former anorexic trying to do it right...??? about calories..

EmmyC2

Howdy! I'm new here, and I have a question, and I may sound terribly stupid for asking but...

I'm reading that when you've hit a weightloss wall, it's important to look at your caloric intake and make sure you are eating ENOUGH calories throughout the day. Otherwise, your body will begin storing the fats you eat in order to save from starvation, which makes somewhat sense to me.

How, then, do people with eating disorders lose weight?

Here is why I wonder...I am 5'2 and 27 (next week) years old. I struggled with an eating disorder from the time I was 16 until I was 22 or 23 and then on and off until I got pregnant with my son at 25. When I got pregnant, I was at a healthy weight of 124 (but had a goal in mind of 115). I gained 35lbs while pregnant, and after I had my baby boy (15 months ago) I decided I wanted to lose weight the "healthy" way. I went from 160 (when I went in to have him) to 130 pretty easily since you lose a lot of weight just having the baby (I lost 13lbs before I even left the hospital and 15 more in the following 4 months).

But then the doctor put me on medicine for my muscle pain disorder, and it made me sleepy and hungry. In about 8 weeks, I gained 10 lbs. When I stepped on the scale and realized I was only 7lbs away from being at the weight I was when I brought my son home from the hospital, I felt like I would die!

I'm now off of the medication, and I am committed to getting the weight off in a healthy way, but it is hard to kick old mindsets. I've lost 6 lbs since last Tuesday (probably mostly water weight), and I've been eating 1200-1300 calories a day and netting 900-1150. I'm drinking 70-90 oz of water a day and eating plenty of fiber and keeping carbs low. My weight has stayed practically the same over the past three days (134.6).

What should I do? And again, how do people with eating disorders lose so much weight by starving themselves if the body has the whole "self-preservation" mode?

Hope someone can help :-(...I really really really do NOT want to gain weight OR be an unhealthy mommy. I will be happy when I get back into the 120s. My goal is to get back down to 125. My ultimate goal is to get to 120, although I would be super pumped if I got to 118.

slimmerme2012

Ive always wondered that too!

camille97

Well of course, when you don't eat, your body tries to keep anything you have, making it difficult to lose weight. However, if you starve yourself long enough, it has to start using stored fat and muscle, anything it can get, as energy. Otherwise you would just drop dead. Your body is built to survive. It keeps anything you give it when it knows it might not have any food for a long time, like stocking up for the winter. But when all else fails, you do begin to rapidly lose weight. But that's not really a good thing, because if it really does not get enough energy to survive long enough, all else really DOES fail, and you do drop dead.

misslauren88

It's because your boddy eventually eats through those fat reserves. I did a project on this for college a few months ago. But your body will store that fat as long as it can.

yeabby

As the body goes into starvation mode it does store everything at first. But, it'll then deteriorate muscle and fat. You'll notice anorexics have no muscle tone.

Ashleypeterson37

I still struggle with the anorexic mindset but I have recently realized that the healthy way is the only way. Like you, I wanted to do it the healthy way for my daughter. It's really hard to give advice on this topic because it something that I'm still struggling with everyday to overcome but everyday I eat 1200-1300 calories, I see it as a step in the right direction. Just wanted you to know your def not alone with that feeling!

Pickles64

Are you still or did you breastfeed/ing?

I would say that everyone's different - Anorexics lose a great deal of weight & my theory is, that although they are small, rarely do they have the "right" kind of weight on... I don't see muscular anorexics. They DO store fat... at least until they are so depleated that their bodies have no choice but to use the fat stores. I would imagine, in the early stages of anorexia, the fat/muscle ratio of most of it's victims is probably more fat than muscle.

I'm no expert though - I would say, keep doing what you're doing... eventually, it will happen - and honestly, if you ARE doing it right & healthy, it IS NOT going to come off FAST. It does take time... patience is key.

