Expert: Ginger M. - 10/14/2008

Question
So I have been in recovery from anorexia for about a year now. My anorexia only lasted 2 months, 3 at the very most, but I was able to lose around 20 pounds in a very unhealthy way. Since then Ive had ups and downs, and have restricted my calories some days, and over ate on others, but generally tried to keep my intake over 1,400 calories. I started gaining after losing my period for a second time, after a week of under eating (I relapsed). So I thought that eating more would help stop the gaining and so I did. I ate 1,600 on sedentary days, as recommended by various calculators , and 1,800 on days I worked out. At first it was great...I would go up and down in weight but never just gained uncontrollably. I reduced my exercising though, because Im not very fond of it and I want to stick to something I know Ill do for the rest of my life...so I did 4 days a week instead of 6...this is where things started to go crazy on me again...I did 70 minutes of exercising one day, with cardio and weight training combined and ate 1,800 like I did before, and ended up gaining half a pound. So I gave up completely on exercising in fear of gaining weight fast. Now Im completely sedentary, as I stay at home all day and Im having 1,600 calories but im STILL gaining weight. About .2 a day....a slow but steady pace...by the end of next week Ill be 2 pounds heavier.
now I dont mind gaining up until some point....but not beyond that, and Im scared that Ill gain OVER my pre ED weight...and wont be able to lose the weight afterwards.

Does this have to happen? Will I gain past my pre ED weight or will I be able to maintain my pre ED weight like before? ( I used to eat all I Wanted to and never gain, only 2 pounds at the most, but always stayed around the same weight) or will I now just gain gain gain if I eat too much and will be unable to  lose weight?
I guess I just need someone who has gone through this and know whats going to happen, because not knowing really makes this difficult for me....

please help.

Answer
Hi There,
Thanks for your question! I can understand how you're feeling- I've been there, too. When you've suffered from an ED, it's hard to be sure about anything when it comes to weight. Do you see a nutritionist? This is what helped me the most when I was going through what you were. I told her I was ok with gaining a certain amount of weight, but I was afraid it would get out of control and I would keep gaining. She told me to trust her, she wouldn't let me gain too much. It was really hard to see how I wasn't going to get fat by eating 1,500 calories a day (when I was used to 400-700), but I decided to trust her, at least for a little while, and it worked. I didn't realize how messed up my metabolism was- when you don't eat enough calories, your body goes into starvation mode, and holds on to every calorie you feed it, because it doesn't know when it will get more. I gained a few pounds as my metabolism was getting back to normal, but after I reached my set-point weight (my pre-ED weight) , it leveled off, and I was like I was before. Now, I eat a normal amount of calories and my weight stays about the same (although I try not too weigh myself too much, because I know that will lead me down the wrong path again).

If you don't see a nutritionist now, could you go to one? I think this would really help you- she can also help you come up with meal and exercise plans so you can fix your metabolism and exercise while maintaining a healthy weight.

If you need anything else, please write again!

Ginger