Expert: Joanne - 5/25/2007

Question


Hi I just had a question and wanted your advice on a few things.  I am 21 years old and I am 5’4 I weigh 109 lbs right now.  Just the first of April I was 94 lbs but my doctor did blood work and a urinalysis and my blood work was bad having quite a few things out of range and there was protein in my urine from all the fasting and restricting.  For about a year and a half I would go on long fast, or restricting, over exercising, using diet pills, and using laxatives.  It seemed like after my fast I would tend to binge which would scare me so bad and start the whole cycle again; plus my weight would jump up and down drastically.  I tried a few times to stop and eat normal but my weight would shoot up so fast and so much that I would go back to all of this.  Well, I went to the doctor first of April weighing 94 lbs and after him telling me how bad my health was I really thought I will try again to stop all of this.  So I have been going to counseling which I don’t feel is helping much and eating.  Well, on May 9th I had a follow up appointment with my doctor just for a weigh in and I gained 15 lbs so I now weigh 109 lbs, I mean I started really slow with eating again it took me 2 weeks to get to 3 meals and everything I ate was really healthy plus I was still exercising so this has frustrated me a bit to gain so much so fast.  I still eat the same foods daily and I’m exercising, I am afraid if I eat different foods that I might gain more weight or lose control and eat to much, but it confuses me how I can gain this much weight, but what really worries me is I might gain more.  My mom got rid of the scale so I only weigh at the doctors and my next appointment on June 22rd and that’s all I can think about.  I am so worried I might gain more weight and I just do not want that to happen it scares me to death.  The last few days I just want to fast so bad and get back to the 90’s but I don’t want to mess up my metabolism and have it back fire on me and then me gain more weight.  Right now that is the only thing that is keeping me from going back to this; which that itself confuses me I don’t understand why I would want to live in torture like I did, but I guess I feel like my thoughts are still torturing me from morning to night but the only difference is I am eating now, so I feel so frustrated.  How long does it take to get rid of these thoughts, I just feel so tired of trying to fight these thoughts.  Well, my other question is about running.  I usually run 2-4 miles a day but I feel like I am not losing weight I feel like I am getting bulky especially in my leg area (and this is not what I want I want to lose weight and get slimmer legs).  I know that if I have gained weight it would probably be muscle (from running) but I still don’t want that to happen I know if I go and weigh in on my  June appointment weighing more I will freak out even if it is muscle weight.  So how can I lose weight and look slimmer without gaining muscle weight and looking bulky?  I would like to be 100-103 lbs so I need to lose 6-8 pounds.   Maybe I am not eating right sorry to make this so long but here is what I eat (maybe this could help to know what I should cut out)

Morning- 2 packs of Koshi oatmeal
Snack – banana or V8 tomatoe juice, or a Koshi granola bar (I chose one of these)
Lunch- Koshi cereal and non-fat yogurt or a vegetable
Snack- some almonds
Dinner- either a salad with a yam or a turkey sandwich on wheat bread with a yam, or a piece of fish with 2 vegetables ( these are the 3 choices I pick from and I try to rotate them through out the week)
Snack- strawberries and blueberries with non-fat yogurt

So I am eating every few hours hoping that my metabolism will get back in balance, but this is what I eat every day plus I run like I said 2-4 miles.  So am I eating to many calories or am I choosing the wrong exercise because I want to lose weight not get bulky.  So if you have any advice maybe how many calories I should have or maybe changing sometime in my meal plan then I would appreciate it.  I just want to lose weight this time the healthy way and ( I definitely don’t want to GAIN weight) I do want to be in the 90’s again but I think if I just lost a little bit of weight then I maybe wouldn’t worry about it as much.  Well, sorry this is so long and thanks for taking the time to read this!


Answer
I would try to keep on with your eating and exercise plan as it is just now.

Unfortunately, you will have messed up your metabolism with all the fastng you have done and then the binging.  You will have ended up binging after fasting as your physical needs eventually overpower your mind, making you eat what you can to satisfy its needs.  It's a primitive mechanism!  It's built into most animals - if they have been unable to eat for long periods of time due to there not being food available to them, when they do eat, they will eat all they can.

You will gain weight initially - partly due to your metabolism not working as fast as it should as it has gotten use to working slowly to survive on few calories, partly probably water retention, and also your body rebuilding itself.  In order for the body to functyion properly, it needs a number of things.  It needs a certain amount of fat in order to keep itself warm, and adipose tissue (fatty tissue) is also valuable to other body function, so everybody needs a certain amount of fat in their body.  You will also have damaged muscles, including things like your heart as it is a muscle.  The body will use as much as it can to rebuild these muscles.  It also has to rebuild stores of other nutrients.  The body most likely will also be preparing itself incase you fast again!

You need to make sure that you don't returning to the fasting behvaiours.  If you do, you will keep gaining weight when you return to eat as the body will keep building itself back up and storing as much as it can in case you fast again.  If you stick the healthy eating out, eventually, your metabolism will return to normal, and your body will realise that it doesn't need to store everything as you aren't going to fast!

You should be aiming for about 1800 calories a day in oprder for your metabolism to work to its fll potential again in the future, definitely no less than 1200 and I wouldn't recommend less than 1500 anyway!

Please feel free to get back in touch if you have any other questions or would like someone to talk to!

All the best
Holly