How to track my macros

anachronicles
anachronicles Posts: 109 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello,

I am currently recovering from anorexia. For me anorexia involved obsessively portioning out my foods and maintaining a meticulous food diary of absolutely everything I ate. I have since stopped logging to try to break this obsessive behaviour.

My two main goals in recovery are curbing this obsessiveness and gaining weight back in the form of lean muscle. However, whenever I see posts about how to gain lean muscle they all involve pretty strict logging of macros (for example, people suggest eating .8g of protein per pound of body weight). How can I healthily and effectively bulk up without focusing so intensely on the numbers?

Replies

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I hope some of the people experienced in muscle gains and body recomp see this, but my suspicion is that you don't really have to be that precise, especially if you are relatively new, but just make sure you are eating a balanced diet that includes a good bit of protein and also enough fat (which comes naturally if you eat meat or cook with olive oil, etc., IME).

    From playing around with trying to get .8-1 lb per LBM, I think you can largely focus on trying to include protein with each meal (assuming three) and some kind of extra--a snack of greek yogurt or cottage cheese or the like or post workout protein shake. If you think about it in terms of general make up of your typical meals, would that serve your needs and not be triggering like counting would? Maybe look at what some people around your size eat on a regular basis and especially look at how they get protein? I know there are a number of women around here who are impressive with their lifting. Also you might want to ask in the Eat, Train, Progress group.

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