This week have the honour of having on our podcast George Mycock, the founder of Myominds, an organisation aimed at raising awareness and understanding of mental health issues within the exercising community.   In this episode, George discusses his current PhD research into muscularity orientated issues, body dysmorphia and disordered eating in men in his aim to vitally inform and improve existing intervention and treatment services supporting these psychopathological conditions in men. Disclaimer:  This episode contains discussion around body dysmorphia, anorexia and suicidal ideation. Links to George's published study and guidance documents: Read here George Mycock PhD guidance: Outreach Resources for Men Contact Us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

On this episode, we speak to the incredible ED advocate and campaigner, Hannah Hickinbotham of the Full of Beans podcast, about male representation within ED discussion and the considerations that need to be in place to enable men to reach out and seek help for distorted behaviour around food and exercise.   Thank you to our amazing listeners for joining in our candid discussions and supporting all aspects of positive life change we hope to encourage. Content Warning: This episode includes discussion around suicide ideation, inpatient treatment and medical trauma; listen with caution. Please remember we are not clinicians or ED specialists, but share our lived, researched and specialist informed experience of an eating disorder and mental health trauma to contribute to the wider understanding in how to best support and improve mental health care services.   

In today’s episode, we discuss acknowledging the external forces which impact addictive response. Looking at the theories of addiction by the writers and philosophers Fyodor Doestoevsky and George Bataille, we explore how to better equip ourselves to challenge potentially addictive behaviour by acknowledging the false and dangerous sense of control it appears to give us over our dissatisfaction of how we are socio-culturally placed in the world. Please remember we are not clinicians or ED specialists, but share our lived, researched and specialist informed experience of an eating disorder and mental health trauma to contribute to the wider understanding in how to best support and improve mental health care services.    Thank you to our amazing listeners for joining in our candid discussions and supporting all aspects of positive life change we hope to encourage. Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

In today’s episode we are honoured to speak to the amazingly brave and insightful ED recovery, and body neutrality advocate, Alex Sublette.  Through our discussion, and her inspiring, ‘be_well_with_Alex’ Instagram page, Alex courageously maps her recovery journey in her determination to support others as they navigate their recovery journey.  Please remember we are not clinicians or ED specialists, but share our lived, researched and specialist informed experience of an eating disorder and mental health trauma in our aim to contribute to the wider understanding in how to best support and improve mental health care services.    Thank you to our amazing listeners for joining in our candid discussions and supporting all aspects of positive life change we hope to encourage.Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

Empathy is a choice, a vulnerable choice because to connect with someone in emotional pain you have to let go of your ego and attempt to put yourself in the place of your loved one, significant other or friend who is struggling.  Rarely, if ever, does an empathetic response begin with ‘at least’. So how do we support those we love who our struggling?   In today’s episode, we discuss how emotional support means acknowledging the perspective of our loved one’s trauma, staying out of judgement, recognising their emotions and responding accordingly. Please remember we are not clinicians or ED specialists, but share our lived, researched and specialist informed experience of an eating disorder and mental health trauma to contribute to the wider understanding in how to best support and improve mental health care services.    Contact Us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

As our listeners know by now, we are all about celebrating life wins, especially as a clapback to mental health adversity, and how magnificent life can look on the other side of overcoming trauma and mental health challenges.     In today’s episode we speak to our inspiring guest, Great British Bake-off’s, Amos Lilley, who bravely shares his experience of appearing on the show, as well as how he whips (pun intended!) his mental health challenges into shape. Please remember we are not clinicians or ED specialists, but share our lived, researched and specialist informed experience of an eating disorder and mental health trauma in our aim to contribute to the wider understanding in how to best support and improve mental health care services.    Thank you to our amazing listeners for joining in our candid discussions and supporting our aim to encourage all aspects of positive life change.Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

In today’s episode, we speak to our inspiring friend and mental health advocate, Yasmin Langdon.  Yasmin shares her brave battle on how she overcame the cycle of trauma she experienced from bullying and how she has replaced it with the life success she now embraces. Please remember we are not clinicians or ED specialists, but share our lived, researched and specialist informed experience of an eating disorder and mental health trauma in our aim to contribute to the wider understanding in how to best support and improve mental health care services.    Thank you to our amazing listeners for joining in our candid discussions and supporting our aim to encourage all aspects of positive life change.Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

Today’s episode looks at bureaucracy and how, as attested to by the philosopher Hannah Arendt, some ‘bad actors’ can be seen to manipulate society by inundating it with technical administration so as to cover up institutional inaction. Please remember we are not clinicians or ED specialists, but share our lived experience of an eating disorder, and the research and specialist advice we have gathered over a decade, to contribute to the wider understanding in how to best support and improve mental health care services.    Thank you to our amazing listeners for joining in our candid discussions, and supporting our aim to encourage all aspects of positive life change.Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

Today’s episode is informed by work carried out by Ross Sonnenblick into male eating disorders.   Following his battle with anorexia, Ross decided to pursue a PhD in male eating disorders to contribute to the tragically unresearched study in this area, which he discusses with Amy Geckl on The Eating Disorder Diaries (found here: 'Goal #4: Daily ED Education – Anorexia in Boys and Men with Ross Sonnenblick').  Thank you for joining our candid discussions, informed by our personal experience and research, in our aim to encourage all aspects of positive life change.   Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

