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caffeine asked in HealthDiet & Fitness · 9 years ago

How can someone recover from anorexia without gaining weight, or minimizing weight gain?

My girlfriend revealed to me that she is anorexic and is willing to listen to me for help. She had been telling people that she's on a diet plan responsible for her weight loss progress, which I should have kept my suspicion that the weight loss rate was beyond the safe rate, so that isn't true. She had been losing weight from starvation.

She has a desired weight that she's only part way there. I've told her that she could start recovering from anorexia by gradually increasing the breakfast meal in small increments. The problem is the widespread word that recovering from anorexia comes with inevitable weight gain.

Is there a way for her to recover from anorexia without gaining weight? I just have a feeling she will stubbornly stick to the path to her desired weight. I just don't want her to start recovering from anorexia, and then stop the recovery because of the weight gain pressuring her back to starvation. I've told her repeatedly that she doesn't need to worry about her weight that much because I love her in every way, but she's telling me it's not because of me, but because she just hates her body the way it is now. I'd just like to know if there's a way to not gain weight while gradually adjusting away from anorexia.

If it really is literally impossible to recover from anorexia without gaining weight, how can she minimize the weight gain? Are there comforting thoughts that can help her cope with the temporary weight gain that comes with recovery from being anorexic? such as the idea that the weight gain is water mass (not sure if that actually is true).

This is a long-distance relationship, and I will be seeing her in two months, so keep in mind that what I can do to help may have limits, but I'm willing to make the best out of it.

Update:

Thanks for the advice, Alex. However, let me clarify something:

She's been anorexic because her weight is above her desired weight. I would like to know the best way for her to gradually recover from anorexia without gaining weight. If that is impossible, I would like to know if there's at least a way to minimize weight gain and any comforting thoughts for her to cope with the temporary weight gain, so she doesn't slip back into anorexia.

30 Answers

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  • Alex
    Lv 7
    9 years ago
    Favourite answer

    What she needs to know is her RMR or her Resting Metabolism Rate. This is the amount of calories she needs to eat to neither gain nor lose weight.

    First of all she needs to look at this chart to see what her frame size and what her ideal weight for her height is.

    http://www.healthchecksystems.com/heightweightchar...

    Now she needs to figure out her RMR.

    (9.99 x weight in Kilograms) + (6.25 x height in Centimeters) - (4.92 x age) - 161

    You can use Google to convert the units. Just do a search for...for example, "100 pounds to kilograms" and it'll give you the answer.

    So let's say that for an example we have a girl that's a small frame and is 5'7 inches tall and is 20 years old. She should be 123-136 pounds but she's only 80 pounds. So she needs to gain 43 pounds to get back to healthy weight.

    So her weight in Kilos is 29.9 and her height in CM is 170.2

    So to plug in the numbers it's...

    (9.99 x 29.9) + (6.25 x 170.2) - (4.92 x 20) - 161

    (298.7) + (1,063.75) - (98.4) - 161

    Giving us an RMR of 1,103 calories per day to neither gain nor to lose weight. This is a healthy amount of calories to keep her body going.

    Now since we don't want to put on fat we need to be careful here. The best thing for her to do is to exercise. To gain healthy muscle mass which if she's anorexic she's likely lost a bit. So she needs to get into an exercise program to help build her body back to healthy levels. She should see a doctor first as to what is a good starting program for her.

    So in the case of the girl above she gets out her bike and starts riding. Now she's exercising which burns calories. Say light effort for an hour. That'll burn at her weight level 218 calories roughly. That's a 218 calorie deficit from her RMR diet. Her body needs those calories to build the muscle mass needed to do the exercise and has to pull it from somewhere.

    If you're in need of losing weight, you let the body pull that from the fat reserves but since you need to gain weight you need to supplement the calorie intake. So we go from 1,103 calories per day to 1,321 per day and she'll not gain any fat but will supply her body with what is needed to gain proper muscle and organ mass.

    If she does this gradually, she can take a year to get beck to healthy weight but even while she'll still be underweight she'll still be eating the right amount of calories needed to sustain her health while she's doing it.

    She really needs to see a doctor and maybe a nutritionist to help her get started and to monitor her while she's getting to a healthy body again, but this is what our doctor came up with and it really helped my daughter when she was underweight and recovering from anorexia.

    @Additional - Ah! You didn't specifically mention that. I thought you wanted her to get back to eating healthy without gaining weight too quickly. My bad.

    In that case the best thing to do is to find out her RMR, find out the calories she needs to neither gain nor lose weight and to come up with a balanced meal plan that supplies that number of calories.

    So going back to my example of the 5'7 20 year old, and she's at her healthy weight (we'll call it 130 or 59 kilos) and that would give her an RMR calorie daily requirement of 1,394. So as long as they don't eat more than the RMR requirement, they're not going to gain weight and will still be eating healthy.

  • 4 years ago

    Anorexia Weight Gain

  • ?
    Lv 4
    5 years ago

    How To Recover From Anorexia

  • 5 years ago

    Simply how much would you bench? Just how long achieved it take you to get at where you are now? What is your benchpress goal? In order to give the very best reaction to those issues you'll need the program https://tr.im/T3oWw The Critical Bench system.

    The Critical Bench is a course just for power, but power gets can equal size gains.

    The workouts you will find in this book therefore that could help you in achieving that impressive benchare: triceps push downs, triceps extensions (skull crushers), shut grip benchpress, barbell/dumbbell shoulder push and triceps falls but this thing are just a tiny section of what you would learn with this specific program.

  • 7 years ago

    Actually if you are anorexic focusing on weight will not promote recovery. If someone is anorexic they are restricting their food intake. Until she eats what her body truly needs it is really not possible for someone to be recover. Anorexia may look like it is about food but it really about emotions. Restricting numbs emotions and starting to eat again will bring up those emotions. She needs someone to talk to about that. People have all different types of bodies. If your girlfriend is trying to change what is her natural weight it will be next to impossible for her to get over her anorexia.

  • 5 years ago

    Just how much can you bench? Just how long did it get you to get at what your location is now? What's your benchpress aim? In order to provide the best response to these questions you'll need the program https://tr.im/9hJAn , The Critical Bench system.

    The Critical Bench is a program mainly for power, but power increases may mean measurement gains.

    The workouts that you will find in that guide therefore that will allow you to in achieving that outstanding benchare: triceps push downs, triceps extensions (skull crushers), shut grasp benchpush, barbell/dumbbell neck press and triceps falls but that thing are just a tiny section of what you would learn with this program.

  • ?
    Lv 4
    5 years ago

    anorexia is basically a syndrome what's curable with actual care. Well treatment for anorexia, is basically eating =[) but with care of course. Well, I don't really know you but try to eat what you like, and just think about what food you might not throw away. something tastey. Anorexia is basically a mental thing, that basically your inconstious implies more that you think your fat, but your not in reality.

  • 4 years ago

    walk around your home yard or neighborhood while on the phone

  • 4 years ago

    have one to two alcoholic dricks daily instead of more

  • Gail
    Lv 4
    4 years ago

    1

    Source(s): Gain Mass and Muscles http://emuy.info/MuscleStrengthHealth/?wagC
  • 5 years ago

    jog on the treadmill at 4 mph for 25 minutes or at 7 mph for 9 minutes

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