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Male Athletes With Eating Disorders WTF Boxer And Author Danny O'Conner · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: Ero dot net A r oe dot net. It's more
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  Speaker 1: How are you today?
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  Speaker 2: I'm doing well, how are you doing?
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  Speaker 1: Do an absolutely fantastic and very excited to share a
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  Speaker 1: conversation with you because you're touching on something here that
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  Speaker 1: I swear in all of my training as a martial
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  Speaker 1: artist and even everything that I've even studied in sports,
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  Speaker 1: I've never heard of this, but yet you know, darn
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  Speaker 1: goodnwell it exists.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, I mean that's for sure that I got the
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  Speaker 3: statistics at ten million men that are affected.
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  Speaker 2: So I mean it was a twenty year struggle for me.
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  Speaker 3: So it was something that I felt like I had
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  Speaker 3: to share and shed some light on and hope to
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  Speaker 3: start a conversation.
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  Speaker 1: Well, this conversation starts with this book Weight class a
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  Speaker 1: fighter's life or death battle with an eating disorder. Do
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  Speaker 1: we know that we're actually going through this because even
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  Speaker 1: as a martial artist, I wanted to, you know, to
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  Speaker 1: beef up. Even though my master was very disappointed with me,
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to beef up so you wouldn't throw me
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  Speaker 1: around that ring.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I think being an athlete and having a
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  Speaker 3: regimented schedule and discipline and you know, kind of competing
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  Speaker 3: as an athlete and.
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  Speaker 2: Is one thing, but then getting into an eating.
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  Speaker 3: Disorder is a completely separate thing, you know, And I
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  Speaker 3: think the awareness needs to grow about them, the severity
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  Speaker 3: of them. They are life's threatening. I mean, I was
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  Speaker 3: in the ICU. I almost lost my life numerous times.
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  Speaker 3: So I think it's just, you know, a awareness I
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  Speaker 3: didn't know at the age of fourteen, stepping on a scale,
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  Speaker 3: just trying to compete to be a champion could lead
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  Speaker 3: to a eating disorder that would then wreck havoc all
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  Speaker 3: my life for you know, fifteen years. And so I
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  Speaker 3: think having that conversation early, having the awareness spread so
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  Speaker 3: that people know that they can be affected.
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  Speaker 2: Males, females. It doesn't matter who you are.
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  Speaker 3: You know, everybody eats and so I think having that
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  Speaker 3: awareness spread and understanding this severity and understanding when your
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  Speaker 3: life is at risk, and being able to speak out
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  Speaker 3: and find those supports.
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  Speaker 1: Well, look at the way that we are being trained
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  Speaker 1: by advertising in the way of saying you've got to
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  Speaker 1: have more powder. Do the powder, do the power bars,
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  Speaker 1: do this, do this, you will look good, the muscles
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  Speaker 1: will look well defined. And to me, that's the world
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  Speaker 1: that I thought that we were lost in until your
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  Speaker 1: book came out, and I'm going, wait a second, I
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  Speaker 1: now have a new different view of what people are
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  Speaker 1: going through.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, And that's the thing.
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  Speaker 3: Eating disorders are so very complex and they're kind of
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  Speaker 3: always hiding in plain sight. So between the professional staff
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  Speaker 3: that was keeping me alive and my wife, who has
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  Speaker 3: been my wife for fifteen years and who has been
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  Speaker 3: that crucial support, there wasn't really anyone else in my
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  Speaker 3: world that knew the depth of this. And it was
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  Speaker 3: in direct conflict with what I was doing for my career, right.
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  Speaker 3: My whole career was to make weight, to maintain that weight,
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  Speaker 3: to compete at an elite level, and to chase a dream.
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  Speaker 3: So the more the eating disorder got out of control,
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  Speaker 3: the more of those two things were in direct conflict
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  Speaker 3: of each other, and so I thought it would be
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  Speaker 3: vital to share my experience because the reality is when
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  Speaker 3: I realize, well, there's two parallels here. Number One, there's
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  Speaker 3: the insane weight manipulation that I did to myself and
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  Speaker 3: to my body to make a way class that was unhealthy,
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  Speaker 3: acutely right off the bat. And then you have the
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  Speaker 3: other parallel that after a while I developed this life
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  Speaker 3: threatening eating disorder that then went beyond my control, that
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  Speaker 3: it became something more powerful than me. And so you
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  Speaker 3: have two parallels, because you can absolutely compete in a
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  Speaker 3: weight class sport without an eating disorder, right you feel
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  Speaker 3: yourself the right way, you train hard, you stay disciplined,
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  Speaker 3: and you compete with all your skill.
