Posts by mrswilsonscat

Original Post by hurricanereno:

Yup, doing this "dieting" thing until the day I die hit me too. And then I realised... c'est impossible!

What everyone tells you will be the successful recipe for diet:

1. exercise

2. calorie control (and hence calorie counting)

 

Sure, doing it for a year might work. But running for an hour EVERY DAY until I'm 60? Not going to work. I'm lazy. Exercise for exercise's sake (I do walk, which is exercising, but that's to transport myself, not to burn calories)... was out.

Calorie-counting? Every day? What if I moved somewhere in a country where half the things don't have calorie contents? Japan rarely has calorie listing in restaurants. What about UK? France? Calorie-counting was also out.

So here are the two things that I did.

1. Be able to ballpark calories. You might miss by 200 or so, but http://www.fitsugar.com/Eating-High-Calorie-F oods-Wont-Harm-Healthy-Diet-Study-Says-114521 73/ tells you that a rough ballpark with a miss of 600kcal won't kill your bodyline. Wonderful. I do check calories, but most private restaurants won't tell you that the grilled salmon with quinoa salad you just ate was 1000 or 2000kcal. 

2. Learn to eat appropriate portions (which means shrinking your stomach). If you look at what male models (the kind you might see on fitness magazines) eat, they don't actually count calories. They do eat, but they eat teeny tiny portions in one go (2 slices of pork tenderloin, 10 stalks of asparagus, 1 wheat toast around 11, about the same amount around 2). I gave up on eating the entire slice of chocolate cake. I now eat maybe two bites. 

I don't count calories any more. I certainly don't log anything on here (because, to be honest, half the stuff I eat aren't on here... an oz of Pont l'eveque cheese isn't really on everyone's diet). I eat pizza, ice cream, waffles, pasta, hamburgers. I haven't gained back the weight, and I did a few times when I was meticulously weighing myself and counting calories. I changed my lifestyle, the way you stop smoking, or going green. You don't log the number of bags you recycle a day; you just do it. It's the same.

The child who wrote the original post is not overweight, though.

She is 4' 11", just 79lbs, and survives on mini ham sandwiches at 160 calories a go, and bananas eaten in bed at night because she is too starved to sleep.

OP - I'm saying this now for the 6th time, in the hope it eventually gets through:

See your doctor. Your attitudes to food, weight, and calories are pointing you down a very unpleasant road indeed. I started out like you, and had anorexia for 30 years. Don't let this happen to you!!

Original Post by healingannorexia:  what is re-feeding syndrome??

Here's what good old wikipaedia says!!:

Any individual who has had negligible nutrient intake for 2 consecutive days is at risk of refeeding syndrome. Refeeding syndrome usually occurs within four days of starting to feed. Patients can develop fluid and electrolyte disorders, especially hypophosphatemia, along with neurologic, pulmonary, cardiac, neuromuscular, and hematologic complications.

During prolonged fasting the body aims to conserve muscle and protein breakdown by switching to ketone bodies derived from fatty acids as the main energy source. The liver decreases its rate of gluconeogenesis thus conserving muscle and protein. Many intracellular minerals become severely depleted during this period, although serum levels remain normal. Importantly, insulin secretion is suppressed in this fasted state and glucagon secretion is increased.

During refeeding, insulin secretion resumes in response to increased blood sugar; resulting in increased glycogen, fat and protein synthesis. This process requires phosphates, magnesium and potassium which are already depleted and the stores rapidly become used up. Formation of phosphorylated carbohydrate compounds in the liver and skeletal muscle depletes intracellular ATP and 2,3-diphosphoglycerate in red blood cells, leading to cellular dysfunction and inadequate oxygen delivery to the body's organs. Refeeding increases the basal metabolic rate. Intracellular movement of electrolytes occurs along with a fall in the serum electrolytes, including phosphate, potassium and magnesium. Glucose, and levels of the B vitamin thiamine may also fall. Cardiac arrhythmias are the most common cause of death from refeeding syndrome, with other significant risks including confusion, coma and convulsions and cardiac failure.

