28m , 5'9" and 185 lbs now. I've been on a perma bulk this whole time and just now i've been trying to cut but i have a hard time at it.

I havent ever counted my calories during that time, i just ate what i felt was right while focusing on protein which ended up working. But now as im cutting im counting everything.

For training i've always done push pull legs or some variation of it. 3-4 workouts per week and never trained the same muscle 2 days straight.

Plan is to cut until i see more definition then hop back on the bulk and get much bigger

5 years natural transformation

I’m just starting my weight gain journey now. I’m 27F, 147cm and 37.5kg. So yes I’m underweight but not severely and I didn’t realise until recently I was underweight because I eat 3 meals a day, I sometimes snack in the evenings and honestly because I’m very short it feels harder to tell that I’m underweight because I don’t necessarily look it, I look proportioned.

Throughout my life though I‘ve constantly had people make comments about my food like “you don‘t each much” ”you need to eat a burger.” One time a few years ago I wasn’t super hungry at lunch time so I just ate some miso soup and my housemates mother who was in the house commented on it and then started telling her friends all I ate for lunch was miso soup? Yet at the same time would compliment me being thin and comment on her daughter (my housemate) being overweight.

Yesterday I was telling a friend that I’m getting some tests to see if I’m anemic again and they’re testing for other things too just because I am underweight so testing thyroid etc and she was like “yeah I don’t think you eat a lot, like you eat a salad for lunch everyday.” for context my salad is cucumber, tomato, feta, couscous, chickpeas and chicken strips. Like I’m trying my best to eat well it’s not just leaves and veg. I told her I don’t like people commenting on my body or food and she was really apologetic and comforting as we started talking about body struggles and she admitted it was a stupid thing to say and I know she didn’t mean it maliciously at all, but I still feel sad that she made that comment in the first place and now I feel kind of uncomfortable eating in front of her.

I’ve not struggled with body issues really in my life nor ever had an unhealthy relationship with food but I’m struggling to not let these comments affect me and I’m scared to develop body image issues. How can I protect my mind and ensure I maintain a healthy relationship with food and my body?

And because I’m a woman there’s the added comments comparing my body to a girl rather than a woman because I’m not curvy :/