I'm really scared....

ok, so I've been eating healthy and working out for a few years now.

I started at 5'2 and about 100 lbs.  Now after a few years, I control my eating to the extreme and am at 91 lbs.  I really feel like I'm just too skinny now, but I feel like I'm scared to eat any more than I do at each "meal" because I hate the feeling of full... if I start to feel full, I'll literally just stop eating the rest of the food.

any suggestions on how to get over this and start to lead a more normal life again?

I really need any encouragement I can get here... :-\

I've never had an eating disorder so I'm not the most knowledgeable person to answer your concern. But, I would suggest drinking milk. If you don't like plain milk chocolate or strawberry even banana flavored. It would be a healthy addition and easier than eating more. Milk is naturally filling so a glass should do it for you a day. Helping you to gain healthy weight.

I'm 5'2 and small framed myself. My doctor said the least someone with my stature could weigh healthy would be 97lbs. And even then they may not feel healthy or be content with themselves in the mirror. In becoming so thin you lose your female attributes since breast are basically fat.

I never aspired to be a dd, but I do want to maintain a curve. Rather than being a line segment figure.

 I think you need to stop counting calories all together. Because you've obsessed over it to the degree of hurting yourself. You'll still count some things without reading labels. Because you 'know ' what the amount is in certain foods. But, you should stop actively trying to diet. There's nothing left to lose.....Obsessing over eating more is still an eating disorder.

Try eating breakfast... and then luch.. and then dinner...Drink milk for snacks.

 Without counting and worrying about the number of blueberries that go into your  mouth. Your weight is just a number. Because you weight less doesn't mean you're sexier. Or prettier. Or healthier. Eating less doesn't make you healthier. Sexier ... Or prettier either Or even smarter... It's just a number.

How about trying...' eating. ' Plain and simple. You didn't lose all that weight by eating healthy.You lost it by having an eating deficiency.

I agree with enchantingimage.

I am 5-2 small frame. I was 100lbs before. I was on cereal diet. Affraid to eat too much, exercise sporadically, and I felt like crap. I had fat clinging to me for dear life, body soft as a down pillow, flabby, face perpetually looked tired, I looked sick.

Now 108-110lbs. I am more, that is I weigh more, eat more often and more protein, more healthy food, and I look better, sexier too LOL

I learn that eating regularly and eating the right combination of food, plus regular exercise make me feel better physically and mentally.
Yes I weigh more, but at the same time, I am slimmer and leaner. I wear clothes smaller than before, and look better in them as well.

I feel free. Freedom to eat whatever I want, and not depriving myself of enjoying the yumminess life can offer.

You can overcome your mind barrier. You just have to say it to yourself that you CAN do it. Have a healthy goal in mind. Focus on it. Stop thinking about other thing such as eating too much or feeling full.

Here is an idea:
Decorate your plate in 3 part. Vegie, Protein, Carb.
Don't have to be a mound of each, just enough everytime. Look at your hand. have each part about the size of your palm, or a cup of your hand. Basically you eat 3 hand-cupsfull.  Concentrate on finishing your plate every time. It is not a lot really, but in your state, you will be satisfied. I call it "A Good Full"

To give you some assurance, currently I eat 5 times a day, breakfast-snack-lunch-snack-dinner for about 1500-1700 calories a day. I haven't gained an inch or a lbs and been at this state since beginning of the year. If anything I feel and look leaner.

For 10 years I struggle to be slimmer only realizing I was focusing on the wrong method. Once I smacked myself and did it the right way, I see result in 3 months.

If you need more encouragement, pointers, or anything, feel free to PM me :) Good luck!

It does seem to me that you have a problem. I had the same problem when I was younger. (When I was twelve...yes that is VERY young, but you see I was a very messed up child) Then I realized that I was being utterly rediculous. I figured that I should stop being so food crazy, and gain the weight back. I didn't start eating McDonalds or anything like that. I still ate healthy food, and drank milk, and slowly I gained the weight back. Let me tell you I looked great, felt great, and I could finally sit down, and lay down on my back without it hurting or bruising.

You are in a major danger zone. If you don't do something soon you may get sick. You could be damaging vital organs. My advice is drink milk, and eat nuts. Not too many nuts, just a handful with some yogurt, until you're around the weight you should be. Which is either 100, or 105. I'm not too sure. It may even be 110. Then again everybody is different.

