I Need Help With Beginning Recovery for Anorexia!!!!

Hi, I am a 15 year old, 5'5 female that has just decided to recover from anorexia. I onlt weight about 83.5 lbs (weight from this morning) and I really want to start getting better and do it the right way. I was recently taking in about 700 calories daily, sometimes less and I did about 2 thousand jumping jacks and about 5 minutes of sprinting in my yard, until my doctor said I sohlud stop exercising. Now I just spend a lot of time pacing in my house. I really am afraid of getting refeeding syndrome and I don't know how many calories I should try to do everyday. I was thinking maybe 1500-2000 would be a good start. Over the past couple days I have been uping my calorie intake. My doctor said just to eat three healthy meals and have snacks and not to worry about counting calories but I want to recover successfully. My parents got me an appointment with a nutritionist but it isn't for another week or two and I need to start getting better now!!! Please if anyone has any tips or advice or similar situations please help me.... please, I keep telling myself that I wont go into relapse but my head is changing it's mind. What should I do???

Hi!

First of all-calm down. I know its stressful when you make a decision to recover adn your mind boggles as to what the hell to do now. Its great that you have decided to come through!. Take one day at a time. Could you try and make a meal plan with your family until you go to a nutritionist?. Eating with people will also help becasue it helps to see how little you are eating (although I know you proabably thinking your eating loads if you increase a little!). An easy enough plan to keep you going untill your appt could be

Juice, Cereal, and Toast or A yoghurt for breakfast

(like a normal bowl of cereal WITH milk)

Snacks of fruit or nuts or dried fruit or cereal bars or even a **** biccie!

Sandwich or wrap or soup and bread and salad for lunch, with good hearty brown bread!

Dinner-have what your family are having, or try having a piece of meat, some veggies, and potatoes or pasta, or whatever carbs you can manage, and throw on some sauce (not ketchup!), like carbonara or passata or something tasty!.

Thrown in juices or a glass of milk (or dairy alternative) with your meals.

Or try some hotchocolate before you go to bed.

Its also importatn to fill up your time in between meals to distract yourself, like music, or calling friends, or go window shopping, things to take your mind off food.

You will probabaly feel full, but it will pass, and your tummies REALLY small now, so it needs you to stretch it so it can go back to the size it was when you were healthy.

Your only 15 dear!, thats the age I was when I started being silly an not eating. Im 20 now, 21 in one week, and I still have the same stats as you 5ft5 and 84 lbs-and I dont like the way I look. Ive been up and down with my recovery and am starting from scratch again. Ill help if you need it. I know its hard. Tnis morning Im even feeling full after breakkie, but I will persevere becasue it is worth it and will get me where I want to be. I hope this helps, keep in touch.

Don't freak out! A lot of people go through this. You are extremely unhealthy right now and you need to honor your body's needs. You really don't need to worry about counting calories...unless you are not gaining, in which case you need to pay attention and up the amount. Many people who are in recovery become obsessed about eating an exact amount of calories (say 2,500) and worry about going over that number. Remember that you used to eat the amount that was right for your body without counting calories--trust that you can do this again.

Right now you probably get full on very little food, since that was what happened to me. Try to think of foods that you like (some can be unhealthy, but try to be mostly healthy) and just start snacking on them. My suggestions would include nuts (any kind--they make a good snack since you don't have to eat a lot of them, and they are very healthy), peanut (or cashew or almond) butter spread on a bagel or toast, hummus with vegetables, etc. Eating more than you want can be uncomfortable physically and mentally, but I promise that you will adjust.

Meeting with a nutritonist is good, but I found that they only tell you what you already know--eat more. Mine was a waste and I stopped. What really helped me was speaking with a psychologist who specializes in eating disorders--she really reassured me that I had a great body (once I gained weight) and that I can trust my body to eat proper amounts.

Try snacking on small amounts of food throughout the day (just eat however much you want--don't portion it out since some people get obsessive about this). This is the easiest way to never feel overly full.

Thamks so much for the advice, everyday I try to get an average of how many calories I am eatting but I haven't been seeing much for results. I eat some of the old foods I used to love like cookies and icecream, but every meal time I try to get the veggies and healthy carbs. I am feeling a little better now and feel safe about eating fat, which used to be a huge trigger for me. If anyone has any other advice though please please please post it. I need the support and the info

Thanks,

Peanut

Hi, I am 13 and I am starting on recovery from anorexia as well. I am 5'3 and 89 lbs at the moment. If you want to , we could be buddys.