after anorexia

why does it take more for someone to gain after anorexia? i would think it would take LESS because the metabolism slowed down? im all sorts of confused!

I have to wonder why you're thinking about maintainance when you're still in recovery. Don't think about that until you're done gaining.

 

Study: Abnormal caloric requirements for weight maintenance in patients with anorexia and bulimia nervosa. - Weltzin TE, Fernstrom MH, Hansen D, McConaha C, Kaye WH, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA.

"CONCLUSIONS: To maintain stable weight after weight restoration, restricting anorexic patients require a significantly higher caloric intake than do bulimic anorexic patients. Differences in caloric needs between normal-weight bulimic patients with and without histories of anorexia may depend on the methods used to correct caloric requirements. Body surface area may be the most precise correction factor across different subgroups of eating disorder patients. Elevated caloric requirements, when coupled with reduced food intake, may particularly contribute to relapse in anorexic patients." Am J Psychiatry. 1991 Dec;148(12):1675-82."

thank you.

im wondering BECAUSE i am in the process of gaining. im finding i'm not gaining as much as i would assume i would be based on what ive been eating (high fat high cal) but i guess as i go along, its eventually coming.

If you're finding your gains slow and are not eating 2500 calories/3000 calories while sedentary at least (depends on your gender) you might not be eating enough to fully kick your metabolism into gear. If you are eating at least that much, well... up to you, then! If it's not as fast as you expected or desire you can always increase further. If you're not at 2500/3000, there's lots of info why this is an ideal bottom number here: The Aim is to Gain: Advice on Weight Gain, Whatever Your Reason.

I found it took an ENORMOUS amount of food to gain weight back.  I had to do it in the hospital, etc. where I was monitored, but at the outset I recall saying to the doc, "it'll take one extra bite of food for me to gain, you'll see"  4 weeks later on a 4000 calorie diet, I was crying because it was soooo much food and supplement to take in.  The body is recovering and kicks into overdrive requiring a ton more food than normal.  This normalizes.  The key to keeping weight on is once you hit a target weight (to be determined by a professional) calories have to be reduced very slowly back down to normal!

For some reason we screw our metabolisms up and it requires many calories to gain weight. Everyone is different though, so it may not happen to everyone. It's ironic how we restrict our calorie intake to extreme lows because we fear gaining weight and when we actually "try" to gain weight, we can't do it. I'm currently on a 2400 meal plan to gain weight, but sometimes I'll barely gain anything. Then I'm in trouble. And then there are the people who just have a high metabolism, and once they start to eat normally again, that metabolism kicks back in. Whatever the scenario, anorexia recovery just plain sucks.

I gained 20lbs on usually about 1200-1500calories... never more then about 1800cal

I think it depends on metabolism, and other circumstances