[quote]
I don’t understand why you would refer to refeeds, as every single meal you eat for the next two years should be a refeed meal. [/quote]
i agree with this. when you are not posting on T-Nation, sleeping, or using the commode you should be eating as much healthy food as possible. obviously not to the point of discomfort, but you sound like you know what to eat. keep up the good work and stay strong!
[quote]theenforcer1 wrote:
not bad.
Yesterday was rough…sat down at dinner, made myself a PB sandwich, with an apple and some almonds…ended up eating 3 pb sandwiches and smothered pb all over the apple and about 1/2 cup of almonds. [/quote]
How is that rough? You were hungry so you ate the appropriate amount of food. Good times, man.
yeah, its just tough with this disease man. Its getting better. I am feeling less and less guilt as my lifts go up and up!
[quote]theenforcer1 wrote:
yeah, its just tough with this disease man. Its getting better. I am feeling less and less guilt as my lifts go up and up![/quote]
Kick that disease in the nuts.
You are 6’4" and very light for your weight, you are light for someone who is even 5’ 6"!
You obviously have a body that knows what it wants, that is why you are putting down so much food, that is great!
It knows it needs tons of nutrients to fill up it’s large frame, especially since you are weight training - Do not feel guilty for eating that much food, it’s your body’s natural way of surviving!
You won’t get fat, trust yourself with that one. When you are at an optimal weight for your height your body will help you to eat accordingly to your daily activities, don’t sweat it and keep up what you are doing.
[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Natural Nate wrote:
theenforcer1 wrote:
not bad.
Yesterday was rough…sat down at dinner, made myself a PB sandwich, with an apple and some almonds…ended up eating 3 pb sandwiches and smothered pb all over the apple and about 1/2 cup of almonds.
How is that rough? You were hungry so you ate the appropriate amount of food. Good times, man.
I’m gonna cautiously say that this guy has bigtime issues with food. Sure, he needs to eat more than a PB sandwichj for dinner, but he creates an image of someone who has ‘overwhelming urges’ regarding food.
It’s almost as though he’s obsessive compulsive. Intends to eat X amount but then goes way past that and eats everything, then feels bad about it.
This could be a problem in the future. I also advise seeing a counsellor or psychologist.
Of course it might just be a problem because he’s ‘planning’ to eat far too little, and his body is saying ‘no way dude, FEED me’. Or it might be psychological. or most likely a combo of both.
Or I might be full of shit, never having had an eating disorder myself.
Bushy[/quote]
Bushy, I think he just goes way past what he intends to eat and eats everything because he needs so much food to get up to a healthy bodyweight.
Imagine being 6’4" and 141lbs, imagine how hungry you would be. I think right now he is listening to his body and is eating accordingly.
I agree with you on how it could a problem in the future though, but i strongly believe that once he hits a healthy weight those massive cravings will start to fade.
The ravenous hunger and eating is a normal physiological response following starvation. The mechanisms are fairly well understood.
It is a good sign, because if you did not have this appetite response to your previous underfeeding, you’d be in serious trouble.
In this state, your body is determined to gain weight, and you MUST go with it if you want to recover.
Good psychological counseling COULD help with the misplaced and maladaptive feelings of guilt. However, use your own head and evaluate the counseling you get. Don’t just blindly trust that the “experts” in this area are automatically right. There is a lot of BS counseling in the ED field in my experience. I would stick to someone with a CBT approach rather than the type who dig in your past for someone or something to blame.
[quote]andersons wrote:
The ravenous hunger and eating is a normal physiological response following starvation. The mechanisms are fairly well understood.
It is a good sign, because if you did not have this appetite response to your previous underfeeding, you’d be in serious trouble.
In this state, your body is determined to gain weight, and you MUST go with it if you want to recover.
Good psychological counseling COULD help with the misplaced and maladaptive feelings of guilt. However, use your own head and evaluate the counseling you get. Don’t just blindly trust that the “experts” in this area are automatically right. There is a lot of BS counseling in the ED field in my experience. I would stick to someone with a CBT approach rather than the type who dig in your past for someone or something to blame.[/quote]
Yeah, see this has been about a 4 year battle now…and I have sought counsel from about 3 different therapists and 3 different nutrition experts…every time things just got worse. Now I am doing the best I have ever done with just help from ya’ll here. Things are going well, the guilt is starting to subside. I appreciate the concern and the checking in, and it really helps to hear you guys saying this is what I need, and that the hunger will eventually fade.
Any other tips/pointers are greatly appreciated!
Everyone feels compelled to tell you to get professional help. Including myself. However, I do know from personal experience with a close friend that a lot of the “professionals” in this area have no true evidence-based knowledge at all. So I hear ya.
In fact, when my friend went through it, I read every study I could get my hands on. This was back in 2000 or so. Honestly, what I concluded from my research was that no one has a clue what causes this condition or how to fix it.
You are ravenous, and you are eating, so that’s GREAT. Eating is good. Gaining weight is good. And you are eating more nutritious foods than the ED nutritionists would probably have you eat. So that’s all good. I recommended cognitive-behavioral therapy because that approach is simply like learning a skill of replacing harmful thoughts, like guilt, with helpful thoughts and behaviors. It’s very practical. You seem to have a good sense of what helps you, so maybe check out some books on the subject. I have heard many recommendations for Feeling Good by Burns, though I must admit I have only glanced at it myself.
Hunger is good. Eating is good. Gaining weight is all good. This is the attitude you want to adopt.
As I said, earlier I was hardcore anorexic for 2.5 years in high school. It didn’t stop for me until the mental pain of maintaining that bodyweight began to exceed the twisted sense of satisfaction I got from being bone-thin. For me, I needed some help beyond just eating.
That was almost 30 yrs ago. How it will end up for you, I don’t know. I would suggest you continue trying some kind of therapy. I think andersons is giving you some good advice. The level of incompetence in the mental health counseling field is roughly what it is in other fields and on the street–pretty frickin high. But behavioral therapy could definitely work.
I guess the main thing I woul caution against is trying to go it alone. Just talk about how it is. Even if it is just with a bunch of bodybuilders on T-Nation.
The ravenous hunger will go away when your body is no longer starving. That could be a a while.
Good luck.
Thanks bros.
I appreciate the help and support. Lifts continue to go up with the scale, and let me tell ya, it feels good for once.,