I just have a question. I believe I read somewhere that this IS in fact normal but I just want to get some opinions here. I've been recovering from an ED for about 2 years and doing very well now (most of the time). The thing is my weight has crept up past my target weight. I weigh a few pounds more now than I did before I even had an ED. I'm in the healthy weight range for my height, but it still really really bothers me and makes me want to lose those few pounds. I mean before ED I ate nothing but cheeseburgers, fries, pizza, regular soda, now I eat much much healthier than I used to and weigh more? How? I read somewhere that this is normal and sometimes your weight will go up a little more once you are eating normally, but then it will naturally settle back down to your set point once your body knows you aren't going to starve it again. Is this true? I've been really struggling with this lately and it's bothering me alot. Any replies are much appreciated. Thanks!

That did happen to me. Once I gained weight, my weight went to the middle of the normal range for my height and stayed there for 6 months to a year. After a year, my weight went down to the low end of normal for my height and pretty much doesn't budge. My metabolism started to speed up after about a year--but this is a year totally devoted to recovery and never slipping back into ED habits except maybe an odd day or two here and there at the beginning. Once I was strong enough to exercise again, I started very moderate exercise--walking and not for very long periods of time (we're talking maybe half an hour) and not at a very breakneck pace and just a few days a week. Since overexercising was how my ED first began, I had to be careful not to slip back into that and so far, I have managed. Really, it was the walking that seemed to kick my metabolism in gear again--that and the fact that my body realized I wasn't going to starve it when I did exercise. I also do some moderate weight lifting a few days a week too, but it is nothing major.

Thanks for your reply. Where I live it's starting to warm up now and I love to walk also so I'm hoping to get back into walking alot again. I think I can blame alot of my weight gain also on being a college student and just sitting around alot and studying instead of getting exercise. I was doing 20 min of pilates 3-4 days a week up until a couple of weeks ago. I just haven't had the time lately. I gained weight though doing pilates, but I think it was because I building muscle. I've been doing really good lately at not slipping back into ED habits. I've managed to eat fairly healthy but I'm not super strict about it either. I still have my share of not so healthy foods, but I think that's important when you are recovering form an ED. It's all about balance and how can you really be recovered if you eat ONLY healthy stuff all the time. That probably means you are still afraid of unhealthy foods. That's how I feel anyway. I can eat pizza now and ice cream (two of my favs) and not feel guilty about it. And also not feel I need to do extra exercise to get rid of it. Also, now I think of it, maybe these few extra pounds is water retention because up until recently I was taking diurectics when I felt really bloated (maybe 3-4 days a week) and now that I'm not my body is retaining extra water because it's so used to being dehydrated. I've been hard on my body so I guess I can expect it to not be normal for awhile. I've been recovering slowly from my ED for 2 yrs. It's been hard work but well worth it. Someday I'll be normal again. Can't wait!!