Losing weight in your 40s post ED

Tamara3Boys83

Hi, I'm not new here, been part of this for years. I've recently encountered alot of health issues and hormone imbalances, I was once 128lbs with and eating disorder at 32 years old. I'm now 39, semi recovered but gained about 30lbs. No matter what I do I can't lose weight. With caloric restriction, medications, a 60hour work week, I can't lose I just keep gaining..I'm struggling and looking for some support.

Zinka61

I don't know about hormone imbalances, etc, but I had an ED when I was in my late teens/early 20's and am now in my 60's. When I first gained weight about 7-8 years ago, I started right in here at 1200 calories a day, and my tendency to binge every a week or two resurfaced. I lost weight and mostly maintained, but I suffered more than I needed to and couldn't stay at my ideal weight easily. A couple of years ago I started upping my calorie goal significantly. I'm now eating about 1,800-1,900 calories a day and usually burn around 300 a day in exercise. And I lost an additional 10 lbs--I think it's simply because I don't feel any need to binge anymore. Without binges, you can lose on a pretty high calorie allowance. And I'm old!

It helps to focus on nutrition and what *good* you can do your body by eating. Eat the most nutritionally dense diet you can--Plenty of vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and some nuts and seeds every day. There isn't room for much junk food in a low calorie diet, so you want to try to make every calorie count. Eating this way is more satisfying than eating "empty" calories, and can help you feel full. And then you have to be patient, because you won't drop a lot of weight all at once, but hopefully it will be steady. At least that's what's worked for me to curb the tendency to binge.