Anorexia Recovery - Weight Redistribution

Hello, I am new to posting here (but I have looked at some threads for a while). I signed up because I have a couple of questions I can?t seem to find the answer to.

First of all, I?ll give you a bit of background ? I?m 18 years old, 5 ft. 8.5 in., and weigh 100 lbs (up from 96 lbs!). I am trying to gain back the weight I lost from my miserable anorexic days.

I find that quite a bit of the weight I am regaining is going straight to my stomach/middle section. Apparently this is not unheard of in recovering anorexics. Has anyone else here experienced this? Also, once you reached a stable weight, how long did it take for this weight to redistribute (so that you look like you used to when you were ?normal?)? Did the weight fully redistribute, or did you always have a ?poochy? stomach after anorexia recovery? How long did it take for you to achieve a stable weight? Is your body similar in shape to what it was before you had the ED?


I am worried that I won?t look like I used to prior to anorexia? I actually used to like my stomach somewhat and I don?t want to have screwed this up with anorexia. Arg, I wish I had never become anorexic ? it is torture! I still can?t stop obsessing about food/calories and all those things! I just want to be free of it?

At the same time, I am enjoying eating all the foods I used to stay away from. (I guess I just love to eat!) But I have found myself bingeing almost every day. So now I am worried about having a different ED?

Anways, I?ll stop my ranting. Thanks in advance for anyone who can help answer my questions.

carmenxox - I am actually not gaining steadily. I find my weight increases then drops again depending on the number of binge days I have, how many calories I consume, etc.. I have been in recovery for 3 months now and I am only up 10 lbs.

I am now trying to aim at gaining 1-2 lbs per week. This is healthy enough. I don't think weight gain should go any faster. I have managed 2 lbs per week for the last two weeks (yay!) by eating an average of around 3200 calories per day. Although I find myself trying not to count calories though, so this number may be off. (Also, I binge a lot and I don't count calories when I binge - only after sometimes. So my calorie intake fluctuates every day - it is never exactly 3200 calories.)

I am not sure about gradual calories increase... I was kind of shocked into eating a high number of calories, so I don't have any "expertise" in that area.

Anyways, good luck!

Edit - I think I am kind of wrong to say that my bingeing is bingeing. Well, it isn't bingeing in the sense that I am out of control. I eat large amounts at night in a short span of time, but I do it conciously and am not freaked out by it. I eat sometimes until it hurts. I don't like doing this since it is not normal, but at the same time I do because I like the taste of food and I like the way I almost stop obsessing about food once I have eaten until super-stuffed. Ach, this whole thing is annoying. Stupid annorexia. *kicks air furiously*

3200 calories! omg, what do you eat that has that many calories, that is alot of food!.. how much did you used to eat during your anorexic days?... and if you don't mind me asking your HW, LW, CW and GW?

could you also give me a little infomation pertaining to the beginning of your recovery? like were you immediatly put on a 3000+cal diet? how did you feel towards this new eating regime? how is your weight distributing?

sorry for all the questions, but im so curious haha

Carmenxox ? I know, 3200 is a lot! My best friends lately have been peanut butter and ice cream though? I know it?s not healthy, but I do eat other healthy foods during the day (like bananas, baby carrots, yogurt, etc?) Right now I have to concentrate more on getting my weight up than anything though. I feel like I can?t begin recovering mentally until I have reached a suitable weight. And the only way I seem to gain weight is by eating high calorie amounts. I think it would be hard to eat that many calories of healthy food. My stomach is simply not THAT big. That?s why I eat lots of PB and ice cream. Also, I really like the taste of those foods! :) I just grab a spoon and eat the stuff out of the jar... Yummy!

I  never ate an anorexic amount I guess, but I had the mentality of an anorexic. I ate around 1100 calories/day but I lost weight very rapidly. (Maybe I had a very fast metabolism?) My HW (right before the onset of anorexia) was 127 lbs. My LW was 96 lbs. My CW is 107 lbs and my GW is 123 lbs. As you can see, I was never even overweight. In fact, I normally sat on the border between underweight and normal in terms of BMI. But I think I thought I had a high body fat % and fat thighs - that is why I started ?dieting?. It was stupid? I might change my GW as I go along. It all depends on how I look at 123 lbs. I might even up that number.

