The Hidden Struggle: Why We Need to Talk About Men and Eating Disorders

When we think of eating disorders, most of us probably picture a young, white, emaciated woman struggling with anorexia. This stereotype persists even though anorexia is not the most common eating disorder—that would be Binge Eating Disorder (BED)—and anyone can develop an eating disorder regardless of their race, gender, age, education, or socioeconomic background. The reality is that men suffer, too.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), up to 25% of people with eating disorders are male. This translates to millions of men and boys affected worldwide. However, these numbers might actually be higher because men are less likely to seek help and more likely to be misdiagnosed. They simply don't show up as much in the statistics.

Societal Expectations and the Masculinity Trap

One reason men are underrepresented is the pervasive stigma surrounding eating disorders and masculinity. Because these are often perceived as a "female issue," it is difficult for men to admit their struggles. If you are a guy, you are likely afraid of being seen as weak, unmanly, or feminine if you open up—so a lot of men choose to suffer in silence instead.

Societal expectations regarding masculinity play a significant role in this. Men are expected to be strong, stoic, and emotionally resilient, leaving little room for vulnerability. Unlike women, who may find social support, men often encounter ridicule, disbelief, and invalidation. Basically, if you are a man, you are told to "tough it out" or "man up"—whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.

A Diagnostic System Built for Women

Research and treatment have historically focused on women, resulting in a lack of awareness and tailored resources for men. This gap creates a dangerous cycle:

• Flawed Assessments: Most diagnostic tools were developed for women. They may not accurately capture how symptoms manifest in men.

• The BMI Barrier: Reliance on BMI thresholds often overlooks men who exhibit severe symptoms but don’t meet "low BMI" criteria. Men and women have different body compositions, and charts that don’t adjust for gender, age, or height can skew results.

• Biological Biases: Some diagnostic criteria focus on the female reproductive cycle (such as disrupted menstruation), a symptom obviously absent in males.

• The Provider Gap: In the UK especially, male therapists are underrepresented. Finding a male therapist who has personal experience and talks openly about it is even harder.

This lack of representation can make you feel like an outsider. While I personally preferred a female therapist and felt welcome in my support group, I know that for many men, walking into a room where no one looks like them makes recovery feel even more shameful and out of reach. Representation matters even when preference varies.

Media Stereotypes and Internalized Barriers

The media does a particularly bad job at depicting eating disorders. By romanticizing emaciated figures, they marginalize anyone who lives in a larger body or any man who doesn't fit that mold.

When I was struggling, there were very few male voices online discussing their experiences in detail. I had never heard of another guy in my social circles who had an eating disorder. This lack of representation caused me to minimize my own struggles and made it harder to even entertain the possibility that I had an eating disorder.

On top of that, I was in a weird spot because of my sexual orientation and the internalized homophobia I was dealing with at the time. I think a lot of gay guys experience the pressure to be "manly" differently. They may try to appear more masculine to "make up" for being gay, or at the very least, try not to appear feminine. Admitting I had what was seen as a "female issue" felt like it would make me appear more feminine. I had to punch through that barrier just to be able to ask for help.

The "Fitness" Mask

Men’s body image issues are often downplayed as "vanity." This is a shame because the ideal male body has become increasingly unrealistic over the last few decades. Many men feel pressured to conform to a lean, muscular ideal as a sign of their masculinity.

This is where it gets dangerous: men are much less likely to face an intervention if they spend all their time in the gym. We tend to view this as "dedication" and celebrate guys for "staying fit." We assume that being "fit" and being healthy are synonymous, even though that isn't necessarily true. A guy’s gym habit is often a red flag for an underlying issue that everyone—including healthcare professionals—is overlooking. If you’re a man reading this and any of it feels uncomfortably familiar, you’re not weak, broken, or failing — you’re dealing with something real, and you deserve support.

I’m an eating disorder recovery coach, and I work with people who feel overlooked, misunderstood, or dismissed by traditional narratives around eating disorders. If you’re unsure whether what you’re experiencing “counts,” or if you’re struggling to even put it into words, you don’t have to figure that out alone.

I offer three free initial sessions so you can explore what’s going on for you without pressure, judgment, or commitment. Reaching out doesn’t mean you have to have everything figured out — it just means you’re willing to start the conversation. Sources and Further Reading

1. Beat Eating Disorders (2025). UK Statistics for Journalists: Prevalence and Gender Split. 

2. NHS England Digital (2024). Health Survey for England: Eating Disorders Supplement.

3. National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA, 2025). Eating Disorders in Men and Boys Research Suite.

4. Galmiche et al. (2019, Updated 2024). Prevalence of eating disorders over the 2000–2018 period: A systematic literature review. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

5. Mitchison et al. (2020/2024). The Emergence of (Male) Eating Disorders as a Clinical Entity. Journal of Eating Disorders.