Is this normal when starting recovery eating?

Ok I'm just borderline about to have a freak out at the moment - I need some advice on what's right..

Sooo on Friday morning, I weighed myself (which is my usual once-weekly weighing time) and I was 97lbs. It was after that that I was pretty much forced by my mum to increase my calories 'or else', so since Saturday morning (it is now Sunday afternoon here) I have been eating a lot more than I usually do. I don't know exact calorie amounts...but yesterday I am pretty sure I ate over 2500 which I have never done before.

Anywhoms, so about 15mins ago I went and weighed myself (because I couldn't help it. Stupid idea, I know.) and I'm now 101lbs! How could I gain 4lbs in three days? I don't know if that's normal or not but you-know-who is freaking out on me right now.

Is it possible it's just water retention? If so, how long does it take to go away and make room for the real weight gain? I was hoping the rate of gaining wouldn't be so fast - it's scary.

Sorry for the ramble - advice is heaps appreciated!

Of course you didn't gain 4 pounds. That would require 14000 calories OVER maintenance, not achievable in a day. You will have weight gain but you'll also have food in your stomach, those things show up on the scale. For laughs and giggles you could see how much you weigh after drinking 4 cups of water, same thing. Weight gain. Stope weighing yourself. Give it a few weeks and accept whatever gain you find when you do weigh because ultimately the end result is the same so its wasted energy to get bent out of shape over acheiving the very thing you're aiming for just at a faster rate. I do know its difficult because I too went through it but rest assured that the weight gain will slow down when the fluid levels balance out and your body gets used to processing food again. Any questions or in need of support please PM me.

Original Post by gymnaststar:

 I was pretty much forced by my mum to increase my calories 'or else',

.........I don't know exact calorie amounts...but yesterday I am pretty sure I ate over 2500 which I have never done before.

Chrissy's given you great advice and explanation.

I would suggest that rather than relying on threats from your mum to eat more from now on you should start taking ownership of the task in hand more yourself.   You're lucky to have a mother that cares and she's obviously very keen to help so sit down with her and work out between you how you're going to get to a 2500 cal a day diet from now on.  You can't guess at these things if they're to be effective.

The CC food log makes a good planning tool for example.  If you say you need 3 x 600 cal meals and 700 cals in snacks, for example... you can then work out what each meal is going to look like and what foods will work best.

If you feel that you're driving your weight-gain rather than being a passive bystander you'll feel less 'freaked out'.  Good luck

 

Yeah I know, I love my mum heaps! Those words probably look different written down than I meant them to sound... I didn't mean it in a bad way. I appreciate her help a lot, without her I hate to think where I would be right now.

I had a big talk with her today actually and things are looking a bit better! Thanks to both of you for your replies - I guess I just got a bit of a fright because I wasn't expecting so much of a change so quickly.

I'll keep your suggestions/advice in mind and soldier on with this tomorrow! It will be just me pushing myself tomorrow too, because I will be at uni all day so that will be a good chance to rely on myself rather than mum.

Thanks heaps again! :)

At first, you might gain weight rather quickly. But I can assure you not much of it will be permanent (if any!). Some of it might be water, especially if you've been eaten something salty. Some of it might also be muscle regenerating after a period of starvation (muscle weighs more than fat!! ). Many people don't consider this, but it could also be the weight of the food itself.

Try not to worry too much.. Believe me, I KNOW it's hard!! Feel free to message me if you ever want to talk =]

Good luck!!

I hope you believe this and I hope everyone else who is so very underweight and whose bodies are deprived, malnourished, starving, crying out, pained, suffering, etc., hear this too.

FLUIDS ARE IMPORTANT. They heal. They balance. Our bodies are such delicate ecosystems that the slightest bit of damage to homeostasis can throw everything off.

I was really sick when I was pregnant with my second child. I mean, really sick. I wasn't gaining much weight (because, and I am ashamed of this, I wasn't trying to and was exercising a lot), but I was experiencing terrible hypermesis and diarrhea. By 7 months, I was only up 5 or 6 pounds. That's awful. One morning I saw that I had gained 11 pounds in 3 days. I definitely hadn't eaten tens of thousands of calories. So I called the ER, they admitted me, and tried to draw blood...

... but they couldn't. My blood would coagulate AS SOON AS IT GOT INTO THE TUBE and that's only after they tried every vein in my body to get something. I was so dehydrated my blood was going to clump in my body.

If I hadn't called the doctor that day, I would have been so dehydrated that I'd have gone into labor and lost my baby and maybe my own life.

We have to have fluids. Eating allows our bodies to hold onto fluids. Drinking provides the fluids we've been denying our bodies.

But more importantly, our organs and our muscles need to hold onto water to HEAL.

On my "rest" days from running, I'll gain 3 pounds of water. Why? I feel my muscles twitching, I feel pulsing, I feel them HEALING. Your body needs to heal.

No it isn't real weight, even though you're in this to GAIN and I really think doctors should keep numbers from their clients to prevent these types of panic attacks, but still. YOUR BODY NEEDS IT. Keep eating. Heal. It is better than death.