Little Boys with Anorexia

Interesting read (as in it raises questions), though poorly written.

The part below seems particularly odd:

"Boys who develop anorexia stop eating carbohydrates to build muscle mass. Dieting has become more socially acceptable for males since the Atkins diet, Weltzin said.

Eric cut out carbohydrates and ate only lean protein such as chicken breasts and egg whites. And he worried about the dangers of obesity."

So are boys getting the message that you need to get huge muscles yet stay skinny? IF so, that would explain much of the beginner diet questions. But where does this come from? The public discussion of women and weight combined with He-Man?

the kid was 11, reading shitty magazines, the parents seemed to have taken a long time to notice anything at all, just a bizzare combination of things leading to anorexia. i dont think he had a problem with gaining weight, he just didnt want any fat AT ALL

Its really sad, but some people can warp the whole meaning of fitness and hurt themselves. In fear of gaining fat, he completely avoids carbs? Sad he didn’t have a bigger brother or knowlegdeable person to correct his path.

[quote]FrozenNinja wrote:
Its really sad, but some people can warp the whole meaning of fitness and hurt themselves. In fear of gaining fat, he completely avoids carbs? Sad he didn’t have a bigger brother or knowlegdeable person to correct his path.[/quote]

I am willing to bet we have several guys like that right here. They don’t understand the science because EVERYTHING they think they know is learned second hand from websites where the author may or may not be well informed themselves. This site has had articles that left me shaking my head…like that bullshit one showing a fat guy holding up loose skin as a warning against all weight gain. Things like that scare the shit out of newbs along with the strange need of so many people to act like anyone talking about making real gains and building really big muscles is obese.

If anyone thinks things like that aren’t causing damage, they are mistaken.

You have way too many “gurus” that popped up about 5-10 years ago who seemed to be on some strange crusade AGAINST big muscles. Waterbury’s stuff often wreaks of the same attitude. Any newb lacking a solid background in biology and weight lifting will think anyone who got big is just fat listening to some of these people.

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]FrozenNinja wrote:
Its really sad, but some people can warp the whole meaning of fitness and hurt themselves. In fear of gaining fat, he completely avoids carbs? Sad he didn’t have a bigger brother or knowlegdeable person to correct his path.[/quote]

I am willing to bet we have several guys like that right here. They don’t understand the science because EVERYTHING they think they know is learned second hand from websites where the author may or may not be well informed themselves. This site has had articles that left me shaking my head…like that bullshit one showing a fat guy holding up loose skin as a warning against all weight gain. Things like that scare the shit out of newbs along with the strange need of so many people to act like anyone talking about making real gains and building really big muscles is obese.

If anyone thinks things like that aren’t causing damage, they are mistaken.

You have way too many “gurus” that popped up about 5-10 years ago who seemed to be on some strange crusade AGAINST big muscles. Waterbury’s stuff often wreaks of the same attitude. Any newb lacking a solid background in biology and weight lifting will think anyone who got big is just fat listening to some of these people.[/quote]

I do not disagree, but wonder what is influencing these really young kids to think this way. Action figures? Comics? Movie Stars?

Perhaps I should rephrase my question, what is influencing (future) men to want to be big and skinny at the same time?

[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
Perhaps I should rephrase my question, what is influencing (future) men to want to be big and skinny at the same time?[/quote]

I would say complete misconception of what it even means to be muscular. I mean, how often do they even see someone who is built that way? I may see two other guys in the gym who are really big.

The internet is also a factor because some of these guys don’t even meet people serious about this outside of their computer screen…meaning it is a SHOCK that the guy they see in contest shape looks way different most of the year.

I have seen some of them call a guy “fat” just because he was his usual “10% body fat” instead of ripped to shreds on stage. They really thought he was FAT because they couldn’t see veins.

Bodybuilding is not something you learn without direct contact with the people into it seriously…yet that seems to be the way most of them settle for.

It is akin to being stranded on an island growing up with your only exposure to people being the models you see in magazines.

