gaining on 2000 rather than 3500?

hi everyone

ive been recovering from anorexia and eating on ave btwn 1950-2250 for about the past 2 months.  at first i did gain but in the past 3 weeks ive gone from 93.5 to 95, to 96.5.  now dont get me wrong, im very happy to finally be recovering and gaining and getting back to life, i just dont understand why some ppl are told or need to consume much more in order to gain than what i seem to need?  i almost feel jipped in not being able to eat as much altho i dont even know that i necessaraly would(slight Ed thoughts).

also, id like to eventually be able to maintain on a nice amount of food, 2000ish id think, and since im eating that now and gaining, im a bit scared?  maybe once i weigh more ill need more to maintain my weight and then what i need now to gain, ~2000, will be my maintenenance?

any insight would really be appreciated!

thank you!

THEO-yea, i would love love if a legit professional said, yes, go eat 3000 cals, i too would take it as gospel and go ahead.  i love food, i do, but im scared.  why was i not told to do this as many others have?  are you gaining weight w/ this amount of excercise?

also, i am no where nearly nearly as active as you or it seems anyone here.  it scares me and i wonder if everyone in this world excercises and is as active, and if they arent this active, then are they really over weight?

im planning on eating ~2300 today from 2000 the past few weeks.  i want a healthy metabolism and the ability to maintain on 2000, not gain on it the rest of my life.  i wonder how much i need to eat to recover?  why was i not told more like others here? im just confused but i do want health.

thanks!

agruskin: You are not being mean at all! I appreciate your honesty, I need it. I do know that I need to cut back on the exercise but I am terrified. I go back and forth between thinking my metabolism would be better served if I eliminated all activity and then, I read that some people on 3000+ calories do incorporate exercise, and become confused. I know everyone is different but, like you I am not sure where I fit in. AGGHHHH!

im also scared when i see the amount ofexcercise being done by ppl on this forum as well as most of the ppl on this site.  i dont want to spend my life in the gym, thats partly how i ended up in this mess to begin with.  isnt there some sort of happy medium?  does everyone in this world who is not over weight either not eat or work out like a fiend?  seriously, its something i wonder, what a good balance is?

CHARLIE-i think you once said something like this to me before, that we shouldnt compare ourselves to the other ppl on this site.  maybe some of the ppl eating 3000+ and excercising are closer to their goal weight?  you are at a very very low weight.  im sure doctors would say no activity whatsoever at this stage but mentally i know thats tough.  im really like 99.9% sure you should and need to cut it out, maybe maybe little walks but think of your future, you can excercise once you get a bit healthier, dont you just want to get this over with already?  i mean my whole freakin life is weight, i want something else already!

Hi Agru,

I wanted to say that my gosh we really do seem to be in a similar boat at the moment. I too get freaked out when I read about everyone's activity level, I stopped excercising quite a while ago (and I still managed to drop the weight) I have been tempted to start yoga again but if I'm honest with myself I think I have to hold off as this was how my ED started. Now like yourself I just go for walks. I am wondering if the people taking in 3000 cals can do so because of the excercising? I too feel very confused by it all! I am currently also gaining on 2000cals and again like yourself I wish to maintain on this not gain! I'm now 90 pounds and I am still hoping that my weight gain at this level is due to my body holding on to the cals, but I don't think it is water weight anymore.  I'm scared to up my cals as I'm gaining on 2000 and I'm finding it all to easy to eat this amount. A voice says 'if your gaining on 2000 then why not just up it?' I guess its all about control hey? I think I need to take a leaf out of your book and try and up the amount!

Keep posting on how you are doing,

Gill.

hi GILLY-

yea, i get scared when i see nonED ppl posting that they maintain or whatever or ~1400 and are excercising at the same time an insane amount.  i dont want to worry about food and be hungry my whole life and dont want to have to spend my life at the gym to compensate for the ability to eat.  i have so muc more energy now and can see myself eating ~2000 in the future, not 1200!

today im at ~2200 and normally weigh wed AM but i wont be able to so i thought id weigh tomm, tues, but there are always so many fluctuations, i feel like i can never get a good handle on my weight.

im also having trouble increasing and finding things to eat to increase the cals, other than PB and bread.

youres till at a very very low weight rt now and think you could increase from 2000, good luck and stay in touch!

