helping a friend of mine

well it's about one of my friends

she had a diet, n i know it's odd but she consumed about 400 calories per day.

she reached her ideal weight and now she wants to maintain it n she needs around 1500 calories each day.

will she gain weight if she starts consuming 1500 calories per day from now on?
or according to some people her body is now in the starving mode and will gain weight if she suddenly increases her calorie intake?

thanks in advance for your help!

Your friend will gain weight if she increases to 1500 and it'll be a vast improvement on her current state, but she'll still be suffering from malnutrition until she gets up to a more normal amount for an adult woman i.e. about 2000 cals.   No-one 'maintains' on 1500 cals unless they are 4'6", 70+ years old and physically immobile.

Crash-dieting is always a incredibly stupid thing to do, of course.  This friend of yours must be a mug if she thought otherwise!  Any idiot can starve themselves thinner at the expense of their health but there's often a big price to pay afterwards....  Usually involving regaining all the weight lost, plus a bit, in half the time it took to lose it.  Not to mention the damage done to the body in the meantime.... wasted muscles, hair and dental problems, fertility issues, nutritional deficiencies, compromised immune system. 

Your friend is a solid candidate for an eating disorder, of course.  Few people can voluntarily starve themselves like that unless they've got serious problems.  Normal people mostly find that 'self-preservation' kicks in sooner or later.  If you're a good friend you should really be recommending that she sees her doctor....

so the doctor will probably tell her to gradually increase her calorie intake?!

You sure you're talking about a friend of yours and not yourself?

pballerina, you just beat me to it! Given your profile info, I suspect this question is really about yourself and not "a friend"...

Original Post by r0saline:

so the doctor will probably tell her to gradually increase her calorie intake?!

There's no room for gradual increases when someone is suffering with malnutrition and starvation.   The doctor will tell her to increase immediately to 1500-2000 cals and then onto something more appropriate for her age, size and level of activity.

Depending on what shape she's in she may be referred, of course.   Doctors are GPs and do not specialise in either dietary matters or eating disorders.  If she was badly underweight as a result of this silly 400 cal diet then she might be a candidate for IP treatment.  If she's not in immediate danger she might be sent to a dietician to help work out a more normal menu and a psychologist to get to grips with her relationship with food.

Weight-gain is the least of your friend's worries.

Original Post by merylwhite1:

pballerina, you just beat me to it! Given your profile info, I suspect this question is really about yourself and not "a friend"...

what!?i was once anorexic n now i take around 2000 calories per day and i'm not afraid to tell u people what i do n dont have to prove it!understood?i've gained 1 kg so far

the problem is that i've affected my close friends in a really bad way!

thanks!you're always a great help gi-jane