How am I recovering?

Heagter_masun

Hey all, currently trying to maintain my weight and recover from an eating disorder. So I've been eating 2200-2800 calories every day and I don't really look any heavier. And if I try to eat any less than that, I get grouchy, sick, and tired. I walk about 5-6 miles everyday, I lift very light weights, and I stretch often. I also eat REALLY healthy, my dietitian says that I'm a very clean eater. Am I on the road to recovery? Anyone recover from anorexia? Let me know please!

zoeysasha37

Hello :-)
I don't have an eating disorder, but I think your calories are wonderful !
Congratulations on living healthy! :-)

mortuseon

Recovery is mental as much as it is physical. When you're weight-restored and you don't practice negative food behaviours like starving, bingeing, purging...that's recovery. And critically, establishing a much more positive relationship with food!

moontyrant

Did your doctor give you the green light to walk 5 or 6 miles daily? I'm no expert, but that sounds like an unhealthy amount of exertion for someone trying to recover from an eating disorder. It may also be why you crash if you eat less than 2800 cals a day, and why you don't seem to put on weight.
It can take a long time to recover, so stick with it and keep your team posted.

Strongandhealthy1234

I'm no expert but this sounds wonderful!! Keep up the healthy lifestyle.

loubidy

In my opinion recovery is about your relationship with food. Your ability to consume over 2000kcals a day is fantastic. If you are looking to improve your appearance, you could start heavy lifting ?

Heagter_masun

So does anyone think 6 miles is a lot? Is it enough to maintain my weight without diet restriction? Please answer, thanks!

milileitner

6 miles is excessive. Why do you do it? Would it bother you if you couldn't do your walking for a week or two? It probably explains why you need such high calories though - you're artificially inflating your TDEE through walking and taxing your body unnecessarily which needs a lot of help to recover right now.

Also, 'very light weights' are probably wasting your time. In my recovery from anorexia I found lifting heavy weights very beneficial to my psychological and physical recovery.

milileitner

You would be better off in the gaining weight forum than here

fificrazy

6 miles is excessive. Why do you do it? Would it bother you if you couldn't do your walking for a week or two? It probably explains why you need such high calories though - you're artificially inflating your TDEE through walking and taxing your body unnecessarily which needs a lot of help to recover right now.

^^^
And to address the food side, it still sounds like you have orthoexic tendencies (judging from your use of the word "clean" in regard to food), which is still a disordered eating behavior. Do you feel bad, guilty, anxious- essentially any negative emotion- that you wouldn't feel if you ate something that you wouldn't consider "clean"? Do you have safe foods/unsafe foods? To consider yourself fully in remission from anorexia, there's also the mental part; learning new ways to deal with your anxiety rather than channeling them into your eating habits.

helsbelshms

I'm no expert here, but I think you're eating the right amount of calories. Weight gain can be slow if you're eating healthily, so there's no need to worry there. Just concentrate on feeling healthy and the rest will follow.

I didn't see anything wrong with the walking, but as I said I'm no expert so maybe others with experience of eating disorders are in a better position to comment on that. If it is a problem, maybe try walking 3 days a week rather than 7 to see if it makes a difference.

Good luck and keep us informed of your progress.

jess1992uga

Honestly all of it depends on your mentality. If you can't imagine eating the same but doing no exercise for whole week exercise is most likely obsessive. If you won't let yourself anything that's not "clean" even if you are craving it because you are afraid of weight gain...that's probably restrictive.
Honestly, talk to your friends, family, doctor and see what they think. To me walking that much seems excessive and for the most part I know whenever I put out how much I am exercising its because I want someone to tell me its okay to not do so much and it is. Also, are you needing to gain weight? In that case, maybe stop exercise.
Honestly though...ask your proffessionals and make sure you get therapy too. I am recovering as well. Have been to treatment countless times. Feel free message me.

tayloryay

2200 - 2800 is a great start!! That's really fantastic!! Since you're under 25, you should try to stick to the higher end of that range, and closer to 3000 is you can handle it! I agree with the others who mentioned orthorexic tendencies. Watch out for that! Also typically it's no exercise allowed but if your team has OK'd it then that's alright, just make sure you're eating back those calories burned! Your body needs a ton of energy to repair the damage done by the ED. A lot more than you might think!! If you use them all up walking then you'll have a much harder time healing your body. Stay strong, you can do it!!

geekyjock76

You're on to a good start.

Weight restoration is only the first goal of recovery, however. You also have to concentrate on providing your body with adequate energy to completely repair the extensive physiological damage caused by the ED. As posters above have mentioned, do not underestimate how much energy is required for this task. Only when these two objectives are met can the neurobiolgical side of things (mental) improve which deal with your relationship with food and weight.

With that said, you may want to curtail the cardio and divert those 2800 or so calories to the process of repairing your body. You'd also benefit more from lifting at least moderate resistance instead of light - which was appropriate at the latter stage of weight restoration when authorized.

vjohn04

I'd actually seek advice on answers to these questions from a professional who knows your full background and history instead of random folks kn the internet.. many who might have their own skewed food and exercise views.