hunger

I know this has been brought up before but i was hoping i wasnt alone in this . ive been gaining for sometime , but i did slack off for a while the last few weeks ive been eating 2500 to 3000 calories a day and im still starving . i wake up at 6 am starving despite having a good supper at 10. 30 and i often eat and feel even hungrier im getting carbs at everymeal and im steadly gaining. but it kind of worry me because i feel if i did eat everything i wanted to id be putting on large amount of weight

Don't be afraid of your body, it's your friend! I know it can be very scary to feel hunger, you fear eating too much and overcompensating resulting in some massive weight gain. But breathe honey! Your body is comming back to life, hunger means your metabolism is starting to kick in- which is fantastic! You're comming back to life. If you start becoming too ridgid with your food and limiting yourself you will ultimately crave whatever you restrict. The ol' "I'm not allowed it and now that's the only thing I can think about" mind-set.

Perhaps try eating intuitively for a while? Your body will crave what it needs in order to restore itself, it is a very smart machine. Listen to it. Trust it and be kind to yourself.

You may find that once you drop your restrictions and face your food fears... the world will not end. In fact, once you allow yourself the freedom to eat whatever you want, you may find you didn't want the entire cake, only a slice. when we say we can't have any, we want it all!

take care, be kind to yourself and breathe sweet pea.

love and rasberries, Kat xo

what was the response of the community in all the other hunger posts you put up?

Original Post by tessa1223:

the last few weeks ive been eating 2500 to 3000 calories a day and im still starving .

Then either it's not enough and you need to increase your total calorie intake.... or it's not nourishing enough and you need to bump up the nutritional quality of your food choices.... or (most likely) a combination of the two.

I'd suggest not trying to analyse why you're hungry... just eat.

Its not uncommon, and quite normal, to need even more than that to gain sufficiently each week. At one point I needed 3600-4000K a day to gain a pound a week/every other week. Coming up from a point as low as you were - you are going to need more than the average gainer in order to nourish yourself properly. I know it seems backwards but I think of it like this:

Lets say your kitchen sink won't work. Well, it takes a lot more time and energy to get the water running when you have to redo all the piping than it does when all you have to do is turn the water main back on. For you, me and anyone else recovering from an ED - you have to redo all the piping. And the lower your weight was, the more work you have to do to get the water running again because even more parts need replacing/restoring.

thanks everyone I Feel better about things guess ive just got to let go a bit . fidget I had a feeling you d say something like this. sometimes its good to be reminded as the ed i have had for 14 years sometimes convinces me otherwise but im sorry if my posts annoy you unfortunately for me sometimes i have to go over things several times before it sinks in

not annoying H, but it is important for you to take responsibility for addressing this issue. and when you know its ed thoughts you kno you should challenge it.

in ip, our key workers would reassure us once about something and beyond that they told us to stop seeking reassurance. it is not heathy and it develops a slight dependency instead of learning to challenge our own thoughts and trust our intuition.

again you give v good advice to ppl, it might be worth asking you to give advice to someone should they post on the same topic. what would you tell them to do.

point taken fidget thanks xx

The experts say this is normal for a recovering anorexic person. Everybody is right in here. YOur body is recovering and asking for more food. I know what your scared about is just being this way all the time and you will get extremely obese? Thats not the case at all. Your body will adjust, And Im sure you know what hunger actually is and I'm sure you eat mostly healthy. Obese people don't do that, thats why they are obese. Don't be afraid and if your hungry just eat. Don't worry about it and don't even come to this site.

Original Post by el3ment380:

The experts say this is normal for a recovering anorexic person. Everybody is right in here. YOur body is recovering and asking for more food. I know what your scared about is just being this way all the time and you will get extremely obese? Thats not the case at all. Your body will adjust, And Im sure you know what hunger actually is and I'm sure you eat mostly healthy. Obese people don't do that, thats why they are obese. Don't be afraid and if your hungry just eat. Don't worry about it and don't even come to this site.

Though I think your intentions are good...you can't tell her not to come to this website its her right. And this place, though obviously it can be very triggering to people with EDs, offers a lot of support from people suffering from the very same problems.

You're definitely not alone in this Helen! I had this problem a couple weeks back, remember? The only solution to this is to simply listen to your body. If it wants more than 3000, then feed it more! The quicker you do this, the quicker your body will balance out and you won't feel so ravenous all the time. I know it's easier said than done.. believe me... If you honestly want to recover, you'll do whatever it takes, even if it means going way over your calorie target for a bit. And don't worry about getting fat!! You will not, I can assure you!!

thanks cow cow and goobyb. element far enough , but im finding the support from here very useful and i dont want to leave this site , im also trying to be careful as i feel if i do give into hunger to much the guilt will lead me down the bulimic road . so if its ok with you ill stay on this site h x

i dont think she's asking you to leave the site helen. i think she's saying stop coming here for validation and permission to eat.

at least thats what im saying - and thats what i think she's saying. stop looking for permission to eat more. decide you are going to do it and that then removes temptations to binge. as long as you deny your hunger you are continuing to restrict and this sends msgs to binge.

God helen, this is a major deja vu

i understand what you are saying and im not saying you are wrong , but does it really matter about deja vu , im making progress and it i have to do this to get better then so be it , its when i dont get reassurance i tend to struggle and live in a bubble thinking its ok to be like this

my goal for this week is to try and give in to hunger its also worth sayingif  it was that easy then im sure many would of done this by now

thanks for your help

Hi sweetie! No, please don't leave the sight you've been such a tremendous source of inspiration and help for me! First of all I think everyone's feedback makes so much sense - I am totally going through the same thing and I'm seriously hungry all the time - I think now that we are giving our bodies nourishment after so long, our metabolism's just rocketing through the galaxies! It makes a lot of sense and I also have to keep telling myself not to be worried or get anxiety even though yeah it's defintiely a little scary! But as we gain weight I'm sure our hunger will also come to stabilize. Keep up the great progress hun. xoxo

Helen,

When you write of your hunger I feel it in my belly, like this sympathy hunger, even if I'm not hungry, and I can close my eyes and I picture this engine inside of your belly just waiting to rev up, waiting for fuel, and it is going to ignite and begin firing energy to all different parts of you to rebuild what time has brought down. Fuel the engine!

I thought of you today. My husband, daughters and I drove to Penn State where we first met (a university) and I spent the late morning and afternoon with my husband before leaving (he is going to the football game tonight). We ate at our favorite restaurant and I thought of you and how I'd love to buy you dinner there because its so good and it would nourish you and fill you with calcium!

One day you'll realize... you just need to fuel the engine and grow.

bethany i love you so much :)

thanks biscotti together we can beat this x

Ok I want you to go through all your posts that you have written. I looked back as I thought this was an old thread revisited but it is new. You have 4 posts that is about hunger and others that are similar. I understand there is so much fear when one eats so much more yet is hungry. Remember and I tell myself this too that you are repairing from 14 years of being malnurished. I remember a T saying to me when I had fears of this and could not understand it. It is like a dry plant and it takes time for the soil to be moist and then grow again. Just yesterday when I was eating like a machine I did not even sit down I was thinking of this and fears around the future going to the other side. I said to myself STOP. Focus on today and I encourage you to as well. I have a ? for you what do you think our repsonse would be? I think part of recovery is depending less on what others think and finding it with in what is right. How can you give yourself permission? Why do you have guilt? Hang in there

thanks abbi you are right h x