{"id":2749,"date":"2016-10-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/bigorexia-take-seriously\/"},"modified":"2024-11-14T09:03:40","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T07:03:40","slug":"bigorexia-take-seriously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/nutrition-blog\/bigorexia-take-seriously\/","title":{"rendered":"Bigorexia: Why we should take it seriously"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019ve all heard of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationaleatingdisorders.org\/anorexia-nervosa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">anorexia nervosa<\/a> \u2013 the eating disorder characterised by obsessive and serious restrictions on food, fear of gaining weight and a total fixation with an impossibly thin physique.<br \/>\nBut did you know there\u2019s a similar condition, called bigorexia?<\/p>\n<p>Since it\u2019s claiming an ever-growing number of victims &#8211; predominantly male \u2013 it\u2019s important to understand that it\u2019s not just a label we can stick onto those guys who seem to spend more time lifting weights than sleeping or working.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s it all about?<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nBigorexia is a body image disorder, and the sufferer is obsessed with building muscle and the \u201cperfect\u201d body shape. It\u2019s often called \u201creverse anorexia\u201d or \u201cmegarexia\u201d. And it\u2019s easy to see why:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Where anorexics are obsessed with being thin, bigorexics are obsessed with having big muscles and very low body fat.<\/li>\n<li>Where anorexics fear weight gain, bigorexics fear being small and weak. They spend hours at the gym, trying to achieve their version of perfection.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2919\" src=\"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/motivation_39-300x274.jpg\" alt=\"What you need to know about bigorexia\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>What are the symptoms?<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nThe symptoms of bigorexia go beyond a simple obsession with exercise (and with weight training in particular). Usually, the sufferer:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is already well muscled, but believes he\u2019s still small and weak \u2013 hence the constant driving need to work out more. They will happily over-exert themselves at the gym, and some sufferers have been known to work out with broken bones or torn ligaments. They panic if they miss a workout.<\/li>\n<li>Spends hours \u2013 not just minutes \u2013 every day thinking about the development of their body (and how far they have to go to get that \u201cperfect physique\u201d).<\/li>\n<li>Checks his appearance in the mirror every hour or two (rather than just once or twice a day).<\/li>\n<li>Constantly compares himself to other men (or herself to other women). And even when they\u2019re comparing themselves against someone with a very similar build, they believe they\u2019re much smaller. This illustrates that the condition is all about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adaa.org\/understanding-anxiety\/related-illnesses\/other-related-conditions\/body-dysmorphic-disorder-bdd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">body dysmorphia<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Won\u2019t eat a meal out of home, since this doesn\u2019t allow for the extreme control of diet \u2013 including individual ingredients\u00a0 and their quantities \u2013 that\u2019s essential to the creation of their perfect body.<\/li>\n<li>Will use steroids to build more muscle, sometimes in spite of the side effects (including breast enlargement and impotence, among others).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Who does it affect and how is it caused?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The majority of bigorexics are males. And they\u2019re usually in their late teens. A fair proportion of them are weight lifters (but that\u2019s not to say that all weightlifters are bigorexic).<\/p>\n<p>And the trouble with this is &#8211; as with most psychological disorders affecting men &#8211; they seldom think they have a problem. So they seldom come forward, asking for help.<\/p>\n<p>As for the \u2018how\u2019, there isn\u2019t a single cause for this disorder, and different schools or models of psychology have differing views on the various causes. Some say that it results from a vicious circle of dysfunctional thoughts. Others believe it results when the sufferer is someone with very low self esteem, who was teased about their appearance as a young child, and has now developed a total and exaggerated fixation with a particular body image.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2920\" src=\"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/It-is-hard-to-beat-a-person-that-NEVER-gives-up-300x296.jpg\" alt=\"Get professional help to cure bigorexia\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>How is it treated?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The sufferer must get the right therapeutic treatment, with a specialist who understands the disorder. They also need to surround themselves with experts who will help them break the cycle of their obsession. This may include a personal trainer who won\u2019t allow them to work out too much and will give them the kind of positive feedback they need. Or a nutritionist who keeps them on a diet that\u2019s healthy.<\/p>\n<p>If you think you could be the kind of personal trainer or nutritionist who helps everyone achieve their best, check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/course\/specialised-courses\/personal-training-certificate\/\">Personal Training Certification <\/a>on offer at <a href=\"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/\">Trifocus Fitness Academy<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/course\/specialised-courses\/personal-training-certificate\/\">Click here <\/a>to find out more.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/X2-aWAHWDqs\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019ve all heard of anorexia nervosa \u2013 the eating disorder characterised by obsessive and serious restrictions on food, fear of gaining weight and a total fixation with an impossibly thin physique. But did you know there\u2019s a similar condition, called bigorexia? Since it\u2019s claiming an ever-growing number of victims &#8211; predominantly male \u2013 it\u2019s important&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2120],"tags":[469,98,37,61,358,18,470,277,359,46],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2749"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2749"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38283,"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2749\/revisions\/38283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}