overcoming eating disorder

[mishvs]

I was wonderng if any of you ladies have overcome anorexia and managed to build an amazing physique? How did you put on weight (was it muscle/fat).. all that type of info.

At the moment I am struggling with this disorder and need some support. I love training and being fit but at the moment the anorexic side is taking over. Any inspiration would be appreciated.

Thanks

[MikeyD]

Well, I am proud of you(and you should be too) that you are open about your disorder and seeking help. That is certainly a big step towards recovery! I have recovered from a severe case of anorexia and would be more than happy to help you. I do not know the specifics of your disorder, so it hard for me give you personalized advice, but I can tell you what worked for me.
After getting out of inpatient treatment, my mind was a lot clearer from six weeks of good nutrition. I was amazed at how much the disordered thoughts decreased simply by eating enough. Every time I ate, I would think about what the food was doing FOR me, not TO me (Rebuilding muscle tissue and giving me the energy I desperately needed). As with many anorexics, I was also a perfectionist. Instead of using it to fuel ED behavior, I applied that mentality to my meal plan. I had to eat everything or else I will have failed. I figured that was a good way to turn the disease against itself. The key to my success in recovery was the response I got from my body to eating. I rapidly gained strength and endurance with hardly any fat. A lot of people who knew me in me only anorexic condition, honestly thought I was taking steroids!!! I am certainly heavier, but also healthy and that is so much more important. Now, of course along with the food issues there are the psychological causes to such issues, which must be dealt with to prevent a relapse. Therapy for for this should be done in conjunction with the eating problems. Feel free to contact me if you would like to talk.

[lean and lovely]

Although I didn't have anorexia, I did have bulemia for a long time and I got to looking like Mr. Burns (on The Simpson's) for a couple of years, all bent over and bony. I never did have professional intervention. But after getting a high off of seeing my skeleton for so long, it all of a sudden dawned on me one day how bad I really looked and felt and I decided that it was time to get healthy. I started eating right and realized that it was the quality of the food I ate vs. the quantity. It took a long time to really stop the binging. I started buying fitness magazines, like Oxygen and others, and realized that was the body I wanted for myself and those girls were far off from being skeletal. I knew I was hurting myself. I started working out at the gym and through trial and error realized what it took to work out and build muscle. One of the big things was actually keeping magazines in the bathroom and around the house so that when I got the urge to purge I would see that I was straying from what I wanted. I guess you just need to keep a goal in mind and have visuals of what you want to achieve. Remember, it takes time to recover from what you've put your body through, and even healthy people have a hard time being strict with their diets and workouts. I commend you on your road to recovery and a great goal that you've set for yourself.

[rippedteenchick]

I used to be a sever sufferer of anorexia nervosia. When I was 13, I stopped eating and was obsessive about my weight. At one point, I was 5'2 and weighed 65 pounds with 3 percent body fat. I was in the hospital for a few months while I underwent treatment and group therapy. When I got out I knew that I couldn't be skinny forever, and had to find some way to overcome it. I decided to start lifting weights to add on some weight to my skinny frame. In a month, I was back up to 90 pounds. When I was about 14 1/2 I read somewhere that having a really low body fat was good for bodybuilders, so I decided to start bodybuilding. After 2 years of bodybuilding, I now as 5'2 and wiegh 125 pounds with 7 % body fat. I am the only girl in my school with a real six pack, and I have 12.5 inch arms. I can bench press 150 pounds, and do 75 military style push ups. I want to keep getting bigger and stronger, and my ultimate dream is to win Ms. Olympia one day. After my treatment, I used proffesional female bodybuilders as my inspiration. I though how badly I needed to transform my body every time I got nervous about gaining weight, and soon enough, I overcame it. Good luck with your fight. You can do it!(I'll post pics soon as soon as I get a digital camera)

[mishvs]

I was just wondering what your diet is like and what you ate to gain that muscle mass?
Also, did you do any cardio... And how often do you workout?

any info like this would be welcomed :)

Michelle

[rippedteenchick]

Michelle,

My low bodyfat level pretty much came from my eating disoreder- I used to run for an hour each morning while I wasnt eating, as well as taking fat burning pills for nearly a year. Anyways, that was unhealthy. Now I still do cardio every day, but I dont take any eca's or things like that. As for the muscle mass, I take in a lot of protein a day-about 100-150 g a day for the last 2+ years. I typically eat about 4 meals a day, and take whey protein, as well as protein bars which I eat in school. Carbs dont affect me much because I do a lot of cardio. Also, here is what my weight training split looks like-its intense, but it helped a lot in building muscle.

Monday
biceps-4 sets of concentrated curls, barbell curls, and hammer curls all with 25-30 lb dumbells, or 70 lb bar.
shoulders- 4 sets of shrugs, side raises, and military press
Abs for 10 minutes

Tuesday-off day

Wednesday
Chest, Triceps, Calves, abs

Thursday
legs, back
abs

Friday
Biceps, abs

Saturday
Chest, Glutes, abs

Sunday
20 min abs, and push ups-usually either in sets of 40-50, or 10 with a 25 lb weight on my back.

Remember-it takes a long time to build muscle, but if you eat right and stick to your workout than you will! Good luck!!