Expert: Joanne - 5/11/2007

Question
I had an eating disorder for about six months. I started out weighing 89.5 pounds and got down to about 84. Since I didn't actually lose that much weight, I'm still a little nervous about putting it back on. Even when I didn't have and ED, I was still really thin. Do you think that even when I start eating more, I'll still be thin? I also heard that some anorexics gain a lot of weight after they recover. I'm kind of scared that that will happen to me. I've started eating more, but I've also started exercising more too. I excercise for almost and hour every single day. Is this too much? What happens if I miss and excercise? Will I gain any weight? Thank you for reading.

Answer
Many anorexics gain weight when they begin eating again as their bodies begin to get used to them not eating enough, and so slows their metabolism down so that they use as little energy as possible.  When anorexics begin to take in greater numbers of calories, their body will store it as fat as it doesn't need to use it as fuel as it has become so used to surviving on so little.

The body will also begin to repair itself.  Anorexics tend to lose a lot of lean muscle mass, including muscle from organs such as the heart.  The first thing the body needs to do is to rebuild these damaged tissues, which will involve an increase in weight (and muscle does weigh more than fat!), and then once it has rebuilt tissues, the body then needs to rebuild its stores of fat.  Even the thinnest of people have fat stores within the body - a certain amount is needed!  So the body will rebuild these stores, and try to build itself back up.  Females stop having periods when their body fat drops too low which is a mechanism to stop you getting pregnant when your body couldn't cope with carrying a baby, so the body naturally will try to get itself in to a state which would allow it to carry a child, seeing as that is what nature has intended and the female body has basically been designed to be nothing more than an incubator for offspring!

I think that you need to be careful of developing another type of eating disorder.  There is an eating disorder which involves over-exercising.  It is considered to be 'non-purging type bulimia nervosa'.  Basically this means that instead of making yourself sick as many people know is a behaviour associated with bulimia, you over exercise to get rid of the calories instead.

I don't want to say that you won't gain weight, and then you do, but I don't want you to worry about gaining weight either (I know, easier said than done!).  You may gain some weight initially, but with healthy eating and exercise, you should be able to maintain a healthy weight for your height.  I don't know just how restrictive you were, or if you were making yourself sick, and whether or not you have slowed your metabolism, but if you have, this is reversible, but will take time for your body to adjust.

If you initially notice weight gain, please do not panic and go back to old behaviours or dieting, your body will sort itself out in time - but if you don't allow it to do that and try to start losing weight again, you will most likely get suckered into years of yoyo dieting.

Many people are not aware that after dieting, it is normal for anyone to put on a slight amount of weight when returning to 'normal' eating habits, so will go out of their way to crash diet again to lose what they have gained, and then go back to normal eating and put on more weight and then crash diet.........

Can you see where I'm going with that?  Many people will end up heavier than they were before they started dieting when they begin to yoyo diet - and it becomes a never-ending battle.

You need to try to have a healthy attitude towards food - everything in moderation!  If you think that you may need guidance with that, maybe consider making an appointment with a nutritionist/dietician.  They should be able to give you a great idea of what you should be eating, and how much you should be eating!

Please feel free to come back with any other questions that you may have!!

All the best
Holly