Herbalife

Ever since starting my recovery I have really started to learn the importance of looking after your body. While I have done a much better job of this over the past 12 months then I had previously, I have decided that I would like to take that a step further and really start to nourish my body. I am hoping that this will improve my energy levels and get my body functioning optimally so that I can feel happier and healthier.

I have decided to start a Herbalife program which I hope will help me to feel more energetic and which I also hope will help me to fuel my body. Its by no means a weightloss program, but instead a wellness program which I may transition into a muscle building program if I decide to in the future. If you would like to find out more about Herbalife, follow this link. I have decided to start off with a protein plus starter pack as well as a herbal peach tea which is really supposed to help with your energy levels.

I have also joined a gym which I hope will allow me to grow fitter and stronger whilst taking the herbalife products and of course eating lots of good foods too. I am defintely not planning on taking the herbalife products instead of eating, I just plan to incorporate them into my diet. For example I might have a tea with my breakfast, and a shake with my lunch and add the protein powder to things I already eat ie. My morning oats or other snacks.

I have made my consultant aware of my history of anorexia and she is really excited for me as she believes Herbalife will really help me. She too was once really underweight and Herbalife has really helped her to transform her body and life. She asked me to write 20 goals and also do some before shots so that we can use them to see any progress I make. Here they are :)

1. Increase my confidence

2. Learn to eat more intuitively 

3. Cut back on sugary processed foods 

4. give my body the nutritious food it deserves

5. Get stronger

6. Gain some weight (in the form of muscle)

7. Become more energized 

8. Tone my muscles

9. Get fitter

10. Do a fun run for charity

11. Have a well balanced life 

12. Develop a healthier relationship with food

13. Stop counting calories

14. Learn to listen to my body

15. let myself rest when I need to

16. Develop a more positive body image

17. Prove to other sufferers that full recovery from anorexia is possible 

18. Increase my positivity and enthusiasm 

19. Run 10 kilometers

20. Visit the gym regularly  (atleast 3-5 times a week)

Listen to your body

People don't only run to lose weight

Something that people often fail to understand is that weight loss is only one possible goal for someone who runs or exercises. Just because some people may start running to help them lose weight, this does not mean that everyody does. Isuppose the raeson that I have decided to write this post is beacuse I have received comments from different people suggesting that it would be stupid for me to run. They have said that I have no need to run as i am already thin and that running would make me lose all of the weight that I have managed to gain in my recovery. 

Personally, I do not agree with any of these satements. I can honestly say that I do not want to lose weight anymore and therefore weight loss is definetely the reason why I exercise. I actually like my body the way it curently is and therefore if I did decide to start running or to do any other forms of exercise, it would not be because I have the goal of losing weight. I would only do it for enjoyment and also for my fitness and health. Afterall, there is nothing wrong with wanting to exercise so that you can be fit and healthy, as long as you are not taking it to any unhealthy extremes.

So I do not think anyone should judge me or critisize me if I want to start doing a bit of running. As long as I fuel my body with the energy that it needs, there isnt anything unhealthy about me going for a run sometimes. If I ever started to feel as though I was only running to try and lose weight then I agree that it is not healthy for me to run, but whilst that is not the case, I know that running is not bad for me. Also, I agree that it would no be a good idea for me to run whilst I was underweight but since I am not underweight, I dont really have to worry about that either. 

I was actually reading an article in the newspaper yesterday about how to eat and fuel your body whilst exercising, depending upon what your goals of exercising are. For example if you do want to lose weight, which may be necessary for some people who are overweight, then restricting your intake both before and after exercise was suggested. However if the exercise was purely for fitness purposes, then they reccommendded that you fuel up both before and after exercising, which is exactly what I do. 

What are your opinions on what I have said? Do you also find it frustrating when people fail to see that you don't exercise because you want to lose weight?? Do you have any ideas aboout how you can try to explain to those types of people that there is nothing wrong with exercising, as long as it is for the right reasons?