Love yourself and keep that mindset - I know it's hard - Also, quite frankly, after having a baby - even if it has been 15 mo., your body, hormones and such are never the same again - sleep has a lot to do with it... sleep deprivation can change how your body processes food too.

I had my kids later in life - I had my son at 35 & daughter at 37... the weight from my son came off in 6 weeks - I still have my daughters' weigh on & she's 9. (LOL)

Hang in there...

aj_rock

As the body goes into starvation mode it does store everything at first. But, it'll then deteriorate muscle and fat. You'll notice anorexics have no muscle tone.

This is correct. Your will use up all its available resources, and if you restric your calories long enough... well, you have to get energy from somewhere.

That being said, if you hit a plateau, sometimes it helps to just maintain your weight for a week or so. Give yourself a break, and when you start up again things should work a little better!

juliapurpletoes

I was anorexic and lost and lost and lost...eating only 400-500 cals a day. I don't know the scientific reason though. THANKFULLY this was many many years ago and I survived it and now have a wonderful healthy lifestyle and weight. You can too.

It takes time to reset your body's metabolism, took me a year, i gained alot and it was so frustrating, I'd eat knowing that I should eat, and then feel so bad to not only gain what I should..... but then even MORE because my metabolism was so off! yikes.

So, its great that you are off meds and you have the determination! My best advice is for you to really be accurate in all accounts with food (weigh it) and exercise calories (use a good heart rate monitor with chest stratp to calculate).

NEVER eat below your BMR calories! Use the BMR calculator on this site and see what it is. (your net of 900-1150 is most likely to low and throwing things off for you)

So, food minus exercise equals NET CALORIES. (always eat back your exercise calories, body needs them)

Find out your Maintanance calories - these are BMR PLUS Daily Activity calories. Your goals page shows this in red I believe.

My magic formula was make my net for the day of Maintanance Calories minus 15% (1/2 pound per week) and it is working beautifully.

Best of Luck to you

lb7970

"And again, how do people with eating disorders lose so much weight by starving themselves if the body has the whole "self-preservation" mode?"

Well, I'm not an expert but my daughter struggled with anorexia starting at age 11 she is now 18 and is at an acceptable weight. She too has a hard time looking at herself when she looks healthy and toned without seeing herself as overweight. With that said, When people eat way below the 1200 calorie limit for an extended period of time their bodies start to convert both fat and muscle to make the energy needed for the body to run. This is not good, seriously. While my daughter was doing this she was having all sorts of health problems. The one that started first for her was severe stomach pains and heartburn. She wasn't eating enough and the stomach acids kept coming up into her esophagus. Dehydration was another issues with severe headaches. Counseling was a great help to her and me both. I recommend talking to a nutritionist as well.

One thing I would tell you which is difficult to hear but Throw out the scale. Even if you reach your ideal weight you still might not be healthy or look the way you want. Strength training will help you get a healthy toned look but will make you gain a little weight in the beginning.

Feel free to add me as a friend or send me a message if you want to discuss this further.

Best of luck to you!

crmhaske

Because starvation mode is a myth. You continue to lose weight, but not of the good kind. You lose muscle tissue, and you do organ damage. You will lose fat, but while losing essentials along the way.

Rae6503

You can push through starvation mode into actual starvation! Doesn't mean it's even in the least bit healthy.

happyhappy7628

Hi! Some advice that might help you: When you're losing weight "the healthy way" its normal to keep the same weight for 3-5 days and then to have it change. This happens (I've noticed) especially in younger women. It's your body trying to keep up with itself and adjusting to the changes in day-to-day meals/activities. It could also be because of the physical impact on your body from stress, worry, time of the month, etc. Just keep going through these mini-plateaus and know that you'll see results soon!

And like you said, be healty by keeping your body out of starvation mode. Eat at a minimum 1,200 calories a day. When you don't eat enough (less than 1,200 calories for women) your body goes into starvation mode. You start living off of the fat that is stored in your body.

