Desperately Need HELP!!

N

niclyf

Cathlete
For Cathe or Anyone out there ...

While I still feel weird about talking about this, this is the ONE place I knew I could go to for sound advice.

I am just starting into what will hopefully be a successful recovery from anorexia. To give you some idea of where I'm at .. I'm about 5'6", and 104 pounds with a body fat of 10%. I've just started working with a nutrionist, which thankfully has given me the okay to continue my much REDUCED workout regime. (I used to workout 6 days per week). My question is, while I've backed off considerably for fear of losing more weight, I don't want to stop entirely and lose the conditioning and strength that I've worked very hard to achieve. What is the minimum amount of time I need to spend doing cardio and weight training to maintain my level of fitness while I recover? I've backed down to 3 days per week, 2 cardio (30-45 min), one day of total body weights. Is this sufficient to maintain my conditioning and preserve muscle mass?

Also .. is there anyone else that has recovered from this that can offer some insight and guidance towards success?? You guys are such a great batch. It's been my one source for the last 4 years in fitness, and it was the first place I thought to turn to with my concerns and need for advice on exercise. Any insight you could provide would be VERY much appreciated as I struggle to retain to being and feeling normal about myself again!!
 
Hi Niclyf!

I will leave your exercise ??? to someone more educated in the anorexia field but wanted to say we are glad you feel you can come here for some support. You are right about this forum being a great bunch of people. I just want to wish you luck and success as you work on making yourself healthy and feeling good again. Sounds to me like you have taken a very important step towards your goal. GOOD LUCK and keep us posted!!

wanting to Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH :)
"If You Get The Chance To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!"
 
First I would like to ask what your doctor has suggested as far as exercise? Back in 86 I was hospitalized twice. The first time I weighed 88 pounds ( I am 5'2") the second time I weighed 82 pounds. It was stronge in behavioral modification. I was allowed 30 minutes of exersice a day and worked up to 1 hour a day. I was allowed this because they wanted to get my calories to match what my normal exercise would be. In the hospital, they did allow me to exercise everyday only because that was the only activity that I was getting outside of my hospital room. My post hospital workout routine was for an hour 5-6 days a week. To maintain cardio it usually takes 3 days a week. Please ask your doctor what he/she would recommend. If it is ok, I would suggest cardio 3 times and week and weights 1 time a week. Good luck in your recovery.
Karen
 
I have no expertise in the field of anorexia, only what I've read. I'm sure you will receive some great advice & encouragement here. I just wanted to add my encouragement for your continued success...as far as I'm concerned, if you know you have a problem, admit you have a problem, & work to correct the problem, then you are a long way towards your goal.
Good luck...keep us posted as to how you're doing, & God bless.
Ruth
 
Yes, I've been there....Back in my teens, I had anorexia nervosa...got down to very scary 70 lbs...and only brought it up because my doctor at the time told me that if I lost one more pound, he would put me into the hospital and "force feed" me.

Anyway, as I went to therapy in my 20's and began to "heal", I decided to turn my "way" around...I took myself to a nutritionist, starting eating healthy, incorporated a good exercise plan. Since then, I have never "gone back"...I'm now 41 years old, still work out, still eat healthy...I'm 5'2" and weigh 108-110 pounds. Strangely enough, I'm always trying to put ON weight in order to put on some "bulk".

You sound like you're definitely on the right track in your thinking. Have you been in any therapy? Sometimes once we find what was "causing" our issues, it helps us to move past them.

Anyway, feel free to write me privately if you want at [email protected].

Terri
 
RE: Heartfelt thoughts . . .

Good morning, Niclyf . . .

I never suffered from anorexia in its fullblown manifestation, but I did suffer from bulemia nervosa back in the late '70's, before it was widely recognized as a disorder. It kind of came and went throughout my late teens and twenties, and only in my 30's decade, where I discovered exercise, has the disordered thinking and behavior abated. I so want to congratulate you for putting yourself forward and asking the questions here.

I have to say "ditto" to the other responders here, and also to offer that recovery from any body-image-related disorder, whether it be an eating disorder or an exercise disorder, is as much a one-day-at-a-time process as is recovery from other, more well-studied addictions. I remember my active-disorder days - for me it was like a mental and behavioral quicksand.

If I may suggest: don't weigh yourself. Period. And, in terms of your exercise program, listen to what your body / brain / heart WANT to do on any given day rather than what you feel you SHOULD do (following a pre-designed schedule) or are afraid NOT to do. Anorexia sufferers tend to be very methodical people, and adhere to increasingly impossible eating and exercise regimens; maybe the answer for you is to let go of any regimentation for a while and take each day as it comes.

That is probably about as much help as a screen door on a submarine, but it's the best I can do. I do wish you well, and I hope you continue to participate in this forum.

Annette
 
niclyf

All I can say is congratulations on trying to get yourself healthy again. I too had anorexia and I was 98 lbs at 5'7". I worked out 7 days a week. I sought the help of a dietition, a counselor, a doctor, and they all tried to have me back way off of my excersise. I didn't listen (although I did eat)and I developed stress fractures in my pelvis which lasted 8 long months. I was told I had "the Female Triad", which is severely restricting caloric intake and training so hard that I lost my period for 2.5 years. Because of this I lost about 10% of my bone density. Lucky for me though, you can turn this around before age 25, I was 24 when this happened.

Anyway, I am rambling, but I think the important thing here is to certainly keep up with weights. I can't tell you how much to work out, but weights will help build up your bone density.

I am truly pleased to hear that you want to get better. That is a huge stepping stone. I would just ask your doctor what he thinks. Mine told me I could work out everyday if it was walking or another easy form of excersise. But I was a runner and he told me I shouldn't do that more than twice per week. You really need to listen to your doctor. But again, be proud that you are seeking help. We are all rooting for you.

