Speaker 1: Ero dot net A r oe dot net. It's more
than just a podcast. It is several as in like
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Writing Instrument. You read the books, but do you know
the author that is the entire concept behind that. Listen
to their voices in the interview, and then go back
in there and listen to the voices in the stories
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How are you today?
Speaker 2: I'm doing well, how are you doing?
Speaker 1: Do an absolutely fantastic and very excited to share a
conversation with you because you're touching on something here that
I swear in all of my training as a martial
artist and even everything that I've even studied in sports,
I've never heard of this, but yet you know, darn
goodnwell it exists.
Speaker 3: Oh, I mean that's for sure that I got the
statistics at ten million men that are affected.
Speaker 2: So I mean it was a twenty year struggle for me.
Speaker 3: So it was something that I felt like I had
to share and shed some light on and hope to
start a conversation.
Speaker 1: Well, this conversation starts with this book Weight class a
fighter's life or death battle with an eating disorder. Do
we know that we're actually going through this because even
as a martial artist, I wanted to, you know, to
beef up. Even though my master was very disappointed with me,
I wanted to beef up so you wouldn't throw me
around that ring.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think being an athlete and having a
regimented schedule and discipline and you know, kind of competing
as an athlete and.
Speaker 2: Is one thing, but then getting into an eating.
Speaker 3: Disorder is a completely separate thing, you know, And I
think the awareness needs to grow about them, the severity
of them. They are life's threatening. I mean, I was
in the ICU. I almost lost my life numerous times.
So I think it's just, you know, a awareness I
didn't know at the age of fourteen, stepping on a scale,
just trying to compete to be a champion could lead
to a eating disorder that would then wreck havoc all
my life for you know, fifteen years. And so I
think having that conversation early, having the awareness spread so
that people know that they can be affected.
Speaker 2: Males, females. It doesn't matter who you are.
Speaker 3: You know, everybody eats and so I think having that
awareness spread and understanding this severity and understanding when your
life is at risk, and being able to speak out
and find those supports.
Speaker 1: Well, look at the way that we are being trained
by advertising in the way of saying you've got to
have more powder. Do the powder, do the power bars,
do this, do this, you will look good, the muscles
will look well defined. And to me, that's the world
that I thought that we were lost in until your
book came out, and I'm going, wait a second, I
now have a new different view of what people are
going through.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, And that's the thing.
Speaker 3: Eating disorders are so very complex and they're kind of
always hiding in plain sight. So between the professional staff
that was keeping me alive and my wife, who has
been my wife for fifteen years and who has been
that crucial support, there wasn't really anyone else in my
world that knew the depth of this. And it was
in direct conflict with what I was doing for my career, right.
My whole career was to make weight, to maintain that weight,
to compete at an elite level, and to chase a dream.
So the more the eating disorder got out of control,
the more of those two things were in direct conflict
of each other, and so I thought it would be
vital to share my experience because the reality is when
I realize, well, there's two parallels here. Number One, there's
the insane weight manipulation that I did to myself and
to my body to make a way class that was unhealthy,
acutely right off the bat. And then you have the
other parallel that after a while I developed this life
threatening eating disorder that then went beyond my control, that
it became something more powerful than me. And so you
have two parallels, because you can absolutely compete in a
weight class sport without an eating disorder, right you feel
yourself the right way, you train hard, you stay disciplined,
and you compete with all your skill.
Speaker 2: But ultimately I didn't do that.
Speaker 3: There was not a ton of awareness and education about
cutting weight and what to do, and I created all
these negative habits and things within myself that then developed
into this eating disorder and it.
Speaker 2: Was definite, definitely debilitating.
Speaker 3: And so because there wasn't a lot of conversations in
twenty thirteen when I kind of came out and said, hey,
I need help, Like I'm putting even with my life
at risk, even with my career at risk, even with
you know, fighting for a world championship belt, none of
these things equated to being able to control this eating disorder.
And that's when I knew that there was a serious problem.
