Maintenance After Long Term Restrictive/Bingeing

xxhaloxkittyxx

Hiya! I've had a look through some old threads for advice, but feel like actually asking may be better, hope you don't mind

I'm trying to maintain after going through 5 years of Anorexia, and in this past year Binge Eating mixed with a Restrictive/Purging cycle. I've left the Eating Disorders team and I'm still working on everything else with a private therapist, at the moment my B/P is in control (haven't done it for three weeks!) but I've still been logging an average of 700-900 calories per day, most days of the week- including work (I work in retail). I don''t exercise apart from this, yet, because mentally I'm not in the right place without becoming obsessive. My calories mainly consist of vegetables, oatmeal and one cup of soy milk a day (every thing is counted). So the past few weeks my weight began to drop a little bit, since stopping the bingeing, which was going to happen; but this week I haven't particuarly increased much apart from a physically large lunch yesterday of Jacket Potato and Pinto Been Chilli; but I also bake. I haven't binged after baking which is great, but obviously I enjoy liking the bowl and having a bit of cookie dough (you've got to taste it, right?!).

So today I weighed myself (it's become a weekly habit which I'd like to stop) and my weight has increased by 1lb, which logically doesn't make a lot of sense after a week of consuming less than 1,000 calories and working- the only thing I can put it on is the lunch and bit of cookie dough. However, where has this come from? I Know I need to increase my calorific intake, because it's began affecting my blood pressure, so I've made an agreement with my therapist to for now achieve 1,000 calories per day- then in time increase, which mentally will do me good. But, I'm a bit concerned. Surely if just after a week of one large meal and baking I've gained 1lb, how much am I going to gain over the course of eating an appropriate amount of calories?!

During my initial recovery process, I gained up to the minimum weight for my height at 47kg up from 38kg (I reached this earlier this year) and I've had trouble even maintaining that- however, that has included binge/restriction processes. I now weigh 49.4kg and my BMI is around 18.6 (dead on the marker!?) and would like to maintain this weight if I can.

Sorry for the long ramble! Basically, is this my body gripping on to every thing I'm giving it- this increasing in weight, is it the large lunch yesterday, or is it the occasional cookie dough; and how do I increase my intake comfortably without putting on much weight? Is this going to keep going up, or be a long term thing, or will I even out?

Hope someone can help, I'm really keen to stay safe but I'm feeling a bit lost! Thank you

aneary1980

Hi

The 1lb is probably water weight and not fat. I would try and chuck the scale away if you can and consult with your theripst.

kellehbeans

I agree with water weight, it's just getting used to how you are eating. However, I am exactly in the same position as you with the binging/purge/restrict cycle. If you want to add me, feel free. It'd be really nice to have somebody to talk to in terms of support. :drinker:

What got me is that you love baking, which has been me this past week, except licking the bowl makes me want to not eat the cake - I just binge on it the next day!!! (Btw, I'm also in recovery).

Hell_Flower

You will even out. Water retention plays a big part. Try not to stress about it. Case in point - on Wednesday I weighed 5lbs more than I weighed in at today.

On Tuesday I had consumed a lot of salty foods, plus bloating from some not quite cooked enough story fry.

Try not to fret - I'm currently trying to get my intake back up from a restrictive cycle, so I know how you're feeling in someway. Feel free to add and lets recover together x

LadyGisborne

I am in the same position, except that I have never purged. At the moment I am in "restrictive" mode (I struggle to eat at least 1000kcal/day), after a year-long binge where I put on more than 30lbs.
I can't really help you (in my case couselling has not helped) but I sympathize. Could you try to ditch the scales for a while and go by measurements?

Dennis4766

Sounds very similar to my story - especially the diet of mostly veggies and oatmeal. I lost 100 pounds and also obsessively exercised and became bulimic.

How I maintained?
1. Quit weighing. I was numbers driven and would starve, restrict or purge based on number on scales.
2. Started adding protein powders to oatmeal and I would make my own recipe I called "manna."
3. I have slowly began to introduce other foods to diet - low fat & grilled chicken / turkey / cod / Salmon.
4. Read a couple books to help with recovery -
8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder
Brain over Binge - Kathryn Hansen
Ditching Diets - Gillian Riley
The Rules of Normal Eating - Karen R. Koenig
5. Started therapy.
6. Only after a couple months into recovery did I begin tracking what I ate again.

I am still recovering, but doing much better.The protein powder has helped to add lean muscle mass (which I desperately needed).

Best wishes.

xxhaloxkittyxx

Thank you all for your responses, it's really nice to hear back and know that I'm not alone! After having a rough few days of bingeing, I've decided to not restrict.. as it will only enter back in to a restrict/binge cycle and it just isn't healthy. Although I'm aware that any weight I have gained will probably stay on now, it's surely more important that my mental health is safer. My main concern is my therapist has told me that once I do increase to 1,000 calories per day.. consistently, my weight will probably increase. She did say, however, that it will even out once I'm at a healthier state. But, is it okay to do this.. I mean, can my body not stay where it is now and still eat a bit more, if I'm already not consuming enough?

susannamarie

No, because once you get closer to actually maintaining, you'll start actually having enough energy to repair muscles/replenish glycogen/etc. This won't make you look any fatter or make your waist bigger, but it'll cause you to have more water retained which will make the scale number go up.

traceyandelliemay

Hi sweetie at 21 when I first tried recovery they had me aiming to have 1000cals a day it did put weight on only because it was my body not being used to it. Another thing to keep in mind is weight fluctuates 3kgs because of water etc. I know its hard being Ana and dealing with the scale one thing I did to stop the weighing at one time when I was in recovery was give scales to a friend this was a huge thing for me and prob for u too. Xx I'm now coming up 27 and I feel like I've finally got this. Recovery from ana . Some days its still hard and others I love life and love myself I wish u all the best in your recovery hun it does get better it helps to focus on self love and the rest kinda flows naturally I'm only sharing what's helped me recover from ED feel free to add me if u like xo