– I think that if my mother had known half a year before that boys can get eating disorders, because she didn’t, we would never have experienced this. Leon Pal’s goal was to achieve the perfect body. Muscular, but at the same time slim. A bit like a fit Hollywood celebrity. But it developed into something more. Eventually, food parcels were thrown away, meals became fewer and exercise became most important. It would be a long time before he or anyone around him understood how ill he was. When Leon realized he had an eating disorder, he still didn’t understand how food would make things better. He continued the strict regime. One day on his way to training, he collapses. He is sent to Ullevål hospital. Leon turns 16 while he is there, and at the same time hovers between life and death. The admission was supposed to be a kind of turning point. Six years have passed. He still exercises a lot, but he has caught the disease from a distance. He hopes that his story can help others. – I remember wanting to start a new slimming project a little while after I was declared healthy. My mind started racing and I stopped immediately. It wasn’t worth it. High dark numbers The statistics on eating disorders have traditionally shown that 9 out of 10 are girls. But the figures among boys are feared to be high. For many, the thin, young girl is the only image of an eating disorder. Adviser at ROS, Elin Heitmann, believes it is more difficult for boys to identify with the disease, when it has long been associated with women. – We quickly become worried about a girl who exercises every day and is very concerned about what she eats. If boys do it, we are less likely to worry. Elin Heitmann works as an adviser for ROS. She herself has struggled with eating disorders. Photo: Leif Dalen / news Leon still remembers when his mother took a test called “Does your daughter have an eating disorder”. – As a boy, I felt extra stupid and lonely in the whole thing. I didn’t even manage to get a “boy disease”. For a long time, no one around him was concerned that something was wrong. – If a fourteen-year-old girl starts eating less, an eating disorder is one of the first things that comes to mind. It’s not necessarily like that with boys, says Leon. Most girls contact ROS, but Heitmann feels that there are more boys than before. She believes that an unrealistic ideal in social media, where men are portrayed as more muscular than before, contributes to unhealthy food and exercise habits. – I see that it is much more complex now. It is more often about getting a perfect body. Not necessarily just a thin body, she says. Heitmann has tips for what to look for if you suspect that someone you know has an eating disorder: Abnormally preoccupied with food, body and weight Very concerned with comparing themselves to other people’s bodies The person is more sad and withdrawn than normal Keeps to himself Another face of the disease Eating disorders in boys and men often revolve around a strong desire for a slim but at the same time strong body. – The behavior is associated with a lot of exercise and an extreme focus on diet. That’s what Monica Klungland Torstveit says. She is professor of sports science at the Faculty of Health and Sports Science at UiA. Monica Klungland Torstveit says that people of normal weight make up a large proportion of those with eating disorders. This makes it even more challenging to identify people who struggle with it. Photo: Ina Marie Sigurdsen / news She believes that many still see eating disorders as a female phenomenon. – That is not right at all. We have sufficient research to show that boys and men can struggle with the same challenges. The fact that they do not know that it may apply to them has consequences for whether they seek help, she believes. – As a result, they do not understand their own symptoms and are therefore less open about what they struggle with in their everyday lives. Procedures in place At Sats’ gyms, eating disorders are a topic that is followed up on an ongoing basis. Center manager at Sats Aquarama in Kristiansand, Nina Marie Gyberg, must in her position know the causes and complications of eating disorders. She must know how to deal with the problem, if someone at your center is struggling with this. – We always have employees at work who follow up on the members. We notice those who train a lot and talk to them often. It is in many ways the first step when we are concerned about whether their training is developing in an unhealthy direction. Center manager at Sats Aquarama, Nina Marie Gyberg, believes that more boys may struggle with eating disorders, among other things, due to increased pressure from social media. Photo: Per-Kåre Sandbakk / news Sats has drawn up the procedure for how this is to be followed up. They often encourage the individual to contact professional help. – We want to motivate and inspire healthy exercise habits. In cases where we become concerned about the member, we do what we can to get them to seek professional help. A fatal eating disorder Admission to Ullevål Hospital was the start of a long process for Leon. He stayed in the hospital for eight weeks. The time there was difficult, but important. He got professional help, as he needed. – My doctor told me that I could die if I passed out, which I did from time to time. The heart could stop beating, because the pulse was so low. The parents worked hard to be there. The relationship with the father had never been so good. The mother had always been a rock. Now they were there for him 24/7. One year after admission, he was declared healthy. With his family’s support and his own determination, he managed to create the life he wanted. The 22-year-old has never been afraid of relapse. He now hopes that he can be a role model for boys who are going through the same thing as him. But he believes the dark figures among boys are big, and that there are more young people struggling than before. In the absence of healthy role models, he is afraid that many young people compare themselves to what they see on social media. – With social media, you never know what is real, and the representation of the good life is often false. But you don’t always understand when you’re young. Do you need to talk to someone? These are here to give advice and guidance, or just to chat: ROS: 94 81 78 18 [email protected] chat Spisfo: 22 94 00 10 [email protected] Church SOS: Church SOS: Call 22 40 00 40 chat Mental Health Helpline: Call 116 123
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