How Counting Macros Fixed My Relationship with Food
On March 1, 2023, I celebrated 5 years in recovery from my eating disorder. While no addiction is easy, having a disordered relationship with a substance that keeps you alive is very complicated. While I was very motivated to recover and get out of rehab, I still had to tackle how I was going to eat and not be afraid of certain foods. Throughout my journey so far, I’ve learned that diet culture is a lie, food is fuel, and to live a little!
I had previously worked with a coach to count macros, which really helped me before rehab. I started working with her again and combined with my hard work in rehab, I’ve gained a much healthier relationship with food. If you ever read the hashtags on my social media, I usually choose #DietCultureDropOut because I found that those beliefs don’t serve me, nor do I want to serve them to my clients. I’m going to get a little vulnerable with you all about my journey with macro counting and how it has evolved over my competitive years.
The most important thing that I realized was that food is just carbs, fats, and proteins combined in different ratios… That’s it! While a sleeve of Oreos may not keep me as satiated as veggies and hummus, my body isn’t going to store Oreos differently simply because society has deemed them unhealthy. In the same vein, my body won’t drop X number of pounds or put on X amount of muscle mass because I ate veggies and hummus… We don’t work that way! Once I started to believe that, I found that I could breathe deeply around my fear foods. In fact, I freely enjoy some of those foods today with no guilt!
That’s why I don’t have clients on meal plans, nor do we restrict certain foods unless we need to. For example, if a client has performance goals for a competition, we may mindfully dial down their alcohol intake as we prepare. If a client is looking to put on muscle mass, we’ll do a bulking cycle to support their muscle growth while being mindful about what they’re consuming as they bump up their daily calories. I believe in helping my clients learn about food in order to make educated choices about nutrition to maintain their results.
If you’re looking to improve your relationship with food while achieving your goals, send me an email or click here to schedule a time for your FREE consultation!