ED recovery... question about calorie increases

Hi, I'm new to CC and was wandering if anyone could help...

A few weeks ago I started recovery from anorexia and although I've been making steps in increasing the types of food I eat I've continued to restrict so my weight has still been dropping. I've just changed treatment clinics as my parents were unhappy with the progress I was making at the last one, and have been told I need to increase my calories to 1200 a day in order to stop losing weight (after I've got used to this amount for a while I'll then proceed to increase to an amount in order to gain). I've now realised that its important for me to stop losing weight as my bmi is 14.5 and I can't afford to let it drop any more.

So my question is, what would the best way for me to increase my calories to 1200/day be? As in, would it be better to increase by 250cals every 3days until I got to 1200 (my psychologist recommended this) or should I just go for the ripping the plaster off effect and jump straight (or as quickly as possible) up to 1200?

I am currently struggling to make 500 so 1200 seems really daunting at the moment, but if I increase gradually I'm scared my body will get used to the higher amount of calories and then start putting weight on when at too low a calorie intake when I'm still effectively undereating.

Ooh and one other question... how long is advisable to spend eating meals? I find it such a struggle to eat I tend to spend anywhere from an 1hr to 1.5hrs eating each meal. I end up feeling like as soon as one meal ends its almost time for the next one, but if I spend a long time eating then I dont feel as full at the end of it.

Any help/advice/suggestions would be much appreciated :)

I went through a similar situation.  I ate lots of spoonfuls of peanut butter in between meals.  Really. It's one of the highest calorie foods w/out making you feel full, and its healthy. (as long as not the salmonella tainted, of course!)  I put on 30 lbs in 5 mos.

Try this- jump to 1200 one day, and increase by 300-500 every day until you hit 2500. It's really daunting, but it's imperative you make sure you gain on high amount, rather than a low amount.

Gaining on anything lower than 2500 WILL NOT HEAL YOUR ORGANS! I know this, unfortunately, because I gained on 1300-1800 and have suffered from chest pains, loss of period, and stunted growth. In reality, I never really healed. My eternal fear is that I've done irreversable damage to my heart and bones.

Is it possible to gain weight on 1300-1800? I was told I'd need about 2500. I dont want to gain on a low amount and then when I reach my target weight to have to eat a low amount of calories to maintain.

Right now I feel like even if ate 800 calories it would make me put on weight :(

Some people can... but it's super unhealthy as your metabolism never recovers, and like I said, your organs DO NOT heal. Check out my journal entry about the damage I've done by eating so little. 

Think of it this way, you have a organs that are in shreds because they've been broken down through starvation. Eat 1300-1800 and you're body will cling to every calorie to cushion the broken organs- CUSHION NOT HEAL. You're left with a body that may be okay weight-wise, but still shredded organs, thus you're not "healed" and still at risk for heart attack and death.

Take those same depleted and starved organs. Feed the body 2500+ calories, and your body will realize that it's being fed enough to attempt to heal the damage done inside. In return, your metabolism will speed up, from spending so much energy HEALING the organs, that it is only possible to gain on 2500+ calories. 

In recovery it doesn’t matter where or how you get your calories, as long as it gets done.

In my personal opinion, I believe just biting the bullet to 1200 calories and working your way up from there. Cut down on the fruits and vegetables and replace them with other things that contain fats/protein such as peanut butter, full fat yogurt, full fat milk and nuts/seeds. Eat more of the foods which are high cal and less density. In recovery, it’s NORMAL not to always eat clean. Challenge yourself and have a piece of chocolate, a slice of cake or a frozen ice-cream.

Eating less than 1200 calories damages your metabolism. In all honesty, you’re going to gain weight, whether at 1500 calories or 3000 calories. It shouldn’t matter what number you gain weight on, your main focus should be on reaching a target weight.  By the time you gain back to a healthy weight your body should have balanced out and you'll find you can eat a substantial amount of calories and maintain.

In my experience, it took me a couple of months for my stomach to get used to eating bigger amounts. It takes strength, courage and motivation to pull through it. I guess it is the daunting stage, but once it’s over you can push further.

Why do you take so long to eat a meal? Not that enjoying your food is bad, but 1-1.5 hours sounds a bit extreme. I don’t really know much about what you could do, maybe read a cook book while you’re eating? (All the yummy pictures may inspire you to eat more ). Perhaps even eat with a friend.

Best of luck xx

I too think you need to bite the bullet, and jump to 1200 at first. Stay there for a day or two, increase by 200-300, repeat until reaching 2500. That is how I did it, and it worked pretty well for me. Having a day or so inbetween increases gave me a bit of time to adjust to eating more (and it also gave me time to figure out how to add more calories for the next day)

Taking so long to eat is definitley part of your eating disorder. It is something ED makes you do so you won't be likely to eat as much. Since it takes you so long to eat, I would suggest setting yourself a timer. Start with shooting for 45  minutes, and work down to a more appropriate length of time. SO once you get the meal done in 45, start shooting for 40, then 35, etc. If you haven't finished your meal by the end of the timer, depending on how much is left on the plate - I would either give yourself another five-ten minutes (if its only a few more forkfuls), otherwise add the leftover calories into another meal (have an extra toast with PB at a snack, extra ounce of trailmix, something of that sort).

Ok I think I may take your advice and bite the bullet. It just feels so scary and wrong to suddenly be eating all of these foods that for so long I've trained myself into thinking of as dangerous and strictly off-limits.

rebelchick, how fast and how much weight did you gain by stepping up the calories in this way? I'm so scared I'm going to gain weight really quickly.

and yes, i thought the slow eating was probably ED trying to put off having to eat as much and i think i also use it as a way to stop me from having to feel full because the amount of food being digested is more spread out. il try using the additional calories added to the next meal idea to try and deter ED from controlling how i eat.

thanks again for your help

Honestly - I didn't see a single change in the scale until I made it up to about 2200 calories. And even then, it was half a pound after 2-3 days of reaching that amount. I stopped there (foolishly) waited a week to weigh in again/increase calories, and hadn't gained anymore so I bumped to 2500. The most I ever gained was about a pound and a half in one week. I had my period the week before, so even though the scale went up a pound, I added another 500 calories (boosting me to about 3000). Since then though, I've only been gaining 1/2 a pound a week. So, while you may initially gain a bit more than you feel capable of dealing with - your body becomes very very efficient at putting whatever calories you are taking in to good use (assuming you are getting 2500+, your body will begin to realize that you won't starve it again, and it will be secure enough to start the rebuliding process)

I'm glad you think that idea might help. I know it will be hard to force yourself to add an extra two hundred calories in a next meal. So maybe you might also consider something like "If I don't finish this meal in XX minutes, I will drink an 8oz glass of whole milk/bottled smoothie/other 150+ calorie beverage" The liquids might make it easier for you, both time-wise and full-ness. Because if the adding of extra calories becomes a pattern (breakfast not finished = more at snack which leads to adding more to lunc, so on and so forth) it might get really difficult.  So liquids might make the adding of calories (or even just for making meals quicker/less filling!) much easier.

Thanks for the reassurance regarding the weight gain :)

And the idea about drinking the missed calories is also one I'll try. Drinking calories has always been a massive fear, so if I do have to resort to it at least I'll be knocking ED on the head at the same time!