Recovering from Anorexia...

Honestly, not that underweight, so I'm hoping I can continue to diet as long as I change my mindset?

I'm a 300 pound endomorph athlete. I, am a talented and gifted EATER. (sort of have to be in the 300 pound range) I'm 43. Started wrestiling when I was 5. Lots of wrestlers dieted. Today, I bench 405 for reps, and have benched 587. I've been involved in competitive powerlifting, and lots of powerlifters diet.

I know NOTHING of Anorexia or what you face.

I have been around literally hundreds of folks "dieting". Many of them have lost lots of weight. Most don't keep it off.


I do get that the Anorexia "disease" can color what you want, and what you think looks good or not. The vast majority of people do NOT want to DIET. Your wording "hoping I can continue to diet ..... " just doesn't sound .... right to me. "hoping to be able to diet". In my mind, "diet" is a short term thing one does to lose weight, usually involving caloric restriction. It's ..... not really something to hope to be able to do, nor do I think its healthy.

On the other hand, a NUTRITIONAL PROGRAM, now, THOSE are cool. Nutrition IS good for you, right? Its HEALTHY! A nutritional program can be designed with a caloric deficit to reduce bodyfat, OR a caloric surplus to gain weight. Its not JUST about calories, its about consuming the correct amount of NUTRIENTS. 100 calories from cookies is not as "good for you" as 150 calories from chicken and green beans.

IMO, with a proper nutritional program, you can stay lean, look great, eliminate most of the symptoms you describe, AND, be in COMPLETE CONTROL. YOU can measure your macro-nutrients (fat, carbs, protein). you can CONTROL what you eat. With good metrics, you can for the most part KNOW how many calories you SHOULD eat a week, and you can monitor and measure and grade yourself each day.

Many people LIKE this kind of control. Like measuring. Like knowing how much they SHOULD eat. ED can confuse you, make you look in the mirror and not .... see the difference between healthy and unhealthy. For some people, appetite should not be trusted, it may make you eat too little (or too much). BUT, if you know how many calories you SHOULD consume a day, now you don't have to rely on appetite or appearance in a mirror, you have a hard number to strive for every day.

MFP helps give you this control, helps give you insights into how and what are you eating. Are you eating enough? Are you eating too much? Are you eating the right number of calories, but, too much carbs and not enough protien? One needs to monitor your consumption to be able to answer these questions, and MFP makes this easier than most other things I've seen.

Can you continue to diet? I don't know, I don't know you're particular issues, but, I do know, monitoring what you eat, to make sure you're getting "the right amounts of stuff" can help most everyone be healthier.

Dieting, in most of those that I have been around, has such temporary connotations. Learning how to eat healthy, to have a proper nutritional program, THAT more often leads to happiness in my experience.

GOOD LUCK!