Post Eating disorder, discuss and share advice HERE on how YOU are coping with MAINTENANCE
Maintenance can be hard at times, especially if you have a history of an eating disorder, and its helpful to get advice and support from others who are going or have gone through similar things.
Discuss HERE anything related to eating disorders or if you have any struggles with maintenance. It can be very triggering for some people to read negative posts and that's why this thread has been created, so that YOU can chose wether or not you want to read them.
Some people have brilliant advice and that's why it's good that they share this!
Also don't hesitate to point out if you challenged yourself to any fear foods!
As an example:
(and this is true) Recently i've been feeling really triggered by the tiniest things, comments from the BF, flat mates and calorie count, and i admit my intake probably hasn't been where it should be. HOWEVER today i have already had a 500calorie breakfast to make up for it and i intend on having a big sandwich in a moment as im slightly hungover :)
Izzi18, you only eat 700 calories a day, so your metabolism is incredibly supressed. This is no way to maintain, as you can't even get in the nutrients you need on 700. Try eating a lot MORE - it kick starts your metabolsim and makes maintianing easier - your body might not want you to be as low as 110 lbs though.
Lowri93, good on you for the breakfast!! Maintaining is harder than I thought too. I kinda had this idea that I'd gain, then be able to forget calorie counting and just stay at my target weight, but I seem just as obsessed with counting as ever! I do find that only weighing once a week is helping though, and I have settle on around 2,250-2,500 to maintain my weight. Best of luck to you!!
I still find it hard to stop counting! I still do it alllll the time :(.. One evening last week my mam said ohh you won't need to eat as much at night time now! Which i found very hurtful.. As in all was going through my head was pig pig pig!.. So you no what i did?.. I got an ice cream :P.. Also i got take away the other night! :o.. A pizza! Was very nice and i'm happy i got it! :)
lowri- I no we did't get of to a great start?!?.. But i just wanted to say i really hope you over come this!! I always follow your posts and i think your very brave! hope we can be friends here :) and best of luck maintaining x
For me, I realised that as a fairly tall- 5"8 young- 18 year old female I should be able to maintain on a lot more than I have been eating so my challenge is to respond tony hunger and eat what I want when I'm hungry. As much as I'd like to stop counting now too I don't think it would be beneficial as I worry my calories may drop- so I am aiming for 2,000 at least as often as I can! Good luck everyone! X
Lowri, great idea!! I was really missing something like that on CC...
As you maybe read in one of my posts I'm struggling with A LOT of things!
The past week I've been undereating but I'm working myself up to a healthier amount and I've been doing great at that so far...but still it's hard! I need to forget about losing weight because I'm actually slimmer at my current 105lbs than I was at 98lbs, there are clothes which prove that:-) So I don't know....water weight, muscle...? Whatever... people say I look great, slim&healthy and deep inside me I know it's true and that I did some great work the past few months! I know I won't just gain randomly. I'll only work on this one part of my body which really annoys me but in a healthy way...through eating healthily and moderate exercise.
Haha I'm being very positive today...?;) Well, working on making this a permanent state:)
But at the moment there's still no period, the counting, the weighing (myself&the food^^), self harm, fear foods - cake, chocolate, cream, ice cream - even frozen yoghurt, fried things...ugh the list is long;-) And then I get these thoughts that I did something wrong in weight recovery, that I can't eat the recommended amount of cals, that I have to exercise, that there are certain foods I'll never be able to eat if I don't want to gain etc....I'm upset with my height (5'1) and shape - love handles, otherwise thin-slim&toned!!:(...and yeah, I basically believe I'm disadvantaged when it comes to eating 'normal' and staying slim because I'm so tiny...and that I'll never be ED free because I'm condemned to undereating for a nice body! Contradicting myself? Haha yes, that's what I mean...;-)
Finally, I'm fighting with this depression...however I'm seeing a psychologist about that and go to psychotherapy and maybe I'll soon get medication to help me a bit there!:)
So yes - A LOT of stupids thoughts in maintainance BUT there are also good things such as...
...no NEDS
...I can sleep:))
...no binging episodes due to overrestricting
...no purging
...I can concentrate
...I'm interested in things again - LoL this sounds funny but for a long time there was nothing that could catch my interest;)
...recently noticed my hair isn't falling out in strands anymore
...well and I guess there's lots of things I don't see which are positive:)
btw lowri - you were always one of those who gave me courage to hang on, you're doing so well, I mean even starting this thread shows how amazing you are!! Well done with breakfast&the sandwiches:)
baybeehannahx If I'm recommended to eat 2000 this must be your mini-minimum ;-)
Courage ladies - and guys if any are reading this thread;) - we've come so far, we can do this!! Being sick is over, we don't really want to ever go back!!??
xxx
Rose
i LOVE how open everyone is, remember a problem shared is a problem halved :D
Rose_93 thank you sweetie, i feel happy that people are inspired by me! and this motivates me to keep up the positivity! :D
Numbers don't mean anything, your beautiful for who you are not for what number you are. Like you say.. you even feel slimmer at a healthy 105! Don't stress about the period, actually FORGET ABOUT IT! stress only makes it harder to come back, i didn't get mine back after 2 years until i finally stopped caring and moved to uni. Your not alone with feeling you can't eat the recommended amount of calories either, for months i was maintaining on 1500 and convinced i'd gain on anything more, then i jumped to 1800 and then to 2000 and STILL maintained! i was kicking myself!
