Muscle Building - Anorexia Recovery

this is going to be long but I am currently recovering from anorexia. I am 20F, 177cm and 43kg. I'm eating about 1500-2000 calories a day, 90-100g of protein at minimum.

I have been struggling to gain my strength back, so I have been exercising, but I'm not sure what is best to help me regain my strength and get myself into a fit body instead of a sick one.

Mostly I'm looking for input on frequency, amount, and muscle groups I should be targeting specifically to help me get my musculature back in recovery. I used to be an athlete and I miss my athletic ability, and there isn't much information out there on what to do for people in my situation.

I've been working out every other day, trying to target arms, core, and legs/glutes. An assortment of exercises, usually looking something like this in amount and muscle group targeted, some days are more arm or leg heavy, usually about the same amount of core:

1 minute plank
25 crunches
60 russian twists
100 heel touches
60 plank hip dips
1 minute plank
100 raised arm circles with wrist weights (1lb each I believe)
15 tricep dips
100 punches
25 crunches
50 glute bridges
1 minute wall sit
40 bicep curls with 2lb weight (per arm)
15 squats
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Replies

  • shayanali441
    shayanali441 Posts: 1 Member
    goodluck
  • bojaantje3822
    bojaantje3822 Posts: 257 Member
    You're doing way too much for someone at that stage. Here in my country the policy is you don't exercise at all, you avoid as much movement as possible, until you gain more weight. Exercising too much can also be a symptom of anorexia so you should talk to a professional about this. Your post scares me tbh
  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,604 Member
    You need to adjust your expectations. It’s great that you’re eating more calories and that you’ve stated you are in recovery, but your focus on obtaining another body type should set alarm bells off for you.

    If you were athletic previously then you should remember how much work, and how many calories, you had to take in to build the muscle. Your body - and mind - are in recovery. You need to pace yourself and build up your immune system, your hormones and your muscles by eating well (and plenty) before you get anywhere near being able to train hard. Imagine you’d seen a loved one who had been ill for some time - what would you advise them to do?

    If you still have a care team I would have a chat to them about your goals, and agree milestones you can reach which will enable you to start to train (healthily) again. Good luck!