<p>Definitely need to try and get help for the eating disorder issues. Even if you feel you’ve gotten over them, professional help and counseling can kind of help “seal the deal” and make sure you never go back to restricting. I was anorexic for a almost two years before I finally got help from a specialist. It’s pretty much impossible to get anything done when you’re severely restricting because it takes all the energy you’ve got left to avoid eating.That’s the first step. Taking care of yourself is very important to being able to concentrate on studies, so first get the rest of your life in order (diet, sleep, exercise) and then tackle schoolwork. After going into recovery from treatment, I gained a whole bunch of weight back (not too fat, but a BMI of 25 which seemed horrific at the time) the diet I’m currently on is very healthy, and has helped me steadily drop weight until I went back down to a healthy weight (BMI 21). I basically eat a ton of vegetables, tofu, meat, and berries while avoiding wheat products, excessive carbs, dairy, sugar, and fruit (too much sugar). Sugar was really messing up my ability to focus on schoolwork, and carbs were keeping me tired all day, so this has been invaluable for my mental and physical health. It’s not an Atkins diet, so some carbs are okay, but I keep it under 40 net carbs per day. If you really actually need to lose weight, eat five small meals a day totaling approximately 1200 cals plus drink about 120 ounces of water. Whenever you’re ready to switch to maintenance, just up the calories and carb totals until you find a good balance (about 1600 cals for me). I allow myself one cheat meal per week (for one meal, you can eat anything you want) and if I want a piece of fruit or cake, I’ll have some in moderation (I know, easier said than done, it took me months but I finally learned to neither restrict nor binge). If I’m busy going to classes or whatnot, I’ll bring some almonds, an atkins bar, or a low carb/sugar protein shake. I try to stay away from too many fake sugars as they often cause bloat and stall weight loss. Everything in moderation, except for veggies, I have as many of those as I want (no carrots though…too many carbs). </p>
<p>From reading your description, I was a lot like you a year or two ago. It took many failures, and me getting up and trying again after those failures, before I was finally able to get my life under control. Moderation is really the key. A steady effort over a series of weeks is going to yield a lot more results than a monstrous effort the week before finals. I personally was very helped by Cal Newport’s books. I read all three: How to be a Highschool Superstar, How to Ace College (something like that), and How to be a Straight A Student. I would also recommend a book that I think was called “A game.” That helped too. I bought myself a planner that had ample room for each hour of the day, and I made myself write in that planner every night before I went to bed (in preparation for the next day). I personally found that 2-4 hours devoted to studying was all I needed to ace all my classes. I broke this up according to subject into 30-60 minute segments, and always got the hard things out of the way first. I started playing an intramural sport which really really helped as a mental and physical release. Also, I realized how much I needed a good night’s sleep. Without it, I was useless the next day and would fall back to old bad habits. I make myself be in bed by 10:30, and wake up on my own around 7:00. Getting up at at least 7:00 really helps you stay more productive. If you have trouble falling asleep or are a light sleeper, buy some valerium pills, an all natural supplement that I take every night to make sure I get a deep sleep. When reading dry texts (double STEM majors) I’ll put sugar-free gummy bears every half a page or so and use it to motivate myself to keep reading. Brain dump over, hope some of that helps you. You’ll also have to buck the idea that you’re going to be motivated and perfect every day. It’s not going to happen. Do your best get a to-do list of maybe 5 extremely important tasks done each day, and if you don’t, just try again, and again, and again. It’s going to be a long process, instant gratification is not going to lead to long term results. </p>