question for any teen who's recovered from an ED...

hey,

i'm currently in the process of recovering from an eating disorder, although i'm still stuck in it pretty deep because i'm so scared of gaining the weight back that i lost.

although, even when i was at my lowest calorie intake--700 per day--i was never underweight. the lowest weight i got to was 106 for about a month, but i'm fairly short also. this is only borderline underweight, but i had usually hovered around 109.

but i've gained over 10 pounds since then; i gained it in a span of two weeks and it scared the hell out of me. i was eating about 1700 calories at the time because i had slowly worked my way back up. i got to 120 lbs, lost 4 lbs, gained 3, and recently lost 3 again.

but now i'm back down to 1000 calories and i can't push myself to go any higher because i don't want to gain any more weight (my fat intake is quite low too; 6-10g per day, scared to increase that also). my doctor says my weight (116) is fine where it is, and although i could beg to differ i've come to terms with my weight how it is at this moment, but i don't want to gain any more.

so has anybody out there encountered and beat this problem? has anyone recovered from starvation without gaining too much weight back? if so, how?

Hello---great you are tackling your ED.  However--NEVER eat below 1200 calories a day (some even say that is too low).  Your body will loose weight dramatically and then gain because your body will go into starvation mode and begin to store calories as fat.  This is part of your natural response and you can't stop it.  Eventually, your metabolism will be really screwed up.  It is much healthier to figure out how many calories you need each day to maintain your weight---and if you want to loose weight, you subtract 500 cals. a day from your maintaining number.  You'll loose 1-2 lbs per week.  Once you reach your ideal weight, go back up to the maintaining calorie intake.  Just be careful because you're probably not eating enough every day.

actually, i should have mentioned that i've had the ED for almost a year now...

 

from may to mid september i ate 700 calories but started to increase slowly around october, wasn't gaining at first, but once i reached 1600-1700 (december-januaryish) i gained ten pounds all of a sudden. so from 1700 i went down to 1500, 1400, 1300... and now i'm here at 1000, which i've been doing for a couple months.

 

so, my metabolism is pretty much already screwed up right now. i'm just trying to figure out how to fix it, get my periods back (lost them during starvation), but not gain any more weight. i've already had to endure the 10 pound gain but i worry that i'm going to have to gain more...

edit: i'd also like to add that before i started restricting almost a year ago, i was overweight and would eat whatever/whenever/however much i wanted. assuming that i find a happy medium, and i don't return to my habits before the disorder, can i avoid gaining weight? i know for a fact that with the power of will i can keep myself from binging like i used to.

I usually don't eat over 1200 calories a day. But the thing is, I don't feel like I need more food.  My body is so used to eating that, it doesn't want more food and when I eat more...I feel overly full.  As long as I exercise *which I do everyday due to sports and three times a week at the gym* won't my metabolism be ok?

in_alittle_while, I see SO MANY posts like yours & I feel like a broken record...
but, ABSOLUTELY NOT. Your metabolism is NOT okay.
An adult female cannot physically live on less than an estimated 1200 calories. Female girls should be getting at least 1800.
The simple fact that you said your body is "used" to eating that & you don't feel hungry means that your metabolism has slowed a tremendous amount. You're not feeling hungry because your body isn't really using the food you get properly- it's trying to conserve it by slowing down your metabolism because it knows it won't be getting much more. & the fact that you're exercising so much makes it even worse. You need to be well over 2000 calories probably, depending on your exercises.
You need to force yourself to eat. & eat calorie-dense foods so you don't feel full [peanut butter has saved my life many times... probably literally, to be honest.]
Trust me, I've been there & my metabolism went crazy. You'll regret what you're doing VERY soon if you don't fix it. Trust me, I'm trying to keep you away from what I've gone through.


Back to the original topic:
you're going to gain weight. I can't lie to you. Plain & simple, you.will.gain.weight. because of what you've put your body through. & if you can't recover because of that number, you really need to get a therapist to talk to because there are larger issues there. When I recovered, I told myself that I was going to gain weight but couldn't let it control me. I threw away my scale & started forcing myself to eat.
I was more restrictive than you are though, most days I'd eat around 200 calories.
It was hard & it sucked, but upping your calories really is the best thing you can do for your body. I used to be full on 200 calories... now I could eat all day & be fine haha [I don't, obviously.]
However, I'm still paying the price with a lot of health issues, so I REALLY urge you to get into recovery as soon as possible & try to repair your body.

...so there's no hope at all? i already gained 10 pounds. shouldn't that be enough?

if i gain back the weight i lost i will be overweight. i will not stand to deal with it again.

anyway i only lost about 30 pounds, and i was never underweight.

 

are you sure there is NO POSSIBLE WAY to avoid MORE weight gain?

 

my doctor says it's possible for me to maintain, is she lying just to see me recover?

ok when u starve ur body the first thing it uses is any glucose you havr to well nurish yourself well after that it uses water so once you start eating more again the water is replenished u see and thats were the 10 pounds came from secondly teens need 1800 cals if there sedentary just to let you know

 

keep fighting this ED and beet it

well i know all that...

