Finally, a full chart of Ben's weight, from start of CAMHS to discharge

I won't publish it here because these days I prefer not to mention specific weights (which might be triggering for other eating disorder sufferers), but this week I finally produced a full Excel chart of the changes in Ben's weight during the 26 months he was with CAMHS. It makes for interesting reading...


Initially, following our first CAMHS appointment in late January 2010, Ben's weight dropped.

As you'll know if you've read my new book "Please eat..." I managed to get him to stick to a weight-gain eating plan for a couple of months or so. It wasn't easy, I wasn't shown how to implement it, and I describe this period in detail in my book, but somehow I did it. And somehow Ben ate everything. The result was that, by the spring, his weight had returned to what it was on the first day of CAMHS.

Until one day in May 2010 when he "downed tools", spat out ice cream on the kitchen floor, and refused to follow the eating plan any longer.

Because Ben couldn't cope with "mum's eating plan", CAMHS decided to let Ben take back control of his eating and adjust the plan to suit him. 

Between then and spring 2011 Ben's weight went steadily down. Yes, on occasions, he put on a little weight, but then he'd promptly lose it again - and then lose more.

In spring 2011, because Ben had reached stagnation point, I introduced the Recovery Contract as a result of a thread I'd seen on the Around The Dinner Table Forum where a family had been on this course at the UCSD Eating Disorders Center. CAMHS had never come across anything like this but, thankfully, they were willing to give it a go.

And guess what?

Ben's weight slowly began to creep upwards.

Mind you, it wasn't instant. It took until his discharge from CAMHS in March 2012 for it to return to the weight it was on our first day at CAMHS.

So, he never actually gained any weight at all during the 26 months he was with CAMHS.

Interesting, that.