My metabolism is... broken?

Question
Hi. Thanks for taking the time to read this. :)

I'm 19 years old, female, and I've struggled with disordered eating since I was 12. I went through a period of consuming 500-700 kcal/day in the beginning and lost a lot of weight before eventually being placed in a treatment program. Upon leaving the facility, I stuck to a diet of 1300-1500 kcal/day for several years and was somewhat healthy (despite being a few pounds overweight as a result of the re-feeding process). More recently, however, I've fallen back into the trap of severely restricting my calorie intake (300-500 kcal/day) in order to achieve and maintain very low body weights.

A few days ago, I was told (by a friend and self-proclaimed expert, not a medical professional) that my long standing battle with anorexia has permanently damaged my metabolism, to the point that I will never again be able to eat "normally" without becoming obese. As I'm sure you can imagine, this bit of news is poised to destroy any hope of recovery and nutritional normalcy I may have had for the future. I would rather die slowly of starvation than tip the scales at my high weight of 215 lbs. once again.

Could you please tell me if what my friend has said is true? Is it possible for a person's metabolism to be permanently ruined? Am I doomed to either starving to death or living miserably in the clutches of obesity? Please help!

Answer
Whitney,
Number one is that you need to get professional help again if you have slipped back into old eating habits.  Eating so few calories is extremely dangerous to your health as I am sure you have learned!!  Your metabolism is NOT ruined for life.  You cannot "break" your metabolism.  BUT you do need to eat the amount of calories your body needs to continue functioning and 300-500 calorie a day will not do it.  You are a very young person with a whole life in front of you!  GET HELP now before this gets more and more out of hand.  DO NOT listen to people that are NOT medical professionals!!  You will get wrong information and that information can hamper your recovery!  
So again, get help ASAP and get back to eating a normal amount of calories and eating healthy again!  Talk to your doctor about your metabolism so that they can explain in depth to you about how it works!  Don't wait though do it NOW!!
Kim Tessmer, RD LD
www.Nutrifocus.net

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