ED weight restoration via lean muscle. How does that work?

matt6050

Hi All,

I am a male, 20 years old, 5'8" and about 116-120 lbs. I just got out of an ED program, but unfortunately it was because of insurance issues rather than being really ready. My goal is still to gain weight, preferably mostly lean muscle, but I really don't know what that means in the context of pairing with exercise. I currently rock climb 5-6 days a week and run occasionally (maybe 1x /week for 40 or so minutes) (I try not to do this too much because it is one of the things that can trigger compulsive exercise/ restrictive eating trends for me), and I do a significant amount of walking. My question is: I know that for gaining weight via muscle, there needs to be an excess of calories, and around 3-4 days a week of weight training. Does climbing work as a proxy to weight training? and if not, how much more weight training would I need to do in conjunction with eating more calories to see gains? and what is a reasonable time frame in which i can expect to start seeing gains?

Thanks!

Springfield1970

Hi All,

I am a male, 20 years old, 5'8" and about 116-120 lbs. I just got out of an ED program, but unfortunately it was because of insurance issues rather than being really ready. My goal is still to gain weight, preferably mostly lean muscle, but I really don't know what that means in the context of pairing with exercise. I currently rock climb 5-6 days a week and run occasionally (maybe 1x /week for 40 or so minutes) (I try not to do this too much because it is one of the things that can trigger compulsive exercise/ restrictive eating trends for me), and I do a significant amount of walking. My question is: I know that for gaining weight via muscle, there needs to be an excess of calories, and around 3-4 days a week of weight training. Does climbing work as a proxy to weight training? and if not, how much more weight training would I need to do in conjunction with eating more calories to see gains? and what is a reasonable time frame in which i can expect to start seeing gains?

Thanks!

Hi Matt, I'm reluctant to reply as I'm not a professional, but you are going to get a lot of advice, some useful, some harmful, and you may not know at this point which advice to take.

There is a very similar poster on this board asking about bulking where Waldo replied sensibly.

So you want to bulk muscle and fat (you can't bulk without gaining fat, we've all tried it, but you can limit the fat by being rigorous with your numbers and logging) Then you need to go to Scooby's calculator and find your tdee.

I found my own maintenance number by trial and error (high sedentary for my stats) and worked out my burns with HRM and add them separately as they vary from day to quite wildly.

I think you're doing too much cardio exercise to be able to work out what your needs are and to be able to gain muscle. You'll need to be 500cals over your daily needs to gain a pound a week. Excessive cardio may stop you going into surpluss calories, and stop you recovering from your progressive weight workout routine. Others will be along soon!

Keep striving to beat the ED. Good luck!

hlm711

Hi Matt,
I'm also working on gaining back healthy weight following an ED (relapse after over a year of relatively normal weight-frustrating!)
I'm also an active gym going person (4-5 x a week of cardo and weights)..and obviously I know male/female weight distribution is different, but I think its important that you try to see fat gain as important as muscle gain. Its hard not to get fixated on wanting to see muscle gains,and fat as negative, but our bodies need it.
I'd say its better to overestimate calories initially, as its hard to truely estimate how your body needs from the exercise your doing, and in recovery I think its likely to underestimate what your body needs due to the mental block complications.

I used to do alot of climbing,and I found becuase you do alot of concentrating on your route/climb your not thinking so much about the immediate stresses on your body when your doing it,unlike standard cardio/gym training? Even though you might not feel like it, snack lightly between routes-handful of nuts/granola ect. It wont make you feel sick but give yourbody the sustaining calories it needs.,
Feel free to message, and well done on your recovery!

Galatea_Stone

Hi. Rock climbing is an excellent bodyweight exercise, but if your goal is to gain mass, then you should start a weightlifting program while eating at a surplus. For normal weight people, I'd normally recommend 250-500 calories above maintenance based on a lot of what I've read. For ED, you probably want to eat as much as you can handle, and don't be upset if it's 1000+ calories over maintenance.

Get lots of protein. Again because you have/had an ED, go for more than 1g/lb. lean body mass. Either eat 1 gram per pound of body weight, or even 1.5 grams per pound of body weight. Get lots of foods high in micronutrients (fruits and veggies), eat grains as well. Make sure you're getting good fat sources, like olive oil, avocado, omega-3 from fish, omega-6 from red meats.

Pick up Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength. It will help you start a lifting program. Watch Youtube videos on form for all the lifts. Consider downloading StrongLifts 5x5. Read these books. Do what you can to get to a gym 3-4 days a week and start. There's nothing wrong with starting light at first and working up to heavier weights. Another great site that has compiled a good bit of information is exrx.net. It has strength standards by weight for major compound lifts. It also has links to articles on training and eating.

jwdieter

Rock climbing while at a caloric surplus would work as progressive resistance training. Be an interesting approach. I bet he could add 20 lbs reasonably lean doing that.