Eating intuitively to gain weight

Today I got asked aboout whether I followed a meal plan whilst I was eating proper recovery amounts and gaining weight or if I just ate intuitively. I thought that this was a great question so I thought I would write a post on the topic :)

While eating intuitively is something I am now working toward, I honestly dont know if it eating intuitively whilst you are trying to gain weight is a good idea or not. Perosonally, I know that I woud not have eaten enough in recovery to gain weight if I had not folowed a meal plan. I guess this is becausse when you are gaining weight, you actually need to eat an excess amount of food than what your body is necessarily telling you that you need at the time.

Perhaps the only time that eating intuitively would work in order for you to gain weight is if you were experiencing extreme hunger and were strong enough to give into your hunger cures 100%, but I honestly dont think that many anorexics would be strong enough to ddo that early on in their recoveries anyway. I honestly think that following a mel plan is the best way to recover and gain weight, but of course that is just my opinion. I would be realle interested to hear whether other people have been able to make full recoveries without meal plans or counting calories. :)

As far as counting calories goes, I would avoid it if you could as it really is an awful and destructive anorexic behaviour. Counting calories seriously nearly drove me crazy and I am so happy that calorie counting is no longer such a big part of my life. While I still do keep track of the approximate amount of calories I eat, eventually my goal is to not worry about calories at all and to just eat completely intuitively.

While it is better not to count calories in recovery if you can avoid it, to a certain thing it may be necessary. For example when I put my meal plan together, I designed it so that it contained a certain amount of calories, so that I knew I was reaching an acceptable intake each day. I think that the best thing to do if it was possible would be to get a dietician or a similar specialist to design a meal plan for you. This would mean that they can do the calories counting for you to ensure that your meal plan is suitable without you having to worry about numbers of calories yourself.

So while eating intuitively may be a fantastic goal for you to have one day, it may not be suitable for you to try and do that whilst you are gaining weight. Just as following a meal plan is not a healthy thing for you to do for the rest of your life. I guess you just have to do what is best for you in your particular stage of recovery and do what allows you to reach your goals and be healthy and strong!

Flexibility with food

It is only since I have made so much recovery progress that I have become more flexible in terms of my meal times and eating. Even though this may seem like a very small thing, I believe it is very important as life should not revolve around eating 6 meals at the exact same time every single day or eating a certain number of calories.

Dont get me wrong, I dont think following a strict meal plan with specific meal times in the early stages of recovery is a bad thing. In fact, I found that doing this was incredibely helpful amd helped me to get stronger and fight my anorexia. Now however I really enjoy having more flexibility when it comes to meal times. 

Once I would have never done anything if it would interfere with my eating or meal times which led to me missing out on many opportunities. Tonight when my cousin came and asked what I was up to when I finished work, I told her that I was going to go home, have tea and then take Tess for a walk. She asked if I instead wanted to take Tess for a walk first, with her as she was walking her dog.

My first thought was that I couldn't because I had to go home and have tea but then I realised that I wasn't even hungry yet and that I would much rather go for a walk with company. So I decided to walk Tess first,with my cousin and her dog which just meant having tea and the also dessert an hour or so later.

While eating is always incredibly important for those who are recovering from or who have recovered from anorexia, life shouldn't revolve around food. As the saying goes, you should eat so that you can live, not live so you can eat. My life really has revolved around food, weight and calories for the past 3 years and I am so glad that I am no longer living like this.

Tea: chicken carbonara pasta with LOTS of veggies

Dessert: banana and chocolate pop tart (I had never tried the chocolate flavoured pop tarts before and I thought they were amazing. I love how they were sticky and moist inside like a brownie)

Eating when I dont feel hungry

At the moment, I still force myself to eat practically the same amount every single day no matter how hungry I may or may not be. Lately, my appetite really has not been very good at all so I just feel as thoug I am constantly forcing food into myself all day every day. Something I wonder about is, when can I actually start just listening to my body like a normal person does and no longer force myself to eat the same amount all the time no matter what.

If a normal person is feeling unwell or not hungry, they will not always eat as much as they usually do. This does not necesarily lead to them losing weight or anything like that. It is just a part of a normal diet as far as I can tell. Sometimes people eat more or less then usual but fortunately our bodies can deal with that without anything drastic happening. And this is exactly what I would like to be able to do too.

