Voices 2025: Social Scene with James Doyle
Originally from Westmeath, James moved to Drumod in Leitrim when he started school. Although James performed well academically, his school years were difficult for him.
“I struggled a lot in school, not in terms of education but, mentally, I battled with body dysmorphia and eating disorders. It came out of the blue for me as a teenager and, looking back, I now realise that I didn’t know what I was going through until I was over it.”
James says that at 14 years old he began to obsess over how his body looked, and it impacted on his diet and how he consumed food.
“I have a really supportive family and great friends but I just think there is a lot of societal pressure on young lads, as well as girls, and unfortunately it’s very common. It made me miserable: I lost my love of sport – I wanted to be a professional rugby player but I wasn’t performing well in training sessions and I was also falling asleep in class. I knew absolutely nothing about proper nutrition.”
Getting involved in the gym was a turning point for James: “I gained an education around nutrition, around how the body actually works and I learned that it is perfectly normal to store weight on your hips! The gym saved me: it made me feel confident in my own skin and I even started playing rugby again.”
James moved to Dublin when he got accepted into DCU: “I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life: I wanted to be a rugby player; a teacher; and then an electrician! But I had my sights set on living in Dublin and decided to do Communications Studies in DCU because I knew this degree would allow me to move in a lot of different directions. I had a great college experience, hanging out with the lads and going to the gym.”
His online career, he says, happened somewhat randomly: on a lunch break from his part-time job on a building site, James bought a protein shake and decided to review it and post the review online.
“I realised quickly that I really enjoyed creating online content – recording and editing – so I started to post gym content, nutrition content… everything and anything really! I also wanted to show people that if I can turn my life around, educate myself and transform my health, anyone can.”
While it seems to have happened without much planning, James’ skills in content creation were clear from early on: he won an award for his public speaking in secondary school and he says he honed his communication skills while studying at DCU. “I studied a lot of theory-based work about audience engagement and a lot of what I learned carries over into my work now.”
With over 1 million followers on TikTok, James says he has enjoyed amazing experiences and opportunities: “From going to the Champions League Final to doing work with Red Bull: you never know what the next day will bring and it is super interesting.”
Concluding, he reflects: “I feel a responsibility to be honest and not hide the struggles I had. But you can’t preach to people: it has to be a natural conversation. 95% of my content is simply about having fun, the other 5% is where I talk about my motivations.”
So where to from here? “I went into this for the love of it and to have the craic so, as long as that remains, I will keep going. I want to improve and expand onto other platforms, maybe get into TV… I might even get a notion and become a pop star! Who knows?”
For anyone affected by an eating disorder, or needing support, visit www.bodywhys.ie