Something has to give if OP wants to incorporate a lifting program. No way he can climb 5-6 days/week and give a solid effort on compound lifts with adequate recovery.

AliceDark

First of all, congratulations on being in recovery! I don't mean any of this to sound discouraging or critical, because the fact that you're actively trying to gain weight is wonderful. But...most of the people on this board are experienced with bulking and not necessarily with recovery, so you are probably going to get a mix of good and bad advice. There are a few people on MFP that are very knowledgeable about ED recovery and it would be worth doing some searches for related topics and reaching out to them directly.

It's my understanding that recommendations for weight gain in the context of ED recovery are different from those you would get when just bulking. Specifically, the recommended caloric surplus is usually a lot higher in ED recovery. In recovery, you're not just trying to build muscle, you're also trying to repair your bones and organs that may have been damaged. Depending on the length of time you were dealing with the ED, you could have a lot of physiological damage to repair.

I would be really cautious about exercise unless you were cleared by your treatment team. Exercise can be discouraged in ED recovery, not just because it burns calories, but also because you can have an increased chance of having a heart attack.

matt6050

I know male/female weight distribution is different, but I think its important that you try to see fat gain as important as muscle gain. Its hard not to get fixated on wanting to see muscle gains,and fat as negative, but our bodies need it.

Thanks for the reply! I totally get what you mean, I just meant that I would like to see the majority of gaining coming from lean muscle. However, I completely understand that there is also gaining with regard to essential body fat that needs to happen for over all gains. Thanks again!

matt6050

Hi. Rock climbing is an excellent bodyweight exercise, but if your goal is to gain mass, then you should start a weightlifting program while eating at a surplus. For normal weight people, I'd normally recommend 250-500 calories above maintenance based on a lot of what I've read. For ED, you probably want to eat as much as you can handle, and don't be upset if it's 1000+ calories over maintenance.

Get lots of protein. Again because you have/had an ED, go for more than 1g/lb. lean body mass. Either eat 1 gram per pound of body weight, or even 1.5 grams per pound of body weight. Get lots of foods high in micronutrients (fruits and veggies), eat grains as well. Make sure you're getting good fat sources, like olive oil, avocado, omega-3 from fish, omega-6 from red meats.

Pick up Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength. It will help you start a lifting program. Watch Youtube videos on form for all the lifts. Consider downloading StrongLifts 5x5. Read these books. Do what you can to get to a gym 3-4 days a week and start. There's nothing wrong with starting light at first and working up to heavier weights. Another great site that has compiled a good bit of information is exrx.net. It has strength standards by weight for major compound lifts. It also has links to articles on training and eating.

This is exactly what I was looking for, thank you!

matt6050

First of all, congratulations on being in recovery! I don't mean any of this to sound discouraging or critical, because the fact that you're actively trying to gain weight is wonderful. But...most of the people on this board are experienced with bulking and not necessarily with recovery, so you are probably going to get a mix of good and bad advice. There are a few people on MFP that are very knowledgeable about ED recovery and it would be worth doing some searches for related topics and reaching out to them directly.

It's my understanding that recommendations for weight gain in the context of ED recovery are different from those you would get when just bulking. Specifically, the recommended caloric surplus is usually a lot higher in ED recovery. In recovery, you're not just trying to build muscle, you're also trying to repair your bones and organs that may have been damaged. Depending on the length of time you were dealing with the ED, you could have a lot of physiological damage to repair.

I would be really cautious about exercise unless you were cleared by your treatment team. Exercise can be discouraged in ED recovery, not just because it burns calories, but also because you can have an increased chance of having a heart attack.

Thank you for your concern, that's really nice of you! I have been totally upfront with my docs about my exercise: they definitely recommend against it for the time being because, as you said, it makes it much more difficult for me to make the gains I need to make. Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate the feedback!

milileitner

I did this. You can see how it worked out for me in my comparison pics on my profile. Basically, lift heavy and eat lots. Both are conducive to gaining muscle AND recovering from an ED (lifting will help any loss of bone density and often helps sufferers see their body for its abilities, plus it increases appetite and once you're more interested in pushing more weight than your own bodyweight, the whole recovery thing starts to drive itself).

Bear in mind that in recovery you need more calories than a non-ED-history person bc your body needs to repair a whole bunch of stuff on top of gaining muscle and fat. So don't worry if you end up eating what seems like a silly amount. Personally, I started recovering at a weight of 92 lbs (female) and needed 3000+ calories per day quite quickly to keep gaining.