Expert: Leigh-Anne Persing, PA-C - 4/30/2008

Question
I am trying to recover from Anorexia- I have had it for about 15 years -- but 2 years after the birth of my 2nd child is when it really got bad - I am in an outpatient recovery program -- but am at my lowest weight  5'5 and 97 lbs wt/ BMI of 6.  I have really stopped losing a lot of weight -- I am eating some and exercise a lot -- but I havent really lost anymore weight - so my fear is that If I start eating what they want me to eat the weight will just very rapidly appear and it will happen too fast.  Does that make sense?  I keep trying to tell myself that this won't happen -- but I don't believe it.  Any advice?

Answer
People with anorexia who start eating again generally do gain quite a bit of weight to start off with and that's because your body is in starvation mode... it hangs on to all that it gets because it doesn't know whether or not you are going to continue to provide it with nourishment, or if you are going to deprive it again. Once you get yourself into regular eating habits and are eating enough to keep your body functioning then the weight gain will level off. My advice... get rid of your scale and just work on getting your body healthy!