how quickly can I put on weight?

[kodachrome]

So, long story short, I've spent an entire year trying to regain weight and have lost and regained the same five pounds over and over and over and over and over. I'm fine maintaining whatever weight I happen to be, but I absolutely hate the process of gaining weight. I never intend to lose weight, but when I accidentally do, it never comes back on.

I'm tired of this osteopenia bullshit (hurray for another stress fracture!), so I've decided to just bite the bullet and gain a lot of weight quickly instead of the whole gaining slowly approach that I've been doing. I know I can maintain whatever weight I end up being just fine (I like consistency in weight--it's unpredictability and fluctuations that upset me), so if I just get through the weight gain part, I'll be OK.

So, that being said, I really bit the bullet and forced myself to eat about... eh, maybe 7,000 calories on top of my normal intake today? Not a binge, as it was totally deliberate and calculated. I would have eaten more, but my stomach hurts like a complete bitch. (I never want to have ice cream again, ever. Urgh.) How quickly will the weight appear, and how much am I likely to see? The more weight I gain, the better. I just want to wash my hands of weight gain and just maintain Is it reasonable for me to be able to put on 3-4 pounds a week if I just stuff my face? I have 7 to gain to the bare minimum healthy BMI.

[B/P_Machine]

I don't know anything about you but keep in mind that long periods of restriction and/or other behaviours associated with long term disordered eating habits can affect your bodies ability to digest food and absorb vital nutrients.

People in a situation you are describing would experience vastly varying results.

I hope things get better. Do you have any medical / nutritional professionals working with you currently?

[kodachrome]

Yeah, I'm afraid of that. I deliberately tried to overeat to gain weight a few weeks ago (maybe 4000 calories or so) and gained nothing :/ but I'm no longer exercising because of this shitty stress fracture, so idk, hoping this time I'll actually gain. I don'tget any enjoyment from eating so much of this at once... if I can just put myself through this once or twice more and be done with it forever, I'm all for it

[lifenbones]

"In most patients with anorexia nervosa, an average weekly weight gain of
0.5–1 kg in inpatient settings and 0.5 kg in outpatient settings should be an aim of treatment. This requires about 3500 to 7000 extra calories a week."

But I've heard it's about 2-3 pounds suggested

[Hershey]

Holy hell. 7000 calories over your maintenance everyday? Are you sure? That sounds kind of extreme.

I would just eat 3000 calories a day. In order for you to gain weight, the increase in calories has to consistent. So eating 3000 calories everyday for 30 days can easily get you those 7 pounds.

And just adding this in there: Don't get these calories with shit food (trust me). Eat the healthy fats like nut butters, avocados, coconut milk, dark chocolate, whole milk, nuts, olive oil...etc. Not to say that you can't have a honey bun or whatever. Just saying you shouldn't overload you body with boxes of twinkies to get these calories LOL--->I did this and I'm seriously convinced it added to my bulimia disorder. The struggle...

[Solita]

I wouldn't attempt anything more than 3 pounds a week at the absolute most my dear! And going for maybe 4,000 kcal/day with NO exercise whatsoever…try dense things like ProBars, milkshakes with peanut butter, trail mix, etc. so you're not miserable (though you're going to have to grit your teeth at times)…wish you'd have a nutritionist to help you through! You're a warrior! Fuck osteopenia!!! Now go take your calcium/D3 supplement and wash it down with a milkshake!

[kodachrome]

Holy hell. 7000 calories over your maintenance everyday? Are you sure? That sounds kind of extreme.

I would just eat 3000 calories a day. In order for you to gain weight, the increase in calories has to consistent. So eating 3000 calories everyday for 30 days can easily get you those 7 pounds.

I meant that I ate that much for today in hopes that if I eat normally (1400 calories or so) with no exercise for the rest of the week, today would lead to 3-4 pounds of gain.

I am working with a nutritionist and an ED therapist, both of whom were in agreement with my plan to try gaining rapidly (3-4lb/week)... although I think their idea was more that I was going to spread out the overeating over the course of the week, not cram it all into one day. We didn't really talk numbers... maybe should have in retrospect.

I dunno, I might just switch to eating normally and chugging Ensure by the gallon instead for weight gain. The physical pain from eating so much is awful.

[jay27]

I dunno, I might just switch to eating normally and chugging Ensure by the gallon instead for weight gain. The physical pain from eating so much is awful.

Yeah I do think it would be good to discuss specifics with your nutritionist on this one. I definitely know a lot of people who went with the regular meals + a lot of ensure route in treatment in order to gain weight (although, I think most professionals would consider "regular meals" to mean closer to 2000 calories than 1400). So its worth a try if it would be easier for you. Spreading your intake out to around 3500-4000 calories a day would be better both for absorption and for your pain level. Take care, you can do this!

[Alie J]

Holy hell. 7000 calories over your maintenance everyday? Are you sure? That sounds kind of extreme.

I would just eat 3000 calories a day. In order for you to gain weight, the increase in calories has to consistent. So eating 3000 calories everyday for 30 days can easily get you those 7 pounds.

And just adding this in there: Don't get these calories with shit food (trust me). Eat the healthy fats like nut butters, avocados, coconut milk, dark chocolate, whole milk, nuts, olive oil...etc. Not to say that you can't have a honey bun or whatever. Just saying you shouldn't overload you body with boxes of twinkies to get these calories LOL--->I did this and I'm seriously convinced it added to my bulimia disorder. The struggle...

Everyone is different.

I ate junk food continuously during recovery and I'm now fine 15 months later: no bulimia, no eating disorder. I just sucked it up, and ate between 6000kCal to 10 000kCal of junk food per day for awhile. At one point, I admit it was out of control binging but I continued regardless and didn't try to restrict or eat healthily. Eventually over a period of about 12 months my eating normalised naturally. Now I recognise if I get cravings for high calorie foods I know it's because I haven't eaten enough the day before and I give into them but it no longer results in an out of control binge.

The number of calories varies from person to person. 3000kCal should be fine for most women, unless they exercise a lot (which one shouldn't do in recovery) but some people may need more.

I am working with a nutritionist and an ED therapist, both of whom were in agreement with my plan to try gaining rapidly (3-4lb/week)... although I think their idea was more that I was going to spread out the overeating over the course of the week, not cram it all into one day. We didn't really talk numbers... maybe should have in retrospect.

I dunno, I might just switch to eating normally and chugging Ensure by the gallon instead for weight gain. The physical pain from eating so much is awful.

I think there will be pain, regardless of what you eat, be it Ensure or cake but going for easily digested food is always better.

Nutritional drinks are good but they're heavily fortified with vitamins and minerals so I wonder if it's possible to overdose on certain things by having too much? Perhaps it's best to consult your treatment team.

Do you find being weighed triggering? If so, how about not weighing yourself and if your therapist wants to weigh you, insist on standing on the scale backwards.