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Weight Gainers: What did YOU eat today?

I am copying the many times copied thread, "What did you eat today?" in hopes of helping some of those who are just starting to gain and have no clue what to eat. I know that when I began weight recovery, I was eating tons of low-cal foods just because that's what I was used to. I learned the hard way that dense foods are essential to weight gain when you have high caloric requirements (at one point I needed 4500 cal to maintain my weight on BEDREST). Perhaps newbies can get some ideas if we post our weight gain meal plans! Even if you're not gaining anymore, grab an old one and post it!:]
Please note that every body is different and some will need more or less calories than others to gain. This thread is just so that you can get an idea of what you need.
Oh, and yes, I'm breaking the "no calories, no portions" rule, since it is pretty helpful in this case. If you want to post cals/portions you can. I just ask that you don't post if you're not eating enough, though as this is a weight gain thread, I would hope none of you are undereating.;]
I'll start....
Breakfast (875 cal)*

• 1/2 cup oatmeal (150) cooked with
• 1 cup evaporated whole milk (300)
• 1 mashed banana (100)
• 2 tbsp peanut butter (200)
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed and cinnamon to taste (50) 
• 1 hard-boiled egg (75 cal)

Morning Snack (300 cal)*

• 1/4 cup mixed nuts (200)
• 1/4 cup dried apricots (100)

Lunch (660 cal)*

• 1/4 cup rice cooked in 1 cup chicken stock (300) and
• 1/2 cup canned or cooked chickpeas (145) and
• 1/3 cup shredded cheese (150) and
• 1/4 cup each onion, peppers, and tomato (30) cooked with
• 1 tbsp olive oil and curry powder to taste (120)

Afternoon snack (390 cal)*

• 1 serving baby carrots (35)
• 1/4 cup hummus (155)
• 1/4 cup mixed nuts (200)

Dinner (875 cal)*

• 1 cup of my insane Mac & Cheese recipe (515)
• 2 cups tossed salad (45)
• 2 tbsp rasins (60)
• 2 tbsp sunflower seeds (105)
• 2 tbsp dressing (150)

Evening snack (480)*

• 1 cup plain whole milk yogurt (180)
• 1/2 cup homemade granola (300)

About 3600 calories :]

Ach, I feel like I'm eating all bloody day!

And I'm going to limit my wheat intake from now on... I'm pretty sure it's what giving me a funny tummy...

Breakfast - 1 cup rice crispies, 1/2 cup soy milk, 1/2 cup soya yoghurt, 1 banana, 14g raisins (460)

Snack - 2 slices granary bread, marmite (200)

Lunch - 100g peas, 2 linda mccartney veggie sausages, slice granary bread, 14g raisins (420)

Snack - Low Fat Doves Farm Cereal Bar (150)

Total So Far... 1230

PLanning for this evening:

Dinner: 1/2 cup rice, 1 cup veg, 20g tvp and tomato sauce (350)

Pudding: Frozen Banana, 80g mango, grapes (300)

Total: About 1900.... hmmm. No excercise though, so I suppose it's ok......

Why am I kidding myself - thee 'Tools' say that to reach my gw by my next review, I need 2300 every day, not nearly every day.

GAH THIS IS INFURIATING BECAUSE I FEEL SO FULL AND MASSIVE EVEN WHEN I WAKE UP CAN'T MY BODY REALISE THIS IS FOR MY OWN GOOD RATHER THEN CAUSE ME DAILY PAIN???

lala- I used to try and do 30 mins of either elliptical/running or something and then strength training like 4 times a week. But now my doctors are recommending i only WALK for half an hour, and not even at like 3.5 mph. They're telling me I shouldn't even do cardio. And it's so infuriating because I feel like I need to exercise regardless of my ed. I like it..

charliebo- thanks for your input! I just need to get rid of that stupid voice that tells me to stop eating at a certain point. I need to do this for myself. I need to gain 10 more lbs, and the faster the better.

