Hey kelly, I know you have to field questions about your past experience with ED all the time….but, I have a question I’d love to have you address (and I know it doesn’t replace the advice of a doctor blah blah). Anyway, I’m only slightly underweight, but I know I’d look a bit better (aka not like a boy!) if I were filled out a lil here and there so I’m now in the mindset that I’d like to gain maybe 5-8 pounds. I want to do this slowly and healthily but where I’m running into problems is that I’ve been advised to up my exercise (not enough to offset the extra calories,but just additional) so that I am gaining/maintaining my lean muscle mass…the problem is that I already exercise at least two hours a day. I am just wondering if you had to decrease your exercise when you were in recovery? thanks thanks!!! Lily
This kind of a two parter.
I am just wondering if you had to decrease your exercise when you were in recovery?
Recovery is what got me started working out. When I was sick with my ED, I didn’t work out at all. This is partially because I didn’t have the energy to (I went to the gym once and promptly passed out) and also because I didn’t think enough of my body to spend any time on it- in a healthy way, of course. I didn’t realize it at the time, though, I just thought, “why work out when I can just starve?” In actuality, I couldn’t put forth the effort to do anything good for my body when I thought so little of it in the first place. Which is funny, now reading that, because all I DID was waste energy on my body. If I worked out as much as I binged/purged/loathed myself, I would have been freaking THIS LADY:
Is the one in black topless? HOT.
I started to work out during recovery to gain an appreciation for myself. I also had to start cooking so I would learn to appreciate food. You are less likely to cramp a meal down your throat and bring it back up again 5 minutes later if you spend a lot of time chopping, preparing and cooking it. I still hate cooking, but I fell in love with working out. Once I got my strength back and food (mostly) under control, I could really start to work out. I learned what it felt like to take care of myself, and that I could feel good about the way I looked without having to be the smallest. When I was at my thinnnest, I still thought I was fat- mostly because my brain was fucked, but also because I was still soft. I had no muscle. I started to gain muscle, and firm up, which as first messed with my head, because I was getting bigger, but I thought I looked better. Eventually, I became to see what everyone else saw: Kelly, with muscles and meat looks less frightening better than stick thin Kelly who could pop an inner tube with her tail bone.
So, long story short, I began to work out in recovery, so I don’t really have anything to base it on. BUT, my counselor never put any restrictions on me as far as how long or how often to work out. It was mainly to teach me to treat my body with respect, by tricking me with promises that working out would take care of all the food I was then eating. He knew I would gain weight anyway, but it worked. Sneaky bastard.
I want to do this slowly and healthily but where I’m running into problems is that I’ve been advised to up my exercise (not enough to offset the extra calories,but just additional) so that I am gaining/maintaining my lean muscle mass…the problem is that I already exercise at least two hours a day
Second part: You don’t have to work out more- you work out plenty. I don’t know when you got your advice, but you just need to focus more on weight training. Whatever your cardio/strength training split, you need to focus more on the strength training to build the muscle. Cardio burns calories, yes, so you don’t want to do TOO much, but cardio is still very important for your heart and lungs. You need atleast 30 minutes, most days of the week (5-6).
Strength training is a great way to build curves. I have 8 year old girl shoulders, so I lift a lot of upper body to make fake lines. It works. The only thing is, be patient- it might take a while to notice a difference. For guidelines of how to properly strength train, read this post.
Good for you for wanting to gain weight healthfully- I know a lot of people (and probably me included, to a degree) that would take this as license to eat whatever, whenever. Kudos.
Hey kelly, I know you have to field questions about your past experience with ED all the time….but, I have a question I’d love to have you address (and I know it doesn’t replace the advice of a doctor blah blah). Anyway, I’m only slightly underweight, but I know I’d look a bit better (aka not like a boy!) if I were filled out a lil here and there so I’m now in the mindset that I’d like to gain maybe 5-8 pounds. I want to do this slowly and healthily but where I’m running into problems is that I’ve been advised to up my exercise (not enough to offset the extra calories,but just additional) so that I am gaining/maintaining my lean muscle mass…the problem is that I already exercise at least two hours a day. I am just wondering if you had to decrease your exercise when you were in recovery? thanks thanks!!! Lily
This kind of a two parter.
I am just wondering if you had to decrease your exercise when you were in recovery?
Recovery is what got me started working out. When I was sick with my ED, I didn’t work out at all. This is partially because I didn’t have the energy to (I went to the gym once and promptly passed out) and also because I didn’t think enough of my body to spend any time on it- in a healthy way, of course. I didn’t realize it at the time, though, I just thought, “why work out when I can just starve?” In actuality, I couldn’t put forth the effort to do anything good for my body when I thought so little of it in the first place. Which is funny, now reading that, because all I DID was waste energy on my body. If I worked out as much as I binged/purged/loathed myself, I would have been freaking THIS LADY:
Is the one in black topless? HOT.
I started to work out during recovery to gain an appreciation for myself. I also had to start cooking so I would learn to appreciate food. You are less likely to cramp a meal down your throat and bring it back up again 5 minutes later if you spend a lot of time chopping, preparing and cooking it. I still hate cooking, but I fell in love with working out. Once I got my strength back and food (mostly) under control, I could really start to work out. I learned what it felt like to take care of myself, and that I could feel good about the way I looked without having to be the smallest. When I was at my thinnnest, I still thought I was fat- mostly because my brain was fucked, but also because I was still soft. I had no muscle. I started to gain muscle, and firm up, which as first messed with my head, because I was getting bigger, but I thought I looked better. Eventually, I became to see what everyone else saw: Kelly, with muscles and meat looks
less frighteningbetter than stick thin Kelly who could pop an inner tube with her tail bone.So, long story short, I began to work out in recovery, so I don’t really have anything to base it on. BUT, my counselor never put any restrictions on me as far as how long or how often to work out. It was mainly to teach me to treat my body with respect, by tricking me with promises that working out would take care of all the food I was then eating. He knew I would gain weight anyway, but it worked. Sneaky bastard.
I want to do this slowly and healthily but where I’m running into problems is that I’ve been advised to up my exercise (not enough to offset the extra calories,but just additional) so that I am gaining/maintaining my lean muscle mass…the problem is that I already exercise at least two hours a day
Second part: You don’t have to work out more- you work out plenty. I don’t know when you got your advice, but you just need to focus more on weight training. Whatever your cardio/strength training split, you need to focus more on the strength training to build the muscle. Cardio burns calories, yes, so you don’t want to do TOO much, but cardio is still very important for your heart and lungs. You need atleast 30 minutes, most days of the week (5-6).
Strength training is a great way to build curves. I have 8 year old girl shoulders, so I lift a lot of upper body to make fake lines. It works. The only thing is, be patient- it might take a while to notice a difference. For guidelines of how to properly strength train, read this post.
Good for you for wanting to gain weight healthfully- I know a lot of people (and probably me included, to a degree) that would take this as license to eat whatever, whenever. Kudos.
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