Body Dysmorphia and Eating Disorders - Beau Marksohn

Beau Marksohn joined us for an episode on body dysmorphia and eating disorders. He was born and raised in NYC and grew up in a household of severe abuse and neglect. As a result of this he struggled from the age of five from feeling insecure in his body. 

He was always scared as a kid growing up, never felt safe, never felt any sense of consistency and never felt loved. As a result of all of this he started using food to comfort him from a very young age, which then progressed to drugs and booze before his teens.

Suicide attempts, anorexia, bulimia, living an unhealthy life, ending up going from overweight to underweight.

Beau then became a compulsory exerciser and . Depression, anxiety, ADHD, addiction. In 2016 he started treatment, therapy and support to tackle his addiction issues as well as depression, anxiety and ADHD.

In lockdown he started cycling, first to help the vulnerable, then to help his mental health.

Beau starts by telling his story what body dysmorphia actually means. This is something David or Volker haven’t heard about, and I am sure not many of you either. The best way to explain it is going in one of the fairground mirror rooms, and one day you feel bigger, the other day slimmer. 

Whilst we often associate eating disorders with women, Beau didn’t find out that he suffered from body dysmorphia until he went into therapy. By sharing his story he makes sure that he doesn’t suffer in silence and other people don’t suffer in silence either. It comes back to our motto on the podcast that men need to talk more about what they do and what they suffer from. It doesn’t work for us to go into our cave every now and then and thinking it is all going to go away.

Beau’s enthusiasm went further during lockdown when he started delivering food to underprivileged people and started cycling a lot more. That led to him founding a group of men to cycle together, https://dadbodcyclist.com/. There will be more content on his website shortly, but for now you can sign up to his newsletter or follow him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dadbod_cyclist/

He organises Sunday brunches for men, cycling laps around Richmond Park, and you can find him on Strava and everyone is welcome. The EveryBODY ride.

Beau has suffered many addictions which stems from his childhood trauma. It subsequently led to different therapies, including EMDR Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy. Over the years he has tried a lot until he came to understand the ‘why’ he is doing things and what his purpose is in life. Even cycling turned a bit into an addiction, particularly during lockdown, reminding him of his childhood experience surfing in the USA. It’s about being in the zone.

His journey continues to get more people on bikes and talk about men’s mental health. An initiative that is very much aligned to Man Up / Man Down, and hopefully we will be able to do some events together in the future.

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