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  Speaker 2: But ultimately I didn't do that.
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  Speaker 3: There was not a ton of awareness and education about
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  Speaker 3: cutting weight and what to do, and I created all
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  Speaker 3: these negative habits and things within myself that then developed
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  Speaker 3: into this eating disorder and it.
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  Speaker 2: Was definite, definitely debilitating.
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  Speaker 3: And so because there wasn't a lot of conversations in
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  Speaker 3: twenty thirteen when I kind of came out and said, hey,
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  Speaker 3: I need help, Like I'm putting even with my life
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  Speaker 3: at risk, even with my career at risk, even with
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  Speaker 3: you know, fighting for a world championship belt, none of
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  Speaker 3: these things equated to being able to control this eating disorder.
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  Speaker 3: And that's when I knew that there was a serious problem.
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  Speaker 3: And so when I came out to say, hey, like,
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  Speaker 3: first of all, I didn't know what it was. I
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  Speaker 3: didn't know what a eating disorder was. I had no idea.
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  Speaker 3: I didn't know if men could be affected. I had
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  Speaker 3: no idea. And then, I mean it was a fearful time.
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  Speaker 3: I had no idea what was going on with my body.
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  Speaker 3: I knew my mind was trying to do something and
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  Speaker 3: my body was doing something separate. And I've had such
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  Speaker 3: a discipline throughout my whole life as an athlete that
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  Speaker 3: when that, all of a sudden was just gone one
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  Speaker 3: day and I couldn't control the simple act of eating,
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  Speaker 3: I realized, like, WHOA, something's really.
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  Speaker 2: Going on here.
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  Speaker 3: And when I tried to come out, there wasn't a
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  Speaker 3: ton of information like for males, like to be honest,
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  Speaker 3: I mean, those national stats they're estimating ten million men
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  Speaker 3: right Well, in my span of twenty years dealing with this,
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  Speaker 3: I've only spoken to four other men. One wasn't even
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  Speaker 3: a man, it was a child, And so it was
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  Speaker 3: kind of a lonely like, Oh, I don't know if
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  Speaker 3: I fit here.
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  Speaker 2: You know, where's the connection. I didn't have that.
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  Speaker 3: Man readily available to sit down with me and have
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  Speaker 3: a cup of coffee and say, hey, man, you know
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  Speaker 3: what the hell has happened into my body?
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  Speaker 2: What is going on with me?
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  Speaker 3: Because it was a super fearful time in my life,
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  Speaker 3: like I didn't understand what was happening to me and why.
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  Speaker 3: So I felt like putting my story out there so
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  Speaker 3: that other men, other people affected by eating sorts, people
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  Speaker 3: that are cutting weight, could have a real insight into
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  Speaker 3: what I went through. Because ultimately, you know, you got
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  Speaker 3: ten million men, right.
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  Speaker 2: That's the statistic.
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  Speaker 3: Well, adults can master symptoms, so you have to estimate
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  Speaker 3: that a lot of those stats are coming from children, Okay,
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  Speaker 3: so that means children are affected here. And number two,
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  Speaker 3: from all my education and the journey, I realized how
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  Speaker 3: early intervention is such a key aspect in eating disorders.
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  Speaker 2: So I look at this.
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  Speaker 3: Somewhere in the world, you know, Iowa, there's some kid
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  Speaker 3: eighth grade stepping on a scale to be the next
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  Speaker 3: champion with these visions of being an NCAA champion, right,
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  Speaker 3: and so their life style risk and they don't even
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  Speaker 3: know it. If they make any of the same decisions
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  Speaker 3: I made, they could venture down a path that they
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  Speaker 3: might not be able to come back for. And so
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  Speaker 3: early intervention is key. I thought putting my story out
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  Speaker 3: there so that everybody's stepping into a weight class sport
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  Speaker 3: could kind of understand the pitfalls I fell into, and you.
