reached weight goal, now maintenance questions..

Hi :)

So I have been regularly consuming 2,300-2,500 calories for the past 3 months recovering from anorexia. I am 17 year old female, 156cm and have gone from 79 pounds to FINALLY a healthy 101 pounds (46kg) giving me a bmi of about 19. According to my nutritionist I no longer need to continuing gaining and should start focusing on maintaining, however I am having a few problems...

I have worked out that currently my activity levels are most probably sedentary - with most of my acitivities levels walking to anf from university and between classes etc. 4 times a week. With this my bmr is supposedly 1,500 cals.

It has been 3 days and I am finding it EXTREMELY difficult to stay within this limit as I am constantly hungry!!! 

Is anyone in the same boat?

Im afraid that this constant hunger will develop into bingeing episodes or over-exercising in the near future.. :(

You'd only want to be eating your BMR if you were trying to lose weight - to maintain you need to eat as much as you burn. When you were eating 2300-2500, how fast were you gaining? If you were going 1lb/week, then you could assume that you burn 1800-2000 calories, and could eat that. But if you were gaining slower than 1lb/week, you'd maintain on more calories - does that make sense?

I don't know a lot about re-feeding after anorexia, so I'm not an expert, but 1500 is the minimum that teenage women are suggested to eat to LOSE, not to maintain. I realize your starting very small (and at least according to this site, a BMI of 19 is still too low) but I don't think restricting to stay under 1500 is going to be good for you, mentally or physically.

In the past month I was gaining between 0.5-1kg per week, so I'm guessing your saying that I would be able to go over my BMR rate by around 300 cals and still manage to maintain?

Maybe it would be easier if I began some sort of exercise regime; possibly weights and some cardio so that I could eat more?

I don't have scales at home and I don't get weighed until another 6 weeks so I guess I will just have to 'weight' and see how my progress has been. I just want to make sure I do this recovery properly & am able to return to a 'normal' eating life without worrying and the stress of even more weight gain.

Thanks for your response :) 

P.s. I just had some cereal because my stomach was seriously grumbling so im up to 1800 for the day.

My first inclination is that if you're hungry, then you body needs food, so feed it. I seriously doubt that you are going to gain weight at 1800 calories a day, but if you are really concerned, then keep your profile set at sedentary, log in all of the exercise you get (and I don't mean walking between classes as I would call that a bonus), and try to keep your caloric intake and your burn as close as you can to equal.  If you keep track of what you eat you will know what you can eat when you feel the need for a snack.  For example, since I'm trying to lose, I try to keep my intake between 500 and 1000 lower than my burn.  While watching TV last night, I started feeling hungry and had some calories to spare due to an extra exercise session so I could afford a 100-calorie popcorn.  If I hadn't had a bit of leeway when I got hungry, then I would have 1 or 2 sugar-free jello cups. At 10 calories each, they're a pretty good snack very low in calories and can be a good way to satisfy the sweet tooth even though they are sugar-free.  I eat them a lot during the day too as snacks.  The trick is to keep everything in the proper balance and you will be fine.

I would suggest that the OP keeps going until they're past a BMI of 20.... that's the usual advice for people recovering from an eating problem.   Reason being that just a slight hiccup - a short illness, a relapse - will take you back below18.5 which is where 'clinically underweight' kicks in and then you're in danger territory again.  

A BMI of 20 is at the low end of a 'normal healthy weight range' which goes from BMI 20 - 25.... so maybe your body's natural 'happy' weight is something in the middle?   Maybe the time you spent underweight also stunted your growth and your body is going to add on a few inches in height?  That's more common than you might think.   If you're hungry, then your body still needs feeding, still need nourishing and I think it would be a mistake to cut back.  http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/bodycomp/bmiz2.html   This link is specifically aimed at the under 21s...  'Inactive' means that you literally never get out of bed.  'Low' is going to be more realistic, even if all you're doing is walking around.

Yes, you could start to do some light exercise and then you'll probably find that 2300 cals a day becomes a maintenance intake rather than a weight-gain intake. 

i have the same fears/worries. i'm getting close to my goal and i'm afraid that i will have to reduce my calories so much that i'm going to overshoot my goal and not be able to maintain my weight because i'll be so hungry. granted i'm not there yet but i think it would be great to hear from someone who has gone through this successfully and see ho they made the transition. it seems really difficult. i hope i can maintain on around 1700-1800. but i don't really think that's realistic since i'm gaining on 2000 at a rate of about a pound per week, making it necessary for me to reduce to around 1500 just to maintain. that is a scary scary though. i have had a few days with higher than 2000 but i'm thinking i'll try to boost my metabolism by eating more for a few weeks and then coming down. but then the decrease will be much more drastic than it was from 2000 and i might be hungrier...hmmm...so confused at what to do.

oh, and if you calculate it out .5kgs is about 1 pound...so your were eating 500 cals per day over maintenance to gain...so if you subtract 500 from the 2300-2500, then you shoudl be able to eat 1800-2000 for maintenance, not 1500. i hope this helps :) 

Original Post by chrissy1988:

i have the same fears/worries. i'm getting close to my goal and i'm afraid that i will have to reduce my calories so much that i'm going to overshoot my goal and not be able to maintain my weight because i'll be so hungry. granted i'm not there yet but i think it would be great to hear from someone who has gone through this successfully and see ho they made the transition. it seems really difficult. i hope i can maintain on around 1700-1800. but i don't really think that's realistic since i'm gaining on 2000 at a rate of about a pound per week, making it necessary for me to reduce to around 1500 just to maintain. that is a scary scary though. i have had a few days with higher than 2000 but i'm thinking i'll try to boost my metabolism by eating more for a few weeks and then coming down. but then the decrease will be much more drastic than it was from 2000 and i might be hungrier...hmmm...so confused at what to do.

I totally feel your fear too!
However, I've actually started getting less hungry as my weight has gone up, so maybe that's a sign that when it comes time to decrease the hunger might not be too strong. You may as well increase to 2500, by the way...

yeah maybe you're right...and i think i am going to increase...just one last time...for a few weeks!! hopefully it goes okay!! im optimistic~!

Thanks for all your replies :)

So I decided to follow an 1800 calorie plan for a couple of weeks and see how I go. I may find as you said girl that I may become less hungry as my body start to stabilise.. Already today has been much better & I feel comfortable staying within a 1500-1800 range which I think will be ideal.

Also a regular exercise routine will probably be ideal at this time, both calorie wise and especially to build some muscle as I am starting to see my body shape filling out again (lingering ED), but I would love to feel fit and healthy, both inside and out, and not worry about how many calories I'm "allowed" to consume.

It's funny how you change; begining my recovery eating so much seemed like a daunting task and was quite an upward battle, until the end when I became confortable with the amounts and how my body was looking, and liked the idea of eating anything I desired. But now I feel as though I have to enter back into the real world - no more hiding behind the fact that I have an eating disorder to overcome, and start to face the realities that lie ahead; which is sustaining a normal, healthy lifestyle and balance with food.

It will be another hard transition, but one that I intend to overcome and succeed.

We can do it chrissy.

Thanks again everyone :)