ruined metabolism by starving? ?
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lemurcat12 wrote: »BriarBelle wrote: »I was at my highest ever weight last year so I started mfp doing 1200cals a day and exercise and eating really healthy ect and didnt lose any weight I did it for months and just wasnt working, then I had a really stressful time and lost my appetite couldnt really eat because I was depressed and kind of just got stuck in the rut of eating hardly anything, I suppose im worried about gaining loads of weight and not being able to lose it the healthy way like before.
Are you still eating super low calories?
It probably makes sense to increase somewhat slowly, maybe 100 or so per week, although if you are way low I'd at least go up to 1200 immediately. Your metabolism will respond and also most of what you gain will be water weight so just don't freak out and give it time.
Yeah im still on 500 most days with mayb 1 or 2 days a week higher I might try and increase them slowly I want to get proper help buti just feel embarrassed and like noone will take me seriously because either im not underweight or people just say oh your skinny you can eat whatever you want ect0 -
You shouldn't be embarrassed to ask for help. I'd ask for a referral to a nutritionist.0
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Research refeeding. Slowly up your intake. But seriously, find a doctor that will listen. See a nutritionist asap.0
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You need to fire your doctor and get a new one. In the interim, don't worry about the water retention, worry about eating food and getting healthy.-1
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A doctor should take you seriously regardless of your current weight. If they don't, change doctors. Once you are eating enough calories to support exercise, make sure you do bodyweight exercises to help build your muscles back. Building up your muscles improves your metabolism, along with reasonable amounts of cardio such as walking or bicycling.0
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You may need to suck up some weight gain until your metabolism stabilizes.TavistockToad wrote: »BriarBelle wrote: »I have seen a doctor they dont care because im not underweight so they say just eat 2000 cals a day and all will be fine. I went 7 days eating normally and gained 9pounds in 7 days.
I just want to be healthy again and be able to eat normally I never planned to starve myself or anything. I dont know whether slowly increasing my calories would work or not I dont know much about how the body works apart from iv messed mine up
So what's wrong with having gained 9lbs?
My neighbor - God love her - is in the same boat.
She runs 8 miles per day and eats less than 1000 calories. She's big as can be at 5'5" all pear shaped and probably rolling around 220 lbs. It's sad for somebody to work so hard and not get the desired results.
And it only gets harder the longer she keeps this up. At some point, it's going to crater.
You have a chance to escape this fate.
Good Luck!0 -
Thanks everyone for the advice I honestly thought everyone was just going be horrible and say its my own fault!
Im definitely going to look into re feeding and see about getting a nutritionist.
Until recently I just thought well if I get help ill have to gain loads of weight so id rather carry on like this but now I really do want to change! Im scared of gaining weight but im 8stone7 at the moment so realistically its not going to kill me or make me overweight if I gain a few pounds.
I do need to get a new doctor as well mine is horrible!0 -
BriarBelle,
medically speaking go to an endocrinologist to jump start your metabolism the RIGHT way! they will order some blood tests, like blood sugar levels and basic hormone panels to see where you are at and specifically what needs to be fixed. It's all bout leveling out your current health, NOT replacing anything that is missing.
A high protein diet with heavy lifting and a little bit of cardio intervals is the typical prescription a Doctor will give you.
Don't worry, you will get your health back! Your body is incredible. Don't do anything drastic.
happy training! CoachTeresaCPT0 -
pscarolina wrote: »How did you lose the weight last year? Eating very low calories? I have a couple of co-workers who are doing HCG injections & eating 500 calories a day. THIS is why I don't go for that kind of thing.
I'd increase calories slowly & add some exercise. Even if you gain a little who cares. Reset your metabolism the best you can, learn to enjoy normal eating again & then MFP will be here for you to lose it the right way.
I think there's huge misinformation out there about HCG. You are consuming low calories, but with the HCG you are also releasing approximately 1300 calories a day from fat to fuel your body. You are not ruining your metabolism, you are resetting it. Co-workers and I are also doing this diet as we speak. I am 8 days in and have lost 8.5 lbs. I am not hungry throughout the day because of the HCG and my energy is better than it has been in months. If there was truly a low calorie starvation thing happening, you couldn't feel this way. Read REAL information on it. You don't just go back to eating normal. You go to phase 3 which gradually adds more calories in a healthy way to your diet to teach you self control and portioning to be healthy.
