terrified of gaining weight..

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Im 15, ive been recovering from anorexia for 7 months now I want to get to a normal weight but now more and more people are telling me im improving a bit, its good to know but its making me feel fat and want to lose weight and drop to 6 stone again, even when they say your improving but still too thin but i still want to be thinner...! I hate food and recovery is so hard, is it normal in recovery to want to cry and lose weight when you see the scale numbers go up a few and people tell you your getting bigger?

Just want to be rid of anorexia already sad

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3 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi Casie - I'm sorry to hear about your struggles.

    There are a couple of points here, and the first I really commend you for identifying.

    It can be really difficult when you are making positive steps towards recovery to have people around you complimenting you on appearance. They might not know any different, and are keen to tell you how much better you look, when actually you are fighting really hard with your shape changes, with your emotions and with the elimination of the compensatory behaviours you may have used beforehand to deal with such situations.

    One of the ways I have problem solved this sort of situation is through gaining confidence to assertively tell people what is helpful and what is less helpful. People usually mean well e.g. my mum buying in a particular food that she knows I like, but actually it's a bit of an indulgence and at the time it ended up causing me to get anxious about my meal plan as a result.

    The second point regarded your weight gain and the challenges surrounding this.

    This is hard for everyone, and I hate seeing the numbers on the scales change. I am learning that they shouldn't be going down, but seeing them going up causes me to freak out too.

    That said, I also know that scales only measure a transfer of body fluid. Mass is a lot more complicated. So say you weigh yourself in the morning, then drink a litre of water and then weigh yourself, you'll gain 1kg of water (assuming you haven't been to the toilet in between).  You haven't gained 1kg of water in fat, because that 1kg will wash through you.   (I won't do my dehydration/laxative rant now...but it's one of the reasons why people see a big difference initially on the scales after they have abused laxatives, because their body has been dehydrated...but it's not fat or weight they have lost...and as soon as their body is replenished with water it returns again to the weight they were before).

    Your weight will fluctuate. My period is due at the end of this week. I know that my weight increases by 1-2kg on my time of the month. (actually that's rubbish...it doesn't increase, my body just retains more fluid...) I know this because having weighed myself each month and straight after my period I've noticed the change. 

    It's normal for me and normal for lots of people without eating disorders. 

    Weight fluctuations over the cause of a month should be from 1-3kg, and over a day around 1-2kg. This is perfectly normal. There is nothing here that would stipulate that you have gained weight; it's just how your body is absorbing, digesting and excreting what you put in to it. 

    There is also more science (I have a BRILLIANT dietician, who has been the source to all of this). Being below your target weight band is a bit of an issue, because physiologically your body will be craving high energy foods (ie bingeing) until it gets to the weight band. If you have lost tissue through weight loss, your body will crave energy until it has replaced this, and that is defined through your genes what your target weight band is. It sucks, but if you have to get to a BMI of 20, it is helping you maintain a low weight rather than maintain the cycle of starve binge which has been making you unhappy.

    The other thing, which people worry about is bingeing and weight gain. It's important to eat regularly, evenly spread out through the day, with balanced nutrients (including carbs) if you want to avoid bingeing. If you need to gain actual body mass, you will need to be regularly be eating 3000 calories a day. To gain 1kg of mass over a week, you would need to follow a 3000 per day plan for a week with no exercise.

    I'm actually in a difficult position myself, because having accepted the fact that in order to stop my bingeing behaviours I need to gain weight, I am running out of time with my treatment team to get to my target band and won't have the support of them if and when I get to that point. I am happy at my current weight, but I know that it's not sustainable. Bit of a catch 22!

    I think the solution is to keep persevering and build up your support networks. It's really tough and no-one expects you to be perfect every day.

    Have a very concrete meal plan that you can follow, and stick to it.

    Allow yourself to be challenged, but also set yourself manageable goals e.g. is there a social event you want to build up to? Is there a particular meal you could cook?

    Also factor in motivational goals that aren't solely around food smile

    Hope that helps a little. Feel free to PM if you want any more advice.

  • Posted

    Hi

    I am trying to recover from anorexia but i am scraed that to get to a normal healthy weight again i have to eat a lot more but once i get to the heathy weight will i be able to stopping putting the weight on?

    • Posted

      Hi Kirsty - sorry to hear you're struggling, but it's great that you are choosing to recover.

      One of the techniques I've learned in therapy is radical acceptance (it's a DBT skill and is really useful for when you're having a difficult day).

      The long and short is in order to recover from an eating disorder, you do have put on weight (if you are under what is healthy for your age and height), and you do have to eat. 

      If you try and cut corners then your body will constantly be trying to get that energy to get back to the weight it is designed to be, causing you to eat more and put on more weight, (which in turn may force you back into your restricting urges).

      What is really common is people learnt to stabilise their weight under what is healthy...BUT become very obsessive about every detail in order to maintain that band. And when a binge occurs (which as described above...will happen...they restrict to get back to that band they have set).

      What you should do is spend time working with people on how you feel when you get to your weight band, and maintaining at that, rather than the fear of getting there. 

      When you are at your target band, you should stick to your meal plan because we use food in a fight or flight scenario so can't trust hunger as a judgement. This will avoid relapse/weight gain from not being able to recognise fullness.

      Hope that helps

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