Meal Plan - ED, please don't judge

Hey guys =] Just wanted your input on my new meal plan, it may seem like a little but trust me, it?s an improvement ? right now I?m stuck in the cycle of restricting and binging so this is aimed at getting me to start eating regularly again.

Please don?t post any mean comments as I know I?m not supposed to be losing weight but recovery is a slow phase and I will slowly start to up my calories. Thank you =]

Stats:
Height: 5? 2?
Current Weight: 102lbs

Meal Plan

Monday ? Friday:
8:00    porridge 100
10:30  WW yoghurt 50
12:00  slim-a-soup & 1 slice bread 150
1:00    cut-up apple 50
6:00    dinner (usually Indian) 300
6:30    Muller yoghurt/cereal bar 100
8:00    WW yoghurt (optional) 50 
=800

Saturday & Sunday
12:00 1 slice toast w/jam 150
3:00   1 slice toast w/beans 200
3:30   fruit 50
6:00   Dinner (meat & veg) 300
7:00   Muller yoghurt/cereal bar 100 
=800

so what do you think?

This is not a mean comment, but an honest question. How are you determining that you only need 800 calories? Are you doing this by yourself? With a professional?

well right now this is the number I feel comfortable with. My dietitian says I should be upping it to 2000 straight away but he knows that's not going to happen, he hasn't really given me a "safe" amount. in fact he hasn't given me much to go on at all, his sessions are more like a science lesson than anything else.

I understand that you are trying hard to recover.   I think you do realize that you'll have to add more than this if to be healthy.  This is a good start, but it's only a start.  I have a suggestion that might work.

Add just a small amount to each of your meals and snacks.  A 50 calorie piece of fruit with your porridge, another with your morning snack yogurt, regular soup instead of the diet product with 2 slices of bread, and 50 more calories of vegetables added to your dinner.  Also, a slightly larger serving of yogurt each time, and you could also afford to eat the higher fat yogurts instead of fat free.

As you can see, just these tiny amounts, added a little at a time, would soon bring you up to the 1200 calorie minimum needed, and on your way to a sensible, appropriate 2000 calorie diet for a growing girl.

Good Luck Sasha

Thanks Clairelaine, I appreciate your input. After this, I may add a piece of fruit in the morning, see how that goes and then maybe have another piece of fruit in the afternoon, see how that goes. The bit I find difficult is the actual portion sizes of meals so I'm gonna talk to my dietitian about what a healthy portion size is and then if I'm comfortable with it, start having a bit more for my lunch.

Sasha, it is hard. I find that I don't like to eat very much before the end of the day because I'm scared I'll end up eating too much.

Regardless of how much you're eating, you want to make sure you're eating a balanced meal plan. I'm hoping you're taking a vitamin supplement every morning. Also, the optional yogurt, try and make it an optional cup of veggies with hummus - you seem to be pretty good on protein but fairly low on veggies and fruits.

Good luck. You've made so much progress thus far.

Sasha_nagra - Talk to your RD or a nutritionist to get a meal plan.  The meal plan you created does not provide you with enough nutrients or calories to survive.  Your BMI of 18.6 is healthy, so if you want to maintain your weight, you need to be eating more.  Eating 800 calories is going to have you losing weight.  I think that you let the ED create the meal plan for you.  You have been on this site long enough to rationally calculate how many calories you need to maintain.  You rationally know that you shouldn't be losing weight, and I think that's great.  However, you need to have your rational mind create a meal plan that is reasonable.  I understand that this can be very scary.  If you can't do it yourself, ask for help.

Keep up the great work!  I'm very proud of you! : )

Do you like Peanut Butter? You could even try sliding in a spoonfull of Peanut Butter a few times a day and that would give you more calories and more importantly, protein but not make you feel like you've eaten a lot of volume....Good luck!!

i think its good,especailly how the foods are speard out throughout the day so you feel like you dont go hungry.i might try that but with 1200 calories.

