Hypermetabolism

[thegymbum]

I'm recovering from an eating disorder and now trying to get up to a healthier weight. I've kind of hit a road block though. In the past I've had issues with slow metabolism, mainly just due to starving myself for so long, but lately I've upped my intake quite a bit and at first gained a few pounds in a few weeks, but then pretty much plateaued. So I keep bumping up my calories. I'm trying to only weigh every 3 or 4 days, but the past few times I've weighed, I've actually lost weight, despite eating over 3,000 calories a day (which is practically more than my body can physically handle!), and not overdoing the cardio. So I kind of know the science behind this phenomenon, but what I DON'T know is how to fix the problem! It seems that whenever I add extra calories, my metabolism speeds up even more than the amount I've added so I end up in a catch. Does anyone have any effective solutions?

[SeriouslyBrah]

inb4 wonderpug

inb4 read the stickies

[wowbob396]

Possibly the a long term delayed fat loss effect from extreme dieting beforehand, give it a week.

[Cumulonimbus]

Did you get TSH, T4 and T3 tested?

[thegymbum]

Oh, and by the way, I'm already getting more than half of my calories from Ensure Plus and Boost Plus, and the amount I'm taking in of those (literally around 48-56 ounces a day) is about all the liquid I can handle if I throw in a little extra water, so upping my calories with that can't really go much further!

[WonderPug]

Have you ruled out an underlying medical condition?

If so, you can list an example daily diet and the macronutrient composition of that diet? Also, can you give us a sense of your daily activities?

[Lvisaa2]

Have you ruled out an underlying medical condition?

If so, you can list an example daily diet and the macronutrient composition of that diet? Also, can you give us a sense of your daily activities?

^^

Past this, there may be an adjustment period where you have to get used to eating more. Ease your way into more calories and try to consume calorically dense foods.

[sawoobley]

Oh, and by the way, I'm already getting more than half of my calories from Ensure Plus and Boost Plus, and the amount I'm taking in of those (literally around 48-56 ounces a day) is about all the liquid I can handle if I throw in a little extra water, so upping my calories with that can't really go much further!

Isn't ensure like a liquid multi-vitamin, essentially? Is it possible to consume your calories through regular high calorie foods instead of supplements like Ensure or is there another reason for taking them? With such high calorie requirements you'll easily get your micronutrients for the day through food.

How active are you? Does eating more make you more active or figgety? I would give it at least one-two months before drawing any conclusions. How much weight loss are we talking here since you have increased your calories? Have you seen a physician?

[thegymbum]

Did you get TSH, T4 and T3 tested?

Yeah, my doc's been having me get labs every 2 weeks or so to make sure the refeeding stuff doesn't jack up my electrolytes, apparently that's common for some reason! But the thyroid levels have been right in the normal range, though a lot higher than they were a few weeks ago (way low)

Have you ruled out an underlying medical condition?

If so, you can list an example daily diet and the macronutrient composition of that diet? Also, can you give us a sense of your daily activities?

I haven't ruled anything out anything yet, I definitely need to look into that. I have an appt with my PCP tomorrow so hopefully we can work on that! As for the diet, I typically get about 2100 calories from ensure, which totals up to 300g carbs, 66g fat, and 78g protein, so pretty balanced. The other thousand or so is usually something like a greek yogurt, toast, and eggs for bfast (around 400 calories) with an ensure, an ensure for a snack, for lunch usually tuna or chicken plus dried fruit and nuts (again about 400 calolries)plus ensure, ensure snack, and for dinner, some veggies and a huge serving of cottage cheese (400 more) and an ensure, then another ensure before bed. Any ideas where maybe I'm going wrong? Oh and activities, I'm a medical student so am rushing around a lot, so usually just run about 2 miles (about 15 minutes) and lift for around 20-30 minutes.

Thanks for all the helpful responses guys!! Haha, I should keep a few bottles of ensure by my bed and down them whenever I wake up to go to the bathroom!

[WonderPug]

Why is the majority of your caloric intake composed from Ensure?

[thegymbum]

Why is the majority of your caloric intake composed from Ensure?

I know I know, pretty strange! But when I was stuck in inpatient treatment, I was on like 50-75% of calories from that (lemme tell ya, not a pleasant experience), which was basically just a constant infusion of Ensure. And despite initially attempting to rebel and get out of it, I discovered that the more calories I got frmo the ensure, the easier it got to get enough in... it made a huuuge difference in being able to tolerate high calorie loads. So to try to get it in now, I'm still finding I have some GI issues but the ensure seems to be by far easier than solid calories (apparently faster gastric emptying or something..?), soo I've stuck with that for the time being. Hopefully not for long!