I was diagnosed with Anorexia almost three years ago and have been battling it ever since. On my blog I share different experiences that I have had when I was really sick, as well as the progress I am now making as I try to recover. Since creating my blog I have never felt more motivated to recover and I hope that through writing about my recovery, I will be able to inspire people with eating disorders to fight for a happier and healthier life.
A common misconception is that people who eat healthily and work out want to lose weight. I have received various different comments over the last couple of months about what I eat and the exercise I do. People say things like 'you dont have to go to the gym, you are already skinny' or 'why do you only eat healthy foods, you dont need to lose weight.'
What these people fail to realise is that I dont eat healthily or exercise because I am trying to lose weight. In fact I am actually trying to gain weight at the moment. I do these things however because I love and respect my body and want to keep it healthy and strong.
Eating healthy foods does NOT necessarily cause weightloss if you are still getting enough calories. It just means that the foods you eat nourish your body and make you feel more energetic, instead of harming your body and making you feel lethargic and slugish.
Similarily, exercise does NOT lead to weight loss as long as you are fueling your body with enough energy. The health benefits of being physically active are endless and include things like disease prevention and more efficient respiratory, cardiovascular and metabolic functioning. As well as improving your physical health, exercise also has the ability to improve mental health.
I suppose an important question to ask yourself if you have had an eating or exercise disorder before is 'why am I exercising?' or 'why do I eat healthily?' If the honest answer is because you enjoy these things and want to nourish your body and allow it to be healthy and strong, then I see no reason why you shouldn't be doing these things.
If however your honest answer to these questions are more 'disordered' reasons, then I would question whether you should be eating healthily or exercising, as doing these things will most likely be destructive to you and your mental health.
BREAKFAST: Herbalife shake made with 3 scoops of vanilla nutritional mix, 1 scoop of personalized protein powder, 1 cup if almond milk, 1 banana, 7 strawberries, cinnamon and sweetner
MORNING TEA: 1 sachet of berry oats, 1diced apple and 150ml of almond milk, 1scoop of protein powder and cinnamon
LUNCH: Pasta salad (80g of pasta shells, 5 slices of diced ham, 1 boiled egg, capsicum, 2 tbs of fat free mayo) served on a bed of baby spinach with a cup of hot peach herbalife tea
AFTERNOON TEA: 1 banana and 1 large protein bar
TEA: Vegetable Lasagna with lightly salted vegetables (carrot, broccoli, peas and sweet potato)
DESSERT: 1 red berry layered Danone Greek Ultimate Yoghurt with a large pear
You may find, that in order to gain weight early on in your recovery, you dont have to eat that much food. As time passes however and as your metabolism gets faster, you will most likely have to keep increasing your intake in order to keep gaining weight.
'Weight restoration is a crucial component of anorexia nervosa treatment. It is a challenging process for a multitude of reasons. Adding to the complexity and the challenge is the fact that during weight restoration, individuals with anorexia nervosa tend to require increasingly more calories to maintain the same rate of weight gain.' Even though continuously having to increase your intake can be really hard, I think that you shoud consider this as a good thing as it means your metabolism is repairing and functioning properly again. Even after you reach a healthy weight, you will most likely have to eat more then others around you in order to just maintain your weight.
This was also explained in the same article;
'After achieving a healthy weight, individuals recovering from anorexia nervosa still typically need to eat more calories to maintain their new healthy weight — more than healthy individuals of the same weight who do not have eating disorder histories'
This is why I have to take particular care to ensure I am always eating plenty now, even though I am only trying to maintain my weight. It also explains why I accidentely lost some weight a couple of months ago, even though I was eating the same amount as those around me. To be honest, I enjoy having a fast metabolism now and am glad that I am now able to eat so much, without gaining weight.
If you find you are able to keep gaining weight on a low intake of food in your recovery, I would reccommend increasing your calorie intake anyway. Otherwise there is a chance that your metabolism wont repair which will mean you will be stuck eating small amounts of food forever. And eating normal portions once you are weight restored may lead to weight gain.
