Posts by paperchain

Okay, weirdest thing today.  Haven't been for 3 days, then went 3 times today!  How does that work? xD

Teenagers do need a lot more calories for the reasons angelique listed and because we're still growing, made not upward but inside, you're bones and organs etc are still developing.

This is a pretty good calculator for working out how many calories you really need:

http://www.kidsnutrition.org/bodycomp/bmiz2.h tml

For breakfast I usually find either porridge or whole grain cereal with a yoghurt keeps me going for longest.  Or if you add a high fibre fruit like an apple to your breakfast or have one as a snack that should keep you full for a little longer.

It's so unfair ]=

I used to be like that then it caught up with me when I was about 13.  So it's like, why can you still do that?!

My best friend is the skinniest person ever and she eats sooo much and it all crap.  She had 4 large slices of pizza the other day as well as a load of other stuff earlier in te day and even after eating her stomach was still flat as a pancake.

One of my other close friends is dead skinny too and she eats loads.  She ate most of my lunch as well as most of her own in year 11 and if anything she gots thinner!  And now she's got a thing about eating pure sugar.  She'll get through a bag in like, 2 days.  How can she not gain weight?

There ae loads of reeeally skinny girls in my college as well and almost every time you see one of them they're eating a chocolate bar or something ><

Yay ranting.

I have between 100 and 200.  Partly because I've just started eating it again, partly because breakfast foods tend to fill me up quickly so I can't eat that much anyway and partly because my mum has a habit of randomly serving a really high cal dinner without notice so I need to be prepared.  I may start eating a little more at breakfast once I go back to college though.

Omg you just reminded me.  We went to London on Saturday and in Harrods they had a GIANT chocolate bunny.  It was taller than me!  Probably about 5'6, 5'7 tall!!  I can't remember how much it cost but it was something like £2000 I think!  That'd take even the biggest chocolate loving not-on-a-diet person aaggeeesss to eat.

It did look tasty though xD

I know what you mean about being able to do stuff without gaining weight, but I think the weight gain is so that you'll be more healthy in general.  This means you'll be less likely to encounter other health problems later and be more able to do what you want without interruption.  Also, I suppose if you were to focus on gaining muscle rather than just weight, you'd definatelt be able to do more and you'd look great too.  Plus, I heard a specialist on TV say that you need to be at a healthy weight and have stores of fat and such so that if you even come down with a horrible illness that prevents you from eating anything, you're body can survive off of what it has stored.  If you stay at a really low weight, then you'd have nothing to keep you alive and an illness that could have been fought off might end up killing you.  Just a few thoughts.

Omg that's where I want to go!  Don't know if I'll be able to get in though xD  We haven't looked thoroughly into everywhere yet, but I've fallen in love with Oxford already ><  What are you going to be studying?  I'm looking to do a 4 year maths course, apparently it's easier to get into Oxford than Cambridge for maths, that's part of why I chose it.  Which college will you be going to?  Good luck in your A levels by the way, I'm sure you'll do great!

xxxx

I wanted a softer sound, less strange user name than the one I used to use for everything and happened to be obsessed with making paper chains at the time.  This part's weird and a rather obscure link, but I used to feel like paper chains were holding me to my ED, like I was chained to it but although I could break free because paper breaks easily, I chose not to.  Something like that.

My old user name that I used for everything was Regurgitating Lawnmower.  My friend and I were calling each other weird names for fun and I came out with that.  I made us laugh and when I used it online everyone seemed to like it so it stuck.

Sounds like you're doing well =]  It's great you're being positive about it, because it really is a very positive thing, even if it doesn't always feel that way!

I've only been in recovery for just shy of 2 months and have gained 3lbs.  I'm not too concerned about gaining weight at the moment though as for my height and ages I'm not too far underweight and I've been underweight pretty much my entire life, so it's normal for me.  My ED started about 2 years ago, I didn't lose a lot of weight because I tended to lose about 10lbs or so then put almost all over it back on with binging.  The last six months or so were the worst though.  I purged more than ever for the first 2 of them, then gave it up completely when I heard about how it can make your stomach rupture.  But not purging pushed me to restrict harder and meant I never binged because I knew I couldn't get rid of it.  Got down to 92lbs and my hair started to fall out really badly.  All the other effects I could put up with (just about!) but I've always cherished my hair and since it's thin already I couldn't stand to lose any of it.  That was what made me realise how bad a problem it was and pushed me to try to recover.  I might be a vain reason, but it's working so who cares, right?