I wasn?t immediately put on a 3000 cal diet. My parents know about my anorexia, but they don?t know anything about calories? So I am in a kind of self-recovery. They just made me eat what was put in front of me. And since my dad is super-skinny and has a super-fast metabolism, he normally eats between 2200 ? 3500 calories a day without gaining weight. So I too had to eat around 2500 calories a day for the first while. I did not gain any weight whatsoever after the first month of this. And then bingeing set in. I just ate and ate and ate. I stopped restricting myself from my favourite foods and now I just eat a lot every day. And now my parents don't even force me to eat anything. I think they know I am willing to recover.

At first, I did restrict myself even when eating 2500 cal/day. I didn?t eat a lot of junk, I didn?t drink anything but water, etc, etc. And I was very scared of the weight gain. I was also kind of scared because I used to eat that much prior to anorexia. So I thought if I gained weight on 2500 calories, wouldn?t that mean my metabolism had really suffered? You see, I really, really want to eat like I used to, and I want my old metabolism back. So, I was comforted by not gaining any weight, even though I was eating 1400 cals more per day then I used to. But now I have reached a stage where I am almost impatient to be at a normal weight again. I hate feeling emaciated and I want to be normal again.

So far, the 11 lbs I have gained haven?t showed all too much. I think some of it has been muscle, that?s why. But my thighs are slightly bigger now. If I try, I can actually touch them together now, whereas I never used to be able to. Also, my arms are slightly thicker. My stomach has certainly increased the most. It is never as flat as it used to be and a bloat like crazy when I eat. But again, the way the weight has distributed may change after a year of being normal? I guess we will see.

Wow, I wrote a lot! So I will stop now, but good luck with your recovery. I am rooting for you!!!!!!!!!!

However you gain weight, wether it be slow or fast its all for the better. I have gained 5 pounds over a 2 month period, and i can't seem to get past 110lbs. What I want to know is how long does everyone feel bloated after eating? Because it seems like mine is forever, it seems to last the entire day.

For one thing, my stomach never gets flat anymore. Even prior to anorexia, I used to often wake up with a flat stomach. But now there is always a bit of a bulge in the morning.

If I eat a small meal (like a small bowl of oatmeal or something) I bloat for about an hour and a half. If it's a regular size meal, then I bloat for like 3 - 4 hours. When I binge, I am bloated for like 12 hours! Again, my stomach is always a little poochy now, so to me it seems like I am always a little bloated. It never fully goes away. That bugs me, but I guess it's for the better...

How much I bloat also depends on the type of food I eat too though... so it varies. But I hate feeling pregnant almost all the time.

I have problems with bloating after meals too...in fact it bugged me so much that for a while I took in my calories by drinking juice, milk, hot cocoa, and milo (kind of like ovaltine).  Solid food just made me poof, and it was uncomfortable.  It is a result of malnutrition (that's why if you look at pictures of the hungry in third-world countries, their stomachs are bloated) and it will go away once you start eating regularly.  It takes a while for your body to trust you again.  My advice is don't be stupid like me and gain and lose and gain and lose again because it makes the process even longer.

For me, retraining my stomach to handle additional food is so frustrating because I typically exercise on a daily basis, whether it's doing tae bo, going to the gym, or doing my daily round of yoga.  I feel like my efforts are all for nothing when I feel so overly bloated...I incorrectly associate the bloating with weight gain, and even though the scale has increased since the onset of summer, I know mentally that it's due to the fact that my stomach's getting used to dealing with more food again.  Before, I used to simply eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast AND lunch, then maybe a wrap sandwich with carrots for dinner, having veggies or fruit for snacks.  So, my stomach got so used to a small amount of food, that it simply does not know what to do now that I've begun to eat "normally" again.  It's been a tough summer, exercising like a fiend to only feel overly bloated, but at the same time, it's been a good experience for me to realize that there are more important things than worrying about a little weight gain here and there.  My stomach's already beginning to deal with the extra food a bit better...it just takes time and patience.  I typically find that the bloating's a bit more severe when I eat pastries and foods rich in refined sugars, so usually after a few days with fruits and veggies, I feel slightly better.  The important thing is...you can't go back to simply eating carrots or salads without dressing...that will only put you back farther and delay any progress.  I've found adding fiber supplements helps if you're system isn't...functioning...like it should!