An important thing to remember whilst in recovery is that just eating 'normal amount' in not enough. When you need to gain weight and are trying to recover, you really do need to eat more then everyone else around you. While I know that recovery amounts of food are different for everyone, I thought I would remind you all what my intake looked like when I was in recovery and eating as much as 3200 calories per day. Looking back, I am so glad that I was strong enough to eat that amount as it has meant that my metabolism has repaired well and I have been able to reach a healthier weight and mindset relatively quickly.
Example one
Peanut butter on toast with creamy vanilla oats (prepared with milk) and topped with 1 sliced banana
1 banana Up and Go, 1 mandarin and 1 thick slice of jam sponge roll
2 crumpets with butter and vegemite, 1 banana and 1 chocolate snak Pack
1 bowl of grapes with vanilla yoghurt and 1 cookies and cream Kit Kat
Roasted duck breast and mashed potato and pumpkin with gravy and vegetables (carrot, peas and broccolli)
Hot Butterscotch Pudding with vanilla icecream
1 milky 'frothy classic' hot chocolate
Example 2
Morning Tea: 1 mandarin + 1 caramel Up and Go + 1 jam filled lamington
Lunch: 1 sandwhich made with two slices of wholemeal bread, butter, Belgium and tomato relish + 1 large apple + 1 full fat raspberry and white chocolate greek yoghurt
Afternoon Tea: fruit salad made with diced pineapple, cantelope and watermelon + 1 packet of rice crackers + 1 mint Aero chocolate bar
Tea: Chicken carbonara pasta + vegetables (corn on the cob, broccoli, brussel sprouts and baby peas
Dessert: 1 Nannas hot mini apple pie with a large scoop of vanilla icecream
Supper: 1 Hot chocolate made with 1 sachet of Jarrah frothy hot chocolate, boiling water and cold milk
Example 3
Apricot, almond and vanilla oats prepared with 3/4 cup of milk and topped with 1 small sliced banana and 2 slices of wholemeal toast with Maple nut spread
1 small serve of grapes, 1 caramel Up and Go and 3 macadamia and white chocolate chip cookies
1 cheese an delish sandwich, 1 large apple and 1 vanilla snak Pack custard tub
1 tub of apple puree with creamy vanilla yoghurt and 1 violet crumble chocolate bar
Chicken flavoured rice with extra boccoli, carrot and peas
1 large bowl of vanilla icecream topped with 1 crushed flake chocolate bar
1 frothy hot chocolate made with cold milk and boiling water
I think that one of the scariest prospects about recovery when you are sick is that you do not only have to start eating normal amounts of food, but you actually need to eat more then normal amounts. When I first started to try and recover, I can honestly say that I never intended to eat proper recovery amounts. I would have rathered die then even think about eating 2500 calories and it really did seem impossible.
When I first started to try and 'recover', I did slowly start to eat more which was important as it stopped me from continuing to lose weight and it meant that my heart got a little stronger again. I spent years maintaining on a low weight though, still convinced that I would never be able to eat proper recovery amounts. I did not believe I needed to eat proper recovery amounts as I thought I could recover without doing that. Eventually however I realised that I was wrong and that it was impossible to properly recover unless I increased my intake significantly again.
I was not some special exception who did not need to eat as much in order to recover and I guaruntee that you aren't one either. It doesn't matter how hard you try to ignore the facts, the truth is you will not make a full recovery whilst eating 'normal' amonts of food. A great article called 'You are not a unicorn' highlights this point really well and I encourage you to follow the link and have a read.
If you are trying to recover, I encourage you to start eating proper recovery amounts as soon as you possibly can as it really is inevitable and the sooner you start eating more, the sooner you will be able to get your life back. If Ican give you any advice it would be to try and avoid staying in a half recovered state for a couple of years like I did as I really did just waste those precious years of my life.
In saying this however, although recovering slowly like I have may not have been optimal, it is still better than not recovering at all or dying from anorexia. Everybodies recovery journey is different and there really is no right or wrong way to recover. Something I am sure of however is that you need to eat proper recovery amounts at some stage in your recovery in order for your body and mind to completely repair and recover.