gibbit- I'm sorrry you're in that situation too. I know how you feel when you're out and all you can think about is what to eat next. It's sooooo annoying, and it makes me be in a bad mood. But just try pushing that voice away..and today's a new day. Think about things that make you happy, and enjoy your life. Our life shouldn't be a menu! Also, if you're on the go a lot, try bringing portable snacks. I mean I'm always out and about and I'd have to eat like 1000 cals at night cause I hadn't reached my goal...and it sucked. I felt like I was binging and stuffing my face with anything I could find. But now I just try bringing a bar with me, a fruit, sandwich.. and it's become less worrisome to fit in all my calories at night. Hopefully this helps?

hey guys! Thanks again, sorry I went wacko on you all last night :X Today is a new day and it will be so much better!

lala- I know how you feel with the lack of exercise, but if I start that up again I know I can easily overdo it and that will counteract all of my efforts to gain, so I tell myself that once I'm up to a healthier weight, I can get back to all of the sports I used to love and get back into really good shape. It's not a black and white thing, if you take it easy now it doesn't mean you'll turn into a fat blob for the rest of your life, it means that your body will recover and you will build up from there. I did a pilates video this morning so I feel pretty good :)

several people seem to worry about maintaining and cutting back on calories, I know I definitely worry too because i can really pack down the food now and I don't know how my body will react if I have to stop that. But at least with gaining I've noticed that the cc calculators are wayyy off, even nutritionists ahve been way off on the calorie counts for me, I need a lot more than most would expect to gain, or even maintain. Plus I feel like some of these calculators are really low, either that or we underestimate the activity we do, because I can't imagine that I ever ate the 1700 it says I should maintain on, I doubt I ever slipped under 2500 or 3000 pre-ed.

aussie- that snack idea is really good! But you should try and eat more than that, 3 almonds aren't really going to give you the benefits of eating nuts, and nuts and dried fruit are a really easy food for us to snack on. I know I can eat several handfuls of almonds and not get full. Just keep increasing portion sizes or frequency of your snacks and your stomach will also eventually be able to handle more food, and even crave more. You build up slowly since your body has to get used to you eating again. Drinking your calories also helps. Maybe just drink a glass of juice with lunch or carry one around to sip on throughout the day.

charliebo- we seem to like the same foods! but switch to wm yogurt! it tastes so much better, I'm never going back. For my internship I'll be working with PBS, the tv station doing research for one of the show hosts. She's really laid back and I can sort of set my own hours as long as I get the work done so I'm relieved about that! My favorite sports to watch are gymnastics and some swimming. I used to do both of those so I'm sort of biased towards them :)

today so far:

b- apple, grapes, greek yogurt mixed with shredded coconut, cereal, and almonds, glass of soymilk.

l- I'm going out for lunch! This time I'm going out somewhere I actually really like so there are a lot of options for me, I'm not sure whether I"ll get  a black bean burger, or maybe the salmon....and if I'm lucky we'll order the hummus and pita appetizer :)

I need to go grocery shopping again today too, woohoo!!

Whoa! Too many posts. I am sorry I cannot keep up. I will try and answer everybody. I am getting comfortable :]

Lala-(When my knee was perfect) I exercised 6 times a week for 45 minutes. I mostly did cardio but I have started to incorporate strength in as well. I gained 20+/- pounds while doing so! At the gym/home I would run(furthest being 6 miles), do the Elliptical, bike, and all sorts of things. I cannot wait to start running again! Sorry, off topic :/

Peanut_butter-Sorry you are feeling massive and full. It is just the ED wanting you to think that. You can do this! I see that you are eating very few calorie dense foods. I think they would help so much and keep you from feeling too full.

Gibbit-I know! I love looking at the Americans. They are so muscular and healthy looking. Pretty too. Hopefully they beat those KIDS! (when are they on again? I do not think they are already done...) I sometimes do that as well. When I have not had enough to eat or something, I will eat just like you did! But do not worry about it, we need it! I actually did this last night. I just drink some water, brush my teeth and relax before bed. I almost went to bed like hungry though! I understand you though...