I am getting to the stage now that I am feeling ready to start eating more intuitively but I just don't know if it is too soon. I am weight restored so no longer need to worry about gaining anymore weight but don't know if beginning to eat intuitively would be a bad decision at this stage in my recovery. I guess that the reason I am struggling is because sometimes I have an extra big lunch or something like that, which leads to me not being hungry for my usual sized afternoon tea. Other days I really just dont have a great appetite.

Perhaps a good idea would be to continue eating my 3 main meals (Breakfast, lunch and tea) as normal but then allowing myself to eat intuitively for my snacks most days. I suppose I can see how it goes anyway and if it doesn't work out in the first couple of weeks for me to do this, I can go back to eating more set amounts for a while longer. Atleast that way I know I am getting a god amount of nutritious food in for my main meals and it therefore shouldbe ok for me to just eat what I feel like for snacks.

I think that the most important thing to remember about eating intuitively is that this does not only mea eating less when you are not quite as hungry, it also involves eating more if you are extra hungry. So while it may be ok for me to not eat quite as much one day if I am not hungry, I also need to be strong enough to eat some extra food on days that I am particularly hungry. I think that doing this will be the most challenging part of eating intuiutively however it is a challenge that I am wiling to face.

Intuitive Eating 101: The Natural Way To Eat Healthfully And Honor Your Body

Intuitive eating is an amazing tool for eating healthier, put an end to binging and restricting, and melting away the stress of the constant question, “What the heck should I eat?!”

But intuitive eating can be tricky. Every day, you’re bombarded with information on what constitutes good food, bad food, good portion sizes, bad portion sizes, etc., so learning to hear that quiet, intuitive voice within you isn’t always easy.

Why Intuitive Eating Is The Answer You’ve Been Waiting For

The truth is, you have a genius intuitive voice within you that will guide you to the right foods and portion sizes for you.

But you’ve spent a lot of time tamping down that voice. Recent studies have confirmed what dieters have known for years — diets tamp down the voice within us that lets us know when we’re hungry, when we’re full, and when we need something different than food to deal with our emotional reality. So if you’re not sure when you’re hungry or when you’re full, you are not alone!

But there is a way to reconnect with your internal sense of hunger and fullness and make peace with food forever.

Even if you think you’ve failed at intuitive eating before, you haven’t. So I’m going to share with you some of my favorite intuitive eating tips and resources right here.

Getting Started: How To Eat Intuitively And Stop Stressing About Food Forever!

Here are 7 of my favorite resources for learning to eat intuitively!

• Why Portion Control Doesn’t Work And What To Do Instead — Start to shift from “portion control” to more intuitive methods with this post.
• Intuitive Eating And Weight Loss — If you feel like you “failed” at intuitive eating before because you didn’t lose weight, this post will be seriously enlightening.
• Are Old Diet Rules Getting In Your Way? — Before you get down to intuitive eating, you may need clarity on the “diet rules” that still control your food decisions. Learn how here.
• Intuitive Living — Learn how to handle cravings in a way that feels aligned with your needs.
• You Don’t Need More Self Control — Trying to take control of your eating can backfire–seriously. Learn why.
• Is Intuitive Eating Possible When You’re Dealing With Food Allergies? — Intuitive eating is definitely a little tougher when you have food allergies and sensitivities. If you’re in this boat, you will love this post!
• Holiday Special: Enjoying The Food Without The Stress — Eating during the holidays can be particular stressful. Check out these intuitive eating tips for holiday meals to help you through the next holiday.
• If you want some more in depth support on healing from eating issues and learning to eat intuitively, you will love my How To Heal From Emotional Eating Program. Check it out here.

Source: http://www.bodylovewellness.com/free/intuitive-eating-101/

Cant forget to eat

In a way, I think it is a good thing that I am thinking about food so much less lately as this just means that I have so many other things to think about and food isn't necessarily always on my mind anymore. In saying this however, I know I still need to be careful not to cut my intake down through forgetting to eat.

I have always suggested to my readers that being busy is not an excuse not to eat enough and I still believe this 100%! It really can be hard sometimes though, as I dont always feel hungry and I often feel as though I am only eating for the sake of it and that I am not listening to my bodies hunger cues at all. 

