Eating Disorder Recovy & gaining muscle

brealee91
brealee91 Posts: 7 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
** Recovery **... my bad.

Hey everyone!

I'm in the midst of recovering from an eating disorder and trying to gain some muscle mass along the way. First of all I need to day that I no longer use my journal, and instead my dietitian has me on a food groups SERVINGS counting system for my daily intake. This has been really working for me, so please, no calorie recommendations.

I would like to know what kinds of supplements are best added into a diet for gaining muscle. I am looking at the muscle milks and the ensure high protein. Just wanted to know if there is any input concerning either of these products or any others! Also any other tips for putting on muscle such as exercises and what not.

I am female too if that makes a difference in anyone advice. Thanks!

Replies

  • dawnmcneil10
    dawnmcneil10 Posts: 638 Member
    Oh boy are you going to get some poor advice by asking this question on MFP. I don't say that to discourage you in fact I would like to see you succeed and have a healthy life. I would suggest you talk to your nutritionist/dietician and follow their suggestions.

    I'm not sure what your disorder was but I'd like to see you gain weight from nutritious food not from shakes or supplements, you can do it but it will take work and you'll have to be willing to try new things and some will sound really strange.

    One big thing is if you want to build muscle you have to exercise and if you exercise you need to eat to support the exercise again the best advice is going to come from those trained in this field.

    Good luck to you!
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    Are you lactose tolerant?

    If so milk is your friend. You can ditch the muscle milk (which is pretty much just a lactose free milk knockoff) and go for the much cheaper and more effective option. If taste is an issue, drink chocolate milk instead.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
    I'm not sure what your disorder was but I'd like to see you gain weight from nutritious food not from shakes or supplements, you can do it but it will take work and you'll have to be willing to try new things and some will sound really strange.
    Why? Lots of women who are trying to gain weight use shakes or supplements. It's actually really difficult for women to build muscle at all, so she should take all the help she can get. There's absolutely nothing wrong with adding some protein powder to her meal plan (note: I said adding, not replacing other meals with shakes, but it sounds like she's under the care of a dietician so that's probably not a concern). When you're trying to gain, it's very very helpful to add some liquid nutrition, especially for people for whom the "full" feeling can be triggering.

    OP: whole milk is good. Chocolate milk is good. In terms of protein powder, I personally like the taste of Gold Standard 100% Whey and the Myoplex Lite nutrition shakes. I think Ensure is commonly used in ED recovery, so that would probably be a good option. Since you're focusing on servings, you could add a banana or some strawberries with some milk and protein powder in a blender, so you're getting a serving or two of fruit and dairy as well as the protein. Obviously, follow the directions of your treatment team! These are just some suggestions based on what tastes good to me.

    You also asked about exercise. Once again, please talk to your treatment team. If/when they think it's okay, and only then, you might like lifting. I find it really empowering to focus on building strength and on what my body can do (rather than what it looks like). For me, anyway, going from "I want my body to take up as little space as possible" to "I want to feel strong and capable of doing anything" was a really important mental shift.
  • starbucks0211
    starbucks0211 Posts: 3
    I too used to suffer from an eating disorder. I drank a protein shake every morning for breakfast. To make it really easy go get a big thing of whey protein and mix it with skim milk. You get a serving of dairy, with some much needed calcium too. I also would add some fruit and/or (depending on my hunger and work outs the night before) a granola bar or plain piece of toast. I was a gymnast and taking the protein powder really helped me retain my weight and build beautiful muscles.
  • Kestrelwings
    Kestrelwings Posts: 238 Member
    For cheap and convenient protein: Whole milk is great stuff, as are eggs. You will also need high calcium to rebuild bone strength, and oily fish that still have soft bones it (e.g. tinned sardines) will give you calcium, protein, and omega 3 all in one package. Chat it over with your dietician, as they will have lots of good ideas.
  • hlm711
    hlm711 Posts: 38 Member
    Hi after recovering from an eating disorder (AN) I unfortunatly relapsed and lost alot of weight a couple of months ago which I'm working towards putting back on now.
    I suffer from IBS symptoms not eating disorder related and was hesitant to try alot of the protein powders as I had heard mixed views on how they can effect the gut.
    I now take a pure (or as pure as can be!) pea protein powder, by 'Pulsin'. Its high in protein, cheap and very user friendly-you just mix striaght into yogurts, soups and sauces. It literally is just protein though so please dont use it as a replacement-I find it a very easy and cheap way of sneaking that protein in!
    Any q's please feel free to get in touch
    H

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