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start of my recovery, VERY underweight, help:(

I am a 19 year old female, diagnosed with anorexia and depression just over 2 months ago. I am 171cm tall weighing 38kg (not sure what that is in feet and pounds), but that makes my BMI 13.

I am still at the VERY beginning of recovery trying to convince myself to eat more. Even when i want to eat more i just can't seem to make myself. i am averaging about 600 calories per day which i know is no where near what i should be consuming.

I know I'm going to need to start eating more, but I'm going to have to do it in REALLY small steps, as I'm not mentally ready for this! I'm finding this all so hard.

Please help me, any tips, meal plans and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

A friend of mine lives in Califorinia and her doctor put her Medical Marijuana.  She got herself up to a healthy BMI but it was mostly from eating snack cakes, chips and milkshakes.  Not a healthy diet move.  Checkout some of the other recovering anorexia forums on this site.  You'll get good advice.  Just remember you need to get yourself out of BMI 13 quickly, but not all in a day.  Good luck!

*Edit*

To get myself out of depression I started taking St. Johns Wort.  It's an herbal dietary supplement.  If you can't get in to see a shrink, it's a good place to start, but it doesn't replace therapy and good medical advice.  I was a pre-med student so I'm pretty comfortable taking care of myself, but I don't recommend that philosophy for everyone.

mook

Its great that you are asking for support and health now, but you are very underweight and need to get medical help rather than just help online. Have you got a support team, a doctor you see, or a therapist/psychiatrist? If not, I recommend you organise healthcare straight away.

I too am in recovery from anorexia, and at my worst had a bmi of 12, so I understand what you are going through. Its hard, seemingly impossible, but you CAN do it. I'm not cured, or anywhere near, but I am much much closer to a healthy weight and have my life back!

As for tips and advice, the first, most important thing is - like i said before - to get proper medical care. Thats your first port of call. Next, make sure you have a support system around you at home (family, friends?). As for calories, for gaining you should have a minimum of 2500, but as your intake right now is so dangerously low, you need to be careful. Perhaps start at 1200, then up to 1500, then 2000 etc. Like I said, there is no replacement for medical care, I'm not a doctor, so I don't know for sure. What I do know though is that you NEED to stop any exercise you may be doing. You're heart is weak right now, and if you push your body much more, it could be extremely dangerous.

Please get some help, and I wish you good luck :)

xxx

You are at such serious risk I would feel guilty and wrong giving you any advice because I am honestly worried that anything I tell you will shock your body so much you will die. You are at risk of just keeling over and DYING. Your BMI is the equivilent of a SMALL CHILD.

You should not be attempting refeeding without professional supervision no matter how much confidence you have in yourself to recover alone it is just not an option for you. Even just a small increase in calories could traumatise your system and cause you to keel over at how low a weight you are. For resources that tell you where you can go to get treatment without paying if you are in a country without free healthcare: Treatment: How Will I Pay?

CC cannot help you. I cannot help you. No one on the internet can help you. Only you can help you right now and that means getting up, out of your house, and going to the ER.

I have to agree with the lalabanana. You need to got your general doctor asap. Eating 600 calories a day and a bmi of 13 is very serious. If you don't get checked out I fear you will end up in the hospital in a crisis situation or worse. I agree as well that if your doctors feel you can try to refeed outpatient you need to be monitored closely by a doctor for refeeding issues. I understand your fears but I know when I was at a very low point I too wanted to take it slow and just made small progress which was not enough and ended me up in the cardiac unit for a week. You need to push through your fears and reach out for help and go to the doctor. Can you make the call?Hopefully they can set you up with a team to help you or get you into a program or hospital as a starting point