Going from Calorie-Counting to Food Freedom (Client Confessional with Jaime)

Have you ever been stuck in a cycle of restrictive diets, counting every calorie, and battling guilt with every weigh-in? Join us as we talk with previous Nourished & Free™ member, Jaime, about her journey to food freedom. Jaime opens up about her experiences with a program that was fixated on the restrictive mindset and dieting, leading her down a path where she obsessively counted calories and found herself riddled with guilt at weigh-ins. Feeling trapped, she sought a more sustainable approach to nutrition, one that wouldn't have her measuring lettuce leaves to meet caloric intake goals.

Jaime's story doesn't end here. She made the brave decision to deviate from the restrictive mindset she was used to and moved towards a healthier balance with food and body image. She shares her transformational journey working with me and how it changed her outlook on body image, food, and gave her the confidence to eat without guilt or restrictions. Jaime also discusses how this was a sustainable nutrition program that has helped her maintain her results. If you're seeking a more sustainable way to achieve food freedom and break away from the guilt associated with restrictive diets, Jaime's story will be a beacon of hope.

TOPICS COVERED 👇 

• [0:53] Jaime's experience with a restrictive weight loss program (1200 calories a day, weighing food, and watching macros, oh my!)
• [7:15] When Jaime’s binges started
• [9:45] The challenges of finding “food freedom”, and how Jaime is able to eat normally now
• [12:15] Going from binge eating 3x/week to NONE
• [13:49] The body image struggles that Jaime was able to overcome
• [17:25] Jaime’s advice to anyone considering joining Nourished & Free™, my signature program
• [22:11] How to learn more about my signature program

LEARN MORE
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Transcript

Michelle: 0:00

Welcome back to the Nourished and Free podcast. Today is a great conversation with one of my former clients who worked with me inside of my signature program, also called Nourished and Free. Jaime is here to share her experience with working with me after coming from a program that was really highly focused on the restrictive mindset and diet mentality, calorie deficit, all of those things. So I'm excited for you to hear her story because I think a lot of you are gonna be able to resonate with what she was doing previously and how she was feeling. And then I'm excited for you to also hear what it's like to take a different approach and be able to go through something that is more focused on you as a whole person rather than you just as a number on the scale. So I'm excited to dig in. Welcome to the show, Jaime, and I'd love for you to just share with us more about what that program was like before you started working with me.

Jaime: 0:53

Okay. So before I was in Nourished and Free, I joined this workout program specific for moms because I was like, oh good, they'll understand, and they would do fitness and nutrition and mental health kind of components. But when I was in it, the basically what I learned was to count my calories with my fitness pal, like substituting foods Essentially it was a low fat diet and be just concerned about certain carbs, because there's good carbs and bad carbs, and and then just weightlifting. And then like the mindset things would be questions like if you're not losing the weight that you wanted, like what did you do to do that? And like what does that say about you? And so just a lot of kind of guilt trips essentially.

Jaime: 1:58

And then you know there's a Facebook group, so then people would post things kind of reinforcing like the good carbs and reinforcing different eating patterns, like intermittent fasting or all like the whole 30, like some people would do that, some people wouldn't. But it turned into like I would get obsessive because I would say, oh well, this girl is doing this, so I'm gonna do that because she's looking great, so I want to look like her. And so by the time I called up Michelle, I was eating like 1200 calories for about six months. And like it was to the point where and I know I've talked about that to Michelle while I was like I would be measuring lettuce leaves on a scale and I would say, mmm, well, that's too much. Like I got to take that off because I needed to stay within my caloric intake level and I was trying to force myself into eat one meal a day because intermittent fasting is just apparently great according to this program, right?

Jaime: 3:07

And then again, like all the mindset things that I would think like, oh well, I didn't get you know my body fat percentage because I ate that one cookie the other day and my weigh-in results were not very good, and so so I think I called up Michelle because I had eaten like a Costco size of peanut butter in like two days.

Jaime: 3:29

That was like, well, this isn't good. Like I had just you know, like I had just introduced myself to a terrible relationship with food and I just was like this isn't working, like this isn't sustainable. And meanwhile, as I'm eating 1200 calories a day, minus like those random binge eating days, I would be lifting like an hour a day, like heavy weights too. I was lifting the most I've ever lifted like, I mean, a workout was. I was telling it, but it was like it was also going off the deep end of if I don't get my workout in, you know I would have to self reflect on that with the mindset part of the program and then I feel bad that I did. You know I did that wrong too, minus my caloric intake, and that wasn't right either.

Michelle: 4:19

So yeah, what did accountability look like in that program? Were you meeting with somebody one-to-one no?

Jaime: 4:28

and I mean that was kind of the other part that made me start googling. You know I wanted help with my nutrition because I, I just I felt like my nutrition my whole life hasn't been terrible, like I don't think I've struggled with nutrition per se. I honestly had never done a diet program in my life except for this one. I've never counted calories until this one, and so I also know I grew up in diet culture, like I saw my mom do every single diet that's existed, and I'm naturally genetically thinner compared to my family because I'm adopted, and so I would always be talked up, even with my family, of, oh well, you're just so lucky that it's just easy for you. And so I kept trying to ask the coaches in this program. I was like I just need some help with my nutrition because I've been doing like.

Jaime: 5:27

When I was three months in to 1200 calories every day, I was like nothing's happening, I'm not losing weight, I'm not losing body fat percentage, I'm killing it in the gym. So I don't know. And they'd always just say it's your nutrition, it's your nutrition. And so they said they looked at my, my Fitness Pell and they basically were like they're like, well, you're doing everything right, like you just got to let your body weight and I was either told to have more patients Well, first I wouldn't get my questions answered for a while. So then I would just be like I guess I'll keep doing it because nobody told me to stop.

Jaime: 6:09

And then when I did, they would say I need to wait longer and just keep eating the 1200 calories I'm eating. Or they would say, like, mess around with intermittent fasting. They would also say things like I'm not pushing enough weight. So then that's when I keep pushing up more, like I'd start lifting even heavier. So that was a lot of the feedback I got, but it was all in the Facebook chat, like I would try to message the trainer individually and I wouldn't get anything. So I really didn't get a lot of like individualized care, if you will, especially with what I was seeing. I would get feedback from other women, but I mean, I kind of thought I'm paying this coach. She's not sure she can take four minutes to send me a message.

Jaime: 7:03

You know a gentleman's talk to me, type it out.

Michelle: 7:06

Hey, yeah, and you can even do voice messages on Facebook. I mean, that's 30 seconds. That's true. Yeah, that's brutal.

Jaime: 7:15

My binge eating had gone up significantly after several months of restricted, very restricted eating. And, mind you, pre this workout program, like in my life in general, I would randomly overeat or like get uncomfortably full or binge eat, and that would be once in a while. But I always knew it was there, I always knew it was something that I should work on. But again, like the messages from my family was well, it's okay, like you're skinny, so it's okay, and so I just kind of accepted that that was just something I did. And then in this program with the restricted eating, my binge eating had gone up to like multiple times a week and it like progressively got that way. It's not like I mean, I did a solid, like I said, three months of just like restricted eating and it wasn't until, like I wasn't seeing results. After a month three I would start randomly binge eating and then it would increase in frequency. And that's when I called you.

Jaime: 8:21