My understanding of Metabolism

In the early stages of my recovery, I remember feeling extremely worried that my metabolism would never recover and that I would have a supressed metabolism for the rest of my life. I was worried that I would never be able to eat normal amounts of food again, without gaining weight. I was pleasantly surprised however, as this has not been the case for me at all and it doesnt have to be the case for you either. In fact, if you recover the right way, you may find that you have an even faster metabolism then you had before you got sick.

If you eat proper recovery amounts FOR YOU, your metabolism will recover. You need to realise that a proper recovery amount for you, may be more or less then others, although it is almost always over 2500 calories. For example I found that 2500 calories was no where near enough for me to gain weight and for my body to repair as well as function normally. In fact I  have found that going above 3000 calories has even been neccessary and my weight gain still isnt always as much as it should be. Your metabolism simply will not recover if you dont eat proper recovery amounts and the reason for this is quite logical.

If a normal person maintains there weight at 2000 calories, this means that all of the energy they eat can be used to keep them alive. This amount of energy is enough so their body can function optimally and healthily. If a recovering anorexic tries to get better eating only 2000 calories however, not all of this energy is used for everyday functioning, as it is in a normal person. Energy must also go to repairing the body and weight gain. So once energy has been used for these other things, there may only be 500 calories or so left over for your body to use for its normal functioning, which simply is not enough. Your metabolism must therefore stay in a supressed state, to try and keep you alive as best it can on so few calories.

Eating a larger number of calories allows your body to run efficiently as well as repair  and gain weight and your metabolism therefore can speed right back up again. Sometimes in recovery, your metabolism actually starts running too fast, which means even more energy is used by your body while completing everyday functions then in regular people. This is known as hypermetabolism and can cause things like overheating, extreme hunger, difficulty gaining weight, insomnia and fatigue (all things I have experienced throughout my recovery at different times). Generally your metabolism will stabilise again however, once you reach a healthy weight.

Know that it is never to late for you to repair your metabolisnlism, but to do so you will need to eat proper recovery amounts of food, so that your body can come out of starvation mode. Indications that your bodies metabolism may still be supressed include feeling cold all the time, constantly thinking about food and feeling really hungry, thinning hair and nails and gaining weight easily on a relatively low calorie intake. So if you have any of these symptoms, you really need to increase your intake to proper recovery amounts, even if you are allready weight restored.