It's also true that there are different layers of fat in your body. There is structural fat, normal fat , and storage fat (a layer found in obese people). Structural fat is on the structure of your body and is supposed to be there for the body to function smoothly and properly. Normal fat is also fine, and that's the fat that people loose/gain when their weight fluctuates within the healthy range. Storage fat is the fat that exceedes the body's healthy range and is stored past the normal layer.

This next part is my idea of why people with eating disorders in starvation mode still loose weight....

The body goes into starvation mode, and does everything it can to preserve/live on the fat it has. But eventually, the body has to run out of resources. It can only survive "normally" like that for so long. It can't keep up with itself, so it starts to loose fat, and the number on the scale goes down. I believe people with anorexia start loosing fat from their normal layer, and when that runs out, begin using what's stored in their structural fat. That's why in many cases you can see the person's inner muscles/bone... the structural fat that used to cover them is being used to keep them alive. So to answer your question, the body can't keep surviving on nothing (aka starvation mode only works for so long). It then has to tap into the layer of fat the body has been programed not to use, causing the person to loose weight.

I hope all this helped you! I'm glad you're being healthy and loosing weight the right way- great job! I hope everything goes well for you. Good Luck!

EmmyC2

Thanks for the support! It's nice to not have to go through it alone. I think that recovering from an eating disorder is like recovering from an addiction. It never seems to go away, you just have to keep the demon at bay.

No, I did not breast feed because my son was born with a poor sucking reflex, and he was losing weight too rapidly. We had to bottle feed beginning the second week, but I pumped until I had to go back to work. I think that's what initially helped to lose weight. I started seeing a nutritionist on Tuesday, and I am actually going back today!

Thanks for the advice about the BMR, I did not realize that, at all!

Thanks everyone for all of the great advice and explanations.

Jupiter878

I am an adult with anorexia. I have struggled for years. I am "recovered" now. But that is really a joke. I weigh like 50 lbs more than I did at my lowest weight. Somedays I feel like such a failure. I am trying to be healthy. I try to eat right. But I cry and cry. I am very overweight now. I am 5'2 and weigh between 134 and 136 on average. I need some real help because I can feel myself slipping back.
I do need to exercise more, but I feel like people will point and laugh and the fat girl running down the street. This started for me around 13 years old and I hit bottom at 23 at 88lbs. By the way, I should mention I am now 33. I cannot go through this again.

Please tell me I am not alone with this. Please someone with real experience tell me how to stop.

MJ7910

I had an eating disorder when i was 16. i was eating like 900 calories a day and exercising non stop. it was one summer when i was bored, lived out in the country and was highly controlled/not allowed to do anything. so i had plenty of time to exercise and not eat. i got over it about 17-18 but it was difficult. i remember how upset i was when i hit 110 lbs and thought i was the fattest girl in the world.. no one can really undestand the mindset of an anorexic teen unless they have been there. it seems insane now but that was what i was like. then, i was a healthy weight (125-135) all through out my 20s and recently put on about 20 lb when i had a baby at 31. but now i am doing it the healthy way, making sure to always get about 1200 calories or a little more depending on if i exercise that day. i would say that is the main thing. eating fewer calories when it's below 1200 is not a good thing. i keep saying this to myself because it is important to not ever get to that mind set again that i was in about 15 years ago. in my case anorexia was based on control and perfection which i felt like i lacked in my life at that time. no one will ever be perfect and no one will ever have complete control. i'm not sure what it was about for you, but usually these are the reasons someone unconsciously puts themselves through that type of ordeal. they dont' know they are doing it and they lack insight at the time, but looking back, they see it. it was actually an oprah show (corny enough) that made me see what i was doing. now i am trying my best to avoid that mindset. it's hard and some days i feel it creeping back but i just remind myself how desperate and sad i felt at that time and it puts everything in perspective on how i want to be healthy and not thin as a rail.