Last year, Ed Sheeran opened up about his eating disorder. Collaborating with Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes made him reevaluate his body, which he believed to be too fat when compared to those six-pack toting pop stars, he told Rolling Stone. After struggling in silence, Sheeran worked through his problematic relationship with his appearance and with food. He called himself a “real binge eater” — binge eating is the number one eating disorder afflicting men.
Sheeran isn’t the only man to publicly grapple with body image issues. Former One Direction star Zayn Malik said in his 2016 book that he wouldn’t eat for days and lost so much weight that he had “become ill.” Former catcher Mike Marjama battled an eating disorder en route to the major leagues. And I can relate: I suffered from orthorexia, a term coined in 1997 to describe an increasingly frantic preoccupation with eating healthy or “pure” foods, for 15 years while working in the wellness industry as a yoga and fitness instructor. During that time, I would compulsively check every label and reject “impure” foods, which created crippling psychological harm and resulted in many skipped meals.
For too long, many believed that eating disorders only happened to women, but that myth is being challenged as more men acknowledge their bodily struggles. Roughly one-third of eating disorders occur in men, which will impact an estimated 6.6 million men in the U.S. at some point in their lives. This problem is particularly growing among young men. A 2023 study found that pediatric eating disorder hospitalizations increased by 139% between 2002 and 2019, with the largest change in rates among males between ages 12 to 14. Eating disorders are also often tied to mental health distress — a 2018 study found that an obsession with muscle mass was associated with a higher risk for depressive symptoms.
Sasha Gorrell, PhD, an assistant professor in the University of California San Francisco’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, became interested in disordered eating research after dancing with American Ballet Theatre. She observed how elite training and intense bodily scrutiny wages mental war on professional dancers, regardless of gender.
When it comes to awareness around eating disorders in men, though, Dr. Gorrell says of the challenge has been with diagnoses. Men’s eating disorders often present as a focus on muscularity, which is perceived as healthy, whereas we often think of women’s eating disorders as resulting in extreme thinness. This, Dr. Gorrell says, makes it “easier for boys to stay under the radar in these typical areas where people get flagged for suspected eating disorders.”
Research suggests that social media may make young people more susceptible to eating disorders, a phenomenon that’s been repeatedly reported on in relation to girls. But identifying and treating eating disorders in men can be especially challenging given the surge in manosphere influencers instructing young men to develop physical strength and eschew “feminine” behaviors. At a basic level, body ideals shared on social media portray a muscular frame as desirable, something that can influence young men’s feelings about their bodies. But now we also have extremist influencers who push right-wing ideology that ties a particular body type to not just one’s politics, but their worth as a man. In a particularly extreme example, we have neo-nazis fat shaming young men in an underground fight club circuit.
“We tie masculinity and muscularity together, and people have a harder time seeing muscularity or extreme muscularity as unhealthy,” says Tiffany Brown, PhD, an assistant professor in the psychological sciences at Auburn University who focuses on eating disorders. While taking protein supplements to bulk up isn’t necessarily a problem, she says that an obsession with physique can lead to a problem.
Eating disorders can have many physical consequences, including an increased risk of organ failure, heart disease, gastrointestinal distress, endocrine problems, and neurological issues. Beyond the physical, disorders like restrictive eating, which can include purity regimens as well as fasting and selective dieting, can take a toll on social lives, which can impact mental health. Orthorexia, the condition I struggled with, is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5), which clinicians rely on for formal diagnoses and treatment protocols. Still, this obsessive focus on purity is of increasing concern. “The idea that any food should be so feared that it causes so much distress, and that consuming it is psychologically going to lead to a lot more problems than whatever people think might have been the consequence of ‘unhealthy’ eating,” says Dr. Brown.
Men focused on bulking up face another issue, as Dr. Gorrell explains: “Most protein powders and supplements are really not regulated. They’re just put on shelves and they’re not FDA approved. If they’re something that you rely on for the primary dietary staple, that’s a problem.”
Our cultural fear of obesity and passion for fad dieting place more downward pressure on men of every age, especially when considering flawed health measurements. “BMI is a terrible marker of anything,” Dr. Gorrell says, referencing body mass index, the simplistic clinical measurement that experts have noted is flawed. Dr. Brown says that physique also doesn’t tell us about someone’s health, given the influence of genetics on weight and body shape. She references Olympic swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. “They were both elite male athletes, but their body types are naturally very different. They couldn’t be each other if they tried and they were both working very hard.”
And all that is before we consider how intersectionality factors in: LGBTQ+ identities and racial demographics play roles in diagnosis and treatment.
Regardless of the entry point, many solutions around eating disorders can be found within peer groups. Along with proper treatment, Dr. Brown notes that conversations with trusted friends offer an important therapeutic component. Personal networks can help sufferers overcome biased cultural ideas and body image shame resulting from unrealistic expectations or social realities, like bullying.
Being bullied for being overweight led to my struggle with body dysmorphia. Even after I grew tall and “thinned out” in high school, years of harassment during formative years led to my eventual eating disorder. Thankfully, my wife’s healthy relationship with food helped get me out of my head (literally) and into my body. Only then was I able to discuss my struggles publicly.
I’m not alone in this process. Mike Marjama, the former pro catcher, had a similar recovery trajectory. He realized the necessity of shifting his thought process “from what we think we look like versus who we are as people.”