Hill says practitioners must consider the issue of gender in the context of the illness, not the illness in the context of the gender. Although men develop eating disorders as a result of psychological, biological and social influences, research has identified significant gender differences in the latter two. Males have higher energy needs than females and should be encouraged to eat nutrient dense foods including fat and protein. Men often present with no knowledge of nutrition rather than having unhealthy or distorted nutrition knowledge. Thus men often need practical information on meal planning, shopping and cooking.
Males are more concerned about distribution of weight versus weight gain per se.
Giving a healthy weight range goal and explaining the process of weight gain and subsequent weight distribution is important. This picture now is getting more complicated.