I got a few questions in a email the last day which i thought i would answer in the blog aswell, as i know that others have similiar questions... so i would answer everyone at the same time? :) haha
1. How can I get Ana out of my head? There are always bad thoughts in my head, that I should stop eating, go exercise and so on… Do you have some more tips?
2. Why can’t I get full even if I eat tons of food? Will I get full if I’m healthy?
3. After everything I eat my stomach gets sooo BIG! Will this also stop when I’m healthy? It’s not very comfortable :/
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4. Just wondering: Will fully recovered Anorexics still stay skinny? Every recovered Anorexic still looks like he or she is underweight! Do you know why?
1) When you get those voices/thoughts in your head then think like this... what will i get out of starving myself? Exercising etc Will it really make you feel better. Think about your goal of recovery... of getting your life back, feeling happy again, freedom and energy. If you skip meals and do exercise even though you shouldnt, then you are just prolonging everything and make everything worse. Its YOU who will have to take the consequences... its you who might end up in hospital or deal with long term health problems because of starving yourself. So try to stay focused on recovery. Know that you NEED to eat, even though the voice in your head says that you shouldnt. You wont feel better by skipping meals. You need to stay strong, fight the anxiety and know that the tough times make you stronger!
You have only just begun recovery? So your body isnt used to getting food so it feels constantly hungry... so allow yourself to eat loads. Because that extreme hunger will fade in time. When you eat regularly and have done that for a long time you should get your hunger and fullness feelings back!
Its just bloating. And that is because your body isnt used to eating... it will go over in time. It can take months until the bloating goes away though. So dont let that bother you... it wont be forever :) Just focus on other things!
4) I think its because it takes ALOT of energy and time to gain weight, that you dont easily gain weight. So you end up just gaining to your lowest healthy weight or are in a very low BMI because thats where your body is healthy. Thats why i tell people who are recovering that they shouldn't be scared of gaining weight because they wont become fat or overweight, just healthy!!!
I think for no.4, it's also because a number of treatment centres do not require you to gain to a minimum healthy weight. I know a number of people, myself included who have had to work against their team to get to a BMI of 20-22 in order to be healthy, and they look normal, not skinny, not fat but normal. Research shows that very few (+/-5% population) people are naturally at a BMI of 18-20, and most recovering anorexics do not fit into this bracket, but maintain a weight that is below their set, healthy point. Most research does show that anything under BMI 20 makes recovery a heck of a lot more difficult, and relapse rates are higher in those with a lower 'recovery' weight.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with this.. some clinics/hospitals, they let the patients just regain to 16/17 and then send them home again. But that is not a healthy weight, and i dont think you can classify yourself as recoverd or healthy if you still have an underweight BMI.
DeleteAnd yeah, i think the risk of relapsing is higher if you have a lower BMI. However my BMI when i was recovered was around 18.7... so i was at the lowest healthy weight. Now i weigh more and have a higher BMI though :)
dear Izzy,
ReplyDeletei have started reading your blog a few days ago and has been very very very inspirational to me ! it convinced and conforted me in the idea that i must do everything to recover a start to live !
Januay, i started reeating, not a lot for now, but i eat and as you say try to eat everything before saying "i don't like it" BUT i mesure all my food...i weight every single item i am going to eat
i a way it helps me not to eat "less than...."BUT i was asking myself if it is unhealthy and i should not measure anything or if i can do it for a while, the time i get used to know haw much represents a food portion....i have lost all my marks when it comes to serving myself food (and have no help or plate template around me as i live alone)
what is you opinion on this question ? have you measured, weight your food in your recovery process ? Can it be helpful to to so, to be sure to eat enough and not to undereat, sometimes portions can be threatening or seems huge even though there are not, and are normal portions
or is it bad to measure food intake ? and i should not do so ? i am so afraid not to eat enough but do not want to overeat either and feel sick afterwards ou uncomfortable (as i have binging/purging habits and sometimes thinks "you have eaten to much so why not binge and purge by the way?")
and if i measure food, for how long should i do it and when stop it as it is quite a habit now?
thanks for your help and thoughts izzy...with lot of love
(by the way: i am a french girl and i live in paris ...!!!)
I like question 2 - i am constantly afraid that i would slip into binge eating disorder when I was forcing myself to eat beyond full. I was told that in order to gain weight you have to eat beyond fullness but I can't tell the difference between binging and 'eating beyond fulless' (for weight gain). Having said this, the food that I 'binge' would only be my 'safe food'. J
ReplyDeleteEating beyond fullness is needed to gain wieght, because really your body doesnt want so much food so that you gain weight... thats why you need to eat more than you may want to.
DeleteBut binging, that is a mindless eating... where you dont have control over it. With eating because you know you need to its different. Because you consciously know that you are eating more, but that you need it. With binging, you might not want to eat the amount that you do but you cant stop yourself...
So dont worry about binging... you are eating what your body needs :)
Thanks for the reassurance! however I do feel uncomfortable physically and mentally after forcing myself to eat beyond fullness...I don't know whether this is ED's trick, or whether my body genuinely has had enough....I feel 'alright' when I eat to the point of just full, but I know that's probably not enough for me....but I don't know whether I should push myself to eat more and tolerate the short-term uncomfortableness, or to 'listen' to my body (or rather the ED voice? I'm not sure...) that I'm full.
DeleteConfused :(
J