I still have one lingering question...is it truly possible to really rev your metabolism by eating over 2000 calories??? While dieting, I always thought "eating less would equal more weight loss," and of course, anorexics take this to an extreme...but I've been hearing people lose more weight by eating more...and I'm almost thinking that this would apply to me...I workout out every day (cardio with yoga), and I almost think I'm not eating enough to maintain weight loss.  Has anyone else found this to be true for them?

Eating yogurt every day helped my digestive system heal a bit faster. I guess taking a high-quality enteric coated probiotic supplement would work to those ends, too, but that's generally more expensive. I had a lot less digestive distress when I was doing that than when I wasn't.

staying hydrated and staying active helps with bloating. also instead of binge eating which made me feel and look bloated, it has really helped me to try to distribute my calories throughout the day instead of eating a lot in one sitting. for me, it was harder to have a healthy relationship with food again if i wasn't eating rationally. its like going from A (eating almost nothing) to Z (eating large amounts) when really we should all be learning to eat at N (right in the middle). everyone is different and finding a personal comfort zone with a meal plan that you are comfortable with not only now during your weight gain period, but one that also works for life is the best way to go. drastic measures are what got us here in the first place.

It's hard going from one extreme to the other, especially when you feel like you're sick of dieting and want to eat "normally"...you suddenly think about all of the forbidden foods you didn't allow yourself to enjoy before, and you start thinking about the next time you can eat them...then you get frustrated when you tell yourself you can't have them all of the time, because that still feels like you're on a diet...but honestly, this is how a normal person eats.  You can't go around eating cheesecake every meal, every day (although some of us would like to!)  We need variety to keep our system working, and filling it with only sugary foods and fats is not going to help us out.  Yes, moderation is the key, but sometimes it's okay to have that third cookie.  Try to eat healthfully when you can, but don't let food control your life.  Balance it out with exercise and enjoy who you are.  I find that if you continue to deprive yourself, you're only going to get more upset and crave those forbidden foods even more.  A piece of advice:  pick a friend, any friend, who you deem to eat normally...watch what they eat for a week, and how much they eat.  You'll find that that they probably don't stick to a diet of only carrots and salads, and that even with that added donut or carton of French Fries, they're not gaining weight.  Yet, they're probably not obsessing about the next time they can eat a piece of cake or ice cream...they roll with their day, and eat to the point of being hungry.  They listen to their stomach.  This is important.

This is so true, I find that watching/surrounding yourself with people who eat "normally" really helps. Its comforting to see others eat what they want and not be nervous or scared. I tihnk the key is to be brave, understand that one cookie will not make you gain a pound. Its a hard concept to get your head around. So far my most exciting moment was eating a piece of cake at my friends birthday party, and not having to worry about how to avoid it. It was amazing how stress free i felt! :)

I'm currently taking the steps towards recovery as well, in a treatment program and slowly starting the gaining process.  I am petrified about the weight gain and especially the idea that it all goes to the stomach/abdominal area.  Does this happen with all anorexics who are gaining back weight?  Is there anything I can do to gain muscle verses fat during the process?  Is a slower weight gain perferable to a faster one in terms of muscle/fat distribution?  For anyone who has gained back weight, is your body/size larger than when you were already at that weight pre-losing?  And one more question, is the weight gain really noticable (I have about 5-10 lbs. and I feel like I'm going to look HUGE with the added weight).  Any stories/help/guidance/etc. would be so much appreciative, I am so nervous and scared about the process...
Thanks a million.

