Expert: Meg - 7/11/2006

Question
hello. I am 16 and starting to recover from anorexia. I was ill with anorexia for only about 6 months but all of a sudden i realized that i needed to change the way i was eating and that something was definatly wrong with me. I feel good in a way that my ED hadnt taken ALL my sense away and i was able to realize what it was doing to me. Now im trying to gain quite  a bit of weight, im currently 5'8 and 103 pounds. I want to be around 115 pounds so i am struggling each day to eat 2100 calories, which i calculated would gain me a pound a week. It is very hard especially because I used to eat no more than 600-700 calories a day. What i find very weird, however, is that i havent been gaining any weight whatsoever even though i am not exercising at all. Also, whenever i eat my stomach feels very bloated and almost like it cant digest the food. When I go longer than 4 hours without eating i get very weak and shaky even after i had a sufficient meal which i really dont understand. I guess my main question is will my body quickly adjust to me eating a lot more, and how long do you think it will take? Also, will it take time for my body to gain weight? Im getting very sick of this and i just want myself to be normal again. Thanks so much for reading this and taking the time to respond.  

Answer
Hi Angie,

Thanks for your question and I'm sorry that you are going through this right now.  

First of all, its great that you are able to see what is going on and that you need to take some steps towards getting healthier.  

It does take a while for one's body to readapt after starvation and it is not too uncommon that a person doesn't put weight back on right away.  As far as your stomach's digestion not working properly yet, this is also fairly normal.  However, I would recommend going to your doctor to make sure that everything is okay as anorexia can damage the body even in 6 months.  

While its hard to estimate just how long it will take for your body to readapt to eating and your metabolism to kick back into its normal gear, I would say that you probably need to commit to consistancy with your food plan for at least a few months and then reassess.  As long as your doctor finds nothing physical that could be causing this, then it just comes down to patience and giving your  body the energy and nutrients it needs daily until it starts cooperating again.

I'm wondering if you are working on the psychological aspects of this as well right now?  Generally, they are what make getting over an ED so tricky and its worth taking a look at that as you are working on getting healthy too.  Whether you want to get professional help, attend a support group or even participate on some of the online support forums, doing this will help you develop some other coping strategies so that you don't slip back into restriction and anorexia when you hit rough patches in your recovery.

Here are a few helpful links for you:

http://fishyvb.something-fishy.org/

http://www.something-fishy.org/treatmentfinder/

www.caringonline.com


It sounds like you are very motivated and are on the right track.  Keep up the great work and try to be patient and know that you will get through this and being healthy again is so worth it.  Please feel free to write again if there is anything else that I can help with or if anything is confusing in this response.

Best,
Meg