My eating disorder sped up my metabolism??

thebutterflyeffectmfp
thebutterflyeffectmfp Posts: 3
edited November 13 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
i lost around 55 pounds eating a few hundred calories a day for over a year. There were a few binges, but I was definitely under eating.

When I decided to recover, I ate over 2000 calories without exercise and gained about 5 pounds. However, the 5 pounds refuse to stay on and I have to eat a lot even to maintain a BMI of 16.5.

I was eating to the point where I was feeling sick so I lowered my intake a little. I started exercising again and joined MFP. This site recommends me to eat around 1680 calories a day in order to gain 0.5 pounds a week. This is less than what I had been eating before and I was not gaining any weight.

I have been in recovery for almost 2 years now. I have not relapsed and have been eating AT LEAST 1200 a day, mostly 1800-2000. Keep in mind that I am short, so that amount is A LOT for me. Even at my highest weight of 140 pounds (overweight) i was eating around that number.

Besides my weight, however, everything else returned to normal. My hair, skin and nails are healthier than ever and my period has returned.

So my question is...is it possible that my eating disorder somehow sped up my metabolism? I have never had anything close to a fast metabolism but I am really curious right now. Did I somehow mess up my digestive system?

Replies

  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
    edited February 2015
    highly doubt it. that's probably just what your tdee normally is. 1800-2000 sounds around average for an 18 year old.

    if you weren't logging at your highest weight of 140, you probably have no idea what you were actually eating. might have been eating more than that.
  • thebutterflyeffectmfp
    thebutterflyeffectmfp Posts: 3
    Aviva92 wrote: »
    highly doubt it. that's probably just what your tdee normally is. 1800-2000 sounds around average for an 18 year old.

    if you weren't logging at your highest weight of 140, you probably have no idea what you were actually eating. might have been eating more than that.

    My tdee is around 1800-1900 right now because I exercise almost everyday. However, at the beginning of my recovery, I did not do any exercise and my tdee was 1300-1500 and I was eating 2000+ calories.

    At my highest weight I did count calories and was eating 2000-2500 calories a day. I did not exercise and my tdee was 1600-1800. I actually had quite a slow metabolism, according to my doctor, due to PCOS.

    Another question I have is how unhealthy is it to maintain an underweight BMI? I naturally have a small frame and am healthy everywhere else. My period is very regular now and all my blood tests are fine.
  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
    thebutterflyeffectmfp wrote: »
    Aviva92 wrote: »
    highly doubt it. that's probably just what your tdee normally is. 1800-2000 sounds around average for an 18 year old.

    if you weren't logging at your highest weight of 140, you probably have no idea what you were actually eating. might have been eating more than that.

    My tdee is around 1800-1900 right now because I exercise almost everyday. However, at the beginning of my recovery, I did not do any exercise and my tdee was 1300-1500 and I was eating 2000+ calories.

    At my highest weight I did count calories and was eating 2000-2500 calories a day. I did not exercise and my tdee was 1600-1800. I actually had quite a slow metabolism, according to my doctor, due to PCOS.

    Another question I have is how unhealthy is it to maintain an underweight BMI? I naturally have a small frame and am healthy everywhere else. My period is very regular now and all my blood tests are fine.

    i'm no expert on PCOS, so I'll let someone else answer that. I doubt that eating disorders would make a metabolism faster though. Never heard of that before.

    As for bmi, idk, my bmi is a little underweight at 17.7. I'm trying to get it up to at least 18 though. 16.5 sounds unhealthy to me, but my frame isn't that small.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    At the beginning of your recovery, your body required extra calories and nutrients to heal the damage you'd done to yourself. No surprise you didn't need exercise to have a TDEE in the 2000+ calorie range.

    As to your last question, BMI is not 100% accurate for everyone. %BF is more reliable, as are your regular checkups. If your health markers are good, no other indications of poor health like dull hair and skin, etc, and your %BF is not too low, then being a little under normal BMI is not a concern. However, don't just decide it's OK and run with it, especially with your history. Have a doctor sign off that you're good at the lower weight.
  • Springfield1970
    Springfield1970 Posts: 1,945 Member
    Your body was repairing itself with the extra calories, which is great news!

    Good luck, but your metabolism would have been unaffected by the disorder, except muscle loss perhaps. Good excuse for weight lifting and a bulk I'd say....
  • soidade
    soidade Posts: 116 Member
    edited February 2015
    16.5??? That's way, way too low – and studies have shown that being underweight (under 18.5) puts you at a greater health risk than being overweight (25-29.9; not obese, obviously). Please talk to a nutritionist, they'll help you.
  • AnexRavensong
    AnexRavensong Posts: 262 Member
    thebutterflyeffectmfp wrote: »

    My tdee is around 1800-1900 right now because I exercise almost everyday. However, at the beginning of my recovery, I did not do any exercise and my tdee was 1300-1500 and I was eating 2000+ calories.

    At least you have a doctor, so that is a good thing.