The internet doesn’t seem to be doing them that many favors as a whole. I see far fewer impressively built people than ever before.

[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
Perhaps I should rephrase my question, what is influencing (future) men to want to be big and skinny at the same time?[/quote]

Poontang and Aaron Carter.

[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
Perhaps I should rephrase my question, what is influencing (future) men to want to be big and skinny at the same time?[/quote]

I think it has to do with increasing obesity causing a fear of any kind of fat. I think it applies to women also. Western society HATES fat and fat people and demonizes anything that reminiscent of it.

I work with a group of guys determined to stay lean and put on muscle and they are not getting anywhere. But they are absolutely phobic of bodyfat. They eat nothing but chicken breasts. I eat way more than they do. :stuck_out_tongue: They really do think that eating saturated fat is going to kill them even though they are in their 20s, doing cardio everyday and working out 4 days a week.

[quote]debraD wrote:

[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
Perhaps I should rephrase my question, what is influencing (future) men to want to be big and skinny at the same time?[/quote]

I think it has to do with increasing obesity causing a fear of any kind of fat. I think it applies to women also. Western society HATES fat and fat people and demonizes anything that reminiscent of it.

I work with a group of guys determined to stay lean and put on muscle and they are not getting anywhere. But they are absolutely phobic of bodyfat. They eat nothing but chicken breasts. I eat way more than they do. :stuck_out_tongue: They really do think that eating saturated fat is going to kill them even though they are in their 20s, doing cardio everyday and working out 4 days a week. [/quote]

I am getting more and more young men come in to the Studio I work at with the same mentality. They want to get bigger AND more defined. But they don’t want to lose their abs.

I have a client right now who has quite a big frame. He is watching me get bigger and wants to do the same. He is 6’2 and weighed 165 when we came in. He would have a latte for breakfast, salad for lunch and redbull for dinner. It’s been 4 months, he is now 181 (he dropped 4 lbs in the last 3 weeks) and he STILL only has the latte for breakfast, but he is eating dinner. His body WANTS to grow, but he wont let it. Every time he comes in, he asks when we are going to start the whole “fat burning” stage - and continuously asks me if he has gotten fatter EVERY session. I see him 2 times a week.

But he wants to get huge.

I remember when i first started. There was no grasp on the importance of different things. There was no differentiating. A carb was a carb. There was also a stint where i used to throw up. I would eat a bad meal, or too much of something, and simply throw it up. Thats why there was a huge period where my weight simply fluctuated 5lbs or so, over the course of years. This varied depending on the week, as one id be bulking and the next id be cutting. I recall doing the Atkins for a summer. yea i lost a little weight, but as soon as i stopped it came right back + more.

The problem is such an ignorance of the body entirely. I know a person who paid for a dietician who put her on a 700cal a day diet, one which she would have to go in to check being ketonic. Yea she lost weight, but when it was over, a sea of blubber returned.

You see this everywhere. In gyms i see unilateral, fully extended, 1 inch ROM alternating DB pressing on fitness balls occur. I see sauna suits running around. I see trainers bringing in people every day, for Months and view NO change in their physique.

No one walks into a diet/the gym and has everything down pat. A majority simply attempt doing, and when it doesnt work, quit. Of those that dont quit, some keep at it- A display of tenacity, yes, but when no progress is occurring, something’s wrong. A small percent take a little time and research things. An even smaller percentage find good information. There’s so much BS flying around.

Kinda strayed off topic there, but the point is quite simple: people do without knowing.

Growing up in Texas boys had food shoved at them all the time, boys were encouraged to get bigger. I was very small and self-conscious about it. When I hit the weights in college my only goal was to get bigger, and though I really do not like eating, I ate enough to put on good weight. I say it as something rather simple.

Yet, there was a couple of guys of SE Asia who started out wanting to get big but then decided they wanted to see how little they could weigh. I kept asking them why and they never had much of an answer. I never could tell where their idea came from. Even in college there was pressure to be big. And since I was not getting any taller…

So it seems that a young person’s fat-phobia just stems from a cultural demonizing of body fat. I guess it could be that simple. One thing that I have noticed is many of the kids cartoons I come across have guys with broad shoulders skinny waists and minimal legs. So, now I understand the skinny jeans…

Today I weighed in the client that I was talking about a few posts up.

