Fixing Bigorexia – One Step at a Time

The first step is to decide whether you really think you’re suffering from an eating disorder, or if you just enjoy working out and seeing your body change.

If it’s the first option, then book an appointment with your doctor, or see a registered dietitian – they’ll have the tools to help you overcome your condition, or will be able to refer you to the right professionals who can help you out.

If, however, you’re just enjoying building bigger muscles and gaining strength, there’s nothing to worry about. You just may want to take a look at how you run your life.

Considering most of the general public avoid the gym 99 percent of the time and have little discipline and drive when it comes to dieting, you should be commended for your efforts. 

Passing up on the opportunity to go out for drinks in favor of getting in your planned workout is fine once in a while, especially if your coworkers tend to hit the bars every night for a three hour drinking session. Missing out on your best friend’s birthday bash or skipping a family birthday or special event just because you need to get your third weekly hamstring workout in, however, is not. It’s all about priorities, so it’s vital to realize that you can train hard and eat right, but still have a social life and not wind people up by always blowing them off.

 While Bulgarian weightlifters may train twice a day, six days per week, and IFBB pro bodybuilders rarely take a day off, often doing double sessions of weights and cardio, as an average Joe, albeit a strong and muscular one, you can get awesome results with just three to four 45 to 60 minute sessions each week.

As for diet, you’ve got to be flexible. A muscle building diet doesn’t have to be 100 percent perfect, and you needn’t only eat egg whites, tuna, broccoli and rice. You can go out for a meal – just pick a steak and veggies over macaroni cheese and one drink isn’t going to rob you of your hard earned progress.

You may still get the odd funny look, or snide comment, when you mention your training regime, or try to discuss the merits of high carb vs low carb with people, but this is just because the concept of being fit, healthy and muscular is completely alien to a lot of guys.

Don’t think that it means you’re bigorexic – be proud of your discipline and desire and of what you’ve achieved, but remember that you can still be a cool, sociable, flexible guy and have big muscles too!