Gaining weight? eating disorder recovery?

Are you able to go the Renfrew Center in Florida? I've never had an eating disorder but have taught many yoga classes there in the past, to people with all types of eating disorders. I've been very impressed with their program. There's several locations - http://renfrewcenter.com/locations/non-residential/coconut-creek-fl

Good luck to you!

I meant 'Aldi' supermarket sorry.

Also just want to say that I was not suggesting body building. Yes, she should check with her doctor first. And it depends on where she is in her recovery. There are obviously different stages. The emotional stage is longer than the physical. Eventually she will have regained weight and health. Then she can begin to learn and live a normal, healthy life without fear. It's ok then for her to read the many stories of former anorexics that found their mental and physical health in many ways including gentle yoga and beginning strength training (that does not mean body building). And yes I went through this as a teenager. I weighed in the 80 pound range, but it was short term and not a long term experience. I recovered well. But before that I did experience frightening health issues. And that was enough for me to choose health and never look back. I gained weight eating brownies and pie. My mother was worried about that. But that was how it started when I weighed 98 pounds and my mother told me that I was curvy and probably going to struggle with weight my whole life if I continued eating like a teenager (I was a teenager).

Hey Ulwaz, looking over your diary you seem like you've got a really good base for weight gain, but you really need to start eating more calorie-dense foods. Some more ideas for getting your calories up there:

- Ditch the "low calorie", "sugar free" foods and trade them in for their more delicious full-fat counterparts. Buy regular mayonnaise and hot chocolate and WHOLE milk instead of skimmed and full-fat yoghurt
- Cook foods in oil or butter.
- Cheese! Or avocados, nuts, nut butters, whole-grain bread, ice cream... Add in a handful of nuts with your fruit snacks, for instance. Eat a cheese and apple sandwich. So delicious. When you eat porridge, add in a tablespoon or two of peanut/almond butter.
- Instead of cardio, try a gentler exercise, like Hatha or Yin yoga.

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

as others have mentioned, my doctor has me going down the road of calorie dense food, as opposed to filling up more on something like salads where you need to eat a lot more of it to feel full (unless you had high cal foods to your salads!)
she has me trying to much on seeds, adding avocados beans to salads, and buying the full fat version of dairy and other foods. no need to have any low cal foods, just focus on getting those fats, proteins and cals in. shakes too are awesome, with some full fat yogurt, coconut milk or regular milk, seeds, protein powder, fruit, pb will definitely boost that up! and helpful if you are busy throughout the day you can drink on that.
as far as what weight you should be, that would be something good to discuss with a doctor, i imagine they would would you closer to the middle healthy weight for your height. with me, they didn't want me at the low end of healthy and for 5'4" had me go up from 101 to 120 to maintain (they wanted 128 but for me that was a lot and they didnt want to trigger any relapses so we settled for 120)

Incorporating foods higher in fat can make it easier to reach your calorie goal.

This includes avocado, cheese, butter (and other dairy products), oils, chocolate etc.

Cut the exercise as much as possible, at least until you are at a healthy weight.

Continue working with a dietitian specialized in eating disorders.

Thanks for all the replies guys, any idea how much weight i ideally need too gain?

To get to the low end of your BMI - 6 kg. But, maybe it would be better just to focus on getting healthy and happy. You don't need another number to stress over.