another gaining question...

hi againnnn,

so im kinda of at a lost with this weight gain.

i see everyone on here eating 2500+ calories and gaining about 1-2 lbs a week. im extremely jealous. my therapist said gaining about .5-1 lb a week is a good rate for me mentally and physically and i agreed to do that. today was my first weight in and i needed to be 90 lbs then next saturday 91, you get the pattern.

but my question is i only ate about 1600 calories a day since wednesday and i gained an entire pound! thats not even a week...is my body just screwed up?? i would love to eat 2500+ calories but im afraid ill put on like 4 lbs in a week and freak into relapse (extremely bad) i want to gain!! but ive relapsed once bc of gaining to quickly... is my metabolism just messed up now?? will my matinance be like 1000 cals?? 

ive had exactly the same worries as you but it really is the ed talking the only way to speed your mrtabolism up is to eat more i know that scary initally but you need to try it . because you are still restricting your metabolism will be working at a very low rate  and trying to hold on to all the food. dont be scared just try it i was eating 1500 and gaining one to 2 pound a week but i increased my calories to 2500 and ive gained half a pound one week a pound the next and 2 the week after i have been known to gain 3 on 1500. your body will accomodate but you have to trust it and in time it will trust you . your metabolism naturally speeds up the higher your weight at the end of the day while ever you are underweight you metabolism wont be working properly but it will adjust as you increase. why not go back to your theapist tell her how you are feeling you can do this h x

tessa, thanks so much for your advice it really seems to help. im going to push myself to get up to 2000 today even though im scared and 2500 tmr.. i just really dont want to relapse again. i can tell that ED is already telling me ill gain so much on this but its time to be strong right?

I know it's scary. I've gone through it but ask yourself these questions.

1. do i want to recover?

2. do i want to be healthy?

3. do the people who love me think it's best that i gain?

4. do doctor's think i need to gain?

5. what does it matter if i gain 2 pounds or 10 in a week if the ultimate goal is the same?

6. what am i gaining from letting ED draw out this process?

If you're honest about the answers to these questions i think the whole process of gaining is easier. Who cares how fast the weight comes on if ultimately your goal weight is going to be the same? If you truly want to be healthy then don't even bother weighing for a while and just eat. eat a minimum of 2000 and bump it up to 2500 as soon as possible. ED will trick you into thinking that you shouldn't do it but you know that it's the right thing to do. At this point your body will gain on any amount, the amount is up to you and the effect on your metabolism is in your hands. i'd rather gain on 3000 calories if i could do it all over again because then my metabolism could have caught up and gone beyond what it is normally.  if you need support please PM me.

Original Post by fruit_lvr:

tessa, thanks so much for your advice it really seems to help. im going to push myself to get up to 2000 today even though im scared and 2500 tmr.. i just really dont want to relapse again. i can tell that ED is already telling me ill gain so much on this but its time to be strong right?

 it is but you can do it, we are all with you , and you will be glad you did it in the end h xxx

that really helped me to chrissy thanks xx

This issue comes up a lot. I have had an ed many years on and off and done treatment/recovery in many forms. This time when I made the choice to feed my body fully and repair. You can gain on less but it will not give your body what it needs to be fully healthy and that also means it will not give your mindset it either. I remember when I got to 2500 and I was gaining the fear to go to 3000 but then I did and then to 3500 a day. What does dragging the process out achieve? It just keeps you trapped in the ed. I know the fear that it may keep going and going but when you get to a healthy range you will go to maintence. This extra food is like medicine. So think of it as an addition to your normal plan. So every time you eat the extra calories it is like taking meds for a short time to be healthy for a long time. You can do this

Chrissy and abbi - I was wondering if you could both speak from experience - I am trying to understand the concept of eating a lot more calories than one may currently be eating and gaining one.g. ED00 and how this kick starts or speeds up your metabolism. Does this help repair your metabolism quicker? Does it help you settle at a higher maintenance? Just curious. I don't count calories in my recovery, I am working with my dietician on food flexibility, incorporating fear foods, eating regularly and decent portion sizes. I am gaining modestly on this .