I have read REAL information on it. The information that told me it was BANNED by the FDA for being sold for weight loss because it is on no way proven to work or be effective. Whatever sales materials you read were incorrect and, considering the FDA ban, whatever it is you are taking is not HCG, unless you're having a pregnant woman pee on you daily. Stop spreading this nonsense. It's dangerous and against the community guidelines (all hail).
OP - You've gotten some really good advice. I think you should find a new doctor and get a referral for a registered dietician. If you don't trust your doctor to give you a good recommendation, use Yelp to look up dieticians in your area. Best of luck to you. You CAN do this.0 -
Any concern you have your doctor should be concerned about (weight related or not!). Please find a new doctor and contact a nutritionist or dietitian as soon as you can. You may also want to talk with a health coach or counselor to get input on body image and a healthy lifestyle.
If you really want to be healthy again as you stated in your original post, you are going to have to make changes. But you don't have to make them alone! Reach out to someone in real life who can actually help you. You CAN do it.
Best of luck!0 -
BriarBelle wrote: »500 cals a day approximately for about 1.5 years now if eat over 500 a day I gain 2-3 pounds overnight
This could be a bloat though because your stomach is really small due to consuming so little for a long time.
I would honestly see a nutritionist or someone or specializes in eating disorder recovery because they will have ways of slowly and safely being able to consume a normal, healthy amount of food. It will probably take a lot of work and dedication BUT they will know best how to overcome this because from what I've read there are ways to get back to a somewhat regular eating style.
I would really like to congratulate you on taking on recovery - ED's are definitely not easy to get over but if you ever need a friend, someone to talk to I'm more than happy to
I haven't been through an ED but I'm definitely here if you need anyone.
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You may need to suck up some weight gain until your metabolism stabilizes.TavistockToad wrote: »BriarBelle wrote: »I have seen a doctor they dont care because im not underweight so they say just eat 2000 cals a day and all will be fine. I went 7 days eating normally and gained 9pounds in 7 days.
I just want to be healthy again and be able to eat normally I never planned to starve myself or anything. I dont know whether slowly increasing my calories would work or not I dont know much about how the body works apart from iv messed mine up
So what's wrong with having gained 9lbs?
My neighbor - God love her - is in the same boat.
She runs 8 miles per day and eats less than 1000 calories. She's big as can be at 5'5" all pear shaped and probably rolling around 220 lbs. It's sad for somebody to work so hard and not get the desired results.
And it only gets harder the longer she keeps this up. At some point, it's going to crater.
You have a chance to escape this fate.
Good Luck!
Sorry but how do you eat that little and not lose when she is working out that much? I know that sounds mean, but I would wager that she is either consuming more than she thinks or isn't burning what she thinks.
I'm losing at 2,000 calories/day and spin classes 4 - 5 days/week - I'm 5'9 and 250 lbs approx and definitely, definitely pear shaped (which has nothing to do with it, by the way - that's just where we carry our weight).
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I agree with Beksgirl, gradually increase your calories.
And I don't know what doctor busywater has seen. Has anyone else been to see a GP or an endocrinologist and received an Rx for a high protein diet and heavy lifting and interval training? I think that might be busywater's prescription, not the doctor's. There's probably less than ten MDs in the U.S. that would make that recommendation, given your story - and its probably not a very good idea.
I wouldn't recommend any type of extreme or fad diet: eat as healthy as you can, and do 600 calories for a week, then 700. If your weight starts to spike, stay at that amount of calories, then try again to increase, the following week.
You haven't ruined your metabolism, but it sounds like its not going to recover overnight, which is reasonable.
One way to look at this is to think, if a cavewoman had starved for years and then found a bunch of food, what is the most intelligent thing her body could do with those excess calories? Store them as fat, of course, because her body assumes, naturally, that more starvation will follow.
One other point - it's hard to get enough micronutrients from a 500 calorie diet, unless you were also taking supplements. You should start now taking a multivitamin; Calcium/Magnesium; Vitamin D; and fish oil if you haven't been doing that already. Those things will gradually nourish your tissues and help your metabolism recover more rapidly.0 -
I did that too by undereating carbs for decades and hitting menopause. My metabolism came to a dead halt. It has been really difficult but I am slowly slowly eating properly and finally losing weight.
I agree that seeing a doctor is the first step, but my doctor, though he has been excellent in other things, did not seem concerned at my weight. (of course he did not know me when I was a skinny gal)
But I feel like with diet and exercise I have finally started turning it around.