Relena-You do not need to be worrying about cutting cals when you no longer need to loose. Lots of times it takes a lot of calories for eating disorder recoverer's to maintain there weight. I would say (with your exercise) you would be fine eating 2500, maybe more :] No calculator can tell you how much YOUR BODY NEEDS! Only your hunger signals and such can!

Charliebo-I really love it all, lol. I am completely obsessed with about every sport out there.(well most at least!) I esp. love swimming, gymnastics, diving is ok, BASKETBALL, soccer, volleyball, and running. Basically a better question would be what don't I like? I am glad to hear that gymnastics has gotten more "healthy." Thanks for everything you said, very helpful!

Aquaev-What is Acai granola? Sounds yummy! Are you going back to 3000+? Have a great day and keep fighting!

I am feeling surprisingly good today :] I also have a PT appointment. Excited about that!

XOXO

 

 

 

Original Post by lalabanana:

Mmh, guys, mind if I ask something? Where I've really cut back on exercise I find it easy to get "you're so flabby" thoughts, but I also get very tired easily because of my anemia as well as not wanting to do too much lest I lapse back into over-exercise and not wanting to eat too much more back (I eat so much already!). But I'd like to keep trim, maintain a good bf% while doing this. I was wondering, how often do you work out? And how much do you do of what? It's a bit dumb of me to ask, but I don't really have an idea of how much exercise is "normal" and keep panicking this will all come on as flab... one extreme to the other: "I'm so tired/you're worrying too much" to "agh, I can pinch skin here!" and so on. =-='

Lala-I just stared incorporating exercise last night and some today. For the first week I did no exercise at all. Im pretty sure I gained mostly fat of what I gained. But I want a good body fat % too so I can get my period back. If you exercise when your body is rebuilding or your shooting for a low-medium body fat percentage this may send signals to your body that its still “starving” because it naturally wants to have some more healthy fat on it to cushion internal organs and such. I totally know what you mean by the thoughts though they seemed to be drilled into my brain yesterday in the dressing rooms. As a avid lover of exercising, and watching my legs in the mirror..well you know. But I keep on eating my calories. And you should too lala. You also  posted a thread before how you felt you were too old for this ED, well then lets just kick some ED  butt and beat him up and eat them calories and get our health back =]

Oh, gosh, thanks guys. :] That's already really helpful already, lol.

Gibbit: I've been trying to keep that outlook, too - get healthy first, sports later! It's a bit sad though because all the sports I love most are... specialist? I'm not neccessarily very good at all of them, but I like hiking, swimming, rock climbing, canoeing, skiing, trampolining, archery and quad biking, hah. I used to swim competitively but the rest are more things I like to do when I get the chance - even if I'm pants at some of them!

When I go back to college I want to swim again, and I think it may be wise if I do it with the gym because they are the sort of staff there that will notice if you are doing too much. I was thinking of swimming maybe three days a week, depending on what my timetable comes out like? x: Is that sensible? And weights, of course!

I still can't get the hang of yoga or pilates. Heh. It's very hard to find a video that targets aaaabsolute beginners .___. I really want to get into it, though, my posture is pants!

Meesh: (EDIT) Ahh, I just saw your post. :D Thank you. Oh, man, I am one of those people who pays too much attention to their legs (and my stomach!) too. As for age, I felt too old because it seemed like a lot of other recoverers were younger than me, but it's a silly mindset: I easily forgot that anyone, any age (or weight!) can suffer from an ED. I remember feeling sad when I read about a professor that died thanks to her ED age 49. x: After a bit of digging: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/a pr/29/healthandwellbeing.health

I'm still eating all my calories, though, battling the voices. I find I sometimes fall short by about 200-400 calories on some days and have been looking for extra ways to fix that - yesterday I had a bowlful of edamame with cayenne on them :D They were delicious.

