Today I sat down with Olympic and Pro boxer Danny O'Connor to talk about his book Weight Class, where he gives a raw and honest account about his eating disorder while pursuing his professional boxing career.
He’s won many national titles including the US National Championship and the National Golden Gloves and is thought of as one of the best fighters of our time. Danny turned pro in 2008, competed at the highest level for more than ten years, had 31 wins, and held the WBC International Silver Super Lightweight Championship.
Now, Danny is a powerful advocate for weight class sports and eating disorders in men. He is also the founder of the DO Boxing Academy, a youth wellness and enrichment program that integrates non-contact fitness boxing and mindfulness for young people seeking a safe, structured, and supportive environment to channel anger and stress, build connection and learn emotion regulation, all the things Danny learned when he first stepped into the ring at 19.
Danny also started bitelikeaman.com, a virtual support community for men and athletes with eating issues. Lastly, as another way to give back and honor his past, he’s volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate where he’s assigned to support a young person involved in the court system.
In his book, Danny takes us through his process of making weight and how it connected to his eating disorder. Today we are going to talk more about his book, his successful boxing career, and how he overcame his eating disorder.
Danny’s hope is to spread awareness and understanding of eating disorders and to feel less alone if you are struggling with one. Danny encourages prevention and gives permission to not engage in cutting weight in weight class sports. He encourages fueling your body and harnessing skill to be successful and strongly points out that restriction leads to the opposite.
Danny also graciously answers some poignant questions including why he’s the only one who has written about this topic, when he first realized he had an eating disorder, whether it’s possible to compete in a weight-class sport without damaging one’s relationship with food or increasing the risk of developing an eating disorder and how weight class sports can change the culture by changing how talk about men and eating disorders.
To reach Danny O'Connor:
https://www.instagram.com/therealdannyoconnor
To order his book go to his website:
www.bitelikeaman.com
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