weight gain because of slow metabolism? ed related

hi so ive had an eating disorder for a few years now but for the past year and a half ive been diagnosed with anorexia. ive been attending therapy etc but they focused on my mindset before my weight gain as they knew the state my mind was in when i was at my worst wud jus cause me to keep relapsing. im now alot more recovered mentally and eat normally. when i started attending the ed recovery clinic i was put on 2  300 calorie shakes called fortisip to stop me losin weight but i didnt gain any either. so i went from eating very little to eating mayb 1400/1500 a day. however i replased one of the drinks with food worth the same number of cals an tried eating a bit more an id say my cals are around 1600 each day and i go for power walks at least 30 mins most days. and since replacing one drink with normal food an uppin the cals by about 100 cals ive been gaining...in the past month i went from being 6 stone to being 6stone 3lbs/4lbs.

shud i be gaining on this amt? why have i suddnely started gaining when i didnt gain for a year and a half on almost the same cals? is my metabolism jus really slow now? im also tryin to gain slowly like half a pound a week (the clinic wants it done slow ). id really appreciate some insight on this? and how can i speed up my metab without eating 2500 an gaining a pound a week cause thats what will happen if i up to that and thats not what im aiming for in terms of how much to gain per week.

oh and my height is 5ft6.5 and im 6stone 3/4 so around 89 lbs.

xxxxx

Your metabolism probably is damaged from restricting for so long. Pretty much the only way to reverse this damage is to start increasing your calorie intake. You will gain weight initially, but if you maintain a consistantly higher intake your metabolism should recover and you may lose some of that initial weight gain, or at least be able to maintain on a normal amount of calories and gain slowly on 2,000-3,000 calories.

I know you said you and your doctor want the weight gain to happen slowly, but what would happen if you did gain more rapidly for a few weeks, and then lost a little or slowed down? Would it really be such a bad thing? It may be inevitable if you want to restore your metabolism. I would start by slowly increasing your calories in small incriments...say 50 calories more each day or 200 calories more each week. If you feel you need to you could pause for a few weeks around 1800-2000 calories and give your metabolism some time to catch up. You might see a lot of initial weight gain, but try not to freak out, and remember that a lot of it is water weight. Work up to a normal intake for someone trying to gain weight and see what your body does with that. Good luck!