I'm not scared of maintainance, but that's because I know what I can cut out or down on and still eat as such. Heh. Like where I'm eating nuts, now, I won't need to eat them every day or can eat smaller portions of them. :]

I am debating whether I should have some of the mu-shu (... I don't know if that's right, he just goes about calling it mu-shu) pork my dad made. The only thing is that red meat doesn't sit well with my stomach, AND he's put a lot of salt in it, which also makes me feel ill. |: I don't know. I wish he'd cook something I could eat without feeling queasy afterwards because I'd like to overcome seeing his cooking as a fear food - but knowing it'll make me feel like bleh once I'm done is... a less than appealing idea. .__.;

 ... pants is my word of the week, apparently.

EDIT: Okay, perhaps not. It's got eggs in it, and I am NOT going near an egg again for a while after the incident last week. Hahaha.

hey everyone-

so a q, why do many of you eat diff nut butters and not PB?  are you allergic to peanuts or do the others taste better?

RELENA-you are doing great, as has been suggested, take along a quick snack for in btwn the 2 classes and when you go to the store just buy and eat something there.  keep up the great work!  oh, and what type of frozen yogurt, it sounds great!

AUSSIE-youre doing great, id also suggest adding to lunch, yogurt, fruit...  i love bed time snacks too.

HEADINGUP-i wish i had the patience to cook like you all do, but i just dont!  keep up the great work and congrats on your progress!

CHALRIEBO-dinner sounds unbelievable!!  i find that eating when im not hungry, if i need to, will increase my appetitie!

LALA-GIBBIT gave great advice about the excercise thing, once weve recovered, well be able to do more and be better at it!

GIBBIT-your internship sounds awesome!  today is a new day, rt?!  im going food shopping too!!  lol

PSYCHOJ-so happy youre feeling pos today, keep it up!

i have an interview later today so messed up eating again.  the candy bar was awesome, but today im thinking no ice cream, yes candy and pudding, lol, so i need a diff afternoon snack, but dont know what??

tues so far-

bagel square, PB+J, apple, cheese ~400

 

 

Breakfast-qinoaflakes two servings (260) one cup soymilk fortified (130) blueberries(70) two tbspns cashew butter (190)

Snack-cottage cheese doubles strawberry flavored(130)peach(80)pretzels(160)odwalla soysmart chocolate mint(320)

Lunch-in-n-out grilled cheese (450) sun chips(210)

Snack-almonds(330)cranberries(130)la crème yogurt(140)baby carrots(40)

Dinner-rice(150)omega 3 enriches egg(70)avocado(45)veggies(15)cup of orange juice(120)1/2 cup haagen daazs chocolate peanut butter =] (360)

Snack-cup of natures path oats n honey(230)soy strawberry shake:2 servings spirutein and a serving of strawberries(250)graham crackers(130) peanut butter(180)2 servings dried banana(180)

Ugh my last snack felt like such a binge, I exercised after dinner and my 30 minute walk turned into a two hour walk lol so it ate around 4400 calories yesteday= 0 hah. Soooo full. I don’t think I want to pull that off ever again =]

Agru- yes those mauna loa’s were probably what I eat. They are nuts and they are absolutely delicious. They used to be one of my biggest fear foods so I make sure to eat them frequently to overcome that. =] also agru increasing calories may be a bit uncomfortable at first but you may have to focus on “mechanical eating” for now I know I posted something about it on the last few posts of “a metabolism question….woooo”

Relena-don’t worry about marinating right now. Focus on “staying in the moment” I found that at 5’6 and somewhat underweight I maintained my weight at around 2000-2300 after weight gain.

Charliebo-im glad to hear that, and im glad to have helped=]

Peanut butter- if your feeling so full go for more condensed food, bear naked granolas brand. Haagen daazs chocolate peanut butter (360 calories for ½ cup) or trader joes coffee ice cream (400 calories for half a cup) pita chips, and graham crackers go down fairly easy, make yourself a really thick yogurt at home in a blender with strawberries, full fat yogurt, fruit preserves, goji berries, honey, maple syrup , anything.

