself as "fat" or "ugly". It changed my self-image - I started thinking that if I can find her pretty, then she can find me handsome despite whatever I think about myself. Now I'm single, but don't really care about my looks, if it's just good enough for me, than it is good enough for others and apparently very good for some small percentage of women.

Stay strong bros, keep taking care of yourself and don't give a shit about what other people say, you just need that **one** to find you handsome.

[banishedpotato]

For what it's worth, I'm putting this here for all the skinny guys that can't put on weight:
I'm sure many guys can relate, but as a 6ft tall (183cm), 150lb (68kg) male in my mid 20s, I promise that nothing has been more frustrating for trying to prevent myself from developing body dysmorphia, than other people. A lot of the self-doubt comes from everyone in my general vicinity constantly telling me that I'm too thin. And believe me, I've tried to put on weight. During a 6 month recovery period after an injury, during which I was basically bed-ridden for 3 months and required a lot of help for another 3, I put on close to 10kg in fat. Once I was able to start moving around again, not exercising, literally just doing everyday activities and going to work, my metabolism kicked back in and I lost over 15kg in 4 months, which dropped me down to 63kg, the lightest I'd ever been in my adult life. That was 5 years ago and I've tried so hard to put on weight and to bulk up but I still can't even bring my weight above 70kg again so clearly I've got a more ectomorphic body type and will just remain thin for as long as my metabolism continues to work so well. Some people say they're jealous of how I never put on weight but it's honestly awful when it becomes one of the biggest sources of ridicule that I receive from others. Genuinely, completely unprovoked, people will always drop me comments on how I'm "so thin". Everybody knows how rude and not okay it is to just tell someone they're "too fat" so why does is seem to be okay when you're "too thin"?

I wish people would think a little bit more before throwing around words like "anorexic" to describe people with my build. I eat so much food, and I try my best to make it good food. I exercise regularly. I'm healthy. And yet when others call me skinny so often, and I still get mistaken as a kid due to my build, even though I'm halfway to 30, it's incredibly difficult to continue to tell myself that my body is okay.

If you're a skinny dude, and everyone gives you hell for it even though you can't put on weight regardless of how hard you try, just keep doing your best to remind yourself that you're alright as you are. We can't all be built like superheroes, but there's nothing wrong with that as long as we're keeping our bodies healthy