Keeping energy levels up?

lavender_moon · November 2014

I'm 21 years old, and in the process of trying to recover from a mild relapse of anorexia.

I'm trying to eat at my "maintenance" calories according to myfitnesspal (1700). I'm not comfortable with actively seeking weight gain, but I really do want to be healthier.

The problem is that eating makes me so exhausted. Physically and mentally--I have absolutely no energy. I'm a college student, and this coming week is the beginning of three weeks of finals. I can't afford to be constantly in a food coma right now.

I feel like I have to have a light breakfast and lunch because I need to be productive and focused during the day, but then I end up 800-1000 calories below my goal, easily, even after eating dinner. And every day that I "restrict" like that and know that I'm eating at weight loss amounts is super triggering and makes me even more scared to eat more.

So how do you keep your energy levels up when you're eating more than your body is used to/needs? I'm not trying to gain weight, but I figured that this would be similar to the experience of people who are trying to gain weight.

Doing_me · November 2014

Hi there, did you try and replace some of those calories with protein shakes or green smoothies? They are relatively light so that you don't feel like you are in a food coma but can add up to a couple of calories here and there while adding protein, vitamins and fiber to your diet.

Also try nutbutters, they are high in calories but healthy at the same time. And make sure you plan for your meals ahead and prepare them along with some healthy snacks so you can plan for your calories in advance. It helped me a lot and prevented me from being way below my cals and then frantically having to look for something to eat in the house just to reach the days goal

Tilandra · November 2014

Add more meals to your day. Eat light breakfast and lunch if that's what you need to do to stay alert, but add more to your evening meal, and add a before bed snack that's calorie dense. I find snacking on chocolate works for me... I don't feel very full after eating them, and they're calorie heavy. I'm usually 300-600 short of my calorie goal every evening, so I add 9 Hershey's kisses to my dinner for dessert and that gets me fairly close.

Also, while just beginning your recovery you're going to have heavy meals making you sleepy, in my experience as you continue to add weight and have a steady, reliable meal schedule, that effect will lessen over time. I was falling asleep after every meal when I started my weight gain program, but now that I'm a month into it, I have that happen less and less as my body gets used to regular meals.

Also, if you are getting excessively sleepy after meals, make sure your healthcare provider has checked your thyroid function. That can be another cause of "food coma" after meals.

alereck · November 2014

Most people have low energy when they eat too little, not sure where you are getting your energy from since you have so little to pull it from. My guess would be that your problem is much more physiological. You might also be eating foods that are not very nutritional and more calorie dense. A decent size meal of 400 calories should not make anyone feel energy deprived, other than that make sure you snack on less filling foods such as nuts and dry food, those are high in calories and do not make you feel full. I hope you are getting the help you need, it sounds like you have a very unhealthy relationship with food.

Phrick · November 2014

Tilandra wrote: »

Add more meals to your day. Eat light breakfast and lunch if that's what you need to do to stay alert, but add more to your evening meal, and add a before bed snack that's calorie dense. I find snacking on chocolate works for me... I don't feel very full after eating them, and they're calorie heavy. I'm usually 300-600 short of my calorie goal every evening, so I add 9 Hershey's kisses to my dinner for dessert and that gets me fairly close.

Also, while just beginning your recovery you're going to have heavy meals making you sleepy, in my experience as you continue to add weight and have a steady, reliable meal schedule, that effect will lessen over time. I was falling asleep after every meal when I started my weight gain program, but now that I'm a month into it, I have that happen less and less as my body gets used to regular meals.

Also, if you are getting excessively sleepy after meals, make sure your healthcare provider has checked your thyroid function. That can be another cause of "food coma" after meals.

Postprandial somnolence ("food coma") caused by bad thyroid function? You got any science to go with that?

lavender_moon · November 2014

Thanks for the advice, guys. I guess the big night time snack is what I need to do. It's hard for me to think about eating that many calories at once, though--I just keep thinking that that's way too much, that that's not healthy at all, that I'm binging.

And I do know that this effect will lessen over time. I just finished the refeeding process, after four months of treatment. The problem is that I really need my energy to be high right now

Smoothies are a great suggestion, but I don't have access to a blender!

And alereck-- actually what I'm experiencing is completely normal. When your body isn't used to digesting X amount of food, it has to use more energy to do so. Just like when someone w/o an eating disorder has a big meal and feels sleepy. Also, I eat healthy, and have struggled with orthorexia in the past so I don't think that that is the problem.

Brolympus · November 2014

Depends on what you are eating. I swear by lower glycemic-index foods. Eating sugary foods gives me such a bad energy crash. I find that eating foods like sweet potatoes, veggies, nuts, oats etc. gives me a lot better source of carbs. I also typically eat small snacks every few hours as apposed to large meals, so that also helps keep my blood sugar leveled out.

Keeping energy levels up?

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