Checking in on all of you ladies...looks like you are doing great. I really enjoy coming in here and seeing all of the amazing food choices. God I miss living in the UK at times...I love falafels!!

Anyway, today so far....

B- pumpkin pancakes made with wheat bran, 2 cups of coffee with splenda and creamer.

S- (pre gym) apple and almonds

S- (after gym) green tea and pretzels

L- not sure yet, probably a turkey wrap with veggies, honey mustard, and a fruit on the side

S- maybe pb or fiber one cereal

D- going out with the best friend for dinner, possibly mexican or sushi?? OHH AND DRINKS!

(Just a ?, has anyone done turbo jam? I just got mine today!!)

Agru- Sorry it has taken me so long to reply...I went camping this weekend and had trouble logging back on:) I am hopefully at the last leg of my recovery. I am 30 years old, and a single mother to a beautiful 5 year old daughter. This current ED was relapsed by one I had when I was 19 years old! I am 5'2 1/2" and was down to 98 lbs when I was 19. It was awful - I remember looking in the mirror and seeing my ribs, and my bones on my butt....that was when I knew what I was thinking and what I was seeing were very wrong. I ended up making a lot of friends and was able to start voicing my feelings and emotions and quit relying on food as my friend. I was able to get up to 112 lbs, and later when food wasn't an issue up to about 115-120 lbs and looked healthy!!

Currently, I started binging and purging again in October 2007...I am a single mother and one time my daughter even caught me - that was a major low and she told me not to make myself throw up. Then I went back onto restricting.  But, I continued until this May/June when I got back down to 102 lbs, which made me look so frail and I didn't feel sexy at all!! I have been in a committed relationship with wonderful man for over 2 1/2 years. But, I decided again that what I was thinking and what I looked like did not match, I was not fat, but frail and weak looking. So, I got into see a dietician, and started therapy. It is now August, and I am up to 108 lbs and I feel and look great!!! I have boobs again:) I am so happy, and I have smooth curves and I look healthy, which my boyfriend tells me everytime I ask him if I have gained too much weight.

As for people having issues with eating grains, that is the most important thing to eat because it is what fuels your brain...your body needs all those sugars that healthy carbs have, so just chose whole grain pasta, brown rice, and wheat breads and you will get all those healthy fibers along with it. I would only eat cereal during my day and maybe one small serving of grains through snacks such as crackers and that was all I used to allow myself. Now I have my cereal in the AM, and a sandwich at lunch, and grains at dinner. I look and feel so healthy!! Make sure you eat grains especially if you need to exercise...I still work out, including 3 mile runs every other day so I make sure to eat everything I want. I am so happy no food is off limits anymore!!!

lalabanana- I always get the "you're so flabby" thoughts too. I was just told that I was allowed to do some light exercise a couple weeks ago and I haven't though of many things that will keep me from overdoing it. So I've only been doing yoga or walking daily, because there aren't many ways that you can modify those to make them super high calorie burning. I have overexercising problems too, and if I did something like "jogging" on the treadmill I know I would turn it into a full blown cardio session where I'd try to burn as many cals as possible.

agru- I mainly eat different nut butters to change it up a bit. I'm not allergic to anything, I just like to try new things like almond butter and soynut butter. I guess a small part is that PB is still a bit of a FF, and I feel safer eating SNB b/c I can convince myself it's healthier. It's really not, but I can't explain my ED thinking!

Arghglghdlfgjdf;gl I keep weighing myself! I'm up like 1.5 lbs and I've been eating maintainence to give myself a bit of a break. It's just really freaking me out b/c I'm not supposed to be gaining on this amount! I'm five lbs. over what I was pre-ED and I want to badly to restrict.

