I'm Richie, I'm 26, from the UK, and I've struggled with binge eating since I was 19.
I didn't fully realise about my binge eating until two years ago when I ate 10,271 calories in 21 hours.
I felt I was living a double life. From the outside it looked good: I'd graduated from Cambridge, I'd started a company the year before, I was sociable at parties. On the inside, I felt like a failure and felt like my life wasn't going anywhere.
As men, we don't learn about eating disorders.
- Society tells us "it's something women have".
- Our own brains tell us "it's not manly, it's shameful".
- Our well-meaning friends tell us "you're fine mate, we all like food".
Luckily, I've had CBT therapy in the last 18 months and am doing better now.
But the stigma and the shame needs to change.
My mission is to make it easier for men like me — and maybe if you're reading this, men like you — to get the help we need. That's why I started Fella.