Headz your doing a brill job, i'm sure your mum didn't mean anything by that comment, but if it happens again, why not say something? and i love how you got an ice cream instead. Victory! Sometimes my BF says things like "woah you've eat a lot today" or "put some weight on have you?" he always calls me lazy too. He's quite sarcastic but i am always triggered by it, then on other days he says things like "there's no meat on you!" and "it'd be a waste of money taking you to an all you can eat buffet" then i remember that all these comments are just jokes you know?
mrwilsonscat love the name btw! i know, its a horrible disorder. People commit to the weight gain then kind of get lost in limbo? i think the best thing to do is keep challenging ourselves, being less strict and just relaxing around food. Congrats on finding your maitenance amount, maybe your next step is to ease off the counting?
obbybobby, I was just wondering the same thing as you.
I'm eating 3000+ to gain as well, but I don't know on how many calories I should maintain on afterwards. The set point weight theory + Hedgren's recovery method is also making me think a lot lately, but I don't know yet which path I'll choose.
This week I challenged myself with frozen yoghurt:) I tried it 2 years ago when I didn't want to eat ice cream anymore and <3ed it but then I got really sick I couldn't even have frozen yoghurt. Now that I'm challenging my fear foods step by step and with the weather being so hot here lately I thought I'd try it....see if it would really affect my body in negative way...well of course it didn't;D
Today I weighed myself and I was very happy with the result, so the frozen yoghurt proved to be a great snack on a hot day:))
I'm going to try having something from my fear food list once or twice a week...like this week was frozen yoghurt. Maybe I manage a piece of cake or strudel at the WE? Hmm...likely not^^
So far I challenged:
curd-cheese strudel
piece of white chocolate with dried fruits
10g Lindt Easter chocolate bunny (haha my mum was clever in the choice of Easter goodies - not too much but not nothing^^)
frozen yoghurt
& of course I'm fine having ff products, cheese, butter, white bread/pasta... but I admit that I prefer not having them...butter&cheese yes but refined carbs...:/ I always have the stupid feeling I'm consuming worthless calories since I read too much about how one should always eat wholewheat etc. But thinking logically, by eating healthily in general it is fine to include white bread or pasta...but yeah...I'm struggling with that^^
I hope I can keep it up that way! Some kind of muffin or hot chocolate with cream would be nice to try next....:P
xxx
I've pretty much conquered ED by forcing myself to go out and enjoy food. And now I enjoy it! I've learned important things from this too, such as: large amounts of meat gives me stomach aches, carbs aren't going to make me fat overnight, and eating a larger lunch and yogurt for dinner is amazing and delicious and I love it (haha)
Up until 3 months ago, I was terrified to eat a lunch that wasn't a sandwich and avoided carbs at all costs. But not anymore!
Today I ate a whole Costco muffin. Last week I ate 4 rolls. I've had noodles or rice for lunch multiple times. I go out to lunch much more than I go out to dinner.
I'm coping with ED/maintenance by living. I've maintained my weight too. I've gained what, 1 pound since last year? Last year was when I'd just finished weight restoration. So my weight has stayed the same. All the freaking out I did this past year because I thought eating egg rolls or noodles would make me "blow up like a balloon" was for nothing, and I see that now.
The only thing I'm worried about now (besides gaining weight) is the fact that I've been eating without being hungry (just for taste). Can't make that a habit!
Fear foods conquered:
Costco muffins
Lunches not made by me
Empty carbs/large amounts of bread
Pretty much everything :) I honestly can't think of anything I'm scared to eat anymore. The only thing I want to try now is waffles for breakfast, because that used to be a fear
zardo38 ughh....me too I get these mornings:( When I'm at home and since I always wake up very early sort of end up having 2 breakfasts - one say between 6-7, next one 9-10 because I'm hungry again....It's so normal to have more food if one is up longer and having a proper breakfast (or two!) gives you energy to make the day a good day:) But I get so nervous if I end up having two breakfasts instead breakfast&snack....then it happens that I purge:/ But the best thing to do is to never go and restrict for the rest of the day....to just go and eat when you think you're hungry again and replace the energy your body wanted and which you took away from it! I'm reeeaaally proud of you for doing this and have that tuna and later the garlic bread - they're both yummy and healthy foods aren't they?;)
moomookan Awww....I understand you too well;) I've been maintaining for three months or so and I'm permanently triggered to fall back into old habits. At the moment I manage to not count the cals but only because I know that I'm eating too little anyway. It sucks but now that it's summer and so freakingly hot (38 degrees!!) and three months of holiday I find it particularily hard to "just eat". Like you I was maintaining on that but I couldn't let go of ED, I started eating less because I thought that I needed less. I'm good at surpressing hunger so it wasn't too difficult and now I'm eating 1500-1800 (except last week - I had a lot of exams and was nervous and stayed up late).
