Weight Gain

Okay, I've come to the place where I have finally committed to recovering. I need surgery on an old sports injury, and my physiotherapist told me that unless I gain some muscle back, there is no way any surgeon would operate on me in the condition I'm in. And the success of the surgery depends a great deal on how physically strong I am before I go into surgery. And, as a former athlete, I am so sick of anorexia and how weak and tired and unfit it has made me. I just want to be strong and healthy again. I want to feel alive.

So, I have to gain at least fifteen pounds before I can go through surgery. My meal plan goals have me eating a minimum of 3000 calories per day. What kind of weight gain rate can I expect, i.e. how much weight per week is it reasonable for me to expect to gain?

Also, I have a question about exercise. I need to gain strength and muscle back for my surgery and subsequent physical rehab, but I'm not sure what exercise is okay in the state I'm in. What kind of exercises whould I avoid? Will exercising stop me from gaining weight? Should I just not exercise at all until I've gained a certain amount of weight back? 

Thanks for answering all my questions, I'm sure I'll have a bunch more as I continue with recovery. 

First of all, good for you on starting recovery. It's a big step to make. For all your questions, though, I point you to the thread at the top of the forum: The Aim is to Gain: Advice on Weight Gain, Whatever Your Reason. It covers everything you have asked thus far.

I just wanted to say good for you! It's a hard step to admit a problem and start working on recovery but you're doing great by making a plan and working to that goal.

With exercise I'd stick to resistance or light weights. I'd really stay away from cardio. If you do resistance it's good for rebuilding because you can start with only body weight and then add in resistance bands or light hand/ankle weights as you progress. It's a gentler approach to take and exactly how I worked through physical therapy with a knee injury. I had quad atrophy at one point from the complications and it wasn't easy at first but this did rebuild my leg and helped that recover.

If you're eating 3000 calories a day just figure how many over maintenance that is for your height/weight. If I remember it right there's 3500 calories in a pound, so going off that if you're taking in an excess of say 500 a day then in a week you'd gain 1 pound in theory. Just like losing all people gain differently so don't get discouraged if it's hard and you don't see any results quickly as your body adjusts.

You're doing great!

Good job!! Making up your mind to do something is the toughest first step. I would be careful with exercise until you have really started to recover and have gained some weight. Maybe in a few weeks add some light strength training. Take a nice walk around the block. Avoid any heavy cardio until you have recovered.

Here are some sites that may help. Good luck.

http://www.moritherapy.org/article/10-things- anorexia-recovery/

http://www.abandonedbeliefs.com/newbeliefs3.h tml