Expert: Meg - 3/20/2007

Question
Hi Meg,
I'm writing to you because I can't seem to get a straight answer about this online or through a nutritionist.
I am 5'6 and currently 145 lbs and have struggled with very restrictive eating (about 1000 calories per day over 2 years about 4 years ago- I went from 165lbs to 130lbs over the course of a year) coupled with compulsive exersizing. I work out almost every day (running, eliptical, strenghth training etc) and have brought my calories up to 1200 for the past 2 years. I am trying to lose 5-10 lbs that I have gained since my initial weight loss but can not seem to get anywhere despite my food intake and exercising.
I have tried adding in more calories and I only gained more weight. I tried eating less calories and saw no weight change. I have tried mixing up my workouts and times.
Is it possible my metabolism is beyond repair? I do not want to continue such a restrictive diet but unfortunately at this point it is the only way I can even MAINTAIN my current weight.  

Answer
Hi Lisa,

Thanks for your question and I'm so sorry that you are going through this.  I know how terribly frusterating it can be once you've worked on getting better and your  body is lagging behind.  

I have a few questions for you.  First of all, since you work out quite a lot, it is likely that part of the reason that you may be at a weight higher than you would like is that your body composition is mostly muscle, which simply weighs more.  It is possible to weigh more and still be slim and very compact and you might want to look at measuring not only your weight but also your  body fat to be sure that you really have excess weight to lose.  

If you DO feel like your body is still not cooperating, then I would recommend checking with a doctor if you've not done so yet to rule out any medical problems such as a sluggish thyroid.  If you have no medical problems, I would find a nutritionist who has a good understanding of eating disorders (there are some great ones out there  but I've found that if they do have an understanding about the after effects, they are better suited to help) and trying to figure out a plan that is good for your body.

With the information that you've given, my initial thought is that you are still not eating enough for your  body to fully emerge from starvation mode.  I realize that you may be eating more than you have while you were anorexic, but you are still at the extremely low end of calorie intake even for a healthy non-eating disordered dieter.  And, as I mentioned before, because of the likely higher percentage of muscle you have, your basic calorie needs will be higher thus causing your set point (and the point at which your body would drop into starvation/conservation mode) to be higher.  So, this could be causing your body to be stuck as well.

So, I'd really recommend checking to see if there is any medical problem and then finding a nutritionist or expert who can really figure out what your body needs and make sure that you're getting it.  I personally don't think that a metabolism could be beyond repair, but I do think that sometimes it takes the body a long time (sometimes WAY longer than we'd like-this happened to me to) to get back to normal.  As frusterating as it is, your health is ultimately most important and your body will cooperate in time.

Hope this helps and please feel free to write again if anything in this answer is unclear or if there is anything more than I can help with.

Take care,
Meg