Flintoff Battled Bulimia in Quest to Lose Weight Early in His Career

Former England cricketer Andrew Flintoff revealed that he struggled with bulimia as he attempted to lose weight during the early stages of his career. The 34-year-old told how he began throwing up in cricket grounds and restaurants after he piled on the pounds.

Flintoff, who has embarked on a sporting comeback as a heavyweight boxer, revealed his eating disorder in a documentary to be screened later this month.

"I used to be a really skinny kid, I used to be tall and skinny and I didn't drink, I didn't do much. Then I started putting weight on. My lifestyle was great, granted, when I started living on my own. I got to about 19 and a half to 20 stone," the Daily Mail quoted Flintoff, as saying.

"It was all a bit deeper than that because to lose the weight, I wasn't really sure how to go about it. I started being sick, I was sick a lot. I would eat and I would be sick. I would be doing it myself. I would put my fingers down my throat and everyone within the team hierarchy thought it was great because I was losing weight," he added.

'I've thrown up in cricket grounds around the world, in restaurants, all sorts, and I lost about 15kg by doing that," he said.

Flintoff added: "It's not the right way to go, which I am very aware of. You start off doing it if you have a bad meal, you eat something you don't think you should have eaten or you have drunk too much."

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"Then before you know it, even good meals you are getting rid of. It becomes a real habit. The only way really to lose weight is to train more and eat less, eat the right things," he concluded.

Source-ANI