Remove please
Congrats on eating the chocolate !!!!!!!!!!
As for what cals to eat, im unsure. It sounds as tho you are medically compromised so that question may be est answered by a doctor
Upping your cals as soon as possible will be the best decision you could possibly make. I, like many other ED sufferers, made the mistake of prolonging the recovery process by slowly but surely upping my cals (or at least attempting to). This not only hindered the weight gain (which is an inevitable part of recovery and it is honestly best to get it over with sooner rather than later - also, while being at a healthy weight is scary at first, it is unbelievable how much clearer your mind gets) but increasing my cals inch by inch rather than just hopping on the recovery bandwagon really screwed me up.
So, yes, jump straight to 3000. If I had done that a year ago, perhaps I would be recovered now rather than still stuck in this quasi-recovery mode. Recovery is really challenging, but you're on the right track by making the decision to recover. Whatever you do, you must stick by your decision. You will feel guilty eating more, you will feel awful when you gain weight, but you must not let that guilt control you. When you feel this guilt, take a deep breathe and remind yourself of why you want to get better. Remind yourself of everything ED has stolen from you. You deserve to recover, you deserve to be happy and healthy and the only way to reach this happiness is to throw ED out of your life completely.
3000 cals can seem overwhelming, but definitely doable. You'll have to start eating more fear foods and higher cal foods, like nut butters (every ED recoverer's go-to food, haha), avocados, full-fat everything, ect. Try making your own smoothies - it's fun to experiment with food! A favorite of mine is banana/vanilla soy milk/peanut butter smoothie; simple but sweet!
Wow congratulations on the breakthrough at 5'7 and only 42/43 kilos you definetely need to gain a fair amount of weight, so yeah if you can stomach it without feeling too guilty go for 3000, or maybe try 2500 if you have trouble, and then eventually get to 3000. try things like nuts which is approximately 150 calories per handful, add oil when you cook food that way you add calories w/o really adding any bulk to your food, things like cheese that are high in calories
My eating has been distorted for many many years so will it take long to normalise an eating pattern? Does weight creep in very fast and is it very noticeable?! Sorry for all the questions but I'm terrified.
RIGHT!!! Congratulation for your amazing choice! ;) I wish you the best of luck! You can do it!!
Hi Deli!!
This is great news. Good for you :)
Do you have help? A therapist and doctor? I think that recovery is a very difficult thing to achieve on your own and the more help you have the better. Plus you will have days that you need to be answerable to someone as like any addiction, recovery from Anorexia Nervosa is a very ambivalent experience!
I tried the gradually upping calories method and found it too easy to cheat with and ended up in a very half-hearted attempt at recovery from which I relapsed. But I have also tried the all in method and relapsed big time. So I don't know which to advise you with.
I would agree that getting the weight gain over and done with is a good idea. I've found that with not weighing myself and being weighed every now and then by my doctor/nutririonist I don't see the weight going on and once it's on it's on because I can't lose it without relapse.
So, I'll stop drivelling! .... My advise is DON'T WEIGH YOURSELF!!!!!, get the support of a therapist and doctor, open up to people close to you and vent on here any time you need to. Be courageous and keep at it until you are healthy, don't let yourslef slip backwards.
Love Suzi xx
Hello. Congrats on deciding to recover! This is literally the hardest point right now, every day from now on you will only be getting stronger. I would really, really recommend that you get your Doc/nutritionist to give you a diet plan. This way, you will know you are eating enough and getting the right nutrients. Also, it would probably be better for you at this stage to NOT have to think about food and calories, get other people to do that for you so your mind is free to focus on other things. You would be surprised how helpful it is to completely focus your mind on something other than food/ED stuff... it takes you away from ED and restores you to yourself.
Firstly, congratulation on deciding to recover! It makes me extremely happy to see that you have decided to take charge of your ED! While 3000 calories can seem extremely daunting, being as you probably were eating significantly less than that before, it is quite doable.
The best tip I could give is to eat energy dense foods that have a large amount of calories and nutrients relative to serving size. Examples of such food include nuts, avocado, dark chocolate, whole grain pastas and bread, fatty fish, full-fat dairy, and meat. These will help you reach your calorie intake, without feeling like you are stuffed.
Also, while tea and water are delicious, calorie packed drinks are your friend. Try drinking 100% fruit juices, milk, sports drinks, smoothies, shakes and the like.
While I do not have an ED, I have had many close family members and friends who have. One thing that they also found extremely helpful was to snack more frequently. If you tend to eat only three meals a day, snacking more often will help your increase your intake without making you feel extremely full.
While the task can seem pretty daunting at first, each day it will get better. You can conquer this ED, and recover to a healthy weight. We all believe in you, and support you.
I am really struggling but I'm NOT giving in. I'm really stuck on food choices as for many many years I've ate the exact same thing at the exact same time each and every day. I need to plan a breakfast lunch and tea with 3 snacks in between (10am 3pm and supper).
My doctor has been keeping an eye on my bloods as my potassium was raised (I don't know why), liver profile was also raised and my calcium was low. My last ECG showed my heart rate was 67 bpm? A while back it was 44 bpm.
Just very scared of all the changes that are to come as I've been like this for a long time plus I'm scared of how quick weight will go on me as again, for many years I've been eating only 1800 calories.
Is the journey through recovery terrible!? I'm just terrified. Xxxx
