Health and Fitness

How an Anorexic Boy Became a Top Bodybuilder

A six-step holistic approach to transforming a weak body into a strong one with healthy lifestyle habits and professional support

This story presents the impact and implications of eating disorders on physical and mental health, using a case study to highlight the condition's significance.

My goal is to briefly introduce six practical solution steps comprising lifestyle habits that can improve eating disorders, particularly anorexia, with support from professionals, at a high level. I believe others might customize this holistic approach as a helpful template.

The purpose is to create awareness and provide valuable information to the readers by leveraging a real-life scenario. Stephan believed that his case could give valuable perspectives to young people like him who have eating disorders.

A Brief Introduction to Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are widespread, affecting around 10% of the population. For example, according to ANAD (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders), it affects around 28.8 million people in the US.

Further, ANAD informs that 10,200 deaths yearly result from an eating disorder. About 26% of people with eating disorders attempt suicide. The economic cost of eating disorders is $64.7 billion every year.

In general, an eating disorder is a severe mental ailment. It relates to patient disturbances in thoughts, emotions, and behaviors toward food and eating. In addition, it includes an obsession with body image.

DSM (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) classify eating disorder under five categories: Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa, Binge eating disorder, ARFID, and Other eating disorders.

ARFID stands for Avoidant/restrictive Food Intake Disorder. DSM defines it as an eating or feeding disorder characterized by a persistent and disturbing pattern of feeding or eating that leads to a failure to meet nutritional and energy needs.

As the central theme of this piece is anorexia, I explain this specific eating disorder in the following section. Unlike binge eating, people with this disorder refrain from food.

What is Anorexia?

Anorexia is a common eating disorder. It causes the patients to obsess about what they eat, their weight, and their body composure. People with anorexia might have a distorted body image.

Even if they have slim bodies, they still might think they are overweight. Therefore, they attempt to keep their body weight using unhealthy ways such as starvation and excessive exercise. One noticeable behavior is excessive calorie counting.

As anorexia is a psychosomatic issue, patients need support from their family doctors, metabolic health specialists, physiologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists to restore their bodies and resolve associated mental issues.

Qualified healthcare professionals might need to use various ways to treat anorexia. In addition to medical and nutritional interventions, cognitive behavioral therapy is also used as a treatment and prevention method.

A Brief Background to Stephan’s Life

Stephan volunteered to share his story with me and agreed to share it with others anonymously. He believed that his case could give valuable perspectives to other young people like him who have eating disorders.

His unhealthy relationship with food since childhood contributed to Stephan's disordered eating. Some foods disgusted him. Everything smelled terrible, and he feared chewing food despite the support and encouragement from his parents.

His parent took him to a pediatrician (child doctor) who diagnosed him with an eating disorder. The specialist helped him to improve his condition. After a while, he improved. However, in his hindsight, the situation was not treated fully in his confirmation.

Even though he started eating some nutritious food, he was highly concerned about his body. He constantly thought that his body was unattractive and believed that he needed to reduce eating and increase exercise.

When Stephan reached the age of 16, he had difficulty connecting with other people. Socializing became a problem. His social intelligence and self-esteem were low. He felt useless and worthless internally, hiding his unpleasant emotions from others.

His physical education teacher recognizing his unusual situation of Stephan, referred him to the school counselor, who was an adolescent psychologist. Looking at his medical history, the counselor decided to refer Stephan to a psychotherapist to discuss the details with his parents.

Starting psychotherapy opened an optimistic window for Stephan, as I briefly touched on in the next section. He needed to learn self-love and self-compassion to improve his self-confidence.

1 — Supervised Psychotherapy

The therapist knew that Stephan’s problem was not about food but his emotional needs using food as a means to express them. However, he didn’t know about his mental and emotional problems hindering him. He was believed to be an unusual kid.

Stephan had no idea why he got disgusted with some food so much. When he tried to take a bite of his food, thousands of negative thoughts came to his mind. He imagined germs and other harmful content that would invade his body and try to kill him.

The biggest contribution of psychotherapy for Stephan was turning his internal monologue into a dialogue. It was the first step for him toward the healing process.

When describing his situation, he opened a path to understanding the root causes of the situation. His self-defeating monologue in the form of remuneration was one of the root causes.

The more he opened himself to the therapist, the more he learned about himself. Finally, the therapist helped him recognize the real issue. Deep down, he craved more security, love, and belongingness caused by unresolved traumas in his early childhood.

After several psychotherapy sessions, the therapist created a practical plan for Stephan to address the root causes of the issue pragmatically, methodically, and collaboratively with help from several other professionals.

The first approach was to get a referral to a dietician via Stephan’s family doctor. His parents agreed to pay the private payment as they really wanted their son to be recovered from anorexia.

2 — Personalized Diet

A certified dietician specializing in pediatric nutrition and eating disorders reviewed his medical history and assessed Stephan’s situation.

The dietician looked at Stephan’s situation from multiple angles. She analyzed the food groups giving him the most significant problems. Some patterns emerged that helped the dietician to design a unique diet meeting Stephan’s needs.

Information provided by the psychotherapist and family doctor empowered the dietician to tweak the diet to support Stephan. Both dieticians and psychotherapists provided some valuable insights and practical advice to help Stephan in this journey.

The customized diet worked well. However, Stephan did not want to eat too frequently. For example, he did not feel an appetite for lunch after breakfast. The food did not look disgusting, but he simply had no appetite.

