Anorexia Nervosa in Guys

Tonyw78x · May 2020

Hey Everyone,
My name is Tony. I used to weigh around 380lbs. I made a decision close to 2 years ago to try to become healthy and lose weight. At first everything was great I was healthy and on track. First few months weight was flying off. 1 year in I was at 198 lbs so just over 180lbs of weight lost. But somewhere in my head I guess it wasn’t enough with in 2-3 months I was down to the 180 mark. I found my self obsessing over losing weight. And fearful of gaining weight. Ignoring all the signs of what was going on I kept on with how I was training and eating. Now I am sitting at a weight of 173lbs. Feeling drained and depleted most days. I feel as if I can’t let off the gas because of my fear. I’ve talked to a few people and came down to the conclusion I have a form of anorexia Nervosa. The scale might not show it. But I am starting to get sick. Resting HR sitting at 40-45 BPMs. I stand up I get light headed. It’s a whole mess of crazy things. But I still find my self counting every little calorie and making sure I work out as much as I can physically. I need to know if there are any men out there that suffer with this. I really would love to get past this with out therapy. But honestly food frightens me. And going backwards all together. Any tips or tricks!? Any Males out there. I know many females suffer from this but I never see any men.

KrissFlavored · May 2020

You need therapy.

This is 100% serious. Man or woman, you need help, your LIFE is at risk, this is not a game and not for strangers to fix over the internet.

Please, please seek help, I've been here myself, please take this seriously and seek a therapist who specializes in eating disorders

You need to be able to see that gaining weight is not the end of the world, believe me, I gained most of mine back and I'm back to losing again, but with therapy I'm in a much much better place.

mikmakmary · May 2020

Tony - I think it might be beneficial for you to see a registered dietician and get to your doctor also for a referral to a therapist who deals with AN/eating disorders. I'm sorry you're going through this. I had an ex who was an excessive runner that neglected his health. Your resting HR is a concern. Please seek help in your healthcare community. I wish you all the best!

Diatonic12 · May 2020

Tony, you've just faced the music. That's the first step. Now sit down face-to-face with someone and talk this over. I think there are some men here who can direct you further. Take care of yourself, Tony.

PAV8888 · May 2020

Just because you haven't heard of it, just like men get breast cancer and are more likely to die from it because it is less common than for women, so do they get Eating Disorders.

While I don't disagree with Kriss, I think there is an edge case she may not be considering. And this is because of where you're coming from.

And it is incredibly simple to test.

There is an appreciable likelihood that a continuing high deficit caused by low calories in and combined with high exercise levels out is contributing and fueling an ED mindset. (The Biology of Human Starvation provides some support for this*)

The symptoms will either resolve when you stop all the above, or they won't.

You don't have too much time, and as I said, the test is simple.

Set MFP to maintenance. Eat maintenance level calories. Including exercise calories. (or by preference reduce the imbalance by reducing the exercise generating it).

Either you can do it and the symptoms start to resolve. Or you can't bring yourself to do it, or you can bring yourself to do it and the symptoms don't resolve, in which case you're down the rabbit hole that Kriss fears that you are in.

If you want to ramp up slowly, sure, fine. But ramp up slowly is NOT 100 Cal a week in your case. 50%-75% of the difference at a time and you're there in less than 2 to 3 weeks is what we're talking about.

Maintenance diet break. And then after a few months there evaluate and consider.

Will your weight go a LITTLE bit up? Absolutely. And there is NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. You will have more food transiting through your body if nothing else. Your depleted energy reserves will fill up a bit (so energy + some water weight).

You will be healthier. and even if you add 10 or 20lbs (which I is extremely doubtful you will), you will NOT be adding 200lbs.

And, if you can't do this, for whatever reason, AND do it NOW (not tomorrow), then yes, you really ought to stop messing around and start making phone calls for help!

https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625071-Eating-Disorder-Resources

*I quote the wikipedia section that summarizes my observation: "the physical effects of the induced semi-starvation during the study closely approximate the conditions experienced by people with a range of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. As a result of the study it has been postulated that many of the profound social and psychological effects of these disorders may result from undernutrition, and recovery depends on physical re-nourishment as well as psychological treatment" (emphasis mine. in any case: resolution will NOT be possible while you continue to under-eat and over-exercise).

cmriverside · May 2020

@PAV888

Do you have personal or medical experience with AN?

I know you think you're helping, but there's a very good chance you just made it worse. Besides refeeding syndrome, there is the whole, "Using a calorie counting website just fuels the anxious obsesssion," problem.

Tony, I agree with those who are saying please get an appointment a soon as possible with a doctor who is familiar with AN.

Many hugs, take care of yourself.

PAV8888 · May 2020

cmriverside wrote: »

@PAV888

Do you have personal or medical experience with AN?

I know you think you're helping, but there's a very good chance you just made it worse. Besides refeeding syndrome, there is the whole, "Using a calorie counting website just fuels the anxious obsesssion," problem.

Tony, I agree with those who are saying please get an appointment a soon as possible with a doctor who is familiar with AN.

Many hugs, take care of yourself.

lack of indication of low enough intake to fear re-feeding. lots of reasons to fear anxious obsession. lots of reasons to fear continuing deficit too, especially given all the side-effects already experienced

consider length of time before treatment can be secured especially if the person is unwilling to engage. consider stop gap measures that may mitigate.

