500 cals a day. How do I eat more without gaining weight?

[burdett]

Ok, so, let me first say that I have been diognosed with Body Dysmorphia, and I have a real fear of gaining weight. Having lost 3 stone I now flutter between 8st 2lbs and 8st 7lbs (I'm 5ft 3").

I used to work out a lot and eat around 1200 cals per day. but back in january I suffered a hip injury which I am waiting surgery for. Since being banned from all exercise from my doctor I have reduced by calories intake to between 500 and 700 calories a day, and I eat almost no fat at all. I know this is really unhealthy and I'd really like to overcome my fear and start eating more.

However, having eaten so little for such a long time, every time i try to eat a little more, I gain 4-5lbs, even though I eat really healthy, low fat food (sometimes in the space of even a few days). I really can't stand being over 8st 2lbs, and whenever I go over that I can't even look at myself in the mirror. I'm now in a cycle of trying to eat more, gaining weight, then going back to 500 cals a day until I lose the weight again, then starting again a few weeks later.

I'm getting so tired of this and I'm really appreciate any help anyone could give me about how I could get around this.

P.S I'm a personal trainer and am qualified regarding nutrition, so please don't sent me any replies saying that I'm eating the wrong foods (unless its genuinely constructive advice :-)

Thanks!!

[joachim]

Ok, so, let me first say that I have been diognosed with Body Dysmorphia, and I have a real fear of gaining weight. Having lost 3 stone I now flutter between 8st 2lbs and 8st 7lbs (I'm 5ft 3").

I used to work out a lot and eat around 1200 cals per day. but back in january I suffered a hip injury which I am waiting surgery for. Since being banned from all exercise from my doctor I have reduced by calories intake to between 500 and 700 calories a day, and I eat almost no fat at all. I know this is really unhealthy and I'd really like to overcome my fear and start eating more.

However, having eaten so little for such a long time, every time i try to eat a little more, I gain 4-5lbs, even though I eat really healthy, low fat food (sometimes in the space of even a few days). I really can't stand being over 8st 2lbs, and whenever I go over that I can't even look at myself in the mirror. I'm now in a cycle of trying to eat more, gaining weight, then going back to 500 cals a day until I lose the weight again, then starting again a few weeks later.

I'm getting so tired of this and I'm really appreciate any help anyone could give me about how I could get around this.

P.S I'm a personal trainer and am qualified regarding nutrition, so please don't sent me any replies saying that I'm eating the wrong foods (unless its genuinely constructive advice :-)

Thanks!!

This will stop after a while. The problem is, the body needs more than 500 calories a day, and if you essentially starve it of what it needs for a long time your body goes into a sort of starvation mode. It stores all the calories it can as fat, because it is waiting for the food to stop again, and it will use this as nutrition whilst it is being starved. After eating regularly for a while, your body will get used to it and stop storing extra fat, and your weight will just become normal. This is the reason why diets don't work unless continued indefinitely.

[oz]

500 cal! You should be eating at least triple that, and you wound'nt even be close to gaining weight. Bare in mind, if you only live on very little, then this can then lead to other health problems. You should think about your diet of carbs/protien/vitamins/fibre/iron/ ect... which is apart of being healthy. Whereas 500cals is not healthy. You could try and challenge yourself to eating how you used to (1200cals) which is alot more healthy, but still sticking to low fat foods is still a good idea though. A healthy diet consists of a well balanced diet followed by activity of some sort. On the other hand very little cals is unhealthy.

Hope this helps!:)

[adaya]

get your mental illness to a doctor before you starve to death. It's that simple.