Eating Disorders in Men Are Real and More Common Than You Think
Brian Pollack, LCSW, CEDS-C
Brian is the Founder and Clinical Director of Hilltop Behavioral Health, a boutique eating disorder specialty practice in Summit, NJ. He is one of the few male master’s-level Certified Eating Disorder Specialists in the country, with expertise in FBT, male clients, athletes, and muscle dysmorphia. He hosts the Minding Men podcast and serves as an adjunct professor at Yeshiva University.
Learn more about Brian →You probably didn’t come to this page easily. Maybe you’ve been circling the idea for weeks. Maybe someone who loves you sent you here. Either way, something brought you and that matters.
Here’s what you need to hear first: what you’re experiencing is real, it has a name, and there is treatment designed specifically for you.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Eating disorders are not a woman’s disease. They never were.
An estimated 10 million men in the United States will struggle with a clinically significant eating disorder at some point in their lives. When you account for the full spectrum of disordered eating; rigid food rules, compulsive exercise, body dysmorphia, binge eating, and restriction, the numbers climb even higher. Of the more than 33 million Americans currently affected by eating disorders, at least one in three is male.
Yet the conversation almost never includes men.
That gap isn’t because men aren’t suffering. It’s because the cultural story we tell about eating disorders has been almost entirely written around women, leaving men without language for what they’re experiencing, without mirrors in the treatment world, and without permission to reach out.
The result? Men tend to seek help only when their symptoms have become severe. They white-knuckle it longer, hide it better, and suffer more, not because they’re stronger, but because the system has given them no clear entry point.
This page is one.
Why Men Don’t Get Help (And Why That Has to Change)
Society sends men a consistent message: hold it together. Project strength. Control your environment. Dominate your body. Never show weakness.
Those messages don’t disappear when you’re struggling, they compound. When food, weight, exercise, or your body image starts to feel out of control, the shame of admitting it is layered on top of the symptoms themselves. You’re not just dealing with the disorder. You’re dealing with the fear that admitting it makes you less of a man.
Research confirms what most men already know instinctively: males are significantly less likely to seek treatment for eating disorders, even when symptoms are severe. Stigma, misdiagnosis, a lack of male-specific treatment options, and the absence of representation in awareness campaigns all contribute to the gap.
The costs of that delay are real. Eating disorders carry the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness. Early intervention changes outcomes. And crisis, the point at which men most often finally reach out is entirely avoidable.
You don’t have to wait until you feel like you’re drowning to get help.
What Eating Disorders Look Like in Men
One reason men go undiagnosed is that eating disorders present differently across genders and most screening tools, educational materials, and even clinician training have been built around female presentations.
In men, warning signs often center on performance, control, and body composition rather than weight loss alone. Here’s what to look for:
Physical and Behavioral Signs
- Rigid, rule-driven eating patterns that feel non-negotiable
- Obsessive tracking of macros, protein intake, or caloric data
- Overuse of protein supplements, creatine, or “clean eating” protocols
- Compulsive or punishing exercise routines – workouts that feel more like obligation or punishment than enjoyment
- Significant restriction of food groups framed as “discipline” or “eating healthy”
- Binge eating episodes, often in private, often followed by shame
- Purging behaviors – not always discussed, but present in men more than commonly recognized
Psychological and Emotional Signs
- Intense preoccupation with food, body composition, or athletic performance
- Fear of being perceived as small, weak, or soft – clinically referred to as muscle dysmorphia
- Poor body image despite objective physical fitness
- Social withdrawal, irritability, or difficulty being present around food-related situations
- Anxiety or rigid thinking that extends beyond food into other areas of life
- Shame, secrecy, and difficulty talking about body or food concerns
Co-Occurring Conditions – Men with eating disorders frequently also experience:
- Depression – the leading co-occurring disorder in men with anorexia
- Anxiety disorders, including OCD-spectrum presentations
- Substance use disorders, which co-occur at particularly high rates in men with binge eating disorder
- ADHD, trauma histories, and perfectionism-driven achievement patterns
If several of these resonate, even if you’d never have called it an “eating disorder” you’re in the right place.
“What Male Eating Disorder Treatment Looks Like at Hilltop”
Hilltop Behavioral Health is a specialty outpatient eating disorder practice serving clients across New Jersey and 21+ states via telehealth. We were built specifically to fill the gaps in eating disorder care, and treating men is one of the most important gaps we fill.
Here’s what makes our male-specific treatment different:
Male Therapists Who Specialize in Eating Disorders
Finding a male eating disorder clinician is genuinely difficult. We have two! Our Clinical Director, Brian Pollack, LCSW, CEDS-C, is among a small number of male therapists in the country certified as an Eating Disorder Specialist. He has completed rigorous advanced training through the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (IAEDP) and has been FBT-trained since 2017. He is a former board member of the National Association for Males with Eating Disorders (NAMED), an organization whose very mission mirrors why Hilltop exists.