 

but my question is, since i've already gained 10 pounds is it possible to avoid gaining more?

by the way, when i was eating 1700 calories i gained 10 pounds in 2 weeks. 1800 is way too much for me, apparently.

Stop counting calories, stop weighing yourself and start eating lots of healthy foods. Until you break the obsession with numbers (calories, weight) you'll never recover. Ask yourself why a number is so important? What joy do you get out of being 116 lbs? I promise if you learn to listen to your body again and just eat you won't end up obese and you'll be so much happier.

I'm recovering from an eating disorder at the moment too. I've thrown away the scales and I'm eating like a normal person. I don't feel fatter at all. I might have gained 10 lbs but I don't know because I haven't weighed, and I don't care. What I don't know doesn't bother me and I won't be defined by a number.

first of all, i don't own a scale. i'm only allowed to weigh myself once a month at the doctor's. they have to do it anyway.

the joy of 116 lbs? that's easy. i look in the mirror and love myself. i can look at myself and think damn, i lost so much weight--i look really good. being thin is so addicting, i love it. and so are the compliments.

just so you're aware, i'm not going to stop calorie counting... if i do that i will most definitely gain weight.

but this is killing me, i really want an answer to my question. i've been asking around for months and yet i've not gotten a straight answer. is it POSSIBLE to get healthy and maintain my current weight?

Being healthy has nothing to do with a number and everything to do with your mentality and how your body is functioning so no, if you want to continue maintaining your current weight by obsessing and under-eating you won't be able to become healthy.

no... you don't get it.

if i increase my caloric intake to a healthy number and with the RIGHT foods, no binging--you know, eating like a healthy thin person instead of an unhealthy one--can i maintain here? at 5'2" and 116 i am at a healthy weight. my doctor keeps telling me she is fine with my weight where it is and now wants to focus on getting me healthy.

i am not saying that i plan to continue under-eating and become healthy because i know that's physically impossible. rather, i'm asking if i can maintain a HEALTHY BODY WEIGHT--the weight i'm at now--by increasing my calories to a reasonable amount and eating all the right things.

Hi,

It has been possible for me. The "set point" was really true for me. I was 115 pounds when I was undereating, and I was still 115 pounds for many years when I was eating normally (I don't know how many calories, I didn't count back then, probably around 1800-2000). Your 10 pound gain is probably not going to be permanent. Water gain, or just more food in your body when you weigh yourself... Don't get discouraged by it, keep eating like you are. When you start eating more you gain a little weigh, and it's done for you. It is going to stop.

A few years back I was eating way less than 1200 calories, even though I wasn't counting. When I finally decided to eat normally again (which must have been a lot of calories, because my family doesn't really eat healthy) I noticed a very slight weight gain, that made me look healthy, 5 pounds max, and nothing more. More importantly, some fun things happened, like my hands stopping being cold all the time, and I had way more energy.

 

If you want to avoid gaining more weight I would suggest not yo-yoing between 700 and 1700. Go to 1700 or more and stay there. If you yo-yo your body will still store fat when you eat more, where as it will use all the calories after a short while if you eat enough all the time. You won't gain on the long run by eating 1700 like you describe, in fact you might need to eat more than that if you are a teen. But you can start with that if you are comfortable with it.

Your body is wonderful and will happily adapt to your eating normally in a short while. Starvation mode does not last for months, at least it didn't for me. The one thing that did last for me following my ED was a blood sugar imbalance, but I've learned to live with it.

 

Hope this helps a little, and good luck!

Make sure you're getting your calorie amounts from healthy foods.. fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy, beans, nuts, etc. If you stick to eating 3 meals and 2-3 snacks a day, your weight will eventually level off and even drop. That's what happened to me. I now can maintain a lower weight eating more so long as it's good food than before when I was eating much less but not as healthy food - if that makes sense. Also, I notice that when I eat out a lot - my weight tends to fluctuate upwards, but that's okay because then I just get back to eating healthy and it goes back down. It's just a matter of range. Right now the 10 lbs is likely from water weight and/or sodium depending on what kind of foods you're eating. I tend to aim for 1500-1600 cals/day, but limit any intense working out to a minimum. Good luck! Don't get discouraged. Weight naturally goes up really quickly at first when you retreat from starvation mode- it's a given. Embrace it and figure out how to get AS HEALTHY AS POSSIBLE. Eat clean. :)

alright, it's good to hear that someone else has achieved weight maintenence :] today i plan to start slowly upping my calories.. SLOWLY, though. i can only weigh myself once a month, which is a bother, cause i won't be able to tell if i'm still eating to little. bah. well i'll wait out the next 3 weeks.

but about the 10 pounds being water weight--i don't know, because my friends all say i look bigger than i did, and i'm not suprised because the gain happened over winter break and i wasn't very active. i didn't really get out of the house and i slept til noon every day, so i'm not suprised, and that was a mistake on my part. but if i can stay at this weight i'm good.

a question, though, is the reason most starvation dieters gain weight because they binge afterwards? i lurked around the forums for a bit and this seems to be the issue with most of those people and it looks like a good majority of anorexics binge when they're trying to ween themselves off the tendency to undereat.