Agru- you definitely shouldn't compare yourself to people on this site. they're either on diets, or in these forums we're recovering from Ed's, meaning screwed up relationships with food, and in many cases, compulsive exercising. Both of which are not normal.

I also get really scared seeing how much people on here work out and also reading that people maintain on anything less than 2000. It worries me but if I think rationally I believe that's probably unhealthy no matter who you are. I think back to how I used to be and I don't think I ever ate that little or exercised as much as people on here. And that's keeping in mind that I considered myself very active just because I went to a martial arts class once a week and maybe some yoga classes at the gym once a week too. Never more than1 or 2 days of exercise a week though.

And as for reaching 3000, and even 4000 for a while, no one told me to do it. In fact all 3 nutritionists said I should maintain around 1700 and gain with about 500 more a day, meaning I should ahve gained at 2300. All websites have told me the same thing. However, I noticed that wasn't working and had to increase as well as cut out almost all exercise. the numbers I just reached by trying it out and seeing what happened. I started gaining only after reaching 3500 + for several weeks and it was still a gradual gain, about 1.5 lbs a week. And this last week that was so terrible I still kept it above 2500 every day and didn't exercise at all, and this morning I was down another 1.5 lbs from about 1 1/2 weeks ago. I'm hoping this isn't real and maybe i'm just dehydrated? but anyways, that just shows I dont gain on 2500.

Sorry for the super long post haha, I say just go for it and see how your body reacts. Increase at whatever rate you feel comfortable with and see what works best. Most likely you won't see a huge jump in your weight, but even if you do, it's just bringing you closer to your goal.

hey GIBBIT-yea, in college i think i was the closest to be a healthy weight, perhaps normal eating, and about 25 mins-maybe, maybe 2-3/wk of the stationary bike, or i think i did curves actually maybe 3/wk.  i worked hard at curves actually! lol

so this is always something i think when i look at your meals, theyre mostly veggies, yes you have oil and nut butters, but not too much bread or frozen or prepackaged foods so maybe a person needs more of this more natural food to gain compared to well, what i eat.  also, you werent gaining on the lower numbers, for some freakin reason i have been, i almost hope i didnt gain and then it might motivate me to increase altho today is my 1st day at ~2200 from 2000 so i dont know. i hate this, i hate how im so confused?  i just feel piggish eating more and scared ill eventually have to reduce...

i look on other threads, like when things pop on the side of the site ill see who it is and its not always ppl dieting, its like a mom of 4 saying she eats 1200 daily or someone similar doing kickboxing and spin like every day and rarely are these ppl eating 2000 or close.

maybe youre maintenance is above 2500 and thats why you lost? thatd be so so cool! and you were sort of active, i mean cleaning up from the strom and stuff, thats deff a lot of activity. 

thanks!

oh, so GIBBIT, you were basically saying you think i should do 2500 despite having gained a bit so far?  lol

Hi Agru,

it sounds like you're really struggling with this, and believe me, I can relate.  Ok, first, factual stuff: I can only tell you my experience so here goes:  Like Gibbit, hen I was healthiest I was definitely not doing as much exercise as I did...I did martial arts maybe twice a week, and then I rock climbed a couple of times a week, but I definitely didn't push myself, wasn't one of these "gym bunnies"!  When I went to the gym I would go on the elliptical machine for about 30 minutes and then maybe the rock climber tokeep myself in practice.  As for eating, I ate normally...I'm about 6 foot, so my maintenance was probably abut 2,200.  Don't listen to the people on here about food - those mums that do kickboxing on 1200 calories - bollocks they do, you couldn't do martial arts on a proper level if you're undereating.  Also, remember the other people on here measure their exercise in a different way than we do - I remember when I was feeling like **** because I'd run only 7 km instead of my usual 10, when my friend was boasting about having jogged 2!

