Leaving anorexia in the dust

fireberry118

Hello everyone,
Really just a quick question but thought I should give some background.

So, I'd been struggling with Anorexia for 3-4years when at BMI 15.6 I realized things were not going to end well. It was christmas time last year, I'd been on antibiotics for 6 months to shift tonsillitis that I couldn't get rid of, I was passing out, my heart rate was shocking, I was passing out, bald patches, edema, you name it. And the scariest thing of all is that I can barely remember any of that time due simply to restriction.

Almost a year on (eeeek) I have had big ups and downs with recovery but am settled on it and really need some help with new maintenance calories as I've just moved to New York and my life has turned upside down in terms of activity.

I'm 16, do cardio 3-4 times a week for an hour in the form of dance, running, elliptical or circuit training, yoga 1-2 times a week and Pilates 2 times a week. At school there are 10 flights of stairs that I'm always running up and down in a crazy way, I carry a 15lb rucksack every day (not my choice) and I get the subway and bus to school which is a pretty active, long and standing commute. I just about cope right now on 2000 calories for all that jazz minus most of the exercise which is being added in stages as I have come form a long sedentary period.

For all those of you thinking now, 'that is way too much exercise, she's turning her E-D to other areas', I understand but I'm truly not. Much of this exercise has been assigned by a physiotherapist who has been working with me since I was about 10 due to viral meningitis complications and then muscle wastage form the E-D. I'm not over-doing it, just loving the fact that I have enough fuel in my body to exercise again! Only glitch is it doesn't feel quite enough and I'm not sure how much more I should have...

bridgie101

I would have thought you'd want more. I'm 43 and sedentary and my maintenance level is 2200 or something.

I'm fat so the maintenance level is probably higher than that of a slim 43 yr old... are you able to go through the MFP system and tell it what you weigh, that you're quite active, and want to maintain?

mgobluetx12

You need to be 18 years old to be eligible for an account on MFP.

landodewd

Congratulations on the recovery! My problem when I first started was I was logging my exercise but wasn't eating enough. So I would eat 1600-2000 calories but would exercise 600-800 calories and wasn't eating my exercise calories so I was sometimes eating under a 1000 calories. I finally realized the mistake and fixed it and feel so much better. Just make sure you at least eat some of your exercise calories back. Good luck you are doing good

fireberry118

You need to be 18 years old to be eligible for an account on MFP.

Yes I realized you had to be 18 when I put in my birthday...
For me it's better to be on here sorting out my health than elsewhere struggling.

I did put it all in to MFP however it said I only needed 2000 and I was unsure where to categorize my activity level?

fireberry118

And Landodewd thank you! I'll keep an eye and I'm glad you fixed your mistake in time:)