[iixi]

Hi!

I've been pretty restrictive... my calorie intake is usually around 600 if I'm not binging -then its around 3000 -. I know that is too low but I am trying to recover from my mental issues and do this right and get fit at the same time.

I am 5'5", 21 130-135 pounds. I have a high paced job -CNA- and I do 2 hours of cardio about 4 times a week. I usually burn 600-1000 at the gym alone.

Eating 100-800 calories makes me so tired and miserable by the end of the day I'm either a ticking time bomb or I am going to eat everything in sight.

What do yall think?

[Changergirl]

Your maintenance calories are just less than 2000 for a sedentary lifestyle. Since you've got a high pace job and work out 4x a week for 2 hours it looks as though your actual maintenance calories are closer to 2200 calories.

Since you don't have a lot of weight to lose it's safest to look at losing a pound a week which would put you at a 500 calorie deficit a day (3500 calories=1 pound) which means you should be eating 1700 calories a day. I'm not surprised your tired and miserable at the end of the day. If I was eating that little I'd be binging all the time. If you increase your calories to around 1700 you'll have a ton more energy and won't need to binge.

Good luck with getting your eating habits sorted out.

[bargoo]

You aare not even overweight ! A healthy weight for your height is between 119 and 149. You night want to be at the lower end of that range but you don't have to cut calories so drastically to do that. 1400-1500 calories a day should do it.

[iixi]

Alright thank you gals I know I'm not overweight (well I was almost at the beginning of my journey @__@) but I am really just trying to get healthy and get into fitness

[Electro]

There are a lot of BMR calculators that will help you work out what your calorie intake should be to maintain a healthy mind and body.

Coming from such a restricted eating regime (especially if there are other issues involved) it is going to be difficult to get back to a healthy calorie intake level. You are going to have to deal with your body adjusting to the extra digestive process which can cause the scale to blip, even though it is not adding anything except water to allow the food to be processed effectively. You may need to decide on a different measure of success other than the scales eg measurement, ability to do weights, etc. But not the scales ... there will be fluctuations during the early stages of doing this and that may be enough to do your head in. It will settle though, but it can take time.

But you will find that as you are able to increase your food the binge urge will reduce. My suggestion would be to start using a calorie range each day for your target. At the moment it sounds as though you try not to exceed 600 per day. You should aim to get to 800 as consistently as possible so maybe set the first range at 600-800. Next range would be 800 - 1000 and so on. Try to ensure that you have lots of little meals during the day, use lean (light) protein where possible. This will allow your body to start rebuilding your lean body mass which means that you will have a better chance of your metabolism returning to normal.

Once you have acheived one target range for a while, move it up a bit more. About every week or so is best. This will give you the best chance to get back to a healthy intake.

Keep lots of little things around you so that you do not actually wait until you are hungry before you eat. Hunger is the physical trigger for the bingeing. Make it healthy things that you can tolerate already and try to build up the range as you go.

I would also suggest seeing your doctor and getting some bloods done. As you bring your calorie intake back to a healthy level there may be some changes to your vitamin and hormone levels and it is worthwhile making sure this is monitored.

Supplements have to be carefully chosen, your body will have been storing some extra vitamins and minerals as a result of the body feeling starved, as you move to a more sustainable calorie level they will be released and can cause over supply.

This is not going to be easy, it will require a strong mind and focus. But it will be worth it in the end. If you feel that you cannot do it on your own, please seek professional support. It does help when you get the right people on your side.

[iixi]

Originally Posted by Electro

There are a lot of BMR calculators that will help you work out what your calorie intake should be to maintain a healthy mind and body.

Coming from such a restricted eating regime (especially if there are other issues involved) it is going to be difficult to get back to a healthy calorie intake level. You are going to have to deal with your body adjusting to the extra digestive process which can cause the scale to blip, even though it is not adding anything except water to allow the food to be processed effectively. You may need to decide on a different measure of success other than the scales eg measurement, ability to do weights, etc. But not the scales ... there will be fluctuations during the early stages of doing this and that may be enough to do your head in. It will settle though, but it can take time.

But you will find that as you are able to increase your food the binge urge will reduce. My suggestion would be to start using a calorie range each day for your target. At the moment it sounds as though you try not to exceed 600 per day. You should aim to get to 800 as consistently as possible so maybe set the first range at 600-800. Next range would be 800 - 1000 and so on. Try to ensure that you have lots of little meals during the day, use lean (light) protein where possible. This will allow your body to start rebuilding your lean body mass which means that you will have a better chance of your metabolism returning to normal.

Once you have acheived one target range for a while, move it up a bit more. About every week or so is best. This will give you the best chance to get back to a healthy intake.

Keep lots of little things around you so that you do not actually wait until you are hungry before you eat. Hunger is the physical trigger for the bingeing. Make it healthy things that you can tolerate already and try to build up the range as you go.

I would also suggest seeing your doctor and getting some bloods done. As you bring your calorie intake back to a healthy level there may be some changes to your vitamin and hormone levels and it is worthwhile making sure this is monitored.

Supplements have to be carefully chosen, your body will have been storing some extra vitamins and minerals as a result of the body feeling starved, as you move to a more sustainable calorie level they will be released and can cause over supply.

This is not going to be easy, it will require a strong mind and focus. But it will be worth it in the end. If you feel that you cannot do it on your own, please seek professional support. It does help when you get the right people on your side.

Thank you
i've been trying to do better

Breakfast: vanilla greek yogurt with walnuts, strawberries, grapes and banana, muscle milk
Lunch: chef salad
Dinner: chicken

was yesterdays. Not sure how many calories... I'm kind of scared to count because thats what started my disordered eating. I got frustrated when everything I wanted to eat was getting too close to my total for the day so I'm just not eat and be angry.

Lately I've been binging so much I think at this point I need to decrease calories if you know what I mean xD

I hope this is just a phase. I feel so bloated. I binged today it sucks. I feel disgusting. It's going to take days to shake this feeling.

[Andrea85]

Originally Posted by iixi

Alright thank you gals I know I'm not overweight (well I was almost at the beginning of my journey @__@) but I am really just trying to get healthy and get into fitness

Since you are trying to get into fitness, in addition to the calorie advice given here, are you adding in some strength and resistance training to your workout? At this point, I think you would benefit more from that than just burning calories doing cardio.