I am starting to feel ready to start eating intuitively, however I am worried that if I only listen to my hunger cues, I wont be eating enough as I really am not getting hungry lately. Perhaps if I continue eating the same amounts for my main meals but just try to eat intuitively for my snacks that would be ok? thThe other option is probably to eat as I currently am on the days I am working throughout the week but then trying to eat intuitively on the weekends. As my weekends are usually pretty crazy at the moment anyway. 

I think that it is incredibely important that I keep in mind the fact that I am still in recovery from an eating disorder and that recovery still needs to remain my biggest priority. Even though my mind is getting better every single day I know I am not quite fully recovered yet and I refuse to stop fighting until I reach full recovery.

On that note, I am hungry at the moment so I am off to make myself some breakfast. Have a good day everyone. X

Current eating plans

At the moment, I am still continuing to eat 6 meals per day and I am also eating atleast 2500 calories per day as I believe that this is a sufficient amount for me to maintain on. I am now however also trying to take the first few steps towards eating intuitively. For me this involves starting to try and listen to my body more instead of just eating routinely as I have been doing for the last few years.

This will mean eating a little extra sometimes if I am feeling particularly hungry (although I will never eat less then 2500 calories per day). This will also mean eating whenever I feel hungry and not waiting for set meal times. I believe if I start listening to my body a little more again now, this will make it much easier when I start trying to eat completely intuitively.

My Breakfast, Lunch and Tea from today;

Berry Oats with Cashew Butter on toast

1 pear, 1 berry greek yoghurt and 2 crumpets with cream cheese

Beef and tomato ravioli with extra mixed vegetables

I have also started reading a book called 'Eat' that will hopefully help me to regain a healthy relationship with food and to start eating freely and intuitively again. I will let you all know if I read anything in the book that I find particularly helpful or interesting.

I also think that starting to eat intuitively is really important for me as this is the best way for me to find out whether I have reached my natural set point weight or not. While I think I have reached a healthy weight for me, I can not be sure until my weight stays the same for a reasonable amount of time whilst eating competely intuitively. 

I hope that I have reached my natural set point weight as I actually dont mind my body the way it currently is. In saying this however, if I am still yet to reach my natural set point weight I know that gaining more weight is what I need to do as making a full recovery from anorexia will be impossible otherwise. AND I SIMPLY REFUSE TO STOP FIGHTING UNTIL I HAVE MADE A FULL RECOVERY!

Falling into anorexia's trap

It scares the absolute hell out of me, just how easy it is to fall back into anorexia's trap, without even realising it. The thing is, no matter how hard you try not to, relapsing or even just moving backwards a little in your recovery can happen to anyone, without you even realising it.

Over the last few days, I have come to the realisation that in a way, this has in fact appened to me. Fortunately I have realised that my anorexia was starting to control me a little more again before it actually caused me to lose any weight or hurt myself in any other way but iit has still been a huge eye opener to me, to see how easily relapse can actually happen.

I never thought that I was at risk of relapsing. I felt as though I was too aware of the warning signs and would never let my anorexia get any worse again but that is exacttly what has happened, ever since I cut my intake down a little and decided to stop trying to gain weight.

All of the things were only tiny, almost unnoticable to most but I can now see how doing those things meant listening to my aorexia, which was giving it strength. I can also see how this could quite easily have gotten out of hand and lead to me relapsing. I am just so grateful that I have realised what was happening, before this happened. Afterall, I have worked way too hard and come too far to throw it all away now.

I think that the reason anorexia started to creep back in is because I decided that I no longer had to gain any more weight, which made me start fearing weight gain once again, just as much as before. This lead to me using my kitchen scals to check the weights of things like muesli bars and fruit and a few times I even weighed out portions of nut butter for my toast.

I can see now how dangerous behaviours like these are whilst in recovery frm an eating disorder however at the time, it didn't feel dangerous. When I asked myself whether  I should weigh the food or not, I ad a voice reply and say that it was completely fine to weigh the food, afterall it was only a one off thing. Now I can see, plain as fday that it was my aorexias voice telling me that and not my own.

