Obsessed with my body - C4 Documentary

First of all

Apologies for the radio silence

And for worrying you

It wasn't an intentional thing not to post

But I did feel the need to be quiet for a couple of days

Thank you for your comments and emails of concern 

I am back....

I watched a show last night called Obsessed with my body

It was a documentary about vanity in males

And the explosion in fitness and health among young men

In the documentary 

Various young guys were interviewed

The camera followed one guy as he went about his daily routine

Spa treatments 

Followed by a hair do

During which the hairdresser asked him if he was going out that night

The guy said he wasn't 

That he was just going home to try n clothes

He admitted to taking hundreds of selfies a day 

And posted the ones he deemed good enough on social media 

During the documentary 

This guy went back to his home town to see his family 

He showed us his old school

Where he used to be bullied mercilessly 

His nose had been broken 

Twice 

It soon became clear 

That bubbling under the surface of this guys vanity 

Was a lot of hurt 

A lot of pain

And insecurity 

He admitted that he used his looks as a shield 

And seemed afraid to let anyone see the real him

He broke down in tears as he told us about his brother who had drowned 

My heart went out to him

The documentary also followed the huge fitness craze amongst men at the moment 

We were introduced to two cousins 

Who were in the process of trying to build  up a fitness empire on YouTube 

They have 8000 followers

And post inspiring videos

They were both in amazing shape

You can't deny that 

And they seemed like nice guys 

I just don't think it's healthy to put so much focus and emphises on looks

Then there was 16 year old Duncan

Duncan was from Scotland

A body builder 

We followed his story as he was competing in his first body building competition 

He worked hard at his fitness

And on the day of the competition 

He went to get his fake tan done 

The results were hilarious 

He was literally the colour of mahogany

But apparently they need to be dark while on stage 

So the lights pick up the definition on the body

The last guy who was interviewed

Spoke about his battle with anorexia

After some cruel

Comments from a class mate about his weight

This young guy stopped eating 

And lost 35 pounds in 3 months 

He is now weight restored 

And on the mend 

But it's taken blood, sweat and tears to get there 

I thought this documentary was eye opening 

Like a lot of people do

It's easy to forget that men worry about their bodies too

I think in my four years here on blogger

I have only ever come across one make blogger 

Who has since disappeared 

This also bears out in treatment 

Although the documentary stated that last year, 300 000 males in the UK were treated for eating disorders

In all my time in treatment 

I only ever met one male

As hard as it is to be a female with an ED

I fear it must be even more difficult to be a make suffering with an ED

EDs are historically seen a rich white girls disease

Of course this is a stereotype

And categorically untrue 

EDs do not discriminate 

And can effect anyone 

Any race 

Any gender 

Any age

It can happen to anyone 

No one is immune

A big craze at the moment is fitness

It's everywhere 

All over social media 

In magazines 

TV shows 

In this country 

There is a show called Operation Transformation

Where six members of the public try to change their lives by losing weight and getting fit 

And at the moment there is a noticeable increase in the amount of people out walking and running 

The shops are full of active wear clothing

There is also a campaign here to try as a nation to lose one million pounds 

Now I'm all for getting fit and healthy 

But there is a line 

A very fine line 

Where if you cross it

You become obsessed with it

It used to be mostly women who felt the pressure to tone up

But now it seems that men have the same, if not more pressure, on their shoulders 

Where males are concerned 

It seems it is the bigger the better 

Where as we girls seem to buy in to the idea that small is best

It's the thing that unites both men and women

We want to look out best

And our image has never been so important 

Because we put our lives on line for all to see

On Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

It seems that something didn't really happen 

Unless it was captured on camera 

And posted on Facebook 

They say a person makes up their mind about someone in seconds

We assess others in jig time

Their appearance 

Their body language

Their hair

Their clothes

We decide if they are some one we want to know

If we are attracted to them 

If we don't like them

And all before even speaking to someone

Everything is visual nowadays 

We take photos of everything

Our food

Our pets 

Our children

Our holidays 

Our outfits 

And we all look at everyone else's photos too

In a kind of a 'who has the best life?'competition 

When I was in rehab for the first time 

There was a pro boxer

Who got obvious reasons 

I will call The Boxer

He was bulimic 

And felt massive pressure to make weight

I can remember him at meal times

He would eat his own food

And anything you left on your plate

He was also a cocaine addict

And came in to treatment very thin

Almost doubled his body weight in four months 

I wonder how he is now

I think that images of models and very thin actresses and celebrities can exacerbate an ED

But I don't think they cause one solely by themselves

I think there are many factors that contribute towards someone developing an ED

With all that said

I was wondering about you

Have you come across many males in the ED world?

Was their experience different to ours?

Why do you think that we don't hear from a lot of men here on blogger?

Inquiring mind want to know....