Low calorie goals

asyouseefit

Please talk with your doctor about your eating habits. It will hurt you in the long run.

My 20# Pekingese in my avatar requires more than 500 calories a day.

Thing is, I know my doctor won't appreciate that I'm trying to lose weight. That's the main problem really... If I was trying to put weight on, I'd feel that more people would understand, professionals included It's difficult.
Haha, the second bit made me laugh. x

That's because you shouldn't be trying to lose weight. Doctors aren't always wrong! ;-)

Vermilla

Some people can easily survive on a smaller amount of food. When I was your age, I was 5'11" and 105 pounds. I kept dropping below 100 and the doctors would always worry about me. I have no idea what I was eating calorie wise because I didn't keep track back then, but I was healthy. I rarely got sick, I never had lack of energy. At that age, your body is able to use energy more wisely, I suppose is a good way to put it. However, this does NOT excuse not eating right. I do recall actually, very vaguely, people trying to force me to eat more. This actually HURT me later in life where I became so obsessed with it that I became addicted to food, and gained over a hundred pounds. Definately don't make this mistake but don't let it scare you away from trying to straighten out a bit. Keep a few things in mind.

1) no matter how wisely your body may be using the food intake, you are taking in too few calories
2) you're not going to suddenly become fat or bloated if you intake a bit more calories
3) don't try to suddenly increase portions - rather, try to snack here or there, especially in protein and carbs. A banana here, some toast there, maybe try milk/soy milk, things like that
4) exercising usually makes people hungry because they need the energy to do it. If you find that you exercise a good bit and it doesn't affect your hunger even the very slightest, then that's something else you may want to mention to your doctor

All in all, I hope you get it straightened out. Don't think you have a problem like some people may try to force on you. Whether or not it is, you stressing over the possibility isn't going to make it better. Try to think logically about things - it helps!

LorinaLynn

Anorexia isn't just about thinking, "I feel fat and want to be thin." It's also about undereating and not feeling like you need to eat. Even dogs and cats can get it. I used to see it when I worked at an animal hospital. In some cases, it was part of a medical issue, like my elderly cat with kidney disease who needed an appetite stimulant to eat enough. Sometimes they just went off their food after being ill, and sometimes for no known reason. But you know that no dog or cat turns down food because of poor body image. Sometimes we'd have to force feed them, but we'd call it assisted feeding because that sounds better. Food itself is the number one appetite stimulant. Eating makes them want to eat. Sometimes if you could just get the ball rolling, things got better.

This is hard for me to talk about. My Mom had senior anorexia as a side effect of other medical issues. She wasn't trying to lose weight. She just had NO appetite. She'd eat half a banana and say she was full. Or half of one slice of pizza, after scraping the cheese and sauce off. And that lack of food messed with her head. It was heartbreaking... she'd swear nothing was wrong with her and we were just picking on her, but she had no energy and stopped doing the things she loved. Before all this, she was one spunky lady. She'd take the family dogs for walks, go to flea markets and rummage sales, restore antique furniture, run the lawnmower and snowblower, install the window air conditioners so our Dad wouldn't strain himself... you name it!

In the end, after collapsing in the night with extremely low blood sugar, she was hospitalized. And she stayed hospitalized for four months, with every complication under the sun - heart failure, respiratory failure, kidney failure, MRSA, sepsis, vasculitis, aspergilosis, UTIs, URIs, a collapsed lung, cellulitis, gram negative blood infection - in four different area hospitals. She'd improve a little and we'd celebrate, then have another setback. On Thursday, it will be three years since she passed, and I still regret not getting her the help she needed sooner. I can't say it would have made a difference, but maybe if she were physically stronger before, things might have worked out.

500 calories is NOT enough for a young, healthy, vibrant and BEAUTIFUL (yes, you are!) girl. You deserve better.

ElizabethRoad

Thank you for your comment. I do appreciate it, I just don't think I'm in the frame of mind of an anorexic... I may be wrong, I guess I just look at the really badly anorexic girls (and boys) and their attitudes and just think that's not me.

You are probably thinking "wow these people are overreacting!" but I hope you see that we care and are concerned for you. Especially if you've had an ED in the past then you have to be careful.

I would love your support, I'd just rather find a way of eating more calories without feeling bloated or having to eat really starchy foods. To me feeling bloated is the worst thing if I have a big meal, I just really hate the uncomfortable feeling it doesn't seem natural to me.

How often do you eat? It might be easier to do several meals a day than to try to eat 2 or 3 big meals.