Today’s episode is looking at anxiety.  Although anxiety is an unavoidable emotion, helping us to prepare for potential threats and challenges, excessive and persistent exposure to anxiety can lead to a host of complex mental and physical conditions. So, what is anxiety and how do we embody it?  How does anxiety compel us to outsource our feelings of self to external objects instead of facing feelings of discomfort which can, in the words of Kierkegaard, enable us to experience a more fulfilling sense of self?  Thank you for joining our candid discussions, informed by our personal experience and research, in our aim to encourage all aspects of positive life change.Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

June is men's mental health awareness month and on this episode, we are grateful to have the phenomenal advocate for men's mental health awareness, Andy Hill.  Andy is the founder of the incredible u-turnbacktobasics initiative which provides nature walks, team building, survival, and wild camping retreats to those who are struggling with mental health issues.   Today, Andy shares his brave story of how he turned his adversity into the phenomenal u-turnbacktobasics asset which so crucially supports others.   Thank you for joining our candid discussions, informed by personal experiences, opinions and research in our aim to encourage the aspects of positive change which can enhance our lives. Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

On today’s episode, we are grateful to have the qualified instruction of yoga, meditation and breathing techniques teacher, Johanna Nye.   As discussed on other episodes, Harry has reached a fork in the road with the recovery techniques being imparted through conventional psychotherapy and, as a result, has decided to pursue alternative traditional ways to alleviate the stress and intrusive thoughts he still battles.  Johanna thus provides vital guided breathing techniques which stimulate the Vagus nerve to reduce stress and anxiety, alongside additional benefits such as enhancing cognitive ability and aiding the immune system.       Thank you for joining our candid discussions informed by our personal experiences and opinions, and helping us, and others, contemplate the various aspects of positive change that enhance our lives.Contact Us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

Following on from our last ‘what is perfect’ episode, we discuss how this translates into our sense of self when it comes to education, and consideration of how the arbitrary definition of intelligence might be redefined.   Thank you for joining our candid discussions informed by our personal experiences and opinions, and helping us, and others, contemplate the various aspects of positive change that enhance our lives. Contact Us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

In today’s episode we discuss the modern idea of perfect dictated by social media and the need to help our children become more media literate and to question the dangerous ideals of perfectionism they see online. Thank you for joining in our discussions around mental health informed by our experiences and those of others, and helping us to encourage and reinforce the message that positive change can come at any point in our lives. Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

In today’s episode, we discuss our listeners invaluable feedback on when behavioural diagnosis can be seen as help, as opposed to hindrance, in how we interact with the world.   Thank you joining in our discussions around mental health and helping us to encourage positive change, and reinforcing the motivation that change can come at any point in our lives.

Here is 'Part 2' of our 'Do labels help?' episode, where we discuss when behavioural diagnosis can be seen as help, as opposed to hindrance, in how we interact with the world.  When understanding the human condition in all its different variations can be freeing, instead of an agenda to bind us to a narrow set of behaviours which can hold us back. Thank you joining in our discussions around mental health, informed by our experiences and those of others, in the hope of encouraging positive change and to reinforce the motivation that change can come at any point in our lives.

In Part 1 of today’s episode we discuss when behavioural diagnosis can be seen as help, as opposed to hindrance, in how we interact with the world.  When understanding the human condition in all its different variations can be freeing, instead of an agenda to bind us to a narrow set of behaviours which can hold us back. Thank you joining in our discussions around mental health, informed by our experiences and those of others, in the hope of encouraging positive change and to reinforce the motivation that change can come at any point in our lives.

Welcome to ‘Don’t Weight to Change!’     Our original ‘Why Weight to Change?’ podcast, began as an advocacy for mental health issues following my personal 10+ year battle with anorexia.  By sharing my story, we aimed to help others struggling with mental health issues, especially young boys and men, creating a safe space for candid discussion and support.   However, following the phenomenal feedback from our listeners, our podcast has organically expanded into issues that affect mental health such as ‘what it means to be human’.   Questions such as ‘what compels us to make the life choices we make?  Who determines and influences that?  How do we alight upon the opinions and beliefs that we live by that form our sense of identity, and how do we identify, and deselect, certain opinions or beliefs when they no longer prove to serve us and who we want to be? Our podcast now seeks to encourage conversations around how to relinquish the weight of self-doubt, expectation, fear and uncertainty which holds us back and prevents us from changing into who we want to be.   Please join us as we contribute to discussions around mental health informed by our experiences, and those of others, in the hope of encouraging positive change at both individual and societal level, and to reinforce the motivation that change can come at any point in our lives.

Following on from our recent masculinity episodes, we join the commentary around Netflix's recent crime drama ‘Adolescence’, and how its focus on the impact of social media is now being critically reviewed by the government. Contact us: whyweighttochange@outlook.com We remind our listeners that we are not clinicians or eating disorder specialists. Our aim is to contribute to the narrative around eating disorders from our experience in order to extend understanding and support in this field.

In this week's episode, we share your views following on from our 'what is masculinity?' episode (Episode 24).  “Thank you” to all our listeners who took the time to contribute to this crucial discussion and for letting us know we are creating discourse around this vital topic. Contact us: whyweighttochange@outlook.com We remind our listeners that we are not clinicians or eating disorder specialists. Our aim is to contribute to the narrative around eating disorders from our experience in order to extend understanding and support in this field.