The dietician helped him to skip lunch safely by ensuring his breakfast included essential nutrients and adequate calories for his daily energy requirements.

3 — Time Restricted Eating

Skipping lunch improved Stephan’s situation. When he did not eat lunch, he started feeling hungry for dinner. He began enjoying his food.

After careful review, the dietician believed that time-restricted eating is a viable solution for Stephan. This two-meal regime suited him well. He started gaining some weight with his improved and personalized diet.

However, he did not have a fear of weight and food anymore. After fixing this physical hurdle, the second plan psychotherapist had for Stephan was to introduce him to mindfulness to allow him to be self-sufficient.

4 — Mindfulness Training

The therapist taught Stephan to observe his thoughts and emotions and keep a journal daily. Stephan liked the idea. He mentioned it to his teachers at school.

His school counselor informed Stephan that there was a meditation and yoga class at school and offered him to attend the course free of charge for students.

These classes opened a new window for Stephan. After each session of practicing meditation, yoga, and journaling by himself, his self-confidence started improving. He connected with other students better.

At a birthday party during the school holiday, Stephen met Alex, who was studying in France and visiting his grandparents in Australia. Alex had an astonishing body and a charming personality.

Meeting with Alex was serendipitous for Stephan.

5 — Parkour Training

When Stephan asked him the secret about his attractive body and uplifting mood, Alex introduced a special training called parkour. He tremendously enjoyed practicing it in France and gained many physical and mental health benefits. Alex had different childhood traumas.

Alex mentioned that he knew about some parkour centers in Australia. He provided some information and contact details about the center.

Stephan got very attracted to the idea after watching some YouTube videos. He found a parkour course and social group in Melbourne and enrolled in it.

This unique course and group rewired his brain and significantly improved his body composure. His self-confidence increased, and his social anxieties diminished. His core strength was enhanced. In addition, his focus, memory, task-switching, creativity, and problem-solving skills improved.

Stephan believed that meeting Alex was godsent to him. Parkour was a catalyst for him to find his true self. I plan to share Alex’s parkour story in another post.

While interacting with the social group members, Stephan met some friends who won bodybuilding contests. They were of similar age to him. These bodybuilders were different than what he used to imagine. They were relatively slimmer and more agile.

These new friends opened another window for Stephan.

6 — Resistance Training with HIIT

Stephan joined a fitness group training aspiring bodybuilders to have astonishing physiques and win contests held nationally and internationally.

Stephan’s parents supported him in joining, as his dad always wanted to be a bodybuilder but never had a chance. He wanted his son to be one.

The fitness program included weight lifting, calisthenics, and high-intensity interval training. Stephan gained a lot of calisthenics skills when he performed parkour. Therefore, he quickly started the advanced group.

He said there was something special about calisthenics, weight lifting, and HIIT when I met him in our 1,000 push-ups a day challenge.

After each session, he felt a remarkable appetite. Stephan wanted to discuss his new and unusual appetite for food with his dietician, who monitored his progress.

Interestingly, after starting resistance and HIIT training, Stephan wanted to eat lunch. Food looked more appetizing. So he started eating three nutritious meals with healthy fats, unrefined carbs, and increased protein for his muscle growth and bone density.

Within a year, Stephan gained an astonishing body. His muscles grew, and his bones got denser. Seeing his six-pack abs delighted him and his parents.

The Joy of Transformation

Stephan continued his bodybuilding courses by seeing tangible physical and psychological benefits. After the second year, he joined the competition and got fifth place out of over 100 competitors. In the third year, he got third place.

The center was impressed by his performance and offered him to be a full-time personal trainer for their members. Stephan accepted the position and became a permanent fitness coach in the center. He continued parkour and calisthenics as a hobby.

He not only made himself satisfied but also made his parents very happy. His mother and father couldn’t hold their joyful tears with the progress of their once anorexic kid.

During his work in the fitness center, Stephan met a soulmate, Angela, who used to be anorexic but became a gymnast after solving her issues.

Furthermore, Stephan and Angela got married and helped many young people with eating disorders. They contributed to boosting the low esteem of teenagers to taste true success like themselves. I plan to share Angela’s unique story in another post.

Conclusions and Takeaways

Food plays a critical role in our lives. For example, our relationship with food determines our physical and mental health.

Eating disorders are severe physical and mental health disorders affecting the lives of millions of people. In addition, over 25% of genetic risks mean that patients can inherit the disorder from their parents.

Even though eating disorders, especially anorexia, is not lifestyle disease, lifestyle choices with the help of qualified healthcare professionals can significantly improve the condition of people.

In this story, I provided a typical case of a person whose eating disorder started in childhood and was diagnosed by professionals.

The key takeaway of this story is the impact of psychotherapy in identifying and solving underlying issues. Only after therapy, when Stephan resolved his emotional traumas, did his behavior change positively.

The physical input, such as from a dietician and fitness people, contributed to his improvement after solving mental and emotional issues. Mindfulness techniques such as meditation, yoga, and journaling also contributed to his healing.

To conclude, a holistic health approach covering physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects might be ideal for solving eating disorders sustainably. I believe that an integrative approach to health is necessary to understand each layer and create relevant solutions.

Stephan’s situation resonated well with me and touched my heart. I was not anorexic but had a different eating disorder, such as artificially created fatphobia, which gave me nightmares in my younger years. Therefore, I have empathy and compassion for those with eating disorders.

I'd appreciate your comments if you or anyone in your circles resolved eating disorders.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

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