Expert: Joanne - 11/22/2007

Question
Hi Holly,
  I am a recovering anorexic.  I suffered from anorexia and over exercising for about 4 years beginning in my Sophomore year in high school, and was hospitalized in my senior year for my extreme weight loss.  Over the course of two years I had lost about 60 pounds and got down to about 98 pounds (5'4).  After leaving the hospital I went back to my anorexic ways when I entered college and worked very hard to maintain my weight at 108 pounds.  
    This past summer I decided to get my weight back on track in order to get my periods back.  However, I started to binge eat, often restricting my calories all day and binge eating at night.  While I was doing this I was working out religiously, burning 800-1000 calories at a time.  By the end of the summer I had increased my weight to about 120.
    However, my recent weight gain is what concerns me the most.  Since the beginning of September I have gained 15 pounds and am currently 135 pounds.  What I don't understand is why I have gained so much weight when I am exercising a lot (burning 1000-1200 calories at the gym/day) and eating about 800-1000 calories?  I know that I am not eating enough but I am afraid that I am going to gain even more weight if I eat more.  I feel like I am gaining about 5 pounds per week and I don't want to gain any more.  Ideally I would like to be back to 115 and eating healthy!!  

Help me!!
Ashley

Answer
Ashley

I reckon that this could be due to your metabolism.  Returning to your anorexic ways will have slowed your metabolism down again so that you can exist on as few calories as possible.  This is known as starvation mode.  When you try to eat more calories again, your body will switch into survival mode.  This is when your body will store what it can - it uses a lot of what you eat to rebuild and repair itself, but it stores a lot so that if you do begin to starve your body again it has something to use as fuel.  You are essentially doing this when you starve all day and binge at night as well!

In order to get back to a weight that you would be happy with, you are going to have to eat 'properly' about 1800 calories or so a day and try not to exercise as compulsively.  This may result in weight gain initially, but it will stabilise and maybe even fall slightly once your metabolism has recovered.  Once you reach a stage where you can maintain a weight, you will be able to lose.  This should be done in a safe and healthy way - definitely eating no less than a minimum of 1200 calories a day, and exercise should be 'normal' as well!  This may take time, and may be distressing when you possibly are gaining, but it is necessary, and it is important not to return to old behaviours or you will slow your metabolism again, meaning that you may need to start again in order to reach a weight that you can maintain healthily - it is this that can lead many people to years of yo-yo dieting (lose weight, eat again, gain more weight back, crash diet, eat again......), many people don't realise that when they gain more back, it is their body trying to repair itself and they will most likely lose it when their bodies have recovered!

Good luck, and let me know how you get on
Holly