Expert: Joanne - 3/13/2009

Question
Hi Joanne,
I have been struggling with an eating disorder for the past seven years. I am currently nearing the end of my second year of college. Throughout high school, I was very conscious of my weight, and each day, I ate anywhere from 1600-1800 calories. I weighed around 100 pounds. I maintained this weight for a few years. Towards the end of my senior year, I was stressed out because of college and what was to come, so in order to control my stress (I now realize that this is not the way to go about it), I restricted my calorie intake further to approximately 1200. However, instead of losing weight, I gained weight. By the end of senior year, I weighed around 110 pounds. (I am 5 ft. tall). I was very confused, and in an effort to stop the weight gain, I restricted even further to 800 calories, burning off at least 500-600 every day at the gym. I continued to gain to 115. Prior to this, I played tennis a few times a week, but never had a reason to work out. When I got to college, I really wanted to ease into adapting and, for a period of about 2 months, stopped worrying about what I ate, and enjoyed myself. I lost about 8 pounds and was at 107, which is a great weight for me. Most of all, I was just happy that I didn't have to worry about it anymore. It is not that I want to lose a ton of weight -the bigger issue is that I want my body to be able to function normally and lose weight IF I wanted. Basically, I'm still stuck. I currently do cardio for about 50-60 minutes a day and do a little bit of resistance training a few days a week. I eat around 1200-1300 calories a day. I went to the health center and was tested for hypothyroidism as well as many other conditions, I am supposedly perfectly healthy. I know I should be eating more for the amount that I exercise, and I just want to know if you have any advice concerning HOW I can help jumpstart my metabolism. I just don't want to gain a ton of weight - although previous experiences tell me that I might lose a little if I eat more. I don't know what to do. I know that I'm at a healthy weight, but I feel like I shouldn't have to be this restrictive or strict with my workout regimen to maintain at this weight, when I used to weigh less and eat more.I still weigh around 115. I would just like to be more comfortable at around 107 or 108. I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but it is just a matter of me being comfortable. I would also like to say that I realize I am far too concerned with my weight and have scheduled an appointment with a counselor.

Thank you for any help you can give me.
Kate

Answer
Kate

It is great to hear that you have recognised that you do have a problem with this and are seeking the professional help of a counsellor - you should find it extremely useful, I hope.

It seems like a very ironic idea, but you do often find that you may need to eat more in order to maintain or even lose weight.  If you are feeding your body properly and regularly, then your body doesn't need to store much of what you eat, and is happy to burn it off as fuel - which means that you have a 'normal' or even quick metabolism.  If you don't eat regularly or don't eat enough, then your body is much more quick to try and store anything that it can, and tries to save calories wherever it can, meaning that basic functions carried out by the cells in your body may use less calories daily, or even stop certain functions.  I also read something recently that suggests that by eating larger meals just two or three times a day may lead to surges in insulin production and release, which in turn leads to more of the sugar in your diet will be stored.  If you eat little and often, you keep your insulin levels steady, meaning that more will be burned rather than stored.  I can understand how this works in theory, and don't know how to explain it better if I haven't managed to explain it hear, but basically the message is, eat little meals regularly throughout the day.

In order for you to maintain weight, possibly even lose some slightly, I would recommend trying to eat nearer to 1800-2000 calories a day, and eating them in possibly up to 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day rather than a large breakfast, lunch and dinner.  This may cause some weight gain in the first instance, but I would imagine that in the longer term you should find it easier to lose weight and maintain a weight that you are happy at than you will do eating as few calories as you are just now.

Joanne