Gainers :) What age are you??

Heya just wondering where the majority of us are age wise.  Statistically, those recovaring from EDs I would expect to be in their late teens (due to EDs being formed by insecurities in teenage years) but I don't really have a clue how old each of you lovlies are!  It would be cool if some of us are the same age ;p

Please state if you are recovering or simply trying to gain due to metabolism too!

I'm 19 btw (1st year of uni!) and in recovary from ED

im 18, will be 19 in October. i too am in recovery from an eating disorder. maybe we could also put where we're from? Im an aussie from the land of vegemite and beach:)

im 16, 17 in december. recovery from anorexia =/

^^^im also from australia, with beaches and vegemite! WOO HOOOOO

I'll be 20 in September and am from London, UK :) Have had anorexia since I was 14 and disordered eating of various forms since I was about 10. Am doing better than I've ever done before, even in hospital etc. so just want you guys to know - it IS possible to turn things around <3

xxxx

glad you're doing great, mashed!

believe me, the hope that things will pick up and turn around is my main motivator, as im struggling right now :(

I'm 31, and have difficulty with digestion and a fast metabolism so trying to gain to be a healthier weight x

congrats mashed! keep it up...its comments like that, that keep me positive and pushing through!

well my last post got messed up gah

I too am 20 in September and living in the UK!  Crappy Wales though.  I truly think you are pretty amazing to have been through all that and still be an inspiration and so positive WAY to go!

27. Which I guess makes me ooooooooooooold!

No ED, just gaining mostly for self esteem reasons. 

I am 37, will be 38 in June.  I suffered from anorexia nervosa as a teenager for two years and then was able to move on from it when I was hospitalized (regular psyche ward as there werent too many ED units around back then) and then quit ballet training.  I went through a period of alcoholism and many treatments in my twenties and then sobered up for a long time.  had a hysterectomy/removal of both ovaries in 2005 at 33 years of age and the trauma  of it triggered anorexia again (much more severe than when i was a teen although weight not quite as low) and its been a battle since then.  I guess my age proves that this illness is not just an adolescent illness.  For many it carries on to middle age and even old age (when I was a teen in the 80's the treatment options were nothing like now and so little was known about this illness that many kept it secret) and more and more it is starting for women who are older (I was in treatment with quite a few women in 30's and 40's some of whom did not have this as a teenager).  I believe though that no matter what the age, sex, race, etc or the length of time one has suffered from this, it can be overcome. 

I am 14, turning 15 on Saturday week. I live in Milton Keynes, England. I am trying to recover from anorexia. I began to recover at the end of February after realising how much hurt I was causing myself. I am improving but I struggle regularly, I would give anything to get rid of it completely, and the start of that is getting back to a healthy weight.

I am 40 and I have battled anorexia and ednos 27 years and currently 89-91 pounds and I want my life and to be free of this.

I'll be 20 in Aug. Had poor eating habits from childhood + fast metabolism. (no eating disorder) I'm just under 82lbs at the moment.

I'll be 22 in October. 

Diagnosed anorexic when I was 15, but had disordered eating since I was around 11, issues with body/food/weight since childhood (my grandmother convinced me I was fat when I was 4'10" and 74 lbs)

I've been through multiple hospitalizations and NEVER managed to maintain my weight thereafter. I'd be back under 100lbs within only a few weeks. And now, I've maintained my weight 105+ for a solid year, and have been over 110 pounds for a good month now. Still not at my long-term goal, but this is the best I've done in years, and I'm happier with my life than I can ever remember. 

So as Jemima said, it IS possible to have a better life after anorexia. Not just possible, actually, but reality.

i'm 21!!

i was addresed - not necessarily diagnosed, but it was true i was anorexic- but as a female athlete triad when i was 16, but my tendencies began when i was about 15.  unfortunately, i had really bad attempting-to-diet bouts since i was about 11 or 12. i didn't get my period for most of the time i was 16, part of 17, got it back and was a compulsive exerciser, still a restricter while i was 17, was better 18 and part of 19, as a "health kick" after my freshma year of college i started getting simply healthy then went extreme adn kept getting more and more extreme and by the time i was 20 my life was a living hell. i've been actively recovering since october, had a bit of a relapse in january. thats my story anyway. either way, i got my period yesterday so i finally feel like an adult again. im a junior in college, and ill always look back at this year as the year i lost my life but then RECLAIMED it. 

a special shout out to college girls - kick ED in the ass while you can!!! you want to enjoy college, and you also want to be prepared to live your life free and independently. anorexics are really good at pretending their independent and functioning (i kno w- i fooled everybody), but they are so unsafe and cling to their habis and only put themselves in mroe and more danger!! that happened to me when i went abroad. i have jeopordized so much of my future and my family and friends trust. and honestly, ic an' tbelieve how much fun i missed out on because i was scared of a beer gut.

14, since January, have had anorexia since last september r august when I was 13 and a half. Am doing really well in recovery 2 llbs a week and 4000 calories. I GET TO EAT WHATEVER I WANT!