    Let me say though that if you are in fact, exercising every day (like going out of your way to do a lot), your TDEE is likley higher than 1800 to 1900.. I've been surprised since acquiring my Fitbit to see my TDEE is actually more around 2500 to 2900.. I never really considered that I walked so much (I don't have a car, so yeah..)
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,178 Member
    You are a teenager, and it sounds like you are still in early stages of recovery, and still too underweight to be doing any exercise, or to be battling with the disorder on your own. This site, or any other public forum with strangers who are not drs and have no access to your medical records, will not help and might do a lot more damage. You are going to get advice that might reasonable but not applicable to you, anecdotal stories from people with completely different situations than yours, and you are also going to get advice that is simply crazy (not refering to the previous posters). You need to talk to a dr, and get a support team of professionals to help you, the internet is dangerous in your case.
  • MacCroc
    MacCroc Posts: 50 Member
    Anexa wrote: »
    Let me say though that if you are in fact, exercising every day (like going out of your way to do a lot), your TDEE is likley higher than 1800 to 1900.. I've been surprised since acquiring my Fitbit to see my TDEE is actually more around 2500 to 2900.. I never really considered that I walked so much (I don't have a car, so yeah..)

    This.
    MFP is not very accurate at figuring out TDEE.
    Use a good calorie calculator, like scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/ or exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

    That said, there have been a few studies showing an increase in TDEE while in ED recovery, but they are not very consistent and I don't think it applies in your case.
  • Holla4mom
    Holla4mom Posts: 587 Member
    edited February 2015
    Congrats on your recovery success so far! That is really great that you are seeing your body heal. Continue to work closely with your doctor.

    My concern with justifying the underweight BMI and getting comfortable with it is that it does not leave very much "fat" (pun intended) in your recovery plan. If you are already seriously underweight, and have the tiniest relapse behaviors, your health/ life are right back on the line. In addition, it seems like it would be easier to move back into severe calorie restriction if you get comfortable with lower and lower calorie levels. I am in mental health, but absolutely not in ED, so please take this and EVERYTHING else you get on this thread with a grain of salt and run it by your doctor and a nutritionist/ dietician specializing in ED.

    Good luck!
  • pollypocket1021
    pollypocket1021 Posts: 533 Member
    No, an eating disorder will not change your metabolism. It does however, mess with your perception of what you are eating. Most people tend to under-log calories and over-log exercise. People with disordered relationships with food do the opposite. Rounding up, logging things you don't finish (logging the entire portion and only having a bite).
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
    No it didn't.
  • SoulOfRusalka
    SoulOfRusalka Posts: 1,201 Member
    Hypermetabolism is actually something that can happen to restricting-type anoretics when they start trying to recover and eating more. There have been studies done (sorry, computer's being really slow but if you look it up you should be able to find it.)
  • SoulOfRusalka
    SoulOfRusalka Posts: 1,201 Member
    http://www.scienceofeds.org/2014/05/07/hypermetabolism-in-anorexia-nervosa/
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    It'll eventually settle out though right?
  • SoulOfRusalka
    SoulOfRusalka Posts: 1,201 Member
    It's supposed to, as far as I know...
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    edited February 2015
    soidade wrote: »
    16.5??? That's way, way too low – and studies have shown that being underweight (under 18.5) puts you at a greater health risk than being overweight (25-29.9; not obese, obviously). Please talk to a nutritionist, they'll help you.

    I had a significantly low BMI my entire life (95-97 lbs throughout high school, and only in the 5th and 10th percentile for weight and height from the time I was an infant to 18 years old) and was the healthiest I've ever been during that time. So that's not always true.

    Some people don't try to be underweight; they just are naturally.
  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
    FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »
    soidade wrote: »
    16.5??? That's way, way too low – and studies have shown that being underweight (under 18.5) puts you at a greater health risk than being overweight (25-29.9; not obese, obviously). Please talk to a nutritionist, they'll help you.

    I had a significantly low BMI my entire life (95-97 lbs throughout high school, and only in the 5th and 10th percentile for weight and height from the time I was an infant to 18 years old) and was the healthiest I've ever been during that time. So that's not always true.

    Some people don't try to be underweight; they just are naturally.

    i was also underweight naturally from 18 through my early 20's at least and then again in my late 20's. now i'm back to that weight from my late 30's to now at 40. not sure if it's so natural since i dieted, but i'm easily maintaining it, so i don't think it's unhealthy. not 16.5 though. that would be too low for me.
  • yellowislove11
    yellowislove11 Posts: 2
    Becoming hypermetabolic during refeeding is very common!
    The body isnt used to having so much food to use and your body to burn more calories. Thats what causes the night sweats and "extreme hunger" early in recovery.

    You generally have to increase throughout. I started at 1550 and over the first 2 months had gradual increases to 3600, but I saw many people who went higher.

    Hang in there and push through :)
  • MacCroc
    MacCroc Posts: 50 Member
    @yellowislove11, that's very interesting! Are you back to your normal TDEE now? How long did the hypermetabolic state last?
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