Before I cut my intake down and I was trying tto gain weight, I was not as compelled to know exactely how many calories I was eating as I knew that if i did by ny chance eat a little extra, this would only lead to the tiniest bit of weight gain, if any at all and that it was ok as that is what I was trying to achieve anyway. But once I stopped trying to gain weight, I started fearing eating too much again and I also stared fearing weight gain.

Also, I have found that since I have started exercising more most days, I am feeling more compelled to exercise more naad more. I feel guilty if I dont get for a long walk and I have also started taking more notice if my 'daily steps' counter on my phone. I never actually put this counter on my phone, it was just there when I got it but in the last few days, I have decided that I need to turn it off.

At first I actually found this little app quite interesting and it wasn't harmful as I didn't actually really care how many steps I took each day. But since I stopped restricting my exercise as much, I have started to feel guilty if I do not reach my usual amount of steps on any one day. This lead to me going for longer walks then I necessarily felt like some afteroons, just so tthat I could reach that articular number of steps.

Once again, at the time I didn't actually rrecognise the fact that this was actually me listening to my anorexia but now Ican see it. Yesterday morning as I was planning out my day, I realised that I would only havee enough time to take Tess for one big walk. Thoughts started to appear in my mind about whether or not I should compensate for this by eating less, or whether I should go for an extra long walk that morning.

I am so glad that I recognised that it was my anorexia making me think those things and that I therefore needed to take action and fight it. I decided to take Tess only for a very short walk yesterday morning and reiminded myself that there is absolutely nothing wrong with exercising less, or even not at all some days. Healthy exercise is not about reaching any silly goals like calories burned or steps taken, it is about exercising as much as you enjoy on any partcular occasion.

In a way, I am actually glad that this has happened as it is the exact wake up call that I needed. Even though I thought I already knew it, this has actually shown me that recovery does not stop once you reach a healthy weight. In order to make a full recovery, you need to keep fighting your thoughts and challenging yourself, even after you have reached a healthy weight.

My goal always has been to reach my natural setpoint weight so I should not stop myself from gaining any more weight if that is what my body wants to do. This just indicates that I have not yet quite reached my natural set point weight. I think I have made myself an easy target for over the last few weeks as I made the mistake of letting my guard down when I thought I had reached a healthy weight.

Now I know how easily letting your anorexia back in can be I am not going to make the same mistakes again. I have decided that my intake is going to be a daily bare minimum and that if I ever feel like extra food, I am going to eat it as that is exactly what my anorexia doesn't want me to do. I also feel as though this is a good step to take to prepare myself for eating intuitively in the future and for reaching my natural set point weight, if I have not already reached it.

I have also taken it upon myself to turn off my step counter on my phone and to take a step back when it comes to exercise. It is not healthy to feel guilty for not exercising as much which is exactly why I need to face this fear and not exercise as much, if at all some days. f I ever feel as though I am not motivated to exercise or am not enjoying it, I will simply stop and I will refuse to listen to that voice in my head, telling me to go further or faster.

Mindful eating

To me, being fully recovered will be when I can comfortabely eat mindfully or intuitively while staying healthy. I found the following article on the Recovery Warriors website and thought I would post it for you all to read as it explains the basics of mindful eating well.

Just out of curiosity, is being able to eat mindfully a goal most people recovering from Anorexia have or do some of you have other recovery plans?




BY CAITLIN GAYNOR MIND JULY 29, 2015

THE POWER OF MINDFUL EATING


According to Oxford Dictionary, mindfulness is “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations.”

Dr. Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, states that the average person makes around 250 decisions about food every day. However, most of the decisions we make, we cannot explain.

How does mindfulness relate to eating?

Mindful eating is an increased awareness of eating choices and their effect on hunger/fullness rather than calorie content. It requires asking questions before making choices, and during eating:
Where is my hunger level?
Am I making balanced choices and including all food groups?
Am I choosing food based on a specific emotion (ie. need for comfort) or physiological hunger?
Am I choosing foods based on a diet mentality (ie. lowest calorie option, or “lightest” option)?
Am I eating at a moderate pace and enjoying and noticing the taste of the food?
Am I distracted while eating?