The first thing I had to do was eat breakfast. I was never hungry so I didn't eat breakfast but it is important to do that EVERY morning.
Also: It is important to eat back nearly all the calories you burn off doing exercise. If I do too much exercise and I do not eat back my calories I GAIN WEIGHT. I know people claim that is impossible, but they aren't dealing with restarting their metabolism
I change the amount of exercise I do daily. Some days I do no exercise and eat 1200 calories other days I swim for an hour and eat an extra 500 calories, other days I do weight lifting and eat back 80 calories other days I do 40 minutes of aerobics and eat back 300 calories.
It has been VERY VERY slow, but I have lost 40 lbs since February 1 2014. And I am eating quite a bit of food.
There have been MANY MANY LONG PLATEAUS: Do not be impatient and do not let the frustration make you give up. Remember the hare and tortoise and keep at it!0 -
acorsaut89 wrote: »
You may need to suck up some weight gain until your metabolism stabilizes.TavistockToad wrote: »BriarBelle wrote: »I have seen a doctor they dont care because im not underweight so they say just eat 2000 cals a day and all will be fine. I went 7 days eating normally and gained 9pounds in 7 days.
I just want to be healthy again and be able to eat normally I never planned to starve myself or anything. I dont know whether slowly increasing my calories would work or not I dont know much about how the body works apart from iv messed mine up
So what's wrong with having gained 9lbs?
My neighbor - God love her - is in the same boat.
She runs 8 miles per day and eats less than 1000 calories. She's big as can be at 5'5" all pear shaped and probably rolling around 220 lbs. It's sad for somebody to work so hard and not get the desired results.
And it only gets harder the longer she keeps this up. At some point, it's going to crater.
You have a chance to escape this fate.
Good Luck!
Sorry but how do you eat that little and not lose when she is working out that much? I know that sounds mean, but I would wager that she is either consuming more than she thinks or isn't burning what she thinks.
I'm losing at 2,000 calories/day and spin classes 4 - 5 days/week - I'm 5'9 and 250 lbs approx and definitely, definitely pear shaped (which has nothing to do with it, by the way - that's just where we carry our weight).
Large deficits or netting negative calories can slow down RMR.
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A good doctor will also do some bloodwork to see if you have any vitamin or mineral deficiencies that need to be addressed; if you are anemic, if your thyroid is ok, etc. Getting all those things back to normal levels will be important in your recovery and getting your metabolism working right.0
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In this set of you tube videos, he talks about how to repair your metabolism. It may be helpful to you: https://youtube.com/watch?v=QHHzie6XRGk&list=PLnPAPdT4m_g8cZtYQW3JNbFwK9Fix-gFC0
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We scream a lot here about there being no Starvation Mode. However, you can mess your body up by starving and in more ways than the obvious ones.
A starved body will have a messed up period while it adjusts to food again. But they say that for most people, it will adjust after a period of time.
Yes, you screwed up. Big deal. Find me an adult who never screwed anything up and has no regrets and I'll find you a big, fat liar. Everybody screws up. If the only person who got hurt was you, then you're way ahead of most! Most people's regrets involve hurting others. You'd be surprised how many dying people don't regret what they did or didn't do, but very much regret how they hurt others.
So, cheer up! The only person who you need forgiveness from is YOU. Forgive yourself and move the hell on.
Follow your doctor's advice and eat while you look for a new one. Get a therapist who specializes in eating disorders. It sounds like you have a lot of eating issues and the place to solve that is in therapy.
When you start eating normally on a regular basis, you're going to add a couple pounds of food weight. There is no way around that. Everyone has that. As your body adjusts, you may add some fat, temporarily. This is something to discuss with the therapist!
If you can a manage not to, don't weigh yourself.
But in time, you should be able to eat and exercise like a healthy person and be a healthier, happier you. 0 -
BriarBelle wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »BriarBelle wrote: »I have seen a doctor they dont care because im not underweight so they say just eat 2000 cals a day and all will be fine. I went 7 days eating normally and gained 9pounds in 7 days.
I just want to be healthy again and be able to eat normally I never planned to starve myself or anything. I dont know whether slowly increasing my calories would work or not I dont know much about how the body works apart from iv messed mine up
So what's wrong with having gained 9lbs?
Im happy with my weight and dont wanna gain loads of weight
Chances are that 9 pounds is water retention. Do it for another week and see if the gains are that high again.
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