Clayton Echard Says He Was 'Kind of Scared' About How He Would Appear on TV Due to Body Dysmorphia

Clayton Echard is opening up about his battle with body dysmorphia.

The 28-year-old sales representative and former football player was a guest on Talking It Out With Bachelor Nation, where he shared that he was nervous about how he would appear on TV due to his body image struggles.

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On during the latest episode of the dating show, Clayton said that he “hated” himself as a kid after being teased for his appearance. These insecurities continued through his journey on The Bachelor.

“How am I going to look on camera? I remember that was a big thought I had. The camera adds 10 pounds. How am I going to look on camera when this plays back?” Clayton told podcast hosts Mike Johnson and Bryan Abasolo. “I’ll be honest with you, I was kind of scared. Well, here we’re going to find out right now how I look on camera. I had no idea. I was afraid it was going to put me in a little dark spiral. I’m like, ‘You look fat. There you go. You look fat on camera.’”

He also addressed fans who questioned why he decided to go shirtless on the show, asking, “If he doesn’t want to show his body off, why is he doing it now?”

“I’m at a better place where I’m OK with it now because I’ve had enough people say, ‘Hey, you look like you’re in good shape,’” he explained. “But all it takes is three comments back-to-back-to-back to say, ‘You look kind of fat.’ That’s all it takes. All of sudden, it puts you right back into that negative mindset. That’s kind of the power of body dysmorphia; the fear of it is you never truly get rid of it.”

While Clayton said that he knows body dysmorphia is something he’ll need to work on consistently, he has been able to “get it under control in some realms” through diet and exercise.

“It is a choice to get under control, but that requires a tremendous amount of effort,” he said. “I think that’s where you have to commit to saying, ‘OK, listen. I’m going to commit to a diet. I’m going to commit to a workout plan. I’m going to tell myself that this is not going to be fixed in one day, but every day that I wake up, I’m better than I was the day before. As long as I get my workout in today, I’ve done something today to put me in a better position where tomorrow I’m going to wake up and I will be a better human being, a better individual, and closer to that goal that I’m trying to achieve.’”

However, he cautioned listeners not to make these “massive changes all at once.”

“Everyone wants to make these giant changes all at once and go, ‘OK, I’m going to cut calories, I’m going to do this new workout plan.’ That can be a recipe for disaster,” he said. “You might end up overworking your body with this new workout plan, needing more calories, but now you’re cutting calories, so now your body goes into metabolic damage and you actually drop your metabolism. That’s this whole beast, where people want to see these major changes, so they make major changes… Put the time in to figure what works best for you and understand that it just takes time to get there.”

The reality star went on to explain that the “the tough part of body dysmorphia is it’s so visual,” telling the hosts: “Unless you can change the way that you view yourself, you’re never going to truly shake it because it’s what’s you see. Everyone wants to see a picture, everyone wants to look in the mirror, and go, ‘I actually like what I’m seeing today.’ It’s not a quick fix, it never will be. Body dysmorphia, you can’t snap your fingers and it goes away.”

Be sure to tune into The Bachelor on Monday, January 10 at 8 pm ET/PT on ABC.

Find out who the 18 remaining contestants on Clayton‘s season are…