Hi friends! I've been reading here for AGES, and I suppose I should give a little backstory- I'm currently trying to gain weight to regain my period. I was bulimic for about 12 years, and always always calorie counting and generally undereating. I've also been underweight (nothing crazy) for about 12 also... I've never been "in treatment," but I've been reading Brain Over Binge, and that's what finally helped me quit binge eating and purging. NOW I can see that it alllllll went hand in hand- the undereating to "maintain" my too-thin body, and the binging as a reaction to the undereating, times a million.
Currently- I've been "trying" to eat intuitively AND gain weight for two or three months, and I'm not making any headway or really changing my patterns. Has anyone followed the "minnie maud" guidelines (2500-3500 calories of food a day with minimal exercise, until the body has reached it's set point)? If not, what have you done that's helped you instead?
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Yup, I've followed Minnie Maud and I didn't even have anorexia or bulimia at the time, I just had hypothalamic amenorrhea at a normal BMI. Following the Minnie Maud guideline of 2500-3000 calories minimum a day without exercise did wonders for me. After 3 years without a period, I regained my period in 6 weeks.
Hi, [@gabby]. Glad you made it over here. I’m excited to see everyone and all the conversations. It’s my understanding that eating disorder recovery usually requires more structure initially. Intuitive eating may be the goal, but most disordered eaters will “intuitively” restrict, which keeps them stuck and not making much progress on things like being properly fueled or stopping binge urges. It helps to have some kind of structure in place for regular, adequate meals, like planning breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a couple of snacks every day. Once you’ve been doing that awhile and move past the symptoms of being underfed, then you can start to tune into hunger and fullness signals and satisfaction. The signals are totally lost for a lot of us at first. Consistent, predicable meals help recalibrate them. Without that “eating satisfying meals” step, it’s too easy to eat a few bites and claim you’re full, or skip lunch because you’re (allegedly) not hungry. I’ve heard of the Minnie Maude guidelines, but counting calories to gain weight seemed as counterproductive to me as counting them to lose. I did better with learning to feed myself well-rounded meals that always included starchy carbs and/or sugar as well as protein and fat, plus enough food, like normal-people, non-dieting amounts.