OK, so I am officially trying to gain weight.  For the past 5 days I haven't worked out (used to do 60-90 minutes of cardio/day) and have been eating TONS of calories and healthy fats.....But I weighed myself this morning and went from 88ish on friday to 81 this morning.  Is that even possible?  Is my scale broken?

Edit: When I say tons of calories I mean 2500+ each day

I just want to bump this so that you can get an answer... I don't have one for you though.. sorry

AT this point I've eaten about 3000 calories so I'm sure that I no longer weigh the same amount I did when I wrote this.  And I'm freaking out.  I think I need to stop coming on this website.  All weekend I didn't have access to a computer and I was fine and now that I've been on here I'm freaking out.

That seems definitely a bit excessive as far as weight loss is concerned but I was eating a lot, not exercising at all, and have been losing weight rapidly. You're probably in a hypermetabolic state where you need TONS of calories (i.e. at least 3000) to gain. Don't freak out! 3000 calories is good, and really, your body may even need more than that to gain. It is scary though, eating so many calories- I feel the same way all the time, but at the same time, it's so essential to gaining. When I freak out about how much I've eaten in a day I usually drink a cup of hot tea to calm me down and try and get my mind off of food and read, watch tv, etc so sometimes it definitely is good to turn off the computer and think about things not related to weight gain!

Do these horrible thoughts & feelings ever go away?  I mean I know I've only just started and its goning to take a while to get to a place where I can start thinking of food normally again, but I see other people on here that have struggled for so long.  I really hope that I can quit this like I quit smoking.  the first few months of quitting smoking were hell but its now been 4 years since I quit and I can't believe I ever smoked.  Please God, let it be the same with this.

In reading posts from many people who are in various stages of recovery, you can get back to eating normally and in a healthy manner.

wow, i wish.

how come i never was 'hypermetabolic'?

im pretty sure i gained back the majority of my weight lost by eating 1300-1500cal a day

not fair.

I was never hypermetabolic either. . . maybe I wasn't underweight long enough?

Everyone's bodies are so different, it's almost impossible to come up with a hard and fast rule. 

Either way, I agree: maintenance is HARD! Best of luck! 

I am not sure if i'm hypermetabolic or not.  I always ate alot of calories (never below 1500 and usually closer to 1800 or 1900), but was just excissively exercising so I'm pretty sure my metabolism never really slowed down too much.  Maybe that's why?

I was a big time exerciser as well and I was just wondering if that contributed. Hm.

Perhaps if your body has been used to all the exercise it's keeping your metabolism high. It could take a long time for it to adjust so that it doesn't need to burn calories so fast.

Also, are you checking with a doctor about this? There could be issues which need to be addressed by a physician.

Either way be kind to yourself. Try to treat yourself like you would treat a friend. You have a precious spirit and it sounds like it needs a long hug!

I have several doctors and have been tested for basically everything there is to test for.  Today I weighed 83...so confusing this whole weight gain thing.  I guess the exercise kept my metabolism up which is a good thng for the long run, but not for the weight gain time period.  Anyway, I'm just tryong to take it one day at a time and slowly get healthy.  I still feel extremely anxious over what will happen once I get to a healthy weight and have to maintain.  I'm scared out of my mind that I'll be so used to eating a million calories that I won't be able to go back to normal and I'll end up getting fat.

Well, if the doctors are pretty sure that you don't have parasites or something like that, I'd say you could go on a body builder diet (high protein, high fat, 4000-6000 Cal.) for a week or two and exchange some of that cardio for some weight training.  If that doesn't get your weight back up to where you want it, I don't know what will.  :-\

I can understand the worry. But the first order of business is gaining so you need to increase the calories until you start gaining. Once you get there, then you can play with reducing the calories slowly. But you have to give it time and, as you said, take it one day at a time.

So for today work on gaining... don't worry about tomorrow. You have to be like a shepherd for your mind. When you catch yourself worrying just gently guide your thoughts back to the current priority.