A Clinical Team That Understands Gender-Informed Care
Our team includes specialists credentialed at the highest levels in the eating disorder field including a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Supervisor (CEDS-C), Registered Dietitians with eating disorder certification, and doctoral-level support. Every member of our team is trained to approach male presentations without the assumptions that make so many men feel like they don’t quite fit the mold.
Language and Culture That Doesn’t Make You Feel Like an Outsider
This matters more than it sounds. Many men who enter traditional eating disorder treatment describe feeling like they’ve walked into a space that wasn’t built for them language that centers on weight and thinness, group dynamics that feel misaligned, conceptual frameworks that don’t map onto how they think about their bodies or their struggles.
We deliberately craft treatment environments where men feel like legitimate patients, not outliers. Our groups for men are structured around the themes most relevant to male experience: performance identity, strength culture, control, masculinity norms, and the unique role that sport and fitness often play in maintaining disordered patterns.
Telehealth Across 21+ States
You shouldn’t have to live near one of the rare specialty eating disorder practices to access quality care. Hilltop delivers the same level of clinical expertise through telehealth, with the added benefit of privacy and convenience that many men prefer. If you’re in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Illinois, or any of the other states we serve, we can work together.
You Don’t Have to Call It an Eating Disorder
Many of the men who work with us don’t walk in with that label. They come in because:
- They can’t stop thinking about food, even when they don’t want to
- Their relationship with the gym has crossed a line they can feel but can’t name
- Someone who loves them told them something was wrong
- They’ve been controlling what they eat for so long they’ve forgotten what it feels like not to
- They binge, then hate themselves, then do it again
- Their body has become the primary place they process everything – stress, anger, failure, shame
Whatever brought you here, you don’t need to arrive with a diagnosis. You need to arrive. We’ll figure out the rest together.
What Treatment Actually Looks Like
Hilltop offers specialty outpatient treatment – a step below residential or intensive day programs, but far more structured and evidence-based than general therapy. For many men, this level is exactly right: serious clinical support without having to pause their lives.
Treatment at Hilltop typically includes:
- Individual therapy using evidence-based modalities including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Family-Based Treatment (FBT) for adolescents and young adults, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Nutritional counseling with a registered dietitian who specializes in eating disorder recovery
- Group therapy designed with male-specific content and peer dynamics
- Coordination with your existing providers: psychiatrists, PCPs, and other treating clinicians
- Family involvement when appropriate and desired
We meet you where you are. Treatment is collaborative, non-judgmental, and grounded in the reality that recovery isn’t about eating less or more, it’s about getting your life back.
Take the First Step
Reaching out is the hardest part. We know that. We’ve sat across from enough men to understand exactly how much it took to get to this moment.
If you’re ready to talk or even just ready to ask a question, contact Hilltop Behavioral Health. We offer a free initial consultation so you can get a feel for who we are and what we offer before committing to anything.
You’ve been strong enough to manage this alone. You don’t have to be.
Radio & TV
- NPR: Airtalk with Larry Mantle – Segment on Binge Eating
- Good Day Philadelphia: The Stigma Surrounding Eating Disorders
- NPR: Accepting our Bodies; Positivity and Neutrality
- MLTV21: Minding Men
- MLTV21: Men and Mental Health
Print & Media:
- Philadephia Inquirer: What to Know about Eating Disorders
- Inverse.com: Why Intermittent Fasting Can Become a Dangerous Choice for Men
- Fatherly: Why We Don’t Talk About the 10 Million Men With Eating Disorders
- Huffington Post: How to Survive the Holidays with an Eating Disorder
- National Eating Disorders Association: Male Shame No More!
- Cracked.com: 6 Things you Learn as a Guy with an Eating Disorder
- Illustrative Video: Do Men Have Eating Disorders?
Articles:
- When a Man says, “I’m Weak”
- From Boys to Men | Signs and Symptoms of Eating Disorders
- Breaking the SIlence: Men and Eating Disorders
- Disentangling the “I’m Fine” Retort from Boys and Men
- My Kids Weirdest Eating Habits Are…
- The Importance of Men’s Wellbeing: A Discussion
References
Griffiths, S., Mond, J. M., Li, Z., Gunatilake, S., Murray, S. B., Sheffield, J., & Touyz, S. (2015). Self-stigma of seeking treatment and being male predict an increased likelihood of having an undiagnosed eating disorder. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 48(6), 775–778. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22413
Hudson, J. I., Hiripi, E., Pope, H. G., & Kessler, R. C. (2007). The prevalence and correlates of eating disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Biological Psychiatry, 61(3), 348–358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.03.040
Mitchison, D., & Mond, J. (2015). Epidemiology of eating disorders, eating disordered behaviour, and body image disturbance in males: A narrative review. Journal of Eating Disorders, 3, Article 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-015-0058-y
Welch, S. L., & Fairburn, C. G. (1996). Impulsivity or comorbidity in bulimia nervosa. British Journal of Psychiatry, 169(4), 451–458. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.169.4.451