As for maintenance calories, I also had a friend who only ate one meal a day trying to lose weight, but she had screwed up her metabolism so much with this that she never lost any weight, and in fact, she gained!  You probably have far more healthy eating habits than any of these people.

As for now, I'm doing about 4 to 5 yoga classes a week, but that's it, and that's only after my doctor phoned my instructor to make sure I didn't push myself.  It is definitely ix-nay on the ardio-vascualar-cay.  Last week when I upped my calories t 3.000 I only maintained.

Think to yourself, are you using this gaining on a small amount of calories as an excuse not to eat more?  I know I was...really examine your reasons.  

And as for activity, what gets me is feeling like a slob, so I set myself lights tasks, like weeding the garden, or doing some shopping.  It's really all about you listening to your body, if a little light exercise helps you to eat more, do it.  Kick a pillow, throw the food around - I hurled a jacket potato at the wall the other day - but do it.  And so what if you gain a kilo in a week - dude that's a good thing.  And don't worry about maintenance because that can be dealt with when your body is normal, and it isn't right now, so just think of that.

I hope this helps, keep on trucking

x

OH! and here's what my doctor told me if this helps, and she wrote it down so I could keep it in my wallet and look at it when I'm flagging:

"You are at a critical weight now.  The only way for you to be healthy is to gain at a rate of 1 kilo a week.  Once you have reached a BMI of 16.5 then we can slow the weight loss.  In order for a person to gain at a rate of 1 kilo a week they need to consume 7.500 calories over what they use in a day.  Therefore you need to consume at least 3.000 calories daily, increasing to 4.000 if we need to.  This will make you gain a kilo a week and any other weight is simply fluctuations.  3.000 calories a day is the minimum amount you should be consuming."

ta ra

 Bless you Theo! I so need to be held accountable because my idea of "adequate" exercise is skewed. I know your words were addressed to agruskin but they certainly rang true for me. I am using the amount I have supposedly gained as an excuse no to up the calories or decrease the exercise. And, I remember being in the hospital, with next to know physical exertion not gaining on 3600+. Granted, that was several years ago but I guess I am trying to convince myself that I did have a working metabolism. Thanks for all your help.

hi THEO ns CHARLIE and everyone

ahh, so i only have time for a quick response, but my bmi is ~16.6 rt now, 5'4 and ~97lbs.  i dont know how critical /not critical my weight is at the moment to be honest. 

i am gaining but will aim for ~2200 at least this week up from 2000 the past few.  ive been gaining 1.5lbs/wk the past 3 weeks, and .5 about this week altho i normally weight tomm so maybe that made a diff? dont know?

what do you mean gaining thus far as an excuse not to eat more? thank you for everything and keeo up the great work!

Hiya all

Charlie: I'm glad I was able to help...it's so difficult for all of us, and sometimes it's just nice to know that someone else has experienced the same thing, you know?  Maybe you could try gradually decreasing your exercise and increasing your calories, slowly so as to reassure yourself?  A couple of weeks ago I went completely cold turkey, but then I'm an all or nothin' kind of gal with a short attention span.  What do you think would work best for you?

agru: dude, to be honest, I think anything under 18.5 is critical, and trying to put a range of critical on underweightness might just be like trying to put a range of acceptableness on something like racism - none of it's good!  I think you're absolutely right to try and increase your calories.  Umm, I don't know about your scales....except to say again, that in my own case I was gaining 2 lbs a week on 1700 calories, then when I jumped to 2.500-3.000 I lost weight.  Go on, have a go, after all, what have you got to lose?!

As for excuses...when I was gaining on so little, I used that as an excuse to eat less, thinking, oh yeah, my body doesn't need that amount, I can get by on less, and therefore ate less and lost weight again and totally relapsed. Even now I try and "save" calories in case something later in the day turns up, even though I know it won't and I wouldn't eat it even if it did.  You're doing fab so far, duck, keep talking to us!