Mindful eating helps individuals to let go of “good foods” and “bad foods” and focus on maintaining a healthy lifestyle while enjoying food and nourishing the body.


There is no such thing as failing at mindful eating, each meal and snack presents an opportunity to practice and increase awareness.

https://www.recoverywarriors.com/the-power-of-mindful-eating/

Teaching children about healthy eating

While I think it is a fabulous idea to encourage children to eat healthily, I do not think that adults should tell children hat some foods are really bad.For example, my mum always says to my little sister when she eats chocolate or something like that "Amy you have to stop eating so much shit all the time." I hate it when mum says this to Amy as I do not want Amy to think that any type of food is 'shit'.

Perhaps mum has a point and Amy does not eat enough healthy foods but I do not think this is the correct way to tell a child about eating a balanced diet. I think it is important that children are taught about having a balanced diet. I do not think certain foods should be described as bad, or 'shit', but instead perhaps describes as sometimes foods, that need to be eaten along with lots of healthy and nutritious foods.

Sometimes I worry that healthy eating is stressed too much in schools and by parents these days and wonder if this could have anything to do with why eating disorders are becoming more common. In some schools, children are even taught how to count calories and read nutritional values on the backs of food packets and I definetely do not agree with this.

Children are extremely vulunerable and could easily become scared of 'unhealthy foods', if they are told that they are bad for them in the wrong way which Idefinetely do not think is healthy for a child. What is your opinion on this? Have any of you had similar experiences to the ones I have been talking about which you feel may have contributed to your eating disorder?

Eating an unknown number of calories

Since I was working late tonight and it is so cold, I was planning on having a tin of hot soup as well as fresh bread and butter for tea. My nan came into the supermarket  while I was working to say that she had left me some homemade soup at my house for my tea. My instant thought was that I wouldn't eat it as I had no idea how many calories it would contain but of course I thanked her anyway. After my nan left, I started to think about how delicious the soup she had made sounded. 

This will probably freak you all out but it was actually Roo tail and vegetable soup (you may not realise but country people in Australia often eat kangeroo meat.) I had mixed feeling about what I should do. I could have either stuck to what I was confortable with, a tin of soup I knew the calorie content of or I could eat what my nan had made for me which I had no idea the calorie count of. I decided that this was a perfect opportunity for me to step out of my comfort zone and face one of my biggest fears. 

I got home and warmed the soup up my nan had made me while I buttered myself three slices of fresh wholemeal bread. The soup smelt delicious and tasted even better but I couldnt help but feel incredibely anxious. I had no idea if my tea had more or less calories then it usually would have had and this really scared me. I made myself feel a little better by rationalising with myself. I told myself that if I was eating a little less then usual (which I highly doubt) it was ok as it was only a one off. I also told myself that it did not matter if I ate more calories either, as the extra energy could not hurt me in anyway. 

While I cant eat meals like this too often in recovery as I need to make sure I am eating at least a certain amount of calories, it is still good for me to occasionally eat something made by someone else that I dont know the calorie content of. My anorexia hates it when I eat something with an unknown number of calories in it which means that doing this just creates another opportunity for me to fight my anorexia. Afterall, I believe you can only make progress in your recovery while you are actively fighting your anorexia.

Since my goal is to learn how to eat intuitively after I become weight restored, it is good if I can become a little more comfortable with eating food with an unknown number of calories in it now. I am hoping that if I am able to learn how to eat intuitively in the future, I will never have to count calories again in my life. To me, this would be a dream come true.

My goal weight

*please note. I have not talked about exact weights in this post but I have talked about bmi so if you think this may be triggering, skip this post :)

Today I got asked a really important question by a reader and thought it would be a good idea to write a post on the topic. The question was; 

I have got a question. When you write about a healthy bmi - which one are you thinking about? 18, 19, 20? :) i think there are different opinions about what is a healthy weight.

To be completely honest, while planning my weight gain throughout my recovery so far I have considered reaching a bmi of 18.5 as reaching a healthy weight as this is when I would no longer be classified as underweight. Since being asked this question however I am starting to remember back to my time in hospital when my doctor said that a healthy bmi for a recovered anorexic was atleast 20. I dont think I can really tell now what a healthy recovered weight will be for me and I may need to wait until I reach it before knowing that I am both mentally and physically healthy.