And so when I came out to say, hey, like,
first of all, I didn't know what it was. I
didn't know what a eating disorder was. I had no idea.
I didn't know if men could be affected. I had
no idea. And then, I mean it was a fearful time.
I had no idea what was going on with my body.
I knew my mind was trying to do something and
my body was doing something separate. And I've had such
a discipline throughout my whole life as an athlete that
when that, all of a sudden was just gone one
day and I couldn't control the simple act of eating,
I realized, like, WHOA, something's really.
Speaker 2: Going on here.
Speaker 3: And when I tried to come out, there wasn't a
ton of information like for males, like to be honest,
I mean, those national stats they're estimating ten million men
right Well, in my span of twenty years dealing with this,
I've only spoken to four other men. One wasn't even
a man, it was a child, And so it was
kind of a lonely like, Oh, I don't know if
I fit here.
Speaker 2: You know, where's the connection. I didn't have that.
Speaker 3: Man readily available to sit down with me and have
a cup of coffee and say, hey, man, you know
what the hell has happened into my body?
Speaker 2: What is going on with me?
Speaker 3: Because it was a super fearful time in my life,
like I didn't understand what was happening to me and why.
So I felt like putting my story out there so
that other men, other people affected by eating sorts, people
that are cutting weight, could have a real insight into
what I went through. Because ultimately, you know, you got
ten million men, right.
Speaker 2: That's the statistic.
Speaker 3: Well, adults can master symptoms, so you have to estimate
that a lot of those stats are coming from children, Okay,
so that means children are affected here. And number two,
from all my education and the journey, I realized how
early intervention is such a key aspect in eating disorders.
Speaker 2: So I look at this.
Speaker 3: Somewhere in the world, you know, Iowa, there's some kid
eighth grade stepping on a scale to be the next
champion with these visions of being an NCAA champion, right,
and so their life style risk and they don't even
know it. If they make any of the same decisions
I made, they could venture down a path that they
might not be able to come back for. And so
early intervention is key. I thought putting my story out
there so that everybody's stepping into a weight class sport
could kind of understand the pitfalls I fell into, and you.
Speaker 2: Know all the things that I created in myself.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, Please do not move. There's
more with Danny O'Connor coming up next. The name of
the book weight Class A Fighter's Life or Death Battle
with an eating disorder. We need to talk about this stuff.
We are back with Danny O'Connor. I got to know
what the doctors were saying. And the reason why is
because my doctor's pissed off at me. And the reason
why is because I went from two forty two at
heart attack time to one seventy two now and the
doctor is not happy with me. And I sit there
and go look at John Cena. I mean, I look
at the rock. They've all lost the weight healthy, so
did I. But doctors are not stepping in and getting
loud enough. What's your gut on this.
Speaker 3: I've had a lot of experience where professionals from psychiatrists
to sports psychologists, to doctors of psychology to.
Speaker 2: Probably every different I went to a shaman.
Speaker 3: I mean literally when I went on the recovery, I
tried everything because some supports were not you know, I
went to an intensi ab outpatient.
Speaker 2: It was all females.
Speaker 3: It was all female practitioners, like the professional staff, and
so a lot of the stuff in the traditional eating
disorder world, I didn't feel like I fit. So I
literally tried everything under the sun, million things, multiple things
at one time at some points to try to get
a handle on it. So the one thing that that
I will say, like, you have to find the supports
that fit for.
Speaker 2: You, just because it's just because it's a.
Speaker 3: Support that might be out there, it may not be
the best support for you.
Speaker 2: And that's kind of like, you know, that is a
hard thing.
Speaker 3: You go somewhere and you're trying to save your own
life and you're desperate and things are chaotic, and then
all of a sudden it doesn't work, and that's pretty defeating,
But you just have to keep going, keep pushing until
you find that support. And I think professional help is
a lot like finding a girlfriend, Like just because you
find one that's wicked credential doesn't mean that it might
be the right one for you.
Speaker 2: So you have to have that.
