Anxious About Gaining Weight

Hey There All,  Im new here at CC and i am working right now to recover from anorexia. According to my scale my lowest weight was at aroubd 140 and that was a week ago. This morning i weighed myself and it was about 10 pounds more!!! I understand that i need to put some weight back on but a ten pound jump makes me nervous! Not only that but lastnight i tried to order food from a restaurant without trying to healthy it up (subbing ham for turkey, dry toast instead of buttered, etc.) I had half a reuben sandwich, aome potatos and then i had some frozen yogurt with health bar crunchies for dessert. Now i see a huge jump in weight and i never want to eat normally again for fear of gaining weight. i guess my question is

(A) Is this normal, will my wieght yo-yo for a while since i have screwed up my metabolism so badly? (Was bulimic for 6 months and anorexic till a month ago.)

(B) im trying to eat  about 2200-2300 calories a day. Is this a good pace for me? Im 6'2'' and am 22 yrs old.

-Also, is there anyone else who has felt this way while coping with Anorexic recovery? And if so, is there an easier way to deal with it?

I am no expert on eating disorders, but my guess is that your body is now trying to "hold on to" any food it gets, which is why you see the weight gain.  I would imagine it will take some time for your body to adjust to your new way of eating.  In the meantime, eat healthy and get healthy!  Consider working out a few times a week as you recover, as this will help build muscle, too.  In your pictures, you are good looking guy, and will be even better looking with 30+ more pounds on ya! 

Hi there. Trust me, there are lots of us who know how you feel right now so DON'T PANIC. First up, well done on eating well at the restaurant, it's a brilliant start. 10lbs cannot be gained in true weight overnight - what you are seeing is water retention likely from sodium in the meal and otherwise. It will flush out!

It is normal initially, so stay clear of the scales for a couple of weeks and then weigh in again to get a better indication of what rate you are gaining at. For a 6'2 male you really need to be eating around 3000 calories to kick your metabolism into high gear. We have a Weight Gain forum full of helpful advice, foods and recipies. I myself have to eat around 4k calories to gain anything significant, so it CAN be done!

Make sure you don't resort to any purging methods in panic, like cardio exercise or otherwise in all this. A good thing to start instead would be weight lifting - it will help you rebuild atrophied muscle and rev your metabolism in the long run.

Good luck!

OHH Im so happy you are recovering. DONT EVER go back to bulimic or anorexic again. I agree with the others, you would look 100x better with 30 lbs more. And dont panic about gaining weight from the begining, YOU WONT REGRET IT I PROMISE.

I dont have time to type more gotta go ill edit later

Thanks you guys, this helps more than you know. Im actually in therepy for the anorexia and i get more out of reading what we write in the forums, and THIS is free. I dont want to be a bother but i do have two quick questions more.

-Will my body know when to stop gaining? and is it usual to look really bloated around the midsection? I think that is where alot of the anxiety is coming from today.

Hi Clay,

Your body is going to take time to adjust and you have to get your metabolism up that normally does take some time. although that is a good thing, don't loose hope, eat and enjoy, after a while your body will adjust.

Good luck and congratulations for taking the step to recovery!