Gaining weight? eating disorder recovery?

Weight training can actually be a very effective and helpful aspect of recovering from an ED, as long as you do not use it to fuel a descent back into a new manifestation of the disorder.

Here is a good article about it, written by a person that went through recovery herself.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hunger-artist/201101/what-weight-lifting-can-do-former-anorexic

Actually, check out the rest of her blog. She talks about the weight gain process for a former anorexic. It's a very good blog. I'm familiar with the work of her mother. Her mother is a well known scientist.

Yoga is helpful as well. This is Chelsea's amazing story: http://intentblog.com/cnn-how-yoga-can-helped-an-anorexic-recover/

Keep at it! I noticed from your food diary (sorry not to be nosy but we are in similar situations!) that you do alot of ald food shopping-
Can I recommend their
hot cross buns-cheap and very tasty
Fruit & Fibre-Literally packed full of nutrientious and calorie dense nuts and dried fruit
Aldi 'basics' scones-Ridiculously cheap, really nice and small enough to not feel too full on but pack a bit of a calorie punch!
I know its hard but try and get away from the habit of picking 'light' cereal bars. Better to go for something a bit more cal. dense like nature valley bars-taste a heck of alot better too!
Well done and stay strong

Have you considered a fitbit or bodymedia device until you get a better idea of how many calories your'e really burning in a day? sometimes it's much higher/lower than you'd expect. For me it was much higher, though I was still eating way too much.

I love my bodymedia arm band, though I'm not allowed to use it at work since there's no electronics allowed. :grumble: It should be able to give you a better idea of how much you're burning, and how much you should be eating.

hey there, currently in recovery, diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. i am in my maintenance stage now as i have gained back to a healthy weight, and it was really hard to eat more. especially with you having a busy lifestyle. what worked for me was slowly upping the calories, i was also put on a medication that caused weight gain to help the process where i wouldn't feel over stuffed. every week or two i would up by 100 calories until i got to where i should be eating. now i am working on overcoming fear foods and reintroducing those, as well as getting over fears of eating out and eating in front of people. i wish you all the best of luck in your recovery! for now 2200 is probably what you need to gain, and from there it can be adjusted when you are ready to maintain.
do you have a treatment team for your recovery? i tried to recover over the years many times alone, and this time i think is different because i do have a treatment team helping me along the way

Hey! Congratulations on your recovery

I'm not sure if someone else mentioned this, I didn't have time to go through the whole thread, but when I was struggling to get all my calories in I found it extremely helpful to drink nutritional supplements such as Boost calories Plus (360 calories each). Protein shakes have been helpful too but I find it much easier to drink Boost, and if you want to try it then I would not recommend drinking it throughout the day because it can make you too full to eat actual food, I always drink it after I've had dinner as a snack and it works great.

I just wanted to comment because I know from experience that some days are tough and you might not feel like eating much, so drinking is less of a hassle.

Good luck! Keep up the good work, and don't forget that your weight does not define you

I agree on the supplements - I am using ensure two-cal to get my calories up and it's great - it doesn't feel like much, but it adds 400kcal to my day. I also want to second the people who have pointed out that the calories a normal person needs for 'bulking' are completely different to what you need when recovering from an eating disorder. I have been having about 2500-2800 calories a day while recovering and have still only gained quite slowly because my body needed to catch up from what I'd been putting it through. I was lucky enough to have my eating disorder caught early, so I didn't need as much as some people would. I know of cases where people have had to eat much, much more than I did. There is no such thing as too much for you at the moment, so please PLEASE don't listen to the 'eat at your TDEE' people, your situation is different.
I have nearly finished weight restoration now - and I can't believe how much my mindset has changed.
Congratulations on taking the brave step and entering recovery - you can do it!
Good Luck :flowerforyou:

Especially when you are undereight and need t gain weight, you definitely need to eat at least that.
I know it's hard. I'm in recovery of my ED as well and I just need to maintain my weight/ gain about 0,5kg again.
I'm 5'5" (165 cm) and am aiming for at least 1800-1900.. and that's without exercise kcal.
And it's much harder than I thought, really.
Try to add high kcal food here and there. Nuts and dried fruits are great. Sweets are of course high kcal, I don't know if you're struggling to eat them. If you cook something, try to add a little bit more of oil than normal, maybe some cheese/cream as well.
It won't make you gain weight too fast, it's a process, but it's worth it.
You can do it :flowerforyou:

Hi, read through the thread and looked at your diary... a couple of people noted that you should try and add in some healthy fats, as fats are really important to your overall nutrition. I agree with that; it looks like you're a bit low on fats. I like avocado and nut butters (almond butter, peanut butter, cashew butter), and you don't have to eat a whole ton of it to get a good amount of healthy fats.

I think that small tweak will make your diary look tons better!

I am your height (5'11"), and I do find that my weight can fluctuate as much as 8 pounds from week to week, so don't worry too much about your weight fluctuations. Focus more on nourishing your body with healthy foods and working to feel your best.

Do you find your weight flucutates alot as well?

Don't worry about fluctuations. You are going to need to gain. And you can gain muscle. And it's normal for weight to fluctuate around 5 pounds from day to day (even in the same day). Don't obsess over the scale.

Hello

My daughter is 19 yrs old and when she was recovering from her eating disorder she actually had to eat 3500 calories a day initially because her body had difficulty absorbing the calories after her period of starvation. You must find a way to eat small meals through out the day because skipping meals is a dangerous trigger for many with eating disorders. I wish you well. Once she reached her goal weight she was able to adjust her calories to maintain her weight and eventually she was able to eat normally without counting calories at all. If you has support at home it may be beneficial to have some one else calculate your calories for you and tell you if you need to eat more. And yes as a recovering person with an eating disorder you should eat your exercise calories that was a must from the eating disorder team who were involved in my daughters care. Initially the thought of eating those calories was too much for her so she opted to not exercise until her body had reached a healthy weight for her height. She is your height. I would suggest that you see a dietician rather than really on this website to calculate your needed calories. This is a great way to track them if you must but with an eating disorder often their are nutritional needs beyond what the average person would need to gain. I wish you well and you can over come this with support from your loved ones and health care professionals.

You should aim for about a pound a week until you reach a weight that you and your physician have determined based on your body build.