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  Speaker 2: Know all the things that I created in myself.
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  Speaker 1: You know what I mean, Please do not move. There's
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  Speaker 1: more with Danny O'Connor coming up next. The name of
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  Speaker 1: the book weight Class A Fighter's Life or Death Battle
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  Speaker 1: with an eating disorder. We need to talk about this stuff.
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  Speaker 1: We are back with Danny O'Connor. I got to know
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  Speaker 1: what the doctors were saying. And the reason why is
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  Speaker 1: because my doctor's pissed off at me. And the reason
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  Speaker 1: why is because I went from two forty two at
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  Speaker 1: heart attack time to one seventy two now and the
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  Speaker 1: doctor is not happy with me. And I sit there
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  Speaker 1: and go look at John Cena. I mean, I look
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  Speaker 1: at the rock. They've all lost the weight healthy, so
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  Speaker 1: did I. But doctors are not stepping in and getting
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  Speaker 1: loud enough. What's your gut on this.
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  Speaker 3: I've had a lot of experience where professionals from psychiatrists
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  Speaker 3: to sports psychologists, to doctors of psychology to.
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  Speaker 2: Probably every different I went to a shaman.
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  Speaker 3: I mean literally when I went on the recovery, I
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  Speaker 3: tried everything because some supports were not you know, I
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  Speaker 3: went to an intensi ab outpatient.
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  Speaker 2: It was all females.
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  Speaker 3: It was all female practitioners, like the professional staff, and
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  Speaker 3: so a lot of the stuff in the traditional eating
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  Speaker 3: disorder world, I didn't feel like I fit. So I
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  Speaker 3: literally tried everything under the sun, million things, multiple things
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  Speaker 3: at one time at some points to try to get
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  Speaker 3: a handle on it. So the one thing that that
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  Speaker 3: I will say, like, you have to find the supports
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  Speaker 3: that fit for.
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  Speaker 2: You, just because it's just because it's a.
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  Speaker 3: Support that might be out there, it may not be
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  Speaker 3: the best support for you.
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  Speaker 2: And that's kind of like, you know, that is a
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  Speaker 2: hard thing.
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  Speaker 3: You go somewhere and you're trying to save your own
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  Speaker 3: life and you're desperate and things are chaotic, and then
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  Speaker 3: all of a sudden it doesn't work, and that's pretty defeating,
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  Speaker 3: But you just have to keep going, keep pushing until
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  Speaker 3: you find that support. And I think professional help is
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  Speaker 3: a lot like finding a girlfriend, Like just because you
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  Speaker 3: find one that's wicked credential doesn't mean that it might
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  Speaker 3: be the right one for you.
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  Speaker 2: So you have to have that.
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  Speaker 3: Resiliency to kind of keep going until you find the
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  Speaker 3: right fit for you. Who's gonna listen to you and
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  Speaker 3: who's gonna, you know, be supportive of what you want
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  Speaker 3: to do in a healthy way. So I think it's
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  Speaker 3: just a matter of finding those right supports.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, Danny. And it also has to include
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  Speaker 1: those in the sport talking to each other, because how
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  Speaker 1: many times have we gone up to somebody and said whoa, WHOA,
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  Speaker 1: what's going on here? And they go, shut up, leave
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  Speaker 1: me alone. I got this handle, I got it undercover.
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  Speaker 1: See we're hiding in front of those that are doing
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  Speaker 1: it right there with us.
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  Speaker 2: I mean I hid him plain sight, in front of
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  Speaker 2: the whole world for twenty years.
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  Speaker 3: I mean I didn't tell anybody in the sport of
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  Speaker 3: boxing because I viewed it as a direct liability to
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  Speaker 3: being able to compete. If I can't compete, how am
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  Speaker 3: I going to achieve my dreams? Right?
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  Speaker 2: And so I literally hid in playing.
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  Speaker 3: Sight for the whole world when I decided, Okay, this
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  Speaker 3: story is so impactful, I got to tell someone.
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  Speaker 2: I just wrote a book and told the whole world
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  Speaker 2: that's it.
