Eating disorder, help.

Perhaps you are maintaining on such a low amount because of the foods you are eating which make up your 900 calories. What are you eating usually?

So what would be a healthy weight for you, have you figured that out? Are you active and do you feel well? With eating disorders you can damage your metabolism and hormone balances. You could try increasing your calories in small amounts, like 50 cals/day for a week and then add a little more.

I am going to venture to guess that you are actually eating more than 900 calories, you just think you are eating 900.

Do you weigh all solid foods you eat with a digital kitchen scale? If not you may be eating 10-50% more than you think.
Do you measure you liquids with measuring cups and spoons?

that said prolonged under eating would have lowered your metabolism somewhat, but shouldn't be to that much of a degree. I would suggest increasing your cals by 50-100, stay there for a week, then add another 50-100

Your metabolism has been suppressed. Your body has likely turned off a lot of other important bodily functions, too, because that's pretty much the biggest sign that your body is struggling to adapt and keep you alive. You really only have one option here: eat. No foods are off limits; no food is "bad" for recovery. You should strive to meet a minimum of 3,000 calories a day. As someone recovering from a restrictive eating disorder, your body needs 2,500 just to function, and you'll need the extra to help with repairs. You'll probably encounter some bloating and slowed digestion in the beginning, but you can expect a big jump in hunger/cravings and then eventually your body will return to it's set point on this amount. That's when your metabolism will have returned to it's optimal state again.

I am going to venture to guess that you are actually eating more than 900 calories, you just think you are eating 900.

Do you weigh all solid foods you eat with a digital kitchen scale? If not you may be eating 10-50% more than you think.
Do you measure you liquids with measuring cups and spoons?

that said prolonged under eating would have lowered your metabolism somewhat, but shouldn't be to that much of a degree. I would suggest increasing your cals by 50-100, stay there for a week, then add another 50-100

This is why ED posts looking for advice should be locked.

I know you only meant to help, but nooooo!!!!!


Typically ED sufferers don't underestimate how much they're eating - usually they grossly overestimate how much they're eating. Telling us to start measuring our foods with a digital scales is like trying to help a heroin addict by telling them where to get cleaner heroin, instead of just saying STOP and get help. If that makes sense!

OP: you have an ED. They have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness. Food is your medicine; you need it to get better. If you were diabetic or asthmatic, you wouldn't ask a bunch of strangers on the Internet to help with your insulin or inhaler dosage because we're not doctors and it would be dangerous. Same with this.

I appreciate you haven't found the right RT help yet, but don't give up. Stay in contact with your GP to keep your labs and obs on check.

(p.s. I've had AN for over 20 years so know what you're going through).

I'm a similar height, and some years ago I was eating about the same calories as you and weighed the same. I found that even a small increase would make me balloon and my metabolism never seemed to recover. I thought I had done so much damage to my metabolism that my only options were starve myself to be "normal sized" or be overweight. I too had hit a point where I was like "I can't keep living like this." So I became overweight with some unhealthy under eating phases occasionally mixed in because I was so unhappy with myself and would relapse.

Then, I got a DEXA body scan to get an accurate measure of my body fat, and was told that I have a ridiculously small amount of muscle for my height/age and also really low bone density - I guess this all wasted away when I was starving myself and it never really came back even when I gained weight. I started focusing on lifting heavy (for me) weights and it is AMAZING how much it has helped. It took a couple of months for things to really get in balance (I gained a couple of lbs at first), but I can now eat 1800 calories a day and lose weight, I'm motivated to focus on my macros so that my lifting progresses, and I look at my body for the first time in years and my first inclination is to focus on the positives because I'm so proud of what it can do. I'm still working on losing body fat but progress is happening so I'm happy.

I guess my main point here is that previously, if I stopped restricting it was because I knew it was "bad", but it was there was always a conflicting voice in my head that still wanted to keep restricting. After I started lifting heavy that voice has disappeared and been replaced with once that pushes me to eat in a way to improves my performance AND this has also improved my body. If I don't eat right, I can tell because my workouts suffer.

If you're interested in trying this route, there are some great forums here about strength training for women that you can browse or participate in. I am following a program that a personal trainer made for me, but it's in the same spirit as Stronglifts 5x5, New Rules of Lifting for Women, and the Starting Strength programs.

I know you do not want to hear it, but you need to seek professional help.

She says in some of her previous post that doctors have not taken her seriously because her BMI is not low enough to be classified as anorexic, even though her behaviours fits the bill. I was just like this when I was younger, and sadly I experienced the same thing. My family practitioner actually chided me when I gained weight (still within my healthy weight range) after upping my calories to 1700. Granted, she didn't know how many calories I had been eating, but I got a lecture on how obesity ran in my family and the gain was quick so I should work on keeping that in check.

Professional help can be great I'm sure if the doctor's know what to do, but sadly with eating disorders I think the professional help often ends up falling short.

eta - I'm not disagreeing with you at all, I just mean to say I can understand the OPs aversion to that recommendation.