When I was in my 'half recovered state I was eating between 1800 and 2200 calories per day (it varied depending on which stage I was at) but this was still not enough for me to gain any weight or make any true recovery progress. It was not until I started eating 3000 calories per day that I really started to feel my body and mind starting to repair.
I have heard of so many people regaining weight whilst eating low amounts which has left them with sluggish metabolisms and poorly functioning bodies. I am so glad that I pushed myself to eat proper recovery amounts whe I was gaining weight so that I can now enjoy lots of yummy food and eat like a normal person without gaining lots of weight.
My body and mind both feel healthier then they have in a really long time and I have no regrets for eating large amounts in recovery. My only regret is that I did not do it sooner as I know that being too scared to eat proper recovery amounts is the only thing that prevented me from making true recovery progress sooner.
Please realise that eating proper recovery amounts is essential in order for you to make a full recovery from anorexia and that the sooner you can do this, the sooner you will be able to live a wonderful life, completely free of anorexia.
When beginning treatment most clients are very out of touch with their hunger cues. Their version of “what’s normal” for their eating is distorted by eating disorder thoughts. Many are resistant or hesitant to follow a meal plan because that means giving up control and their eating disorder behaviors, which can be a very frightening thought. So besides the discomfort and stress… what does the meal plan REALLY even do? The meal plan is a critical part of eating disorder recovery and here is why:
Introduces Normalized Eating: Eating disorders distort reality. Many clients become out of touch with what nutrients are needed to fuel their bodies properly because their eating disorder voice has told them otherwise. The meal plan helps to normalize your eating patterns and heal the body after being deprived of adequate nutrients. Getting the body balanced, nutritionally, requires the structure that a meal plan provides.
Increases Introspection: Now that the meal plan is helping to provide structure and taking care of proper nourishment, some of the ability to utilize behaviors has been taken away. The meal plan allows you to look at where the urges to control your food intake or engage in destructive behaviors come from. The focus is removed from the food and allows you to better understand how you are utilizing food or controlling weight to cope with emotions.
Separates food from Feelings: If there is strong frustration with the meal plan, it’s important to look at where the feelings are really coming from and recognize it is not about the food. The ultimate nutrition goal is to get to a place where food is separated from feelings and you are able to eat mindfully and trust your own hunger/fullness cues.
The meal plan can be considered as map that will guide you to the final destination of recovery. Eventually, you will get to a point where you know the route so well that you won’t need the map anymore.
Something that took me a really long time to truly understand is that our bodies are not calorie counting machines. There is not an exact number of calories that our body needs in order to maintin our weight. If we eat more on one occasion, this does not mean we will necessarily gain weight, just as we do not necessarily lose weight if we eat a little less on any one day. If you really think about it, our bodies truly are amazing in adapting to our energy intakes.
The same thing goes for exercise. Just because a person misses exercise on a single day does no mean that they will necessarily gain weight and just because a person exercises more on one day does not mean they will lose a significant amount of weight either. If we learn to properly listen to our bodies, we will be able to realise when our bodies need extra food or not so much and can eat accordingly.
For a long time I was terrified of increasing my intake as even though I was under eating, I was still managing to maintain my weight. I was so pedantic about the number of calories I was eating and always made sure I ate the EXACT same amount every single day. I would not even eat 5 calories more or less (knowingly anyway) as I thought it would make me gain or lose weight. I now know that our bodies do not calculate calories in this way and that there is actually quite a large intake range that our bodies can maintain on.
Throughout my eating disorder, my body has managed to maintain my weight while eating 1800 calories, then 2000 calories, 2200 calories, 2500 calories and even up to 3000 calories. And this is because my body has cntinuously adjusted depending upon my intake. So please, just because you may be maintaining your weight at a lower weight, do not think you will never be able to eat any more then that amount in your life without gaining weight because you will be able to.
