Switching & food intake

**trigger warning for those with eating disorders, for calories and such**

Me and my curiosity is back

Okay, so I was wondering if this is true or if the staff at the psych hospital we were inpatient and another psych ward we talked to because we have been the "closest of kin" to another DID'er (though we are not related) at were not knowledgeable in this subject and more or less just guessed this:
Switching burns more calories than going between ego states, significantly so actually.

This was relevant as both ourselves and our best friend (they're DID as well), as well as seemingly other patients who have been DID have needed a larger meal plan than others to maintain/gain weight, even though they no parts are engaging in behavior that would cause a drop in weight.

Have any of you heard of this before? Is there any truth to this? Did they just guess (as they have done in many things)?

- Emma

It's been suggested to me that we need a larger than average calorie intake, but we're also anorexic. Or rather, I'm anorexic. The others, to my knowledge, don't have any problem eating. At the hospital though, they did try to put me on a very specific meal plan to help me maintain and gain weight. I know a lot of the others who had DID were also on specific plans, too. Your idea may well have merit.

**trigger warning for calories etc**
Yeah, that's what it was like for us too. Lin & Nin have anorexia nervosa and the specific meal plans for those who were DID and who both had or had not had an eating disorder seemed to both imply DID'ers need a higher calorie intake than those without. Interesting, indeed.

I have anorexia too. My other parts eat. The littles eat junk food that is gross. One binges, I dont believe there is any purging. I have been inpatient 14 times. They alwasy monitored my food intake as I weighted very little and gave food away adn someitmes jsut could not get any food down. I never heard of the calories needed. I was in Colin Ross's hospitla forestview. HE is well published and consulted aboaut DID. He was kinda scary. Anyway I saw others only drinking cups of coffee adn others purging right in the hospital! I cut once there and had to go thru a bunch of hoops to get back into the mainstream treatment program. IT was liek punishemnt for punishemnt. That was in the early 200o's. I would be interested too if DID ers require more ot maintain My Therapist is recomending that i take in 1,200 a day a nd can still lose as I gained during a long term amneisa in 2005. I say 300 only/day and if th ebosy gets more thatn 500 I begin to freak and feel sick. I knwo that is disordered eating. ANYWAY< i have been switching A lot lately due to the good kind of therapy stress(more are willin gto come out a nd participate, but also soemtiesm have the revolving door and then we try to slow the stress down. I am losing weight left and right. Does stress affect you?weight wise?

**trigger warning for calories etc**
Thank you for sharing that. We have a big problem with maintaining weight even when we eat enough. Stress can cause weight loss of course, but most of the time stress will cause people to not remember to eat and hydrate properly, which makes them lose weight. But I do think stress itself can make you require more calories, which would make you lose weight faster as well. I hope you have a good day.

*Trigger warning: mentions of calories and anorexia*

I wouldn't be surprised if there was some truth to the statement that switching burns more calories than ego states. It takes a lot energy, mentally and sometimes physically.

When we have "switchy days", days where we switch a lot and just stick around home for most of the day, we usually end up being more tired than after a day where we're out and about being active.

We're also usually more tired in general if we've had more than 3 of us out in control, compared to having only 1 or 2 of us out in control for the day. Usually co-hosting makes us feel less tired, but it also depends on who's co-hosting, if they switch out a lot, and how long they co-host for.

Not only are L.C. and Luna anorexic and can "help" us not want to eat/not feel hungry, but it's common for us to actually forget to eat if we've been a bit switchy that day. So that could also be why people with DID may need a larger meal plan- forgetting to eat is very possible when you have alters switching in and out of control. And I've noticed it seems common for either the host to have an eating disorder or for at least one alter to have an eating disorder for people with DID, so that could be a factor as well.



~The Hawk

So that could also be why people with DID may need a larger meal plan- forgetting to eat is very possible when you have alters switching in and out of control.

**trigger warning**
Maybe, except you're in-patient like that where they watch all of your food intake, of course.

This is probably just us but therapeutically I hope not though because I doubt people with anorexia would fair well if they did that, as part of the goal is to have trust between yourself and the T in that "this will not make me gain" (when you've come to that point) - and if they give you a larger meal plan, that will be interfered with. Many (if not most) anorexics will know the calorie count in their meal plan and will know if the T tries this. We would have a hard time trusting a T that would do that at least. But that might just be us

It's interesting to note though, because it's like this for many of us: forgetting to take care of oneself is very common, unfortunately.

When we have "switchy days", days where we switch a lot and just stick around home for most of the day, we usually end up being more tired than after a day where we're out and about being active.

I agree. We're like that as well. So much more exhausting to have DID on days like that than when you're actually physically active Just about ready to pass out come evening with days when we switch every 15 minutes Thankfully that doesn't happen all that often anymore to us

And I've noticed it seems common for either the host to have an eating disorder or for at least one alter to have an eating disorder for people with DID, so that could be a factor as well.

Yeah there's absolutely a high rate of comorbidity for DID and eating disorders.

Thanks

Yes and stress cauess more switching in my system adn then i get exhuasted while they are still wanting to be active.

Yeah, that makes sense. Hope you have a good day

*trigger for food talk, meals and such*

We are now officially now longer anorexic (anorexia in remission is the diagnosis now) and we have indeed found that our body needs quite a bit more than average to maintain.

We have some physical problems (*trigger for specific abuse* that probably stem from the years of starvation by the mother and having to eat things one shouldn't eat, and our stomach therefore struggling after that paired with the anorexia as well*end*) that we are trying to solve that seem to make gaining and maintaining more difficult, but there's also, when we are completely healthy, a need for more food that seems to stem from the DID itself.

We eat three times a day plus snacks through-out the day, but are now hoping to reach four times a day (we have yet to figure out why but our body doesn't do this naturally yet).

Yet with all of this, we do tend to lose weight. No alter is dieting, no alter is exercising excessively and our body has never been one to lose weight naturally (genetically or otherwise). So I do think there is some merit to needing more nutrients due to switching.

It's something to note, at least for us