Speaker 3: Resiliency to kind of keep going until you find the
right fit for you. Who's gonna listen to you and
who's gonna, you know, be supportive of what you want
to do in a healthy way. So I think it's
just a matter of finding those right supports.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, Danny. And it also has to include
those in the sport talking to each other, because how
many times have we gone up to somebody and said whoa, WHOA,
what's going on here? And they go, shut up, leave
me alone. I got this handle, I got it undercover.
See we're hiding in front of those that are doing
it right there with us.
Speaker 2: I mean I hid him plain sight, in front of
the whole world for twenty years.
Speaker 3: I mean I didn't tell anybody in the sport of
boxing because I viewed it as a direct liability to
being able to compete. If I can't compete, how am
I going to achieve my dreams? Right?
Speaker 2: And so I literally hid in playing.
Speaker 3: Sight for the whole world when I decided, Okay, this
story is so impactful, I got to tell someone.
Speaker 2: I just wrote a book and told the whole world
that's it.
Speaker 3: So outside of like my wife and my professional team,
no one really knew. So I think that in this
in combat sports, it's just a cultural thing, and I've
seen it change. Like, you know, the old mindset was
let me artificially, you know, get my body down to
a certain size that it shouldn't be there, and I
can compete because I'll have a better chance.
Speaker 2: But in reality, that isn't the way to be the
best athlete.
Speaker 3: The best athlete is to not cut way, to train
as hard as you can, to be disciplined, to be
a savage, to go out there and compete with all
your skill and be fully fueled. And so I think
people are realizing that more now, you know, And hopefully
it's just a cultural thing and it will change the
more people that speak out about it, you know, hopefully
it will change, because at the end of the day,
the reality is death should never ever be the result
of making weight. It just shouldn't like that shouldn't even
be a thing you should be healthy, you should be
an athlete, and you should go compete fully fueled and
at your best skill.
Speaker 1: Wow, where can people go to find out more about you? Danny?
And this book because I want your voice to be
heard every day, not just in this moment of now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know it's funny.
Speaker 3: I don't love talking about the stuff. You know, I'm
a pretty private person. I thought if I write a book,
it could be the blueprint for everybody that's struggling.
Speaker 2: You can go read it. Then I realized when you
write a book, you got to talk about it more.
So yeah.
Speaker 3: So so now listen, this is the market and plan.
I'm gonna make my way to the Joe Rogan podcast.
Once I get there, you have the audience of the
whole world. Then I can tell everybody my story. And
here's the thing, guys. There was a book written in
two thousand and seven a guy from Canada. His name
was McDonald, and it was about his experience as male
eating disorder, and it did talk about combat sports.
Speaker 2: Now, it wasn't lived experience, but here's the deal. That
message wasn't being talked about loud enough. I didn't hear that.
It's not in print now, I.
Speaker 3: Couldn't read it like if I had maybe some more
guidance in my earlier years before I started down this
path of cutting weight and manipulating my body and ultimately
developed this eating sort, I think things could have been different.
So it's really important for me to get to the
highest platform and speak my message.
Speaker 2: You can buy the book on Amazon or bite like
aman dot com.
Speaker 3: Is my personal website that has all the links to
the different ways to get the book and to uh
to to you know, book me for speaking. So that's
really my my message here is to to shout it
louder than than than I possibly can, so that everybody
can hear it.
Speaker 1: If I see Joe Rogan slim down like the rock,
I know we're all going to hell. There's no I'm
telling you that, because that man is at the perfect place,
the perfect time, and if I see him start slimming down,
it's gonna bug the hell out of me. And I'm
gonna reach for your book even deeper to figure out
what we're gonna do to get this man back on track.
But man, you've got to come back to this show
anytime in the future. Danny. I love your story. I
love your heart and we've got to talk more than
this one time.
Speaker 3: Oh absolutely, I love I'd love to be back and
I appreciate the time today.
Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today?
Speaker 2: Okay, sir, I will. I'll talk to you soon