There is no magic formula to work out exactly how much you need to eat in order to lose, gain or maintan your weight. Our bodies are incredibely complex and we cannot always control them closely as we think we can. It is only since my mind has started to recover that I have been able to think so much more rationally and have been able understand dfferent things like this. Understanding this has helped me so much to get out of my bad eating disorder behaviours such as weighing everything I eat so that I can calculate the exact number of calories a food contains.
For example, I just use the nutritional values on the backs of packets to make sure I eat enough each day. While this means that I may actually be eating a little more or a little less then what it says on the packet, Iknow tha I am eating around the right amount that is all that matters. My body does not count every calorie that it uses and I therefore dont need to count every single calorie I consume either. I just need to trust that my body will use the energy I provide it with to look after me.
I cant wait until the day comes that I learn how to eat intuitively and no longer need to count calories. I am so excited about the prospect of trusting my body enoough to maintain a healthy weight without needing to eat a particular amount. Our bodies are so smart that if we learn to properly listen to them that they can really look after us, without us having to worry about it at all. Once this was the way everyone lived and this is the way that things should still be now in my opinion. We just need to sit back, enjoy life and trust our bodies to sort the rest out for themselves!
When I got up this morning, I weighed myself to find that my weight has not changed at all since last Wednesday. How this is even possible while eating more than 3000 calories, I have no idea. All I can say is that I think my metabolism has well and truly come out of starvation mode. I know that I need to increase my inake again but doing this is one of the hardest and scariest things I have had to do since I started my recovery. I do not want to eat anymore then I already am and I actually like the way my body looks and the meal plan I am on.
The fear I have of increasing my intake further and gaining more weight tells me that I am not recovered though, so I know that I need to keep fighting and keep gaining more weight. And if this means eating even more food then I am already eating, then that is exactely what I am going to do. I know that I should see this as a really positive thing, as if my body has maintained on 3000 calories it means that ALOT of energy has gone to repairing my body which means that I am getting healthier every single day. Also, this means that my metabolism is working properly and all of my body functions are working efficiently.
It is quite funny that my weight gain has stopped at my current weight, as my current bmi is exactely the bmi I was originally aiming to reach in my recovery. Since I made this goal however I have realised that it is important for me to go beyond this bmi. I have realised how important it is for me to reach my bodies natural set point and not just a minimally acceptable bmi. It is almost as if my anorexia is testing me out and trying to convince me to stop gaining weight now. But I am going to show my anorexia that I am strong enough to keep gaining weight. Just because I like my body the way it looks now does not mean I won't be able to like my body when it is a bit heavier as well.
Also, I am starting to get a cold so eating some extra food this week will help me to fight the virus off. I dont really know how I am going to increase my intake further then I already have. My snacks are already huge and so are my main meals. I considered just trying to add in calories whenever I can throughout the day, for example putting extra butter/spread on my toast or bread, puttting extra filling in my sandwhich, adding more milk to my hot chocolates, putting some more icecream on my pudding, adding more sauce to my dinners, having bigger pieces of fruit etc.
I do not know if these changes will be significant enough or not. I also think it would be good for me to do this as I would not know exactely how many calories I was eating, which would be good as it means I am being forced to let go of some of my control over food. What do you think? Do you think that making these changes are enough, provided that I really do commit to increasing these extras I have with my meals each dayor do you think I should add a whole other food item into my plan?
I slept in to 5:30 am this morning which was realy good as I usually cant sleep past 4:00 am. I got up and made myself some breakfast, which I ate while blogging. I had lots of comments to reply to which was a nice surprise for me as I always love hearing from my readers and I also started thinking about what posts I will write today. The next thing I plan to do after writing this post is to answer some emails to the lovely girls who I regularly talk too. I love emailing these girls and hearing about how they have been going. They are all so strong and woderful and give me the motivation I need to keep fighting everyday!
Quite a few people have been asking about recovery food intakes so I thought I would post everything I eat today, to show everyone what my recovery intake (3000 calories) looks like. I really hope that by talking about the exact amount I eat I am not triggering anyone but I just think it is important that people wanting to recover realise what real recovery amounts of food are and what it looks like. I know that different people require different intakes in recovery but this will most likely never be less then 2500 calories.
