Really Need Some Advice

MichelleBogart

Okay, I am feeling a bit frustrated because my post has been up nine hours and I have no responses. I apologize if anyone is annoyed with me trying this with a different title.

I am 38 years old and have been on here about a year. From the time I was 13 until 22, I was either actively an anorexic or just underweight. I finally gained enough in my seventh month of pregnancy to be normal, whatever that is! My son is now 15 and when he was about eight, I finally started really gaining weight. When seats became a little tight, I sat up and took notice. My mother's whole family has a weight problem and I didn't want to go down that road. I lost from 219 to 173 here on MFP and was doing great. However, I really didn't have energy and wondered if I was eating enough. By 173, I was at 1200 calories a day. Due to a lot of factors, I got lax about my exercise. I am still at a deficit most of the time though, so I should still be losing. I have been either gaining (at 182 right now ) or maintaining for several months and am at my wit's end. I am not going to go anorexic again, I am trying to do this the RIGHT way. My diary is open and advice would be great. Don't pay attention to the last few days too much, we have eaten out a lot and today I was bad with eating cake for breakfast and lunch. LOL I know I am not exercising but my deficit is still there. I am supposed to eat like 1500 just to survive but I can't seem to eat enough there. I was told that as I got older, I will find out more affects from my time as an anorexic and a screwy metabolism seems to be one of them. I was TRYING to do a re-set with at least my minimum instead of 1800 where I am supposed to maintain but its been several weeks and I have been unable to eat enough to get there. I am 5' 10" tall and currently at an unhappy 182 lbs. Thanks for any help you can give.

KandisV

I'll chime in...very brave of you to open your diary for feedback and share your story. Respectfully, as I reviewed your diary it looks like you need more nutritious foods in general. You need more fresh veggies & fruit and lean protein in general. I saw lots of carbs/sugar, especially at breakfast and for snacks. Bumping up your calories with more lean protein might help your plateau. I hope that helps! Hang in there!

MichelleBogart

Due to the anorexia, the calcium was leached from my teeth. As a result, I really need to get them all removed and haven't gotten up the nerve. I can't eat anything chewy or crunchy right now. I am having trouble finding soft nutrition.

Hulk0511

you can gt more protien from shakes. I use muscle milk brand and they have a lot of flavors and mix well and the additional protien helps keep you full. good luck you can do this and remeber sometimes it takes your body a little while to a new routine and adjust dont get discouraged

MichelleBogart

Thank you so much! That is definitely a way I can get more calories in a healthy way and not worry about teeth.

KandisV

I too like protein shakes, pureed in the blender with banana or berries.

MichelleBogart

Thank you so much, both of you, for not giving me a hard time about the teeth and suggesting things I can use. Do you think I need to try to get more calories in as well? I know I need to get back to exercising.

srm1960

:flowerforyou:
I agree, you need more healthy lean proteins, lower your carb intake.....just because it fits into your macros doesn't mean you hold be eating them....the weight will be slow coming off, unless you burn it off with exercise!! Food alone won't do it, choose better food...

Agree with protein shakes, ...& more veggies & fruits...the clean foods, not processed...also watch your sodium too
Hang tough!:blushing:

MichelleBogart

I am sure this is a stupid question but when you say processed, you mean prepackaged foods and not fresh fruit in a blender?

kazsjourney

Since you have the teeth issue I would think making drinks with vegies and fruit blended up, and you could add things like yoghurt, peanut butter, etc. Also soup would be another good option. I would definitely steer away from the fried foods and pizza etc. I would also make a effort to eat consistently at your calorie level. (Some days were way over, one day was under 1000) Best of luck

mahanaibu

Really agree with the notes here, going back a couple of months in your diaries, there's a lot of work to be done on your nutrition. You can have fish, chiicken, eggs, dairy. You can cook fresh vegetables. You're exgtremely high on carbs and too low on your protein. and your carbs lean toward sweets and, to be honest, junk foods. This makes a real difference in your weight loss efforts but also in healing your body.

That said, I'm glad you're working closely with a doctor. there may be metabolic issues that no one here can advise you on. I'm sure that overcoming your anorexia was very hard and you should be so proud of yourself that you did it. Focus on your health now. Treat your body well--with vegetables,, fruits, good protein, whole grains, good fats.

MichelleBogart

The thing is, according to my BMR, I am supposed to be eating at least 1500 something. Do I need to increase my calories as well? I found the muscle milk protein powder and I have no clue why it didn't occur to me to blend stuff before. I really appreciate all the good advice. My diary wasn't as bad as it has been for about a month, I just got frustrated. The gaining or maintaining has been going on for about three months! I was even eating a bit better then.

MichelleBogart

Yeah, I have a problem with my thyroid too. It slows way down and then quits occasionally, I guess I should get it checked again.

samcat2000

i add greek yogurt to my fruit smoothies (bananas, strawberries, blueberries with Optimum Nutrition all natural vanilla), which boosts the protein. i'm tempted to try some "green goddess" smoothies made with some veggies but haven't yet.

do you live in a larger city? i live in a town of about 100K, and about 2 months before I started MFP i subscribed to a food delivery service. i get an "itty box" 1x week which has a good selection of fresh fruit and veggies mostly organic for about $28/week. it's been a very good motivator to eat more healthy. i'd fallen into the habit of eating my son's diet (he hates veggies). i add milk and other products to my order but i mostly just stick with the fruit and veggies because eating all organic is just too expensive for me. i feel like i could drop the service now because i have a better idea of what type of veggie and fruit to buy but having the food delivered is sort of a good motivator to actually eat it!

good luck! i hope you can get your dental work done at some point. i know how daunting that is and am sending good thoughts for this. can you get it done in increments to make it more bearable?

MichelleBogart

So far I can't get anyone to advise me if I should be eating more calories. My BMR is like 1578 and I tend to eat about 1300 when I am eating well.

Hulk0511

sometimes more is better you can try it for a bit annd see how your body adjusts. sometimes i eat more and still see a loss

moondawg14

So far I can't get anyone to advise me if I should be eating more calories. My BMR is like 1578 and I tend to eat about 1300 when I am eating well.

In that case, yes. You should be eating more calories. You should never NET below your BMR. Which means you should be eating even more than that, if you have ANY activity during a day.

MichelleBogart

I really appreciate all the help today. I am going to get some protein powder to help up that and start using my blender more! I started tonight with a bedtime snack of blueberry Greek yogurt. I'll work on getting the flavorless and adding my own fruit next.

janimei

How many calories has your doctor said to eat?
Has she/he told you to avoid any specific foods?
Has she/he told you to specifically eat any foods?

Vitamix Garden Fresh Cocktail:
1.5 medium tomatoes, quartered
0.25 cup diced carrots
1 T diced onion
1 sprig parsley
0.25 cup diced sweet red or yellow pepper
1/8 t hot sauce
1/8 t worcestershire sauce
dash salt
1/2 cup lightly packed fresh spinach leaves
1 cup ice cubes
Place ingredients into Vitamix in order listed (Setting Speed 1).
Run till it's all a liquid (slowly increase speed to high, at intervals).
You can vary the veggies, omit the hot sauce...whatever you like.
Or you can buy some cans of V8 low-sodium veggie juice.

babyluthi

Due to the anorexia, the calcium was leached from my teeth. As a result, I really need to get them all removed and haven't gotten up the nerve. I can't eat anything chewy or crunchy right now. I am having trouble finding soft nutrition.

Put nuts (not roasted) into a blender and make a nut butter (don't add anything to it. You could try it with almonds and make a type of almond butter.

Actually you could pretty much blend anything up to make it soft:)