Lunch- PB on WW potato bread, Stoneyfield Farms cream on top yogurt, Kashi crackers, carrots

Snack- Carrots, raisins, blueberries, WM plain yogurt w/ honey, pudding

Hey guys... hope you're all doing well, theres so many posts that I've missed and I cant seem to keep up... ahhh... x_x

Yesterday was kind of a disaster, lol.. I babysat my cousins all day, and ate really well, but then I came home and... had a bit of alcohol. >_> Which put me at about 2800 calories for the day. I know I shouldnt be drinking; heck, it's not even legal at my age, but I just felt like I needed to let go for a bit... I was feeling really bad about myself all day for some reason, and even though I consumed a lot of empty calories and gained a bit of water weight (the scale is incredibly evil, ugh), I feel a lot better today. :) Thank you guys for the support, you're all so very awesome.

Foodies today so far:

-Cold oatmeal (muesli?) with apple butter, cinnamon, PB, plain yogurt, soymilk (680)

-Freshly-squeezed orange/grapefruit juice, god I love my hand-juicer D: (130)

-Coffee with soymilk (30)

-Awesome vanilla ice cream-flavoured whey protein drink with a medium banana and soymilk (340)

Total so far: 1200

 

I actually don't know how much I should eat today because yesterday was so weird, with the extra cals and stuff... ughhh. x__x should I stick with 2500? Go higher? BAH

Finally in Florida & finally have access to the internet...wow it's gonna take me forever to catch up, ya miss so much being gone for a week and a half lol.  sounds like everything is going swimmingly. Not so much for me, feeling a bit discouraged as I haven't been able to count and am probably eating way under my calorie alotment. :(

So excited though they're having a welcoming party and for once in my life Im ctually not too worried. Yes there's going to be pizza and soda, but I have eaten so healthily that I think I will allow myself a treat of a slice or two.  You guys are so inspirational...just want to thank you all!!

 

Aero-Keep on going! Do not give up girl. But great job with the party. Doesn't it feel amazing to feel so free? Oh you are welcome. Have fun!

Aquaev-I am sorry you keep on weighing yourself. Scales cause so much chaos. I am going to try and avoid them. A piece of metal is not worth our worry :] I want to try nut butters too. If only they are not so expensive. I think I will get one next grocery shopping trip though!

Forgetmenot-I totally agree with the grains/carbs are necessary. You need carbs just to live, so when you are gaining you need a WHOLE LOT OF carbs. So eat up!

Positivelinny-Good to hear from ya! Sounds like you are doing amazing. Have fun tonight, sounds delicious!

Agruskin-Thanks so much! Oh and hope the interview goes well. I am sure it will though. Keep on going; don't look back now! How about some carbs? We need carbs, so yummy.

I am having a great day! My PT app. went amazing. I was actually sweating. I am able to run a little too. I just have to keep on working and I will be fine. Such a relief :) Hope you all have a good night! I will post later...

 

hey everyone!

back from my interview and again got so lost coming home!!!  scarfing down food as i type..

tues so far-

bagel square, PB+J, apple, cheese ~400

fiber one bar, peach (while driving) ~200

bagel square, edam cheese, ~1.5tspn PB (just from jar), fage 2%, some jelly ~ 410

AERO-i love pizza!  for soem reason not a fear, enjoy it and have fun!!!

ALYSHA-im no expert but id say stick w the cal range that you had been in before. 

AQUA-get off the scale!!!!  i weighed today unofficially, tomm ill check again as my real weight, but it said up 3.5 from last week-its cra, maybe i am tho-and that would be great!  bc thats the point-to gain, but just get off the scale! lol  im about done w my creamy PB, i use creamy, chunky, and cinammon raisin, so im thinking of trying a diff one, not soy, maybe almond, i dunno??

FORGETMENOT-hi!  glad to hear things are going well!!  wow-3 miles!!!  i eat carbs thru out the day as you can see from my menus, love them but yes, feel as tho i eat too much of them.