This syndrome can occur at the beginning of treatment for anorexia nervosa when patients are reintroduced to a healthy diet. The shifting of electrolytes and fluid balance increases cardiac workload and heart rate. This can lead to acute heart failure. Oxygen consumption is also increased which strains the respiratory system and can make weaning from ventilation more difficult.

Refeeding syndrome can be fatal if not recognized and treated properly

Original Post by pollyalice85:

Is 50g fat a day to high or low? Calories are at 1300 carbs 160-180. Fats come from coconut oil coconut milk and peanut butter.

...and back she goes, all the way to square one, with the under eating and yet another new diet...

Original Post by reservedmomma:

to sustain your body every day, you usually have to drink about 1/2 your body weight in water. 

Lol! Love it - so that's 28 litres if I weigh 56kgs?

Original Post by hadwin:

It's not difficult to lose 10 pounds. You can lose 10 pounds within one month or half a month if you follow a regular workout plan and take an effective diet plan for the weight loss purposes. If you do cardio daily for 30 minutes then you can easily lose these 10 pounds.

 

Wow, let's tell an anorexic how to lose 10lbs in 2 weeks! Great idea!!

Sorry, but this girl is still starving herself - sure, she gained weight, but is still literally starving, working out 6 times a week (enough to give herself a stress fracture for heaven's sake!!) on a pitiful 1,300 calories a day.

Your poor body needs repairing and refueling - you need professional medical advice - losing weight won't help you right now.

Just for an example, I am a recovered anorexic, aged 43, and I maintain on 2,250-2,500 calories a day, with very little exercise - 2-3 miles walking a day, nothing more.

Seriously, see a doctor.

Original Post by amethystgirl:

Have you stopped purging?

^^THIS.

Swollen glands can take a while to go down (typically 3-6 weeks) regardless of how long it took to get them swollen. The crucial question is, have you stopped? If not, you may have medical issues way more important than swollen glands that require urgent medical attention.

Original Post by xjustkeeprunningx:
Is this fat or water weight?

Water.

You are absolutely correct - it takes 3,500 calories over and above what you need to maintain on to gain a single pound. Therefore, to gain  3 kgs in a week you would have had to eat 23,100 extra calories more than you needed, yet you only actually ate about 10,000 calories that week altogether!!

It is very, very common to gain like this at first. If you were very dehydrated when you started recovery (maybe you purged, or restricted your fliuds?) then a little of that could be permanent, but dehydration is dangerous - it NEEDS correcting. Also, you say you feel constipated, well, some of the extra weight will just literally be the weight of the actual food you ate. Once things start moving smoothly again, this too will correct itself.

The most important thing at this point, is to NEVER go back to starvation. 1,500-1,700 is better than before, but you will need to up your calories to at least 2,500 (more if you are under 20, or very tall) to recover. Recovery is not just about gaining weight, but about eating enough to repair the unimaginable damage that starving yourself has done. Your organs, brain, heart, bones all need huge amounts of energy to repair themselves.

In all likelihood, you will find that you lose a few of those pounds in the coming couple of weeks, then start gaining slowly again. Deep down you know that 100lbs is not 'fat' and that you need to gain to get well again.

Are you seeing a doctor/therapist? It is almost impossible to do this without help and support. Honestly, you are doing the right thing, but you have barely begun to re-feed yet. There is a long way to go, and you need all the support you can find.

best of luck!

Cat.

[Edited to add: No, the body doesn't 'hang onto fat' that's an anorexic myth. What it does do though, is shut down your metabolism if there isn't a good supply of food around. This is why you must NOT go back to restricting if you want a nice fast metabolism when you are well!]

Recovering anorexics should NEVER try to lose weight.

That is called relapsing... and that is a one-way ticket straight back into Hell.

Talk to your recovery team/doctor.

5' 7", age 43, 122-124lbs, maintaining very easily on 2,250-2,500 with maybe 2-3 miles walking a day, housework, childcare, etc - nothing major, in other words!!

Try this calculator. Most people are surprised!!

http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expend iture-advanced

Could well be.

Whatever it is, you need to SEE A DOCTOR. Don't play with your health - you only get one life...