gaining weight

Question
QUESTION: hi, i am recovering from anorexia and i do count calories, though i know i shouldn't.  i weigh roughly 92 lbs right now and am 5'2''.  i want to get up to 102 but only a pound or two a week.  how many calories a day do i need to do this if i hardly do any activity?  i eat very healthy and very often... i am probably at 1700-2000 a day now.  but i am scared to go back to my overeating ways and need numbers to help me in the beginning.  please help!
ANSWER: Dana,
Unfortunately I can't give you a number without knowing your age-as you get older your metabolism slows down. Here's an easy calculator you can use, though.

http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/caloriesneed.htm

In your case, though, you'll likely need to eat slightly less. Anorexia causes breakdown not only of muscle and fat, but also your bones, tendons, ligaments, and connective tissue, and even eating like an anorexic for a week can cause your metabolism to slow way down to conserve energy. Your metabolism won't speed back up to its pre-anorexia level for six months to a year, and if you ever try fasting or any kind of crash dieting, you'll reset your metabolic rate all over again and have to wait another year to return to normal. Exercise will help a lot, but I wouldn't recommend you do anything more than 30 minutes of easy walking until you weigh 100 pounds.
Good luck!
Melissa

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: i am 25... eat less?  i am confused.

Answer
The standard calorie calculators are for "normal" people, not recovering anorexics. Anorexics have much slower metabolisms than normal people, meaning that they burn slightly fewer calories.

So, a normal person 25 years old, 5'2", and 92 pounds needs to eat about 1570 calories a day to maintain their current weight. To gain one pound in a week, you need to eat an extra 500 calories every day, so if you had never been anorexic, you would want to eat 2070 calories every day. Because of your slow metabolism, though, you should subtract about 200 calories. So, if you eat an average of 1870 calories daily, you will gain one pound per week.
Good luck!
Melissa

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