It's baaack, now what?

I finally got my period today for the first time in 14 months. As much as I hate having to deal with it I'm soo happy my body trusts me again and it's worth it in the long run. Anyway so I know having a period is a good indicater of health, but it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm at a healthy weight. I'm 15 (almost 16), 5'6", and about 113 pounds up from 99. I got to that weight by eating too little (nowhere near starvation, more like an average of 1800 cals a day) and probably too much exercising.  I'm still skinny but have a lot of muscle. Do you think it would benefit my health to continue trying to gain? I'm not really afraid of gaining more weight now, but as I'm a teenager I'll probably gain more weight naturally anyway even if I'm not making a conscious effort to do so. I don't really look too different from when I was 99 pounds, I guess my theighs and stomach are a little bigger and you can't see my ribs that much but my stomach is still flat.  And so is my chest, which I'm not too happy about...would gaining more weight eventually send some fat to my chest? Because that's where it's desperately needed. lol. I would really like to hear some opinions regarding wheter or not I should keep trying to gain, as I'm a bit lost. Thanks so much. =)

I got where I was the same way.. around 1800 cals a day (didn't really reaslize how much) I ate more than my friends but was still loseing.

You definatly have the right attitude... and congratulations on being healthy again. Try intuitive eating ( when your hungry... listen to your body)

Now that you have your hormones back (your LADY hormones! haha) some weight should go to your chest and probably butt... more "feminine" areas. This is also dependent on your genteics, etc... but I think you'll have a girly shape soon especially if you add a couple more pounds.

If you gain more, nothing bad is going to happen. I think a couple more pounds would give you a nice "cushion" (nothing dirty meant by thattt!!!) to fall back on if you were to get sick (stomach virus, etc) so you're sure you'll be out of the danger zone.

Good luck!

I'm 18,  5'10" and 106 pounds (but i used to be 125) and the same thing happened to me too! I didnt' realize that I needed to eat more calories once I started exercising more. I've only been off my period for 5 months, but I went to the doctor and its serious (i basically have all the symptoms of anorexia, but I eat, and I eat a lot!), so I'm not allowed to exercise anymore (which is the hardest thing to deal with). I wanted to ask you how long it's taken you to recover from your weight loss, and did you still exercise lightly?

I should also mention that I am totally flat-chested as well, and even when I weighted 125 pounds, I still had no boobs. Dont ya just love genetics? lol but seriously you should love being the way you are! I wouldn't have big boobs for anything--they make performing simple tasks so much harder, and they sag as soon as you hit 30. Guys don't even care, either (at least the important ones don't). You should focus on eating healthy, and following your hunger, and you will naturally reach the right weight for your body!

Period does not equal healthy.

Your weight is still frightfully low and you still risk things like osteoporosis and a damaged immune system where you are. Plus, the lower your weight the less likely your period will even stick around. Gain to a BMI of 20. If your body's happy weight is lower it adjusts by itself (mine did; when I moved to a maintainance amount, after a week or so I lost some weight and am now sitting at that though still in a healthy range).

m_runner - thanks! you're post made me smile, lol =) I'll probably try and gain some more weight. ;)

pinkflamengo - lol, it's nice to know someone else flat chested feels my pain! It only took me about a month and a half or more to gain around 13 pounds. I ate 2600-3000+ calories a day (which involved a LOT of peanut butter, haha) I did exercise lightly, but mainly stregnth training. It helped keep my appetite up and I gained muscle, so I'm glad I did it. =) Thanks for the advice!

lala-Yep, I know that just because I have my period it doesn't mean I'm healthy. I was just wondering if I should gain more because I've never had a BMI higher than 18.5 in my life and I'm just a teenager so my doctor always told me I was "normal" (even though I stopped getting my period and was severely underweight! She said it was just "genetic." Yeah, right. The only reason my mom didn't get her period much was because she was underweight as well). Thank you, I think I'll take your advice. =)