He has lost another 4 lbs and doesn’t seem too worried.

He’d ask to go to the restroom, where he would do 45 chin-ups using the bar between the stall walls.

he’s my hero

[quote]Akuma01 wrote:
I remember when i first started. There was no grasp on the importance of different things. There was no differentiating. A carb was a carb. There was also a stint where i used to throw up. I would eat a bad meal, or too much of something, and simply throw it up. Thats why there was a huge period where my weight simply fluctuated 5lbs or so, over the course of years. This varied depending on the week, as one id be bulking and the next id be cutting. I recall doing the Atkins for a summer. yea i lost a little weight, but as soon as i stopped it came right back + more.

The problem is such an ignorance of the body entirely. I know a person who paid for a dietician who put her on a 700cal a day diet, one which she would have to go in to check being ketonic. Yea she lost weight, but when it was over, a sea of blubber returned.

You see this everywhere. In gyms i see unilateral, fully extended, 1 inch ROM alternating DB pressing on fitness balls occur. I see sauna suits running around. I see trainers bringing in people every day, for Months and view NO change in their physique.

No one walks into a diet/the gym and has everything down pat. A majority simply attempt doing, and when it doesnt work, quit. Of those that dont quit, some keep at it- A display of tenacity, yes, but when no progress is occurring, something’s wrong. A small percent take a little time and research things. An even smaller percentage find good information. There’s so much BS flying around.

Kinda strayed off topic there, but the point is quite simple: people do without knowing. [/quote]
“When it doesn’t work they just quit” this is why planet fitness and the like that offer lifetime memberships for ridiculous prices are factory’s for money . it does not pay them for people to see progress and actually use their lifetime membership .
are rubbish trainers employed on purpose ? may be , may be not .

[quote]lia67 wrote:

“When it doesn’t work they just quit” this is why planet fitness and the like that offer lifetime memberships for ridiculous prices are factory’s for money . it does not pay them for people to see progress and actually use their lifetime membership .
are rubbish trainers employed on purpose ? may be , may be not .[/quote]

LOL at “maybe”. While I do see it changing lately (as I do see more trainers who actually look like they lift weights now) for the past ten years, many of these gyms purposely hired smaller trainers in order to get that same crowd you just spoke of into the gym in the first place.

I used to work as a personal trainer just before they made that shift back when they hired you BECAUSE you were big.

The mind is very powerful. If someone truely believes in something they trick their minds into locking it in, it’s HARD to change. Not saying it cannot be done just takes time until it clicks for someone.

Look at all those overweight people doing sit ups to get their abs to “show”. No matter how many times you tell them “It doesn’t work like that”, they think you’re lying and will do sit ups day in and day out.

Also it has a lot to do with being poorly educated. They often get their knowlegde from bad resources.

[quote]Fuzzyapple wrote:
The mind is very powerful. If someone truely believes in something they trick their minds into locking it in, it’s HARD to change. Not saying it cannot be done just takes time until it clicks for someone.

Look at all those overweight people doing sit ups to get their abs to “show”. No matter how many times you tell them “It doesn’t work like that”, they think you’re lying and will do sit ups day in and day out.
[/quote]

If this ain’t the truth. I sell fitness equipment and it never fails. Fat ass people come in and say “Yea, I need to start doing my abs.” I gladly sell them their ab boards or crunch machine, but all the time thinking “Man, just eat better and go for a walk.”

[quote]FrozenNinja wrote:
In fear of gaining fat, he completely avoids carbs? [/quote]

It’s sad he doesn’t know that bread moves the meat he’s eating.

[quote]FrozenNinja wrote:
In fear of gaining fat, he completely avoids carbs? [/quote]

It’s sad he doesn’t know that bread moves the meat he’s eating.