You may think that you can recover while eating between 2000 and 2500 calories but unfortunately you cant. Even if you are slowly gaining weight while eating a lesser amount, you still arent eating enough so your metabolism will remain supressed and your body and mind will most likely not repair. While eating 2000 calories you are not providing your body with anywhere near enough energy for weight gain, repair and for your metabolism to begin functioning normally again. My magic intake amount is 3000 calories but you may find you dont need quite as much, or that you actually need more.
For a long time I believed I was eating enough to recover but now I can see that I definetely wasn't. I honestly thought that I was some kind of exception and that I therefore didn't need to have the recommended recovery amounts. Luckily in the end I finally realised that I was no exception and that I not only had to eat the minimum recovery amount, but another 500 calories on top of that. It was really hard for me to go beyond the minimum recommended recovery amount but thankfully I was strong enough to do it, as this was the only way I could continue gaining weight at the right rate, function properly and repair too.
I have another day working at the IGA today which is good. I am working witth my mum which should be nice as we are getting along quite well at the moment. She says that she is going quite well (in regards to her drinking) but I honestly dont know whether I should believe her or not as she has lied to me so many times before. Its really sad but unfortunately I cant believe her until I talk to my dad and hear how she has really been going from him. I really hope that she has been good though as I care about her a lot and desperately want her to recover from her problems too.
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.
I was incrediebely shocked when I weighed myself this morning as my scales told me I had lost 500g since my last weigh in only 4 days ago. This makes no sence at all to me. Over the last few weeks, I have been consistantly gaining atleast 100g per day so to now start losing weight is a huge mystery. I have been eating the exact same amount and have not been doing any extra exercise so I really cant explain this dip in my weight. I know that I should not feel dissappointed in myself for this result as I havent done anything wrong and had no way of knowing it was happening.
It would have made more sense to me if I had started maintaining my weight, but to suddenly start losing weight, at the same rate I was previously gaining it is very strange. While I cant explain this weight loss, it still does not change the fact that it has happened and I therefore need to make some changes accordingly. Something we need to remember is that our bodies are not calculators or machines. We can never determine exactly what weight our bodies will gain or lose by consuming a certain amount of calories.
My anorexia is screaming at me that I dont need to make any changes as it must be some kind of mistake. It is telling me that perhaps the weightloss is only due to fluctuating water and fluid levels in my body. Or perhaps my scales are giving an innacurate reading as they occasionally have done in the past (although considering I got the same reading 10+ times, I doubt this very much). My anorexia could be right but by making no changes at all to my calorie intake, this would mean giving into my anorexia, which is something I know I cant do. Every time you give into one of your anorexic thoughts or demands, no matter how small it is, you are giving your anorexia strength.
So now I just need to decide on what changes I will make. Afternoon tea is probably the meal I feel as though I could increase as some of my calories are only made up from a drink. Perhaps instead of eating a medium piece of fresh fruit, Instead I can have a portion of dried fruit as dried fruit is something I enjoy and it is also much more calorie dense so I would not feel as though I was eating more. I will see how I go over the next 3 days and if I go back to gaining the same amount I was, (approximately 100g per day) I will keep eating this new intake amount. If I start gaining weight at an even faster rate, I may consider cutting back to my regular meal plan (without the driedfruit). Of course if I fail to gain enough weight or lose weight again I will know I need to make a more dramatic change to my intake.
What do you think about the weight loss I have experieced and the change I have decided to make?
I have already spoken about how meal plans can be helpful so that you know what to eat, but this post is more about how you can determine how much you should eat if you need to gain weight after an eating disorder. *TRIGGER WARNING* I dont usually talk about exact numbers of calories but I have in this post so please skip this post if numbers of calories trigger you. You must remember that everybody is different and that you should always follow the medical advice you have been given by professionals, rather than listening to what I say. I am not a professional and this is just my opinion of how much to eat in recovery, based upon what seems to be working for me.