Take Care!
Christine
 
RE: Hi Niclyf!

Wow!! .. I'm overwhelmed with everyone's kind responses! I certainly didn't expect so many of you to respond! :)

My body wants to work out everyday, I'm the type that's been working out faithfully for 7 years now because I've come to really enjoy my workouts, but I'm SO scared of losing more weight that I force myself not to. It's a challenge, but the lesser of two evils over dropping even further down. I've also made an appointment with my medical doctor, as my nutrionist is the only professional advice I've sought so far. I'm hoping that between working with them both, in addition to therapy that I will be able to overcome all of this. Knowing that I have support here too is very encouraging, this is all proving to be quite a challenge to me!

Thanks so much for your words of encouragement!
 
Hi Niclyf! I had suffered from anorexia at the age of 19. I'm only 5'2" but weighed only 79 lbs. It took me truthfully 10 YES 10 years to gain weight! I didn't even exercise back then. I'm now 47 years old and in the best of health. I eat a very healthy diet. You will recover from this disorder but give it time and you will succeed in gaining weight. I don't think you'll lose muscle definition but maybe I would change the strength training part. You could do 10-15 reps of 2-3 sets for each upper body part but not resting at all in between the exercises. You just keep going. It's a circuit training that you'll be doing instead of a total body workout once a week. It's featured in the Muscle & Fitness Hers magazine (the current feature) and I started it and think its wonderful. I would keep to the 2x a week of cardio while you're recovering. Keep working with your nutritionist and my thoughts and prayers are with you! KathyH
 
Oh, honey! I hesitate to give specific advice because I'm not a medical or fitness pro. Consult with your doctor and do what s/he says. My gut reaction is that you should keep doing at least some strength training because it will help increase your bone density. I also think cardio is a good idea because it reduces stress.

You might want to ask your doctor about medication, if your anorexia is accompanied by depression or anxiety. I didn't really get over my anorexia until I went on Paxil seven years ago.

Please keep us posted on how you're doing. If you need a support group (and who doesn't?), we're here for you!

hugs,
Laura
 
Hi Nicely,

I haven't had anorexia, but I have had other problems with compulsive behavior so I have this piece of advice. Workout three days a week only. That's enough for maintenance of conditioning.
On the days you don't exercise do something else that needs to be done. Compulsive behavior is often an avoidance mechanism. We are often avoiding something. You probably have some unfinished business from your years of illness, and it might be time to SLOWLY, VERY SLOWLY tackle some of those things. You probably have tasks that need to be done, but you couldn't do them because of your illness and the time it required. Use the days you don't exercise to do some of those things. It'll give you a feeling of accomplishment and help in your recovery. Good luck.
 
Wow ... thanks so much for everyone's responses. It's nice to know that I'm not alone in this. What's surprising too is that there are others out there, who have invested time in their bodies through fitness and healthy eating, that somehow managed to fall into the trap of anorexia despite the solid knowledge that we've been armed with through our training and healthy lifestyles. I was beginning to feel like a hypocrit for falling into this rut solely based on the fact that with all of my knowledge on health and fitness, that I "should know better". I've spoken to my doctor that advised that my current exercise regime of 3 days cardio and one day of weights is sufficient and acceptable to maintain my current level of conditioning. Although I'd be lying not to say that I often have to push away the desire to train more, not because of my anorexia, but because of my enjoyment and stress relief that I get through my workouts. I'm still lost in how to begin to recover from this. I have the logical part of my brain that knows I need to put on weight, and change my tendencies and views on exercise and eating, but then there's the "anorexic" part of me that's just content to stay where I'm at and maintain a weight that I know is far below what I should be at. I guess I've always had the misguided viewpoint that weight is something we aim to lose .. not gain. How did all of you get through that mindset?? The thought of gaining 15 pounds in all honesty leaves me feeling a little panicky!

Thanks again for all of your responses and words of kindness. It's a *huge* comfort to know that there are others out there that have fought the same battle that I am ... and have come through on top!!

~ Nicole
 
Nicole!

I'm glad to hear that you are working with a nutritionist and getting help. My sister suffered with an eating disorder for many years and it was tough seeing her go through it all. The good thing is that she got help and did all the hard work of through her recovery.

Like the others have said here, I'm not an expert of any sort, but I do have one piece of advice. Since you want to keep up your exercise (but not too much, of course) have you tried doing a more relaxed type practice like yoga or pilates. Both of these help you to get your mind in touch with your body, something that I would think would be really helpful in recovering from an eating disorder. I have been practicing yoga for 4 years now and I find that it has really helped me in many ways, improving my body image being only one of them. For you I would probably recommend staying away from the more vigorous ashtanga or "power" yoga styles right at first. Since yoga is so popular now, there are lots of great videos out. The Living Arts series are really well produced and taught.

Just a suggestion. I wish you all the best, because you deserve the best. Take Care.

Loretta
 
RE: Nicole!

Hi Loretta! :)

Thanks for the post ... glad to hear that your sister has recovered from her struggle with an eating disorder .. I hope to be reciting that same story myself someday :)

I've tried Yoga, and unfortunately, for as healthy as it's supposed to be .. it just *bores* me to death. I've even tried just doing general stretching for relaxation during the evening while watching TV, and I just can't get into it. Maybe if I try taking a live class my thoughts on yoga would change, but in doing it to videos, it's just not been my thing. I've never tried pilates though ... so that may be an option if I can find a class. I belong to a local health club that I know doesn't offer it, but I think my park district might, so I may hop on your advice and give that a try.

Thanks a bunch for your thoughtful words and suggestions!!

Friends in Fitness,
Nicole
 
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