Thanks for all your replies =]

right now I'm eating nothing during the day and then binging in the evening, like today, but it still only came up to 800 calories. but I want to spread it out more so I don't feel disgusted after binging.

going to the dietitians tomorrow, got some questions to ask him. Thanks for all your advice and encouragement xxx

You are a gorgeous girl -- I just hope you can get a grip on this before you ruin that. You're not too far gone right now, work hard on making progress. :)

wow sasha, it's scary just how much like you i am (not saying you're scary or anything, lol). i'm so used to eating only around 800 cals a day, but i've recently started to up my cals day by day because i don't want to lose anymore weight. i'm 5'2" and 105 lbs. you all probably think 800 is low, but it's nothing compared to the 500 i used to eat (vitamuffin for breakfast, light english muffin & plain salad for lunch, & leancuisine meal for dinner). it was actually pretty scary. but now i can manage to make it up to 1000 (:

my problem is that i'm afraid of eating too much at one meal (example- a 400 calorie meal seems WAY too high to me), but when it adds up at the end of the day, i need those extra cals. i'm getting there. we can do it! good luck!

My suggestion is dont count the cals
I know its hard. Instead count the nutrition. Or only cal count every second day.
Or cal count that, and dont count snacks, and make them HEALTHy snakcs like nuts and try not to cal count
I accidentally ate about 900 (well 1200, but im more active that I thoguth) and got very sick. I too didnt jump it up. just took it in steps. An extra 100 cals per day from ehalthy foods. And I thought about the bits of my body i didnt like and realised it was from not eating - my dry skin, my pale complexion, my thinning hair. I went to whfoods.com and found out how great food is. I cannot eat unhealthy foods - makes me ill. By dried fruit, esp dates (like caramel) are great and great for you
You'll get there, but you do ahve to push. or you stay stagnent
Im on 2200 cals and still am not gaining. Much of this comes from nutritional drinks, as my tummy is just that small (plus i cant digest fat)
Please be careful. You can et some horrids from not eating enough.
Just focus on health, and how much BETTER it is for your body to eat and YOU CAN DO IT!!

sasha - omg, i do the same thing too! i can practically not eat during the day without getting hungry at all. i prefer "saving" my calories for the later part of the day. :S

ecstaticfart -  nice name =P lol i love talkin to people on CC cos its great talkin about things that you have in common and u realise ur not such a freak after all llol and what to do about it n stuff.

 i try to distract myself from food in the evening to stop myself from bingin, its difficuly tho cos in the day i'm at work and its quite easy to get distracted but at home ur just wtaching TV so my therapist told me to play cards or a board game or something, and it usually actually works! but sometimes i just can't get my mind off food - but thats probably because i hadnt eaten in the day so i was actually hungry, not just craving. but anyway, try it =)

i dont think u should be eating "weight watchers" anything... stick to good protien like meat, fish, and peanut butter and natural oils... u dont need to be eating 800 that is a low amount for anyone and that is not how u are going to survive... if u want to start working up to maintaing a healthy weight id say start at 1500 or so that way ur body starts replenishing nutrients lost... good luck

hey, well, i for one am porud of you. i myself hav a bit of an ED, and am getting help. im proud of u for trying to eat it (i know it can seem scary to not binge and eat what you would think is a hell lot more than you should be eating). i might try out your diet plan, cos it seems really good. i told my nutritionist bout it, and she said she loved it!! she's proud of you too! lol keep up the gd work and keep smilingxx

I've found over the past few days that the thing that has helped keep me from eating too much at night (not really a binger, just very large dinners) is... eating more during the day.

I find that when I'm hungry all day, I'm INSATIABLE at night and no amount of food satisfies me... at least until my stomach decides all of a sudden it's had more than enough.

I think in the end, I'll end up eating the same amount, as now that I'm adding in a bit, I can leave some of my dinner on my plate and not be hungry anymore.

Here are my suggestions:

1.  Give yourself a calorie range so that mentally you know you can still eat more if you want to but you don't have to.  Since you're at 800 calories right now, start with 800-1100 and each day change it until you're within where you need to be.  Unfortunately this is necessary.

2.  Whenever you have something where you can add a few extra bites, eat just the few.  This will gradually increase your calories by 10 or 15 here or there without your feeling stuffed.

3. Replace your yogurt with something better tasting and higher calorie.  Yoplait has one that is around 100 calories.  Replace your soup with chicken noodle or something with a higher calorie content, hopefully more protein too.  Add a teaspoon of peanut butter when you have your apple.  Have a bit of butter or cream cheese on your toast with jam.  When you have your meat and veggies, also add a small starch.  You can get some really cute little baby potatoes that add just a few calories and the tiny ones taste better anyway.

omg smwhipple,number 1 has just made me relieased i should do that so badly as a mental note as it would make alot of sense for me to not end up bingeing,thanks,those points have helped

Your doing well, Sasha, keep the good work up! Your recover in no time. :)