There are many different recommendations about how much you should eat while recovering from anorexia and while I havent always felt this way, I now believe that gaining weight on a large calorie intake is the best way to go. I tried my hardest to recover on lower amounts, by slowly increasing my calories, first to 1800, then to 2000, 2200, and even 2500 but I still couldnt gain the weight I needed to. It wasn't until I increased my intake to 3000 calories that I actually started feeling good physically and gaining weight.
You need to remember that while recovering your body doesnt only need energy to gain weight. It also needs energy to complete its everyday functions as well as to repair all if the damage that was done whilst you were underweight or starving yourself. The way I worked out how much I needed to eat was by weighing myself half weekly. If I had gained weight (atleast 200-300 grams) since my last weigh in I would keep my intake the same. If I had lost or maintained my weight however, I would increase my intake by altering my meal plan.
Even if you are managing to gain weight at a relatively low intake (i.e. 2000 calories) I would not reccommend continuing to eat this amount as your body is most likely still in starvation mode. This means that while you may be managing to gain a little weight, your body would not be repairing of functioning optimally. This also means that you are at risk of having a supressed metabolism for the rest of your life which means you will never be able to eat normal amounts of food again without gaining weight.
I hope thst this has been helpful. If you have any more questions on this topic, just ask in the comments section and I will answer them :)
In recovery, you will most likely need to increase your calories at various stages so that you are able to continue gaining weight. This can be really hard, especially if you need to increase your calories when you already feel as though you are eating too much. In my experience, eating huge volumes of food can make you feel really uncomfortable and sick. I also find that feeling uncomfortably full makes me feel extra guilty as it is a constant reminder of all the food I have just eaten.
Just because you need to increase your calories does not mean you need to eat significantly larger volumes of food. You just need to substitute the foods you are currently eating with foods with a higner calorie density. For example eating 2 slices of toast with jam and peanut butter will not make you feel much fuller then eating two slices of toast with only jam, however adding the peanut butter can increase the total number of calories by more than 50%.
Since fat is the macronutrient with the highest calorie density, any foods high in fat will help you to eat more calories without eating more food. You should always try and buy full fat products and avoid low fat options if you need to increase your calorie intake. You dont necessarily need to eat unhealthy fats, there are lots of foods that contain healthy fats as well which have a high calorie density. Nuts are a wonderful food to eat while recovering as they are so high in calories and not too filling. For example a handfull of mixed nuts (1/4 cup) can contain the same amount of calories as 3 whole apples or 7 whole carrots.
If you want to increase your calories without eating anymore, you also have the option to replace any water you drink throughout the day with other drinks like juice, milkshakes or hot chocolate.
While I am still quite comfortable eating my current volume of food, I do not think that I would want to eat any more then I already am in terms of volume. Instead if I ever need to increase my calories again (which I most likely will need to do), I will just change what I eat.
-At the moment I use half a cup of milk and a quarter of a cup of water to make my oats each morning, I can change this so I only add milk but more of it.
-Instead of eating 4 serves of fruit per day, I can substitute some of this fruit for nuts and even dried fruit.
-I can replace my Up and Go meal supplement drink with a higher calorie alternative like ensure.
At the moment I dont necessarily eat the highest calorie versions of each food available. While this doesnt matter at the moment as I am still getting enough calories in, I could always look for higher calorie versions of the foods I eat daily. Generally there are always higher calories options available if you look hard for them. For example I could try and find higher calorie puddings, muffins/cakes, icecream, bread, dairy desserts, milk and yoghurt etc.
At the moment the hot chocolates I have are just sachet ones that are designed to have boiling water added to them. While I love how my hot chocolates currently taste, if I find I need to increase my calories I can always start adding milk to them instead of water. I can also start drinkng glasses of juice with my main meals instead of water.
These are just a few of the ways I plan to increase my calories when necessary but there are many more too. If anyone would like to share any other tips for increasing calories, feel free to comment below. :)
The following video explains how different foods can have very different calorie densities. Don't watch this if you get triggered by seeing the calorie contents of food but I found this really interesting and informative. It may help you to see that eating more calories doesnt necessarily need to involve eating a greater volume of food.
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