Anorexic Diet Help needed

[Temple]

My sister has been what I would describe as anorexic for about a year and a half. Basically induced by a really ugly divorce. She is currently 5'7" and I'm guessing 110# and typical skinny fat. She teaches and has summers off and want me to start her on weight training as soon as school gets out. She's a no BS kind of girl so if she says it - we are going to do it. I think somewhere along the line she looked at what my body is doing and what hers is and had one of those "lightbulb moments".
When we had the gals from the "thin" board on here I was screaming "Just Eat" at the top of my lungs but have now rethought that a bit.

The minute we start putting calories in I suspect she is going to gain fat and water so rapidly it will be mind boggling. Does anyone have any ideas of how to go about increasing the cals and getting enough to support basic training. What needs to be done is to restructure her metabolism as gently as possible - Any ideas???
If I was guessing I'd say she might be doing 500 cals a day from some pretty shitty sources along with a ton of coffee.

 

[FitFossil]

I had to change my diet bit by bit, because I had to trick my MIND as much as my body. The first thing I started doing was drinking a MRP for breakfast a few days a week. Once I realized how good that made me feel, I increased the days. Then I tackled cleaning up one lunch a week, increasing the days, and so on and on until I worked up to 6 small meals w/ a balance of protein/carbs/healthy fat in each. Rather than thinking about increasing calories at first, I only thought about trading bad calories for the same # of nutritious calories. This alone made a remarkable difference.

At the same time, I started keeping a log of my workouts. Anorexics are typically perfectionists and like to see results. As I began focusing on my strength increases from week to week, I was further motivated to improve my diet. This is when I got the "lightbulb moment" about food being FUEL instead of evil. I made a pact not to weigh myself at all, only to have my bodyfat measured every month or so.

As my body began to change, and I saw that I did not get fat from eating real food, I gradually began increasing calories to feed and keep my new muscles. I found that with my healthier body, increased muscle mass and (as a result of the first 2) my increased activity level, I could further increase my calories and still not get fat.

I think every situation with a ED sufferer is going to be different. Looking back I probably could've done things differently and reached the same place faster, but for me the journey was as therapeutic as the result.

 

[Debu]

If she is goal oriented, she is going to want to she the weight she pushes in the gym go up. I always wanted to look like a BB but I was anorexic, DUH. I lifted weights ALL the time and never saw a muscle, skin and bones yes, never muscle. Curling a 15 lb DB was HARD!!!

I wrote a letter to Cory Everson, yes the wonderful Cory, asking for her advice(way back in '82 I think?). SHe simply informed me that I needed good'ole healthy carbs and protein to have the energy to lift and grow. She sent me a pic for motivation and I started on my way. She will have her doubts about putting the food in her body but she will start to realize she can't push herself in the gym without it. Like what FF said! Good luck to you, this must be hard for you, I know my condition caused many a grief to my family.

 

[ATrollFromTheFatBoard]

As my body began to change, and I saw that I did not get fat from eating real food

Is she truly anorexic? If she is, these people think they are still fat at 70 and 80 lbs.

If she is truly anorexic, she needs professional help. Anorexia has the highest fatality rate of any psychological disorder.

Although your help and her interest in bodybuilding ought to be very helpful for her.