[Ethrax]

So umm I guess I shall begin by saying that I'm a 16 year old male - eating disorder recoveree. I mainly wanted to ask how I can address this issue: Every night before I go to bed I get a feeling which seems to be of hunger which only goes away if I eat an absolute ton, this often results in me not being able to sleep from overeating, but otherwise I feel bad and having joints ache and what not without food. I rarely get the amount right and I am not even sure if I'm imagining the hunger in the first place as it always is before bed and always comes really quick? How do I find out if I am really hungry, how much that needs to be eaten or how to address it if I'm not really hungry. Could it possibly be that I stunted my growth so considerably that its doing this to get extra calories as catch up growth?

I don't have all that much time to experiment too much as I am starting HSC/year 12 this week :/ but I will try.

Thanks and Regards,
Ethan

[RedCedar]

Hyper-metabolism is definitely real in recovery, so it could be that you do need a lot of "extra" calories to repair the damaged caused by your ED. Also, the 16 year old males I know just need a lot of food, even not recovering from eating disorders. You could also have a distorted perspective on how much is "a ton". I'm in recovery too, and my body feels too full and my brain freaks out about eating "too much" when in reality I've just had what most people would consider a normal meal.

If being too full to sleep is causing problems, maybe try eating more during the day? Or at least a little earlier. That way you'll have time to digest before you go to bed.

Way to go being in recovery! It is so so hard sometimes! Feel free to reach out ad send me a message if there's any way I can support you! We need all the recovery friends we can get!