I'm a guy so it's a little different when it comes to quantity, but I was the same way, eating very little for fear of getting bigger again. Know what I did? I stopped worrying about it. I started eating when I felt like eating.
Now you may ask, did you gain weight? Nope!
How? Exercise.
I find the key to keeping weight off isn't by simply watching calories, because the urge will one day become too strong and you'll plummet off the wagon. I feel that someone should eat what they want, within reason of course, and exercise. Don't deprive yourself!

I suggest you trade out a few of your low cal snacks to higher cal ones.

Is it the fullness that bothers you, or mentally that you are consuming too many calories?

They vary widely. If you are struggling consuming more calories because of a mental block, you need to see a professional. If you just dont like feeling full, higher cal foods help.

Add oil to salads, eat peanut butter again (the good kind), a handful of nuts, etc. This will boost your cals up but still give you healthy good fats.

Bump up your cals by 100 calories. If you keep losing, bump it up another 100 until you are maintaining only.

Hope that helps.

Volunteer Moderator,

Melinda

Hey.  I currently have the same problem you do now.  I started off around 126lbs average.  I dropped to 120 and I was still pretty chubby.  I'm 5'3" too.  I'm currently 19 yrs old now and I took a trip to Peru for 3 months, I cut out junk food n dairy and I excersised and now I weight 98lbs.  I feel great, although my boobs are gone which makes me sad.  BUt Everyones telling me that weight isn't healthy, but I'm scared if I eat more I will gain weight back. I fit into a size 0 or 1 now and it feels good. I just bought a whole new wardrobe spent lots of money, and now I'm scared to gain even an inch back.  I worry a lot about calories too and I usually don't exceed over 1100. 
I actually joined a gym but i have a huge ear infection and it really bothers me so i haven't been going to the gym. Well I have, but not doing big workouts, just yoga and stuff (with my ears being popped the whole time which is really annoying) so anyway, yeah. ...i have the same prob as you and i need to overcome it too.  I just am not hungry anymore actually thats another reason why i eat so little.  When i was dieting i trained by body to be used to it.  it was hard..i binged but didnt purge. then my immune system kicked in and i got a fever...now i'm normal except for the ear infection.   so yeah HELP US!

 91lbs...

 

I repeat 91lbs. . .

Stop giving these girls advice on how to workout. Can't you see what they're saying. They have a problem here. . .

 

They don't need to be focusing on working out. Or upping calories. They need to be eating their food period. Regardless of focusing on eating a certain amount of calories more than you have been... or deducting from the calories you have been... That is still an eating disorder. http://nosysnoop.wordpress.com/2006/09/26/22- year-old-model-dies-after-walking-the-runway- at-fashion-week/

Look at that girl, it was posted on another tread here on the site.  She was 22 years old.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is also common in persons with eating disorders.

It's complications include:"


Anemia
Heart problems, such as mitral valve prolapse, abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure
Bone loss, increasing risk of fractures later in life
Lung problems resembling emphysema
In females, absence of a period
In males, decreased testosterone
Gastrointestinal problems, such as constipation, bloating or nausea
Electrolyte abnormalities, such as low blood potassium, sodium and chloride
Kidney problems If a person with anorexia becomes severely malnourished, every organ in the body can sustain damage, including the brain, heart and kidneys. This damage may not be fully reversible, even when the anorexia is under control.

In addition to the host of physical complications, people with anorexia also commonly have other mental disorders as well. They may include:


Depression
Anxiety disorders
Personality disorders
Obsessive-compulsive disorders
Drug abuse"sources: Mayo Clinic, medscape, Johns Hopkins, and my own experience with a friend.

It's a serious disorder. 

This was all posted in another tread in the weight loss section. Consider how serious this issue is and start eating. You can not live on diet soda and lettuce. That's as silly as counting how many grapes you put into your mouth. Go to the doctor, if you can't simply eat more.  There was anything wrong  with that girl above. Other than the problems she caused herself, ultimately ending her own life. In attempt to be non existent skinny.

Wish granted? Open your eyes, girls.

I agree with sweet-tart.  That sounds like a reasonable way to get back into the swing of things :)

Yes please girls, do not fall into that trap. Trust me the longer that you let this go on for the harder it is to turn around. I personally am recovering myself and I feel so much better. Healthy is sexy, no one, trust me NO ONE thinks that a body like Nicole Richie's is "hot". If they did then they would be looking at starving children in africa, as opposed to Pamela Anderson.

if it's the MENTAL barrier: try liquid food-supplements. less "bloating", smaller, not as "scary" as real food, perfectly balanced.