I started wondering wheather or not it was the low female hormone levels that lead to the weight gain in the stomach.

 Being at a very low weight, losing your period I'm guessing would affect female hormone levels.

Since males tend to gain weight in the stomach, without the female hormones putting fat in the usual hips, butt, and thighs instead it goes to the stomach like it would for a male.

That's my theory anyway.

The beer gut was the most painful part of recovery for me. I am not trying to re tone my body though exercise and healthy eating to rebuild the muscle I lost through starvation and get back the mostly flat stomach I had before I screwed up my body through starving! 

It really depends, continue to do light excercise (ex: walking, biking, weight lifting) this will help gain back muscle, as opposed to just extra weight.

Gain weight back whenever you feel ready, if you want to gain back slowly then continue this way. Talk to a nutritionist becuase they may want you to do things differently (it really depends on your case)

Speaking from experience, i did gain weight in my stomach, however it wasnt bulging or anything like that, you will gain weight there because most women have extra weight there to protect their ovaries for child bearing (i no it sucks!!). Also the weight gain was not obvious to others, i put on 10 pounds at the beginning fast, and no one said anything. i felt gross and huge however it was mostly all in my head. i did get people commenting on how much better i looked and healthy i had become, it was positive let me tell you.

the best thing is to just keep your head up and get better, everyone is nervous and everyone is scared but its a step in the right direction. and you will notice you will be happier and have alot more energy!

i've noticed the bloat, too, and it's usually in combination with when i eat a lot of carbs but not much protein.  try, instead of eating just a bowl of oatmeal, to combine that with a protein powder or a few slices of lean meat.  it helps me stay unbloated. 

I feel like I get bloated from eating or drinking anything at all, not just carbs or carbonation. I was wondering if maybe it has to do with the sodium content. High sodium diets lead to water retention which in turn leads to bloating, so maybe that could have something to do with it? I hate that my stomach is poochy especially, because the whole ED thing sort of centers around my tummy for me. The first comment I remember being made about my weight, in 8th grade, was my best friend saying, "You're not fat, but you do have a tummy." and when I started losing weight this past year (when the ED kicked in) one of the first/most memorable comments someone said to me was "you look so great! You always had a little pooch before, but now it's gone and you look like a supermodel!" So you can understand why gaining weight in my stomach is my biggest trigger. Ugh, I wish the weight would just distribute itself evenly right from the start, because every time I look at my bloated, disgusting, poochy stomach I want to starve ang purge again, but I know that I can't do that and be healthy. grrrrrr I wish this ED had never started.  

what if you up your calorie intake but conitnue to exercise the same amount as you were?? as in not to increase the exercise but the calorie intake? will that help in redistribution? and how long will it take to redistribute???

You should not be exercising at a low weight if it can be helped, ricecake. Not at all. Distribution takes time, patience, and an appropriate level of calories at a consistent level for your needs. Working out at such a low BMI can lead to stress fractures and prolonging the danger of being underweight.

Kindly try not to revive threads QUITE so old...

Congratulations everyone, on the recovery! I've been recovering over the past month also, and I've gained about ten lbs--although I'm assuming a lot of it is water weight-as of now, I am 5'2 and 110, whereas I used to be 100.

I can completely relate to the bingeing on high calorie foods. Ahh, peanut butter on toast has been an OBSESSION over the past month, I don't know why!

However I've noticed that I've also gained muscle in my arms-I've done minimal weightlifting but I'm assuming that all of the protein I've been consuming is repairing my muscles. Keep it up everyone!

p.s. I have also noticed that since I've begun recovery I've felt SO hungry! I've been eating about 3,000-4,000 calories a day now (okay, maybe 4000 is a bit of an exaggeration but on some days I wouldn't be surprised), but I really have not gained a noticeable amount of fat. I'm assuming that my metabolism is revving up again, since I've generally felt warmer and a lot more active. I'm so glad to be enjoying other aspects of my life rather than food/how to not eat food. =)