ED's especially anorexia are usually attibuted to the "rich little teenage girls". This is so untrue though, many suffer from anorexia, and come in all shapes, sizes, ages and ethnicity. there are even documented cases of anorexia ALL throughout world history. it's a sad, but true fact.

anyways, I am 18, going to be 19 in july!!! looks like im actually about the same age as many of you!! i began to want to loose weight and eat better at the age of 11. I would yo-yo diet, and never get anywhere, and get frustrated. It all came to a head when I was 15 and decided to do something about it. I lost about 50 pounds in 4 months. the winter of 06 i was about 80 lbs. i "recovered" somewhat, getting up to about 100 in july of 07. all i really did was put on weight, and never really healed from this horrid disease. I slowly fell back until dropping drastically, even below my first LW in the summer of 09. I have been steadily gaining since and am now doing better than even BEFORE i lost weight (funny how EDs are all in the mind). im 110, and going up to 116-hoping to be there in 5 or 6 weeks!!

oh, and Im from the US- Seattle, Washington the land of coffee and mountains!!!!! 

I'm 15 and I've been struggling with anorexia since I was 12. I have been through cycles of "recovery" and then have relapsed again several times. I am just so ready to be healthy again, if I can ever figure out what that truly means for me. I have never been inpatient and for the most part, I have had to go through this whole process on my own since I have never seen a therapist and no one in my family has really ever had experience with eating disorders... nor do they really understand them. I have also had a heck of a time overcoming my compulsive exercise issues, which I am still working on fighting every day.

I feel like I've been through a lot at only 15 years old, but I know that I really shouldn't feel sorry for my situation since there are lots of other girls out there who are probobly even worse off. It just seems like ED has made me grow up so much faster than I thought I would. I have always been mature and a lot less "wild and crazy" than most teens, but still... :/

I'm 18 and I guess I started putting on a little bit from puberty and when I was around 14, I just felt so fat. My parents and family teased me and it pissed me off. Finally, my parents went on a trip this one time, so I was alone at home and I thought "I'll show them." All I had for dinner was green salad with maybe some poached fish, crackers and a small hagen daaz. My mum came back and noticed I'd slimmed down a little and she seemed happy. I did start getting nice comments from people at first and then eventually, all I was eating were veggies and maybe some crackers here and there. I'd have normal food for dinner but in small portions and I'd avoid going out for dinner with my family. Gradually, I'd lost my period, but somehow I thought it would come back once my body 'got used to being thinner' so I didn't try hard enough to gain weight. Although there were a couple kgs gained, I always ended up losing more. I'm much better with eating more balanced meals, but I'm still afraid to take large portions of food :( It's just this think in the back of my mind knowing that I've messed up my metabolism and I'm going to gain more easily than an average person once I start eating more, so I want to slow it down. or something :S it's a hinder to my progress, but hey, I'm trying and I think I'm gonna get there! 

I'am 17, will be 18 on June 18th!! whooah! ;] Ive been suffering with anorexia since the age of 11, it relle all started when i was maybe even younger 9 yrs old. When my parents divorced and i moved a lot, from the UK to NY. It was all so rough for me, all the transitions. Never did i relle having much friends. Also, some other things in my past i have struggled with that have all had their contribution to my Anorexia. :[  & Sports played a role as well, in relapses in my early teen years(soccer), and the need to be "perfect" ..I am such a perfectionist! always have had poor self image..the environments i have been in, have held me at such standards(i guess i held myself to them..) that i always felt i needed to live up to. Nothing was ever good enough, and i just wanted a place to go, to disappear(my eating disorder) and things have always had to be just-so! ever since i was very young.I have had a super fast metabolism since a young age, that was hard when i was little, doctors telling my mom i had to gain, before AN.  even though i ate a lot!! always so scrawny. Now i still have such a hyper-thyroid! but i make due ;p sux at times.

I Been IP, once, last year..for 3 months, as well as Intensive outpatient. :/ And have done the maudsley approach a few times, when younger, that didnt work very well ;P bad maudsley patient i was! My mom is my greatest support! she is the best, and helps me through the days, as well as some close friends!

But now after way too many relapses, and 2 all time lows these past few years! I am really kickin this f*&%ing ED out of my life for good! :] So many triumphant  challenges, food and non food challenges!! In October if i knew i could be at home doin this, i would not have believed it!! :]

  Even though things have been friken harddd these past months :[ feels like an eternity! But I do know *leah* is well on her way to being 18 years old, and ed free ;] as free as i can be after all these years.  Relle sometimes i dont even know who i am w.out ed :/ its been my life for so long, with only small times of relle having my feet on the ground. But it is possible! Cant wait for the future, and i know i will make this time count, and stick for good!

<3

I'm 23, and my ED started when I was 21. I was actually quite surprised when I realised what it was, because I too had assumed it was a teenage thing. I started recovery when I was 22, and have been recovering for a year now. I was weight-restored briefly but them slipped back down to BMI 17 range due to a growing exercise addiction, which I've since stopped. My therapist has said I can stay here if I want to, but I don't want to!

This year in recovery has actually been once of the most important and best ones of my life. It's the first time I've been single for any length of time too, so I've really learnt a lot about myself! I feel very recovered in my mind (which is why I'm hardly ever on the boards!) so it's just a case of getting my weight up, which can be difficult because I have a busy lifestyle.