Net calories, weight loss and eating disorders.

Your fear of gaining over a 500 cal net for the day is telling me you need to speak to a professional. It sounds like your disordered eating still has a strong hold over you, and you should not be pursuing any weight loss without the guidance of professionals.

You need to be eating far more than 1,000 calories per day, and net far more than 500.

elphie754 wrote: »

Kalikel wrote: »

You should see your doctor. He can give you a good target goal weight and tell you how many calories to eat a day. He can also recommend a dietician - with any luck, one who specializes in EDs.

If you have a therapist, touch base with them.

Once ana/mia, always ana/mia. [\b] You have to be careful when losing or you'll end up slipping into bad habits. Never, ever skip a meal.

Good luck!

Not true at all. 10 years ago I was diagnosed with bulimia. I was considered "recovered" a year later. Now I have absolutely no symptoms and able to begin weightloss is a healthy manner. Recovery is possible.

Eating disorders never go away. It is good that you are in a good place for you. But this is not possible for everyone. You are still in recovery, albiet in a healthy place.

misskittyninja wrote: »

elphie754 wrote: »

missiontofitness wrote: »

elphie754 wrote: »

Kalikel wrote: »

You should see your doctor. He can give you a good target goal weight and tell you how many calories to eat a day. He can also recommend a dietician - with any luck, one who specializes in EDs.

If you have a therapist, touch base with them.

Once ana/mia, always ana/mia. [\b] You have to be careful when losing or you'll end up slipping into bad habits. Never, ever skip a meal.

Good luck!

Not true at all. 10 years ago I was diagnosed with bulimia. I was considered "recovered" a year later. Now I have absolutely no symptoms and able to begin weightloss is a healthy manner. Recovery is possible.

Eating disorders never go away. It is good that you are in a good place for you. But this is not possible for everyone. You are still in recovery, albiet in a healthy place.

No I am not in recovery. If you were to look in my medical file it says "recovered" not "in recovery". There is a HUGE difference. If someone asked for med medical problems they would get a list of: bp type II, and severe allergies. Nothing about an ED.

Yes but I think what she means is that it is always possible for an eating disorder to start up again. My sister is a good example of this. From age 15 -18 She was recovering on and off. She got back to being a healthy weight for a few years and she no longer had to seek therapy then she had some issues with study and went back into her eating disorder for another 4 years until she was hospitalized. This went on until she was 30 and now she's a healthy weight again and has been for the last 2 years.

I think what Kalikel was getting at is that if you had an eating disorder and recovered. You can still fall back into it one day, which is why if you start to think you are falling back into it, you should seek help ASAP to get help ASAP so it doesn't take over your life. If it's a false alarm then no ones going to think you're silly, they'll be happy that you are on track and you determined to stay healthy.

It's tough recovering from eating disorders. So well done! I guess it's one of those large obstacles in life and having fought through it must have been hard but i'd imagine you are now stronger . I hope you all the best with your journey! (*)

^This.

I hate to use this comparison but it's just like when you quit smoking. After a year, your insurance will allow you to claim yourself as a non-smoker, but that doesn't mean you don't face triggers every now and again that might lead you to start up once more.

You can be doing very well and "declared" recovered from your eating disorder medically, but psychologically, it is always something you have to make sure you don't fall back into because of triggers and resurfacing habits/negative thoughts.

katiehunter921 wrote: »

Hi guys,
I'm 5'4 and ~145lbs. I'm hoping to get down to 120-125lbs. MFP told me to eat around 1300 calories a day. What does this mean in terms of exercising as well? I have a history of disordered eating and I'm not sure if how I'm seeing these numbers is rational or not. I'm happiest when my net cals are under 500. Is that reasonable? I'm eating over 1,000 a day, but I exercise typically 6 days a week and usually burn 200-800 calories depending on how much of a workout I get in. I don't own a scale, so I can only weigh in when I go somewhere that has one, but I haven't noticed any significant loss. I've finally gotten better control over myself recently, so a lack of weight loss is due to not sticking to healthy foods consistently. I'm really anxious that if my net calories exceed 500 a day that I will gain weight.

Hi Katie,
I advise that you speak with your doctor about getting into a program that treats eating disorders. You say you have a history of disordered eating, but it sounds to me like your eating disorder is very much in the here and now.

500 calories is not enough fuel for your body to get you across the street, so to speak. In fact, even 1,000 per day is way too low. Exercising creates even a bigger calorie deficit.

The best of luck to you.

katiehunter921 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies y'all. My ED was never enough to qualify for hospitalization. I was never that good at it. My mom once threatened to take me to the hospital after I dropped some weight, but I was still in a healthy weight range so its not like they would have done anything. I can't really afford to see a doctor, but I can go to counseling on campus for free. Maybe I'll look into that.

Awesome decision, good luck!

Great job in reaching out for counseling. Not enough people can recognize the need for it in themselves.

As for the technical side of things, when MFP tells you to eat 1300 calories. They mean you should net 1300 calories. If you do 400 calories of exercise that day, you should eat 1700 calories (1700-400=1300 net). MFP already has the required deficit built in, so if you change that deficit with exercise, you should make up for it with more food.

katiehunter921 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies y'all. My ED was never enough to qualify for hospitalization. I was never that good at it. My mom once threatened to take me to the hospital after I dropped some weight, but I was still in a healthy weight range so its not like they would have done anything. I can't really afford to see a doctor, but I can go to counseling on campus for free. Maybe I'll look into that.

Just want to say that this answer made my day. I really hope that you go and that things get better Best of luck to you OP! :flowerforyou:

elphie754 wrote: »

Kalikel wrote: »

You should see your doctor. He can give you a good target goal weight and tell you how many calories to eat a day. He can also recommend a dietician - with any luck, one who specializes in EDs.

If you have a therapist, touch base with them.

Once ana/mia, always ana/mia. [\b] You have to be careful when losing or you'll end up slipping into bad habits. Never, ever skip a meal.

Good luck!

Not true at all. 10 years ago I was diagnosed with bulimia. I was considered "recovered" a year later. Now I have absolutely no symptoms and able to begin weightloss is a healthy manner. Recovery is possible.

It is my personal opinion that there are no ex-alcoholics and no ex-ana/mias. Once it's been a part of you, you need to stay on guard, especially when participating in the behavior that took you down that road.

Alcoholics shouldn't drink. If they do, they should keep a serious eye on how much, why they're drinking, if they're enjoying it too much, if they're letting it go too far.

Ana/mia people shouldn't restrict. If they do, they should keep a serious eye on how much they're restricting, if they're fasting, how much they're liking the fasting, if they're doing too much exercise, etc.

I honestly believe that once you've recovered, you should never miss a meal, even if it's a tiny one. The fasting is too addicting for most, especially once you throw in exercise. If you purge, even ONCE, you should immediately set up appointments with the doctor, therapist and nutritionist.

Might there be exceptions? There might. But making sure you never skip a meal won't hurt you. Fasting could.

People with a history of ana/mia should have their weight loss journey overseen by a doctor. Everyone should! But they, especially, should. It's the smart way to stay healthy.

I appreciate other viewpoints. I think it's really good for people who are interested in this stuff to get different viewpoints! So, yay diversity there.

That's my viewpoint.