Growing up, Paul Donald was always a target for school bullies because of his weight.
At his heaviest he was 23 stone, but always turned to comfort eating to cope with the insults thrown at him every day.
“The weight just kept piling on,” he said.
In his late teens, Mr Donald was introduced to ‘pro-anorexia websites’ by a friend – virtual chat rooms developed by people with eating disorders who urged him to lose more weight.
Their demands eventually got through, and Mr Donald lost 17-and-a-half-stones in just nine months when he, too, developed an eating disorder.
Eventually his drastic weight loss became too much, and he collapsed and was rushed to hospital.
His anorexia had put so much strain on his vital organs that doctors told him his gall bladder could have burst and killed him at any time. His pancreas had also stopped working properly.
It was the wake-up call he desperately needed to get better, but Mr Donald claims that there was little help offered to him.
He says that because he was a man, medics did not take his condition seriously.
It was Mr Donald’s love of music that became his ultimate therapy, and he puts his recovery down to wanting to get through his music degree at Aberdeen University.
Mr Donald’s experience has motivated him to set up a support group for boys and men suffering from a wide range of eating disorders.
“There’s no shame in being a man and having an eating disorder. You just need to remember you’re not alone,” he said.
Paul Donald set up MBEEDS (Scotland) in July 2013 which aims to raise awareness of eating and exercise disorders in men and boys from all backgrounds. His main aim was to promote a positive attitude about male body-image and mental health in Scotland.