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  Speaker 3: So outside of like my wife and my professional team,
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  Speaker 3: no one really knew. So I think that in this
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  Speaker 3: in combat sports, it's just a cultural thing, and I've
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  Speaker 3: seen it change. Like, you know, the old mindset was
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  Speaker 3: let me artificially, you know, get my body down to
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  Speaker 3: a certain size that it shouldn't be there, and I
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  Speaker 3: can compete because I'll have a better chance.
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  Speaker 2: But in reality, that isn't the way to be the
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  Speaker 2: best athlete.
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  Speaker 3: The best athlete is to not cut way, to train
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  Speaker 3: as hard as you can, to be disciplined, to be
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  Speaker 3: a savage, to go out there and compete with all
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  Speaker 3: your skill and be fully fueled. And so I think
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  Speaker 3: people are realizing that more now, you know, And hopefully
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  Speaker 3: it's just a cultural thing and it will change the
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  Speaker 3: more people that speak out about it, you know, hopefully
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  Speaker 3: it will change, because at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 3: the reality is death should never ever be the result
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  Speaker 3: of making weight. It just shouldn't like that shouldn't even
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  Speaker 3: be a thing you should be healthy, you should be
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  Speaker 3: an athlete, and you should go compete fully fueled and
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  Speaker 3: at your best skill.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, where can people go to find out more about you? Danny?
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  Speaker 1: And this book because I want your voice to be
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  Speaker 1: heard every day, not just in this moment of now.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know it's funny.
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  Speaker 3: I don't love talking about the stuff. You know, I'm
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  Speaker 3: a pretty private person. I thought if I write a book,
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  Speaker 3: it could be the blueprint for everybody that's struggling.
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  Speaker 2: You can go read it. Then I realized when you
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  Speaker 2: write a book, you got to talk about it more.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah.
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  Speaker 3: So so now listen, this is the market and plan.
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  Speaker 3: I'm gonna make my way to the Joe Rogan podcast.
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  Speaker 3: Once I get there, you have the audience of the
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  Speaker 3: whole world. Then I can tell everybody my story. And
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  Speaker 3: here's the thing, guys. There was a book written in
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  Speaker 3: two thousand and seven a guy from Canada. His name
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  Speaker 3: was McDonald, and it was about his experience as male
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  Speaker 3: eating disorder, and it did talk about combat sports.
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  Speaker 2: Now, it wasn't lived experience, but here's the deal. That
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  Speaker 2: message wasn't being talked about loud enough. I didn't hear that.
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  Speaker 2: It's not in print now, I.
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  Speaker 3: Couldn't read it like if I had maybe some more
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  Speaker 3: guidance in my earlier years before I started down this
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  Speaker 3: path of cutting weight and manipulating my body and ultimately
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  Speaker 3: developed this eating sort, I think things could have been different.
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  Speaker 3: So it's really important for me to get to the
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  Speaker 3: highest platform and speak my message.
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  Speaker 2: You can buy the book on Amazon or bite like
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  Speaker 2: aman dot com.
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  Speaker 3: Is my personal website that has all the links to
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  Speaker 3: the different ways to get the book and to uh
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  Speaker 3: to to you know, book me for speaking. So that's
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  Speaker 3: really my my message here is to to shout it
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  Speaker 3: louder than than than I possibly can, so that everybody
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  Speaker 3: can hear it.
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  Speaker 1: If I see Joe Rogan slim down like the rock,
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  Speaker 1: I know we're all going to hell. There's no I'm
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  Speaker 1: telling you that, because that man is at the perfect place,
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  Speaker 1: the perfect time, and if I see him start slimming down,
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  Speaker 1: it's gonna bug the hell out of me. And I'm
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  Speaker 1: gonna reach for your book even deeper to figure out
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  Speaker 1: what we're gonna do to get this man back on track.
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  Speaker 1: But man, you've got to come back to this show
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  Speaker 1: anytime in the future. Danny. I love your story. I
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  Speaker 1: love your heart and we've got to talk more than
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  Speaker 1: this one time.
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  Speaker 3: Oh absolutely, I love I'd love to be back and
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  Speaker 3: I appreciate the time today.
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  Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today?
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  Speaker 2: Okay, sir, I will. I'll talk to you soon