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I need 3,000+ to gain anything at all.

if you've been eating 1800 and aren't gaining then clearly that's a clue that you need to eat more...maybe bump it up to 2200 calories then 2500 calories. but yes, you need to eat 2500 calories. that is optimal for weight gain and if you want to get healthy and have plateaued already at 1800 then it's time to eat more!! :)

If your BMI is so dangerously low have you seen a doctor?  You may need to be referred to a specialist dietician to help you.  Yes, if you're 18 you will probably need 2500-3000 cals a day to start gaining.

Well I didn't know my BMI was so dangerously low. And I'm not 18 I'm 15... and no I haven't seen a doctor for that particularly but I've had check ups and my doctor hasn't said anything was wrong. But I'll try doing 2,000 today and see how it is. Thanks everyone.

I have known people with a higher BMI than you who've died.

Get up to 2500, not just 2000. It took me 4000 calories to gain anything substancial. And I'm at my goal weight, now, with a photo in my journal, and remarkably enough I am not a blimp.

Eating as you are is probably more dangerous than eating too little. You're at this really risky point where you've realised you do not need to starve to manage your weight but you're not gaining either. Prolonging your weight gain will eventually cause you real harm and could kill you.

I want to second what lala has said on all fronts. Just because you aren't living off of strawberries and iceberg lettuce doesn't mean you are better. You need to gain. And you know that to gain a pound a week, you need to increase your calories by about 500 a day.

When I was 16, my heart stopped. I died in my hospital bed. My BMI was approximately 16/17 at that point. If I had not been in an inpatient ward, I would have died in my sleep that night. I was on a heart monitor and was brought back to life (yay for defibrillators!)

It took me 3600 calories to gain. And that was a slow gain - bout a pound every two weeks I think is what it averaged to at the end. I probably should have increased to 4,000 just to speed it up, it took me three weeks longer than I expected to reach my goal. And I'm turning 21 in six months. You are younger and therefore need a few hundred more calories than the caloriecount calculator suggests. By not eating enough, you are prolonging and exacerbating the damage you've done to your body and mind, and you are giving your eatng disorder an even stronger foothold in your life.

Alright, I don't know why my BMI is so low, because I look skinny/healthy but not sickly skinny... maybe it's my height. But to rebelchick, I don't know where you got that I was living off of strawberries and iceburg lettuce but I'm not...

Thanks for the answers

BMI takes into consideration height.

if you don't see how small you are, then it could either be the way you carry it or part of an ED:  part of an ED is not being able to see how sick you are.

FYI I said "just because you aren't living off of strawberries and iceberg lettuce doesn't mean you are better" I never said that's what you were doing now, or even that its what you did before. Yes, it may have been an exaggeration, but I was illustrating the fact that just because you are eating more than you used to does not mean its enough or that everything is suddenly going to be fixed - there is still damage to be repaired and the sooner you do it, the less likely it is to become permanent.

i second and third lala and rebel chick. they are the most experiencd ppl i kno on this site. stop second guessing every bit of advice you are given. stop going on about not knowing why your BMI is r isnt low. if the number says underweight. your underweight. dont try to pawn off staying underweight by saying "i look healthy".

2500 (sedentary) is the number to gain 3000-3500 if you're active. pisn about on numbers like 1500 and 1800 is prolonging you're state of ill health. and frankly a bit frustrating.

if you ask for advice heed the advice

Work your way up in cals not by adding 200 every day. Stay away from the scale except every two weeks. For every 2 weeks that you see no gains, then up the cals by 200. But remember, just eating the cals isnt good enough. You need to eat 40% carbs and 30%  fats and 30% protiens called a 30-40-30 lean mass gaining diet. Be realistic and shoot to gain 1-2 lbs per week.

"But remember, just eating the cals isnt good enough. You need to eat 40% carbs and 30%  fats and 30% protiens called a 30-40-30 lean mass gaining diet"

IGNORE THIS. IT IS ABSOUTELY RETARDED TO BE GIVING SOMEONE WHO IS OBSESSIVE ALREADY, ADVICE ABOUT WEIGHING OUT CORRECT PERCENTAGES OF FOOD.

you just need to gain weight. nancy clark (nutritionist to the USA olympic team and nutritional counsellor to thousands of ED sufferers, has well documented evidence that a 50-25-25 or even 60-20-20 carb diet is the most successful for optimal health and resoration of menses).

look at this girls history. she doesnt need another problem