I suppose I could maintain on more, especially since I do a lot of exercise...but oh well, as long as I don't lose too much or eat so little that I get hungry...
Congrats for challenging your fear foods:D What about the soba noodles?? Aren't they buckwheat..? Or am I mistaken....I have these Japanese buckwheat noodles at home and I always thought they were the same as soba noodles:-S What I'm always afraid of are glass noodles, because those are the ones where I sometimes think they have sort of "empty"calories;) But we shouldn't worry about any such thing: there are no empty calories. Calories mean energy, and we need energy right? And in the case of noodles, they contain carbs which we need a lot for our brains and other stuff! Empty would rather mean we have either nothing or a piece of vegetable for a meal which hardly contains any calories...but yeah, the carb thing is tricky...especially when you hear all these dieting rumours about the evilness of carbs!! I had this big problem of not being able to eat carbs for dinner. Good thing is: we don't need to diet or anything so any rumours about bad carbs really shouldn't bother us:P
Ohhh I <3 sushi!!:) They make such a lovely meal - and they are really light food and provide us with lots of healthy nutrients! But ughh...I so get the lunch thing!! But that's exactly why we should have a proper, energy-rich lunch so that it will satisfy us and we won't be ravenous about food the whole afternoon.
Haha I also have to have sandwiches for lunch;) But sushi is no different: carbs+protein+(essential!)fats+vitamins...and it's also a cold meal so no harm in replacing the sandwich with sushi!! You only have to make sure that you have enough of them so that they fully replace the energy a sandwich would give you;)
I also still have a lot of fear foods:(
So far I successfully challenged:
cheese
bread spread
homemade jam
rice
pasta
muesli bars
nutbutter (I freak when I have more than 2 tbsp a day - more meaning 3!)
cocoa
breadroll 'sandwiches' made in a bakery
rice cakes covered with chocolate or similar
eggs
tofu
salmon
Greek Yoghurt
Honey
then those are borderline foods, that I theoretically can have but very seldomly and not with much pleasure...where I always get a guilty feeling^^:
dark chocolate (veeery hard, I hardly ever have any^^)
white grains (white bread, pasta, non wholewheat couscous...)
froyo
butter
not homemade jam
alcohol
cream (only little though)
soymilk/almond milk where sugar, dextrose similar is added
mixed pickles
beef filet (the only meat I more or less tolerate besides turkey)
whole nuts (I like them but I prefer to eat them as nutbutter or I have to chop them first^^)
and those foods I simply can't eat yet:
anything where sugar is added
anything from Mac Do, Bruger King, Subway, Starbucks (except coffee^^)
pizza (unless with homemade dough and made by me)
more than one tsp-tbsp (varies^^) of vegetable oil for frying
white sugar
butter for cooking
fish&chips
fattier fish than salmon
chips, crisps (fried, crispy stuff in general)
sauces (unless light, made by my mum or myself)
pastries
cake (I had some homebaked one 2-3 times in the last two years-horrifying!!)
juices (only freshly pressed)
chicken wings - or the skin on poultry!!
ice cream
...
sometimes foods slip into the next lower category, but sometimes one from the middle one moves upwards^^
At the moment things are tricky though:( I just had a week full of exams, two failed, and now 3 months of holiday and it's got 38 degrees outside which I hate!
I try to eat as little as possible and exercise more, purge if I think it was too much...BAD!! I'd like to lose some weight...VERY BAD!
But there's some stupid ana stuff set in my mind right now...and it's so hard to beat the psychology behinf this:'(
I admit I'm seriously struggling at the moment!! I'm not in any danger or something...just old thoughts creeping around and wanting to drag me down! I go to therapy though...and my mum helps me a little with eating. Also applying common sense sometimes works and I do what we're all supposed to do :
JUST EAT, DON'T THINK ABOUT IT.
(the latter part is the tricky one though and makes me crazy:S)
huh...this is a long post, isn't it? Hah... I know I love babbling along xD Only I saw someone had updated this thread and I thought it was time for an update as well...maybe partly to make myself think about it^^
xxx
