What should I be eating to maintain my weight?

MissBelle777

Okay, so I'm 5'0 and 95 pounds, 21 years old.
I've been bulimic for a long time now.. Years. Since June I have lost 40 pounds. I'm ready to get healthy, I'm determined. I just need some general direction..
For about 3 years now I've held myself to a 500 calorie a day (or less, sometimes nothing) diet. I've been trying to eat 1200 calories a day and I've found that I've been *gaining* weight. Why do I gain weight at 1200 when some people maintain at 1600+?
I guess I realized just how bad my problem was when I lost 40 pounds off of an already small frame and never noticed. I still can't see a difference. I just know my boyfriend and I were cuddling and he mentioned that he was worried that he could wrap his hands around my ribcage. It just hit hard to see him so worried.
So I guess to sum everything up, how much should I be eating to maintain my weight? And can anyone explain why I gain at 1200 calories? Thank you so much. I'll be seeing a nutritionist in a week.

cmriverside

You're gaining weight because maybe you need to gain weight. You have under eaten for a long time and your body is trying to recover to a healthy weight, and desperately trying to get nutrition. If you have been purging and starving yourself, your body has been leeching nutrients from your bones and organs to keep you alive. This is why we continually preach to people to not under eat. In time you will be able to eat a reasonable amount, but at 5'0", you will maintain at less than a 5'7" woman.

Talk to the nutritionist and your doctor for a number.

KateK8LoseW8

You are quite small, so to maintain the 95 pounds, you would not be able to eat 1600+ calories a day to maintain unless you are exercising regularly. Assuming no exercise, the Mifflin-St. Jeor estimation says you can maintain at 1350. Right now you're "gaining" weight on 1200 because you've been at such a low calorie intake for a long time. When you're in a calorie deficit, glycogen stores are depleted, but restored when eating at maintenance again. This reads as a small gain on the scale, but it is not fat. Stick with the 1200 for at least a month or two and see what happens. I suspect that at some point your weight will level out or you will start losing weight again. If you start losing again, increase your calories to 1300 and stay there for a while. Monitor your weight and your intake, and adjust as necessary.

Best of luck in your recovery.

SLLRunner

Okay, so I'm 5'0 and 95 pounds, 21 years old.
I've been bulimic for a long time now.. Years. Since June I have lost 40 pounds. I'm ready to get healthy, I'm determined. I just need some general direction..
For about 3 years now I've held myself to a 500 calorie a day (or less, sometimes nothing) diet. I've been trying to eat 1200 calories a day and I've found that I've been *gaining* weight. Why do I gain weight at 1200 when some people maintain at 1600+?
I guess I realized just how bad my problem was when I lost 40 pounds off of an already small frame and never noticed. I still can't see a difference. I just know my boyfriend and I were cuddling and he mentioned that he was worried that he could wrap his hands around my ribcage. It just hit hard to see him so worried.
So I guess to sum everything up, how much should I be eating to maintain my weight? And can anyone explain why I gain at 1200 calories? Thank you so much. I'll be seeing a nutritionist in a week.

The first thing you need to do is get into treatment for your eating disorder. Bulimia is not about the food, it's about the feelings under the food and handling them by eating loads of food (pushing down feelings) and then throwing up (getting rid of feelings).

This from someone who has been through treatment and counseling for bulimia, though it's been years ago.

Call your doctor and ask for a referral to both treatment and counseling. A nutritionist can help you to eat better, but treatment will help you to figure out why you're been bingeing and throwing up.

Learning how to eat properly is part of the process, but it's not everything.

KingRat79

If you have been eating a very low calorie diet for a long time it is likely that you have a very low lean muscle mass, and probably have too little essential fat( a woman needs about 10% body fat to maintain normal body function).

If you have moved to eating a more health calorie range then weight gain is to be expected, basically your body is desperately trying to rebuild what it needs to function healthily. This is good thing and is to be celebrated!