Sorry I wasn't back sooner to reply.
Anyway, to answer your initial question, it may be possible for the 10 pound gain to be all you get, but it's not likely, to be completely honest. & you also must remember that those 10 pounds aren't actually 10 pounds of fat gained- water weight, food weight, etc contributes to that number.
BUT, the beautiful thing is that once you experience the weight gain & finally recover & get your metabolism back up, that weight ISN'T permanent. if all that happens & you are still a bit overweight [legitimately], you can easily count calories again & lose weight- the HEALTHY way. Since your metabolism will be faster, you won't HAVE to go to 700 calories to lose. You can do it the right way, not starve yourself, & your body will be more willing to let go of the weight than it is now.


& as for your friends saying they notice a difference after 10 pounds: a) that's not a very supportive/friendly thing to be doing, so I'm not sure where their heads are, & b) you probably do look a bit bigger because of bloating- again, water weight.

As for your final question, binging isn't what causes people in starvation mode to gain weight. I mean, I guess some people may binge? But it's hard for me to picture someone going from 700 calories a day to eating everything in sight. The weight gain comes from the starvation mode- the slowed metabolism. Their body's so used to only getting 700 calories that it becomes more efficient at using just those calories by slowing down & conserving them as much as possible, not burning them off. Then, the person tries to eat like a "normal" person again, & THAT'S when they gain because their body is essentially saying "HALLELUJAH! FOOD! I'M NEVER LETTING GO OF THIS BECAUSE I MAY NOT GET IT BACK AGAIN!!" because that's what it's used to.

Okay, I think I covered all the questions I saw?

hm...

you know, what i'm coming to see is that it's different for each person--at least i think so..

i guess every person is different right? i might gain i might not.. depends on my body right?

 

by the way, does anyone have any advice on exercise? right now all i'm doing is 700 jumping jacks (oh and it's not as intense as it sounds like, 200 jumping jacks takes me like 2 minutes), 150 situps and 150 pushups a day. i also walk 2 miles about 4 days a week.

any suggestions?

Since you should be eating at least 1200 calories, and you think that will make you gain more weight, then exercising is the best solution.  You can eat more because you are burning more.  Aim to burn 200 calories, since that is what you would be increasing your caloric intake by.  I would try lightly jogging or walking. Sit-ups are great. Or, maybe you can sign up for a class at a gym with a friend.  Having fun while you exercise is key.  You dont want to be exercising strictly because you are afraid of gaining. Exercising is good for anyone, maintaining, gaining, losing.

hm.. good idea.

 

i'm not sure how to calculate how many calories i'm burning though; i don't trust the info that can be found online because everyone's bodies are different. even those who are at the same weight. plus i don't know how many mph i'm walking.. 8];;

but i walk about 4 times a week, about 2.5 miles on each of those days. my parents don't want me to go to the gym because of the money and they don't think it's necessary. i've got to talk to them about letting me take strength and conditioning as a summer school class though.

Hey there,

 I'm a recovering anorexic and I've been through the exact same things your going through.

Your weight is up and everyone around you is happy now, except you. You're trying to hold on to the last bit of weight loss you have because that's all you feel you have left, right?

Well... I may be way off but from what you have said, you seem to be focused on numbers; 150 situps, 200 jumping jacks, a certain ammount of calories, that sort of thing. Doesn't thinking about all those numbers really fill up your mind? I mean, if you could eat whatever you wanted and maintain your current weight or even lose some weight would you? Now this might sound completely crazy but I swear, this can be achieved! The key is tuning into what your body really wants. That means not eating a desert just because it's there and not denying yourself an extra serving of pasta if you feel you truly are still hungry.

Now depending on your stage of recovery you may or may not be able to do this but either way I encourage you to try. This life is WAY to short to obsess over food your whole life! I know I made this sound really simple and short so if you have any questions feel free to email me at ruthspot@aol.com.

 

If you were initially scared by the sudden weight increase when you went up to 1700 calories a day then remember that that kind of weight increase won't continue, your body's just trying to reach the correct weight for that kind of calorie intake and when it does you will stay at that weight.

It sounds like we had a similar experience ... I had an eating disorder a couple of years ago and went down to about the same weight as you did - 106. I'm now 5"6' and I weigh 116 as well. I eat about 1500-1700 calories a day and if I do gain weight it's never more than a pound or so.

The best thing to do would be to use this site to calculate how many calories a day you burn. If you eat about that amount, then you're fine.

Having said that, I agree with ruthie2442. Once you're comfortable with how much you're eating and aware of how much your body needs, then try to relax. By this time your body will have adjusted and you'll automatically start eating the amount that's right for you. In the meantime, try to remember that your weight is a pretty unimportant part of who you are, and try not to sweat the small stuff.