Okay well its kinda like running..so if ýou were running and had a destination )gaining weight) you could walk there and you'd eventually get there or ýou could run, and when you're there and you slow down it is likely that your pace will be quicker than the person who just walked because by contrast walking faster seems easier for you than the person who was already walking.

Basically, your body is starving so your metabolism has slowed to a crawl but to be healthy it is efficient at storing cals since it needs them. When you further restrict your cals in recovery your body still hangs on to them so you'll still gain weight but when it comes time to maintain your metabolism may barely be walking since it never got the chance to run. So instead of you cutting back from 3000 calories and maintaining on a normal 2000 calories you might maintaing on 1500 because you only ever reached 2000 and your body held on to every cal.

Sorry if this makes no sense. I tried hard to think of a way to make it more vivid.

that wa explained really well thanks xx

thanks :) if any of you ever need support, have questions about my own experiences or are struggling please feel free to PM me anytime!!

Original Post by chrissy1988:

thanks :) if any of you ever need support, have questions about my own experiences or are struggling please feel free to PM me anytime!!

 thanks chrissy you are a gem xx

thanks everyone for all your posts it is so helpful to hear from people who are going through/ have gone through this same thing. i dont think anyone would understand an ED unless youve lived through it. you all help me so much and actually let me believe that i CAN do this. THANK U SO MUCH 

 

so basically chrissy you are saying that if i eat 1600 calories or 2500 calories im going to gain the same? is that right? im just a little confused on that part still. and if i dont get to 2500 your saying my maintance will be at a lower calorie amount? 

Original Post by chrissy1988:

I know it's scary. I've gone through it but ask yourself these questions.

1. do i want to recover?

2. do i want to be healthy?

3. do the people who love me think it's best that i gain?

4. do doctor's think i need to gain?

5. what does it matter if i gain 2 pounds or 10 in a week if the ultimate goal is the same?

6. what am i gaining from letting ED draw out this process?

If you're honest about the answers to these questions i think the whole process of gaining is easier. Who cares how fast the weight comes on if ultimately your goal weight is going to be the same? If you truly want to be healthy then don't even bother weighing for a while and just eat. eat a minimum of 2000 and bump it up to 2500 as soon as possible. ED will trick you into thinking that you shouldn't do it but you know that it's the right thing to do. At this point your body will gain on any amount, the amount is up to you and the effect on your metabolism is in your hands. i'd rather gain on 3000 calories if i could do it all over again because then my metabolism could have caught up and gone beyond what it is normally.  if you need support please PM me.

Your point # 5: I could kiss you!

Seriously, what DOES it matter???  If I had any other goal, I would be trying to reach it as fast as possible!  Why take it slow to reach the goal of gaining weight?

You're right; I wouldn't walk to the finish line.  I'd flat out sprint.

Original Post by chrissy1988:

I know it's scary. I've gone through it but ask yourself these questions.

1. do i want to recover?

2. do i want to be healthy?

3. do the people who love me think it's best that i gain?

4. do doctor's think i need to gain?

5. what does it matter if i gain 2 pounds or 10 in a week if the ultimate goal is the same?

6. what am i gaining from letting ED draw out this process?

If you're honest about the answers to these questions i think the whole process of gaining is easier. Who cares how fast the weight comes on if ultimately your goal weight is going to be the same? If you truly want to be healthy then don't even bother weighing for a while and just eat. eat a minimum of 2000 and bump it up to 2500 as soon as possible. ED will trick you into thinking that you shouldn't do it but you know that it's the right thing to do. At this point your body will gain on any amount, the amount is up to you and the effect on your metabolism is in your hands. i'd rather gain on 3000 calories if i could do it all over again because then my metabolism could have caught up and gone beyond what it is normally.  if you need support please PM me.

 

 

thank you chrissy! these are such great things to bring up, ive started asking myself them. i KNOW my goal is to be healthy, and i KNOW i want to gain weight, and i know my metabolism is out of whack...im a little nervous about upping my calories to 2500 but whats the worst that could happen?i  gain weight and can get back to living a normal life? isn't thwat what i want? and i might as well ENJOY it! (its easy to say these things). i guess ia lso get scared because i'm really small (4'10.5ish) that "i'm different"  but healthy is healthy.