Expert: Joanne - 10/16/2007

Question
Hi there   I have suffered from anorexia for about 1 and a half years now and about 3 weeks ago, I committed myself to recovery. I have not told anybody about my anorexia and so I would really appreciate some help and support.   For the last 2.5 weeks I have been eating about 1200-1300 calories. I am 24 years old, 5 2' and weigh 46kg. Is my current weight too low? I want to eat to maintain this weight and not lose. What I want to know is how many calories i should be eating to maintain this weight? I haven't gained any weight on eating about 1200-1300 for the last 2 weeks, in fact I have lost a bit. However, I'm still scared to eat any more..also even though I know I haven't put on weight, I have to keep telling myself this to ensure that I carry on eating because I expect to have put on weight! How long should it take for my body to get used to eating normally again? I've done a lot of reading and it seems i should eat about 1500? That just feels like way too much ......

Answer
You are slightly underweight, or in the lower end of normal, depending on your age.  If you are 20+ you are underweight, under 20 you are at the lower end of normal, calculated through BMI, but BMI doesn't take in to account your build or muscle mass, so is not the most accurate, but is the best you can get without being physically assessed.

I would always recommend increasing your calorie intake so that it is no less that 1500 calories, but some would be happy with you eating more than 1200 calories.  From personal experience, however, I find that 1500 calories or more helps your metabolism recover quickest, and probably would speed it back up to near enough its original state, which in the long run allows you to burn more calories on a daily basis through very basic functions.

Although it is very hard to do, I would recommend trying to talk to someone about this - you will need support through this as it can be hard, and you are at risk of relapsing, and I found that it was easier to keep going with recovery even after having a 'slip' if there is someone there to help you deal with that.

In order to really work at recovery, it would also be highly recommended that you found a therapist/counsellor/guidance teacher at school or college that you could discuss the possible underlying causes with.  Leaving issues unresolved makes you more susceptible to returning to these behaviours, or other disordered behaviours to deal with them later on.

Please think about getting some professional guidance with this, and please feel free to come back if you want to discuss absolutely anything!

All the best
Holly