Gained but can't keep it on

findingmyhappyplace

I was really successful in gaining 15lbs on about 1600 net calories per day, and hit 108lbs in March. But since then I have been really fighting to keep the weight on and this morning I found that in the past 2 weeks, despite eating over 2000 net calories per day (intake 2200-2700) I have LOST a couple more lbs and I'm boarderline underweight again. I need to keep my BMI above 20 because I am in recovery for anorexia and my medical team will get mad if I don't stay above 105lbs. I don't know what I am doing wrong since I gained so easily to start with.

Has anyone else experienced this or do you have any tips about where I am going wrong? I do eat healthy foods, high protein, I've been making an effort to eat calorie dense foods like full fat dairy, nuts, seeds, pesto, oils etc, but it's like my metabolism decided to jump through the roof and I can't keep up with it. I cut my workouts way back in the past 2 weeks (only did less than 1 hr in total) and it seemed to make things even worse. I have to restart my workouts this week bc I have osteoporosis so I'm scared I'll just keep dropping weight no matter how much I eat.

kdsteelez

Your food intake does look healthy with good variety. Eating 6 times a day is excellent. Have you considered replacing the skim milk with whole milk? Drinking a few glasses of whole milk each day could help add some calories.

findingmyhappyplace

Thanks. I recently switched from soy to cow milk but it makes me feel quite sick (due to undiagnosed celiac disease I had full blown dairy allergy until recently) so I think I will go back to a high calorie soy milk. I am also switching all my other dairy products to full fat. My new calorie goal is 2400!

bciochetti

What is your workout plan like? It may be easier to lower the intensity/frequency of your workouts than pile on more calories.

findingmyhappyplace

My workouts are...intense. I can't reduce them because I have osteoporosis as a result of anorexia, and my doctor and dietitian have me on a very heavy workout plan to attack the osteoporosis hard, since it may be partially reversible. They want me to go all in with my efforts since I only have a few years to reverse it before it becomes almost impossible. I run for 45-90 minutes 3 days per week. Rest one day. The other 3 days I run 20 minutes and lift for 20-45 minutes. I also cycle for 15+ minutes each day and take a power walk ad many evenings as a I can. My day job as a violinist also has me on my feet a lot.

I guess it's no surprise, reading that back, that I am struggling to maintain on 2200.