MEESH-hey, so i looked back at what you wrote about mechanical eating, i deff try and eat even when not hungry and ussually that will in fact increase my apetite.  1 q, you said that once recovered not to snack?  i have to be misunderstanding bc i think its always ok to snack-that its healthy even at maintenance.  i dunno, lol, i love your meals bc they seem real, like youre eating how youd like to for the rest of your life, plus a bit more, but i feel so unhealthy compared to eveyone here who is a "clean eater" when i am so not!  whats spirutein?

aero- Welcome back! I hate being away from here b/c there are like 45097325 posts a day and I have no idea what has happened when I'm back! I'm glad you're allowing yourself to have pizza. I love the feeling of being able to eat what I want without worrying. You def. deserve it!

psychoj- Ah, yes, I know! I just wanted to check that I hadn't been gaining massive amounts of weight still, but I know that was a really bad idea! I'm going to make my own almond butter soon... Glad your appt. went well.

agru- See my post to psychoj! And I really like almond butter. How'd your interview go?

Dinner- 2 crunchy tacos filled w/ soy crumbles and cheese, refried beans

Snack- Cheerios, Cheddar Bunnies, orange, Jocolat bar, Ben and Jerry'

Wow, been away from the computer for a while now. Yesterday was busy busy, and today I had the day off work but was at home for the first time in two weeks, so I ended up cleaning the house since it got disgusting while I was away.

Today I had:

b - 1.5 packages instant oatmeal, white flour english muffin with peanut butter and jam, saltine crackers (haha, those were a weird addition)... didn't have peppermint tea because we didn't have any! but we bought some today.
s - strawberry candy... too much of it
l - english muffin with pb & j (I really like them, ok? haha), orange juice
d - sweet and sour meatballs, green beans, corn on the cob, a few mini chocolate bars for dessert, iced tea

So I might not be getting 'enough' calories for the day, but I'm really not sure because I'm not keeping track of them. I'm home now, and there's a scale here, but even though I was so very tempted to weigh myself, I didn't, which is something that I am really proud of. I actually feel really proud of the mental progress I'm making. I'm trying the whole "fake it 'till you make it" approach, where even though I don't always believe what I'm telling myself about it being alright to eat, I just keep going pretending like everything is normal and just ignoring the ED voice by covering it up with what I'd assume a 'healthy' voice would say. Sometimes it feels so phony, but lately there have been times when it doesn't feel fake at all. I may not be eating the best, but I think my mentality is getting a whole lot better.

peanut butter - What is marmite? I have heard of it before, but what the heck does it taste like?
lala - I'm really active and walk around 5 hours a day because of my job. I have never taken it into account as 'exercise' though... On days off though, I'm pretty much sedentary, but when I go back to school I plan on going to the gym and just using the treadmills to walk at a reasonable (not too fast, not a stroll) speed for around an hour or so a day just to try and avoid shocking my body by doing nothing all day. I'll probably try to walk to the further bus that takes less time to get to school or bike to school too, just because I generally HATE to exercise if it's not something useful or necessary.

agruskin- what i meant about the snacks is that when you do mechanical eating, well in my case when i do mechanical eating my snacks range from 400-700 calories which leave me very VERY full. =] once recovered you dont have to have 400-700 calorie snacks if you don't want to. as a matter of fact you should be intuitive and listen to your body and eat whenever hungry. my old therapist who has recovered from an eating disorder also still eats 3 meals and 3 snacks a day and she doesn't count, everything from bagels and tuna salad. chips. apples, string cheese, yogurt, cake... anything she feels like having. i guess she felt better eating her 3 meals and 3 snacks a day and this coming from a tiny 5'1 50 year old that looks like shes 25 lol.snacking is part of a healthy lifestyle dont get me wrong. but once you have recovered and no longer need to mechanically eat you dont have to sit down at that table and make sure you get that food to fit in your stomach even though your definitely not hungry for it. you basically dont have to force your body to eat to gain weight lol

Hello again!

