[dietcokeaddict]

Okay, well.... this is sort of a big confession but I figure here is the place to make it. I have known for a long time that i've had a bit of disordered eating. I would binge, purge, fast, take laxatives, you name it...

well I lost about ten pounds this summer from eating very little over the course of two weeks (actually lost around 16 pounds but gained six back in the past few weeks through bingeing and it seems... eating healthily?)

I came back from my diet-filled vacation and immediately began bingeing. I binged for two days, dieted (and when i say diet, i mean less than 400 calories a day. Obviously, the binges were a result. DUHH), and then binged again, managing to regain six pounds. Now, for the past few days I have been eating healthily, three meals a day plus a snack and dessert, keeping around 1400 calories a day. My carbs are a little high, but I'm a vegan so it is hard to balance out protein and fat when no dairy egg or meat is allowed.

My problem is, I seem to be gaining weight, though I am eating a normal amount and exercising about 30-60 minutes a day. And (this is sort of gross) I haven't really had any bowel movements and I am very bloated and gassy even though I have definately been getting my recommended amount of fiber and drinking lots of water.

My question is, will I continue to gain weight if I keep eating and exercising this amount, and will my digestive system get back to normal if I keep eating and drinking this way (I think it got messed up because of "dieter's tea" aka laxative tea). I know I haven't been at this very long, but I feel like I am eating a lot and it is hard to keep myself from going into binge mode, but I have been doing it so far and I know what to do to keep myself on track... I feel like I am eating quite a lot and if I continue to eat this much, then I will gain all my weight back and then some.

I know I lost the weight in a very severe way, but am I destined to gain it all back??

[madscientist]

Been there, done that!

That's the bad thing about extremely low calorie dieting. Your body gets used to it, and anything more creates a gain. It thinks you were starving, so you need to convince it otherwise. I suggest you eat as healthy as you reasonably can and start upping your calories and normalizng your exercise routine to something that is more sustainable. You may very well gain some, but I guess that's the price you have to pay. I lost 20lbs in two weeks once by eating less than 400 calories a day and exercising 2 hours a day. But I gained it all back when I had a near collapse and had to resume normal eating. My body was STARVING and it held onto every bit I gave it. But it evened itself out over a short period of time, and I started losing again at a healthier pace.

Your body is recovering right now, and things are little off. You keep at what you're doing, and you'll see an improvement. A few days isn't enough to correct half a dozen binge/starve cycles. You're also probably gaining water back as well. Lack of BM's can be caused by dehydration and all the problems you're experiencing are probably from the dieters tea upsetting your systems normal balance. When I have a stomach bug, it takes me 3 whole months fully recover. Not all of us have systems are resilient to such immediate drastic changes!

I know how hard it is to have an eating disorder. I struggle with it everyday. But I think you're back on the right track and whatever weight you may gain, keep it in perspective that your body is reacting to what you did to it. It doesn't mean it's going to keep going like this, but you need time to recover. Stay off the scales a few weeks if you need to, if the numbers are going to trigger a binge. Also, if you're eating alot of carbs, that can make you overly hungry and make you want to binge. I understand being vegan, I tried it for a few months, but I'm sure you can find some recipes that aren't carb loaded. One thing I ate alot was a tofu scrambler. It makes it look like scrambled eggs, and the flavor is rich and spicy and all that tofu is filling. All I used was soft tofu mixed with some tumeric, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and crushed red pepper in a skillet and voila!

[srmb60]

The marvelous thing about our bodies is that they are constantly rejuvenating themselves. Every moment of every day we make new cells. New hair, new nails, new skin, new muscle, new bowel, new stomach ....
Granted, there can be irrepairable damage to some organs etc but on the whole, we rebuild and repair pretty well.
In order to build good strong new cells, we have to eat healthily and use our bodies wisely. Our bodies can get cranky and make us suffer for our abuse. But good care and patience usually work to over come this.
Will you gain it all back? I don't know. But I do know that you can lose it again .... healthily and permanently.