Gaining Weight Too Fast?

AcceptingNormal

Hi guys, I'm recovering from anorexia, (5'6 and 98 lbs about two weeks ago) and I started upping my calories from 800 a day to about 2000/day every day and was planning on going up to 2500 starting this week. But It's been two weeks and when I weighed myself this morning the scale showed I was already up to 108 lbs. I know some of it is water weight but still...I don't understand how I could have gained as much as 10 lbs in only two weeks on 2000 calories...an amount that I wasn't even planning on staying at. Now i'm totally scared to go up to 2500 and I think I should just stay at this amount as I've gained so much already.
What do you think?

AliceDark

That's something you really need to discuss with your doctor, and you need to be listening to their advice and nobody else's. Honestly, anyone who tells a recovering anorexic not to listen to their doctor isn't your friend.

Tilandra

Talk to your doctor. I hope you're not trying to self-treat something as serious as this.

You're probably going to be hitting a stage soon where your body is going to want to start repairing itself and you're going to end up napping a lot as a result. When you're sleeping, you can't eat. That quick turnaround is going to be a blessing then. So accept the quick results and don't be afraid of further success. I don't think it's possible to gain weight too fast when you're recovering from an eating disorder.

ndj1979

talk to your DR ..NOT people on MFP threads.

julianpoutram

AcceptingNormal wrote: »

Hi guys, I'm recovering from anorexia, (5'6 and 98 lbs about two weeks ago) and I started upping my calories from 800 a day to about 2000/day every day and was planning on going up to 2500 starting this week. But It's been two weeks and when I weighed myself this morning the scale showed I was already up to 108 lbs. I know some of it is water weight but still...I don't understand how I could have gained as much as 10 lbs in only two weeks on 2000 calories...an amount that I wasn't even planning on staying at. Now i'm totally scared to go up to 2500 and I think I should just stay at this amount as I've gained so much already.
What do you think?

98lbs is severely underweight, your body will be doing EVERYTHING in it's power to gain weight at this stage. Don't worry about it, this is essential to your recovery, the weight gain is actually progress and your body is busy repairing damages to organs and replenishing a HEALTHY level of fat stores. This rapid weight gain is because of the restrictions, your body is making every effort to store every bit of energy you put in, this is because it has become accustomed to doing this to survive at 800 cals a day.

Our bodies are extremely efficient, the more you consistently eat at a higher caloric level, the more your body will realise it has enough energy to play with and the less rapidly it will store energy because it has less cause to.

Please talk to your doctor if you feel this is a huge concern, your progress is amazing so far. I hope you make a full recovery!

Graelwyn75

julianpoutram wrote: »

AcceptingNormal wrote: »

Hi guys, I'm recovering from anorexia, (5'6 and 98 lbs about two weeks ago) and I started upping my calories from 800 a day to about 2000/day every day and was planning on going up to 2500 starting this week. But It's been two weeks and when I weighed myself this morning the scale showed I was already up to 108 lbs. I know some of it is water weight but still...I don't understand how I could have gained as much as 10 lbs in only two weeks on 2000 calories...an amount that I wasn't even planning on staying at. Now i'm totally scared to go up to 2500 and I think I should just stay at this amount as I've gained so much already.
What do you think?

98lbs is severely underweight, your body will be doing EVERYTHING in it's power to gain weight at this stage. Don't worry about it, this is essential to your recovery, the weight gain is actually progress and your body is busy repairing damages to organs and replenishing a HEALTHY level of fat stores. This rapid weight gain is because of the restrictions, your body is making every effort to store every bit of energy you put in, this is because it has become accustomed to doing this to survive at 800 cals a day.

Our bodies are extremely efficient, the more you consistently eat at a higher caloric level, the more your body will realise it has enough energy to play with and the less rapidly it will store energy because it has less cause to.

Please talk to your doctor if you feel this is a huge concern, your progress is amazing so far. I hope you make a full recovery!

Very well said.
I would echo what he said.
The gain will taper off, you might even find yourself struggling to not lose again as your metabolism kicks back in. Just keep at it, and check-in with your doctor. It is very normal to get an initial rapid gain in anorexia recovery. Let your body do its thing.

1985mansfield

It will be mostly water weight and your body will want to hold onto anything due to your weight being extremely low. Don't worry about it though, I had Anorexia Nervosa and experienced the same thing years ago. You'll find your body will eventually adapt to the food increase and will be beneficial in the long run!

50sFit

AliceDark wrote: »

That's something you really need to discuss with your doctor, and you need to be listening to their advice and nobody else's. Honestly, anyone who tells a recovering anorexic not to listen to their doctor isn't your friend.

^^^^^
(*) THIS (*)

tobk

Do talk to a doctor.

But bear in mind that you'll have gained a couple of pounds from glycogen stores (glycogen sits in your muscles and liver and draws up a lot of water), more water weight and having a bit more in your gut. What tends to happen with weight gains is you'll shoot up at first and then abruptly level out. There is absolutely no way in hell you are gaining 2.5lbs a week on a 2000kcal diet.

You'd need to be getting a 8750 kcal excess per week for that. Which is about a 1250 daily excess. And there's no way your TDEE is 750, so this can't be what's going on.

Again, **TALK TO A DOCTOR**. But if you leave it a week I think you'll see your weight gain taper off sharply.

AcceptingNormal

Thanks everyone, I spoke to my doctor who said apparently it was because my metabolism is really shot, and I'm going to have to gradually increase while my weight increases as well. He said my natural set point is probably around 130 lbs. I'm just scared because that's a 30-pound-heavier version of me. I won't be a skinny girl anymore. It's hard, really hard. But thanks to everyone who replied. I'll probably be posting more questions in the future.

PwrLftr82

AcceptingNormal wrote: »

Thanks everyone, I spoke to my doctor who said apparently it was because my metabolism is really shot, and I'm going to have to gradually increase while my weight increases as well. He said my natural set point is probably around 130 lbs. I'm just scared because that's a 30-pound-heavier version of me. I won't be a skinny girl anymore. It's hard, really hard. But thanks to everyone who replied. I'll probably be posting more questions in the future.

I'm 5'6", 130 lbs, and wear a size 0-2. Not sure how that's not thin. You need to readjust your concept of skinny.