forgetmenot- congrats on recovering, you've done it once and you can do it again! And you're very right about the grains, that's been one of the hardest things to try and pound into my brain, but now I usually feel ok as long as they're whole grains. It really has helped me gain a lot more energy, plus most of those foods are a lot easier to digest. A lot of us already deal with stomach issues and shoving fiber filled fruits and veggies in all the time can start causing a lot of discomfort, while a nice plain bowl of pasta, or some toast always goes down easy :)

aeropink- have fun at the party! enjoy the food and keep eating! I know when I'm not counting I really have to try hard to get in enough food, because what I need to gain is not a natural amount lol.

psycho- I'm glad PT went well! be sure to eat back those cals.

meesh- I know whaty ou mean with mechanical eating, I do that too, I just know I need to eat every 2 or 3 hours in order to get everything in. If I go by what I'm hungry for or stayon a more normal schedule I can manage to maintain my weight but never gain.

aimee- you're doing so well! I have to "fake it" quite often too. it's not always something we want to do, but we should be proud that at least we can finally overpower that ed voice. You're so active! I don't think I'd have the energy to do anything after 5 hours of walking, especially not work out.

I had an amazing eating day! I'm so stuffed and I'm still going. After yesterday's binge I am determined to make things better and have a better outlook on this. I'm so tempted to log calories right now but I'm not going. I'm just curious because I feel like I've done so well today, plus just the act of entering foods is kind of calming ....is that weird? well anyways, here's the rest of today since I wrote breakfast earlier

l- ended up being a tostada salad (black beans, pico de gallo, corn, guacamole and tortilla chips) and black bean soup. It was a lot of beans!

s- A lot of cream top vanilla yogurt with grapes and blueberries, apple sauce, 1/2 english muffin with pb and honey, graham crackers with more pb, berry juice. I was severly bloated after this :\

d- baked sweet potato with margarine, cinnamon and honey. sauteed kale and spinach with a lot of pecan pesto. Fat content is scaring me but that's A OK! I'll live and be healthier for it

s- I'm thinking a nice soothing oatmeal with banana, soymilk, currants, and almonds.

hi everyone!

im so excited, i went foodshopping and bought so much easy, convenient food, im so set and ready to eat and gain! lol  i really just want to share some of the things i got just incase theres anyone else out ther struggling to figure out easy foods/snacks/meals to have, so..

kashi thin crust margharitta pizza, fish sticks, veggie chicken nuggets, alexia french fries, tomato bruchetta veggie burgers, ravioli, tomato sauce, rolls, bread, bagels, kashi walnut+dried currant granola, keebler pretzel+cheddar cheese snack packs, kraft deli sliced cheddar+other cheeses, whole bunch diff  yogurts, cheddar chese potato chips, PB+J, fruit, salad, hot dogs, milk, dried fruit, choc bar w nuts and dried fruit in it, ice cream---im so excited!

now its just hard to figure out what to have!  the interview was good, i think, ya never really know though and i have another one next wed!

AQUA-i saw almond butter and just got my regular skippy intead, is almond salty?  i like it more sweet than salty.  mm, tacos, is it the el paso one? 

AIMEE-i find i need to count just in order to ensure that i am infact eating enough bc if i dont count, i dont necessaraly make my goal.  good luck!  love the positive attitude!

MEESH-my goodness, i jsut cant thank you enough!  yes, i eat when im not hungry, i hae to, same w counting, right now its what i need to do in order to ensure im eating more, hopefully, 1 day, i will be able to listen to my body, 1st it needs to start talking to me bc i swear, its still hating me rt now.  i really want to begin to eat, act, as id like to for the rst of my life.  im going to eat junk food everyday, AT LEAST once a day, thats just normal.  im also not going to take spin classes 4/wk like i used to.  if this all means that im much heavier, as in the higher end of the healthy range, then thats where my body is meant to be!

tues so far-

bagel square, PB+J, apple, cheese ~400

fiber one bar, peach (while driving) ~200

bagel square, edam cheese, ~1.5tspn PB (just from jar), fage 2%, some jelly ~ 410

bagel square, chicken breast, 1/2 corn on the cob, 1/2 slice cheddar cheese, plum, veg salad ~ 450

apple, yogurt, choc bar(about 110 cals worth) ~350