Struggling

I recently bought flaxseed and have been adding that to my porridge in a morning + had some peanut butter this morning too. I worry about eating a lot of calories though... even though i am underweight.

Edit: i'm not ignoring her advice, i'm waiting to be contacted by the eating disorder team but it could take a month.

Okay, in the meantime eat ALL of the calories you are supposed to eat.

I'd recommend that you find a TDEE calculator online and find out what that number is and change your MFP goal to this number, eat this amount every day whether you exercise or not.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to post a response, i guess i knew i was having problems and as i've said i have talked to a doctor (and am awaiting further contact). What was getting to me was that even when i ate a reasonable amount (today for breakfast and lunch) i was still so out of energy. I've done reading about the dreaded 'starvation mode' that seemingly doesn't exist so i can't blame that. Again, thanks for the responses, i really appreciate it.

Good luck to you. In the meantime follow Deksgrl's advice.

Good luck . . . get healthy, man. I agree it sounds like you're underweight and probably not feeling well because of a low calorie intake. You likely have very little body fat left, which means very little buffer or storage to draw on when you under eat. I've lost some weight in the past couple years, and it is easy to get caught up in image issues and want to keep losing too much or too fast.

One of the most important things is to love yourself, independent of your weight. That applies to before, when you were heavier, now (where it seems per BMI charts you're underweight), and even down the road if you gain a few pounds. Your identity is so much more than what you see in the mirror, which is sadly not at all what our culture tells us.

Had a big evening meal.. but now i feel guilty

Try to get by the guilt. This is about health. Your body needs fuel to function properly, you have not been giving it the fuel it needs. You don't feel guilty when you put gas in your car because you have to go somewhere, I presume? Your symptoms are like a car running out of gas.

If you feel really stuffed, plan better for tomorrow, incorporating more calorie dense foods to meet your goals, I think someone posted a list earlier in the thread.

Yes, that is disordered thinking. At this point you are at an unhealthy weight. You need to eat the food to prevent further weight loss.

Without going into it too much (really not fishing for any sympathy or trying to make excuses for myself), but i have anxiety issues that i guess have led to me having... perhaps unrealistic views about myself and my body. I really don't love myself, i enjoy seeing my weight go down and looking at myself in a mirror and seeing how thin i am. I am trying to change and eat more, but like i said, i'm struggling.

Thank you very much steelyjoe, i'm so grateful to you and the other posters. I think i sort of needed to get some of this out in the open and hopefully your advice and that of the other people on this forum will help. I need to eat more.

We're here to support you . . . feel free to friend request me and others who have commented. Almost all of the people on this site are looking to make or already have made some positive changes, so in a lot of cases, we can relate to struggles with body image and self-confidence. We have no idea what you look like, but you seem like a really nice guy - and people here are willing to take the time to invest in you and support you, as is evident by the length of this thread.

As far as feeling guilty about eating a large meal . . . I get the same way. What helps me is if I exercise in advance of the meal, then I feel like I've earned it. Tonight, I really want to eat a bunch of Sushi, so I ran during lunch and ate a little lighter to compensate. I use MFP as a tool basically to make sure the math actually works out, and the balance is correct. In your case, setting a goal of maintaining or maybe gaining some weight can help you to reliably track this. Balancing my diary to 0 gives me a feeling of accomplishment - I met my goals, one day at a time. Coming in over or under is not going to get me where I want to be long term, since the goals are already factored into the tool.

Food = Fuel
Food = Nutrition
Food = Good for You
Food = Healthy (in the proper amount)

Okay so what is the proper amount? For you, 2500 calories, without extra working out. You aren't going to gain weight here at this amount, if you do it will be minimal and you can certain afford it. So..... relax.

Because MFP does not include exercise. When you do exercise, you need to eat more for that.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to post a response, i guess i knew i was having problems and as i've said i have talked to a doctor (and am awaiting further contact). What was getting to me was that even when i ate a reasonable amount (today for breakfast and lunch) i was still so out of energy. I've done reading about the dreaded 'starvation mode' that seemingly doesn't exist so i can't blame that. Again, thanks for the responses, i really appreciate it.

Don't be confused! Starvation does exist. When someone who is overweight thinks they need to increase their intake because of "starvation mode" it is completely!!!!! different from someone like yourself who is in fact underweight and undereating and literally starving yourself. Your doctor seems to be on to something. This is a mental issue. You should be attempting to gain weight. You need to be looking at your MFP calorie goal as the very least amount of calories you need to eat during a day. Your real goal should be to meet or excede this number. Good luck and use all the eating disorder help you can get from the medical team.
:drinker:

Hi Netherling

When you say that MFP says 2290 it might be worth checking your settings.



If you're using a phone go to the main menu and select goals and then see what you have there for your target weight and weight loss goal. I am a little worried that you have set these at a time when you were still set on reducing your weight further and are now using these settings as confirmation of this harmful idea.

It is very important to remember that the app is just doing maths in the background and doesn't know anything about you.

I absolutely agree with the others on here who have said you should go and see the team your doctor has referred you to. Please don't try and 'get past it on your own'... they should be experienced and sympathetic and will have all the information and support you need to get to a good place.

However, you have said that there may be a delay before they get in touch with you, so how about trying the following in the meantime?

1. Work really hard on thinking that you have done really well to reduce your weight and now you are in a different phase and need to switch to a new goal.
2. Use something simple like the BMI chart to set a goal weight to aim for. I'm a 6' male too and the 'mid point' BMI (i.e. equal distance from being underweight or overweight) is about 160 lbs. This might seem too scary so maybe pick a weight that is still on the lower end of the healthy range - say 145lbs.
3. Now, if you go back into MFP and put your target in as 145lbs and choose the smallest possible weight gain per week (.5lb) it would be interesting to see what your calorie goal would be but I am suggesting this will be much closer to what is appropriate for you.
4. Set yourself the challenge (in the same way you did for your weight loss) to get as close to that calorie goal each day as possible.

This simple exercise will hopefully encourage you to eat more in the short term and may provide some useful background for when you get to your first appointment with the team you've been referred to.

Very best of luck

C