I've managed to up my cals to 12-1300 but am finding it hard to up them more because I can't eat a lot of food at once because I still can't stand feeling really full.  I have smaller meals and snacks throughout the day which is okay most of the time, but occassionally I just feel like food is everywhere and I never get a break from it.

I'm becoming okay with the idea of gaining weight now though, as I know I will because I'm still growing and maturing and that's a big step for me.

Good luck to both of you!  What's your favourite thing about recovery?  For me, it's probably just being able to walk upstairs without my legs being in immense pain and being so out of breath and practically collapsing at the top xD

Eventually I will try to aim higher, but 1500 sounds like a lot right now and I don't want to scare myself off with huge numbers.  I mentioned my ED so the original poster would know that my intake was probably lower than it should be right now.

I was never underweight because I ate too little.  I know you probably won't believe me but it's true.  I really struggled to gain weight as a child,  I tried sooo hard and ate so much but just couldn't gain weight until a few years ago.

Btw, thanks for telling me my metabolism will recover, I've been worried that it won't no matter how much I eat, so thank you.

Oh yeah, this seems to be a pretty good calculator for BMI and calories for teens http://www.kidsnutrition.org/bodycomp/bmiz2.h tml if that's of any help sportychic.

I'm 5'4, 16 years old, 95lbs and eat 12-1300 cals a day.

I know I'm underweight, but I've always been, it's just the way I am.  I'm also recovering from an ED (not the reason I was always underweight btw) so my calories are still quite low because my metabolism's still broken.

I plan on getting to 15-1600 calories a day as that's what my BMR is supposed to be.

I was reeeally cold all the time too.  And my college is at the top of this huge hill and it took everything in me to walk up it every day.  I could barely make it up two flights of stairs and would avoid even foing upstairs in my house whenever I could because it was so hard.  I love being able to run up them whenever I like now =D  My hair started falling out too, that's what made me realise I needed to change.  I've got long blond hair that I've always loved soo much and didn't want to lose it for anything.

After about a month of eating no more than 200 cals a day though, my body did actually get used to it.  I was still cold and tired, but climbing stairs and walking up hills and stuff did get a lot easier.  It's amazing how well the body can adapt (not that I'd ever put it through that again!)

Original Post by sarahbugs:

and why does the scale go up drastically after a binge?

It's usually a combination of water weight and actual weight gain -- but it's mostly water weight. 

Most of us who binge use processed foods, and even the processed foods that don't seem super salty can have a lot of sodium in them.  When the body receives a lot of sodium in a short period of time, it holds onto every bit of water it can so that the electrolytes don't become dangerously imbalanced.

I know that for me, after a binge, if I am patient, almost always the weight comes off over a period of about 4-5 days.  I make the problem worse, though, when I see the higher number on the scale -- freak out -- and binge again -- perpetuating the cycle.

 That, and binges do generally consist of a lot of food and that will remain in your body through to the next day so you get the weight of the food added to your weight too.

Original Post by evemarie:

lol I just had a pack of mini hobnobs today actually :D

Omg me too! xD  They're so yummy <3

McVities make the best biscuits <3  The cadbury ones are nowhere near as good.

Do you get Cadbury chocolate in America?  The only place I saw it in Florida was the England bit of Epcot xD  Aeros are awesome, but you just can't beat Cadbury's dairy milk chocolate =]

I too think they only look good on really skinny people, otherwise you just get a big buldging bit below the waist xP

I just worry that people will wear them how they wear skinny jeans now, 3 sizes too small.  And then they'll look reeeally bad.  Why don't people just wear stuff that fits?  Everything looks so much better if it just fits properly.