Just to the melting pot, I'd like to add this question, how long has everyone been trying to gain for, and how much have they gained so far?

THEO-

hi! where are you from? i love your sayings and stuff, lol.  ha, so after i wrote my q about not knowing how critical or not my weight was i realized what you said, its all relative and bottom line is im not healthy, i just had to run and couldnt repost. 

so i think my gaining on 2000 thus far makes me not want to increase thinking that myabe this is more than i need to maintain and not that i now want to eat less but makes me think if i eat even more it would just be bad.  again, i dont want to have to maintain on 1400 in the future since i am gaining on 2000 and PERHAPS eating more than 2000 will makes it that in thefutire i will have a higher mainteneace level?  i suppose ill aim for at least 2200ish this week and then, dont know?

i also "save" cals if i might have some sort of eating situatuon later in the day, eventho i know full well im meant to be gaining. 

so about 2 yrs ago i gained from my lowest of ~87 to about 107 over maybe 6months or so? i cant remember and am pretty sure it was only on about 1500 tops bc i never ever followed the Nut advice.  i wanst mentally ready at that point.  now im doing it solely on my own after having relapsed this past yr losing most of it.  honeslty, im not sure how much ive gained thus far but i think i recommited around june and began eating ~2000 the start of august maybe.  what about you?

thank you and keep it up!

Theory: Those who are only slightly underweight (agruskin or carmenxox) probably will gain weight back faster than someone who was down to 70lbs(!) at the same height (5'4"). I think when you go that low, it is extremely critical and takes a very long time to build up from. I think being only 10 lbs underweight is more frustrating, because your body will probably gain more on less.  If you suddenly increased to 3,000, I'm not sure the desired effect would be achieved. Oh, you'd probably gain, but way too fast.

VEN-hi.  i dont know much about you so ill ask, do you any experieme w EDs and recovery?  umm, i dont think ill be at a healthy weight in 10lbs, ~107.  i think i need to be ~120 in order to be in a healthy bmi and maybe even more.  my bmi rt now is ~16.6 give or take, i want to gain obviosuly and have always been at the higher range to maybe slightly overweight so while i deff w ant to be at a healthy weight and dont want to be overweight again, i think my body would be comfortable at a slightly higher weight. 

if you do have experience or anything on this, how much would you say i should be eating now?  ive gained a bit at 2000ish and have increased yesterday by about 200.  i dont want to have to maintain in the future on 1500 and dont know how my metabolism is rt now.

thanks!

i wish i could read this...... my mind cant concentrate on it enough..... i just want everyone to know i wish them so much luck!!!

hugs all and i hope for all of us food wont be our lives like this in the future..... no matter what you maintain on........

Hey everyone,

I went and got weighed again today, its been two weeks since my last weigh in and like you agru I am still gainning 1.5 pounds a week, still on about 2000 cals. I asked why the heck I'm gainning on such few cals when others need so much more and I was told that everyone is different and this is just the way my body is. I am a little depressed about this as now I really want to eat and I guess that although I want to establish healthy eating habits I almost wanted to be told that I needed an incredible amount of calories to gain so I could go a little crazy...... stuffing my face with Dim Sum, eating a large amount of carrot cake! Although I have been questioning why the heck I can't do that now, why I won't let myself? So frustrating! She did say that she thought I may need to increase my cals as I gain more weight, I hope she is right!! She also said that my rate of gain is good and sticking to 2000cals is good, but if I feel that I could easily increase as I'm still often hungry, and this really worries me! Theo and Agru I too 'bank' calories, Its reasuring that I'm not the only one that does this! I'm going to try and challenge myself and add more cals, I mean why am I so scared of gaining weight faster?  Sorry for such a long post, I really needed to get this all out! I'm finding everyone here such great support and just knowing there are others going through the same thing is helping me eat!

Take care! Gill.