Do I think that engaging an RN or Doctor who specializes in treating ED's is a great idea? ABSOLUTELY. Do I think that changing nothing in the meanwhile is a great idea? No, I don't. Starting with reducing exercise levels....

KrissFlavored · May 2020

It will be immediate on if he can or cant do what pav suggests.

If he puts his calories up, eats them.. his actions afterwards will define where he is..

When it was me, it was the feeling of deep anxiety, like you just couldnt stop focusing on the fact that you ate as much as you did even when it was a healthy amount, and immediate correction takes place..

It's a game of balanced unbalance, where the scale needs to be deficit heavy and it will be corrected with even more deficit and exercise to purge those calories and create even more deficit..

The anxiety and fear if he is where I fear he is, will be quick to show him and us, if he hopefully keeps us updated, where he is.

KrissFlavored · May 2020

it really pains me when I see people.. who are the me who existed 2 years ago.

It pains me that despite my pleas for them to get help because I have been there and i know where it can go, i know that if 2 years ago me was reading those same pleas from someone else, i would "ignore" them because my anxiety wouldnt allow me to accept that I am struggling to that degree, even tho I acknowledged that there was chaos happening and getting help might mean gaining weight.

The fear of just going up a few pounds even just thinking back to how I felt then, it's like someone kicking you in the gut and you cant breathe.

It's so frustrating being on the other end of a phone screen trying to help someone and you just sit here hoping your words actually make a difference..

I guess I just wish I had the power to grab these people by the hand to pull them forward so they can skip all the things I went through.

😕

MostlyWater · May 2020

Seek professional help. We are moms and college students and neighbors. Not professionals. We can't help you.

Tonyw78x · May 2020

I’m doing my best to grasp what I am going through. I did open up to all the closest people to me and have them trying there best to keep an eye on me making sure I am doing the right things. I’m still struggling mentally about food. Constantly thinking about it. I’m getting closer to not being in a deficit. But it’s still throwing me off a lot.

kshama2001 · May 2020

I'm finding getting professional help much easier these days due to the expansion of tele-health. Met with a dietitian over the phone today. Have been meeting with a behavioral psychologist since late March. I really like doing this from home.

Try this, and if you can't do it, seek professional help right away:

PAV8888 wrote: »

Just because you haven't heard of it, just like men get breast cancer and are more likely to die from it because it is less common than for women, so do they get Eating Disorders.

While I don't disagree with Kriss, I think there is an edge case she may not be considering. And this is because of where you're coming from.

And it is incredibly simple to test.

There is an appreciable likelihood that a continuing high deficit caused by low calories in and combined with high exercise levels out is contributing and fueling an ED mindset. (The Biology of Human Starvation provides some support for this*)

The symptoms will either resolve when you stop all the above, or they won't.

You don't have too much time, and as I said, the test is simple.

Set MFP to maintenance. Eat maintenance level calories. Including exercise calories. (or by preference reduce the imbalance by reducing the exercise generating it).

Either you can do it and the symptoms start to resolve. Or you can't bring yourself to do it, or you can bring yourself to do it and the symptoms don't resolve, in which case you're down the rabbit hole that Kriss fears that you are in.

If you want to ramp up slowly, sure, fine. But ramp up slowly is NOT 100 Cal a week in your case. 50%-75% of the difference at a time and you're there in less than 2 to 3 weeks is what we're talking about.

Maintenance diet break. And then after a few months there evaluate and consider.

Will your weight go a LITTLE bit up? Absolutely. And there is NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. You will have more food transiting through your body if nothing else. Your depleted energy reserves will fill up a bit (so energy + some water weight).

You will be healthier. and even if you add 10 or 20lbs (which I is extremely doubtful you will), you will NOT be adding 200lbs.

And, if you can't do this, for whatever reason, AND do it NOW (not tomorrow), then yes, you really ought to stop messing around and start making phone calls for help!

https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625071-Eating-Disorder-Resources

*I quote the wikipedia section that summarizes my observation: "the physical effects of the induced semi-starvation during the study closely approximate the conditions experienced by people with a range of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. As a result of the study it has been postulated that many of the profound social and psychological effects of these disorders may result from undernutrition, and recovery depends on physical re-nourishment as well as psychological treatment" (emphasis mine. in any case: resolution will NOT be possible while you continue to under-eat and over-exercise).

xX_PhoenixRising_Xx · May 2020

@Tonyw78x I am not a guy, but like Kris I have also been down this rabbit hole. I lost over 160 lbs and was still technically a little overweight when I was diagnosed as anorexic in 2016. The symptoms you describe were me to a T - my RHR was around 40 BPM, I got dizzy all the time, I still have flare ups from injuries I caused myself from fainting.

When I look back I was so paranoid about my weight, my size, food, exercise - everything. I never intended to be so restrictive with calories, or to exercise so much, it really just happened without me realising it. It is only therapy that has allowed me to recognise my disordered thinking and to get recovery. I also have BED, although it's really just flip sides of the same disorder, and I have gained back about half the weight that I lost, but therapy has allowed me to safely cope with that and I am now losing weight again.

I hope that you have reached out to a professional, even if you really don't want to - I promise, their opinion will give you some really helpful perspective!

Anorexia Nervosa in Guys

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