Ed Sheeran opens up about struggles with eating disorder: I was always like, ‘Well, why am I so … fat?’

Ed Sheeran opens up about struggles with eating disorder: I was always like, ‘Well, why am I so … fat?’

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran recently opened up about his struggles with body image, and how that led him to suffer from an eating disorder. In a new interview, the Shape of You hitmaker further shared that he would compare his “fat” body with the “fantastic figures” of Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber.

“I’m self-conscious anyway, but you get into an industry where you’re getting compared to every other pop star,” he told The Rolling Stones.

“I was in the One Direction wave, and I’m like, ‘Well, why don’t I have a six-pack?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, because you love kebabs and drink beer.’ Then you do songs with Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes. All these people have fantastic figures. And I was always like, ‘Well, why am I so … fat?'” he added.

Sheeran further shared that these thoughts took a hold of him to an extent that he developed an eating disorder, and soon started relating to Elton John, who, in his memoir, Me, shared that he struggled with bulimia for six years.

“So I found myself doing what Elton talks about in his book — gorging, and then it would come up again,” he said.

Sheeran also shared that as a man, opening up about his body-image issues and eating disorder has been “mad uncomfortable”. “There’s certain things that, as a man talking about them, I feel mad uncomfortable. I know people are going to see it a type of way, but it’s good to be honest about them. Because so many people do the same thing and hide it as well”.

But now, the singer focuses his energy on fitness. “I’m a real binge eater. I’m a binge-everything. But I’m now more of a binge exerciser,” he shared.

What are eating disorders?

Eating disorder is a mental condition where an individual tries to control his/her feelings and emotions with food hunger. Speaking with indianexpress.com Prachi Jain, HOD – Nutrition and Dietetics, C K Birla Hospital, Gurugram said, “Some people eat too much in stressed conditions and some may stop eating at all in stress”. Anyone can be affected by this disorder to look lean, attractive and to look a certain way, but generally it is “seen most common in adolescent age”.

ALSO READ |After suffering from ‘horrifying’ eating disorder, how Hilary Duff got into ‘the best shape of her life’

Types of eating disorders

Jain shared that three types of eating disorders are very common. They are:

1. Anorexia nervosa: Anorexia means “lack of appetite” and nervosa means the “nervous system”. It is a neurological condition where an individual doesn’t eat enough to control or lose weight; these people eat very less, do too much exercise or both.

2. Bulimia nervosa: Bulimia means “eating like ox” and nervosa means nervous system – in this condition, people eat too much at one time until they feel full and sometimes they end up overeating , basically they lose control on how much to eat.

3. Binge eating disorder: In this disorder, people eat too much until they become uncomfortable .

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