So I suppose you could say that the weight I will be at when my bmi is 18.5 is my FIRST goal weight or MINIMUM goal weight. After reaching this point I am very aware that I will most likely need to continue gaining weight.  Genetically, I am a thin person, just like both my parents and my GP has said that she thinks I need to get to xx kilograms (which is equivelent to a bmi if 18.5 for me).

I found the following information here and thought it explained the way doctors determine initial goal weight really well. 

A variety of factors go into deciding the target weight and range. Often, physicians will consult pediatric growth charts to determine a reasonable weight based on the individual’s height and age. These charts are important for revealing growth patterns and may show a tendency for the person suffering from the illness to be similar to a particular percentile within the population. Further consideration is given to lowest and highest weights the person has achieved within the last several months, as well as their growth and weight throughout their life. Also, they will look at the person’s body type, and the body types found within their family. “We note the height and size of her mother and the age at onset of menses in the mother and female siblings. We also note the patient’s growth and weight curve from the time of birth,” notes Dr. Katherine Halmi of Cornell University Medical College.

Becoming completely weight restored for me will not be when I reach this minimally acceptable bmi but when I reach my natural set point. At this weight I know that I will be physically healthy as my body will be able to work optimally. 

I would like to thank the reader who asked me this question as it has reminded me that reaching a minimally acceptable bmi does not constitute becoming weight restored. It has reminded me that while reaching this bmi may be an acceptable short term goal, my real goal should be to get my weight back to MY natural set point. Once I am satisfied that I have reached my optimum set point my plan is to stop counting calories and following a set meal plan and learn how to eat intuitively. 

For anyone who doesnt know what intuitive eating is, it is the concept of eating based upon what your body tells you it wants. I have read a fair bit about intuitive eating and believe that it is the best way to live a happy and healthy life. It requires you to have a lot of trust in your body as you need to listen to your body at all times without ever restricting. If you would like to read more about intuitive eating click here.

I found the following information from here really helpful to help determine what you natural set point is;

How do you know your set point weight?

A huge fear for people recovering from an eating disorder is to let go of control. Exercising control used to be the way to cope with difficult situations and negative emotions and in recovery you have to let that go. Focusing on a target goal weight reduces anxiety and fear because you “know where you’re heading”.

The truth is, after years of destructive eating habits, you can’t know upfront what your set point is, but in most cases it isn’t the lowest weight in the so-called healthy range. Depending on your age, you could only make a rough estimation by looking to your weight before your eating disorder.

Physiological speaking, there is only a small number of people whose set point weight corresponds with a BMI of exactly 20. In order to fully recover, you need to let go of the weight you consider acceptable. From my own experience I know this isn’t easy, but you can trust the wisdom of your body. At some point, your weight stabilizes at its most optimal weight. This isn’t a specific number, but a range in which your body genetically wants to be and gravitates towards, even when you have celebrated the holidays with elaborated dinners or when you spend an evening with a pint of your favorite ice cream.

You will know when you’re on your set point weight when all body functions are restored and your menstrual cycle has returned. However, return of menstruation is not always indicating you reached your optimal weight. When you can eat in an unrestricted way, without rules or compensatory behaviors and your weight remains stable, you’ve reached your set point weight.

When you change your diet when reaching a pre-determined target weight your body doesn’t get the chance to fully recover, restore deficits and reach your set point weight. I’ve been in the stage of partial recovery for years by maintaining the lowest acceptable weight set by my therapists while simultaneously pretending to be recovered. A combination which can never work. I was convinced the weight gain would never stop, holding me back from going the extra mile.

This is a fear many people in remission struggle with. Is it realistic? No! When you don’t change your food intake and continue to re-feed, allowing your body to recover and restore your metabolism, it will stabilize when it reaches its optimal weight.

In some cases, your body may need to overshoot its set point weight in order to return to a normal fat mass to fat-free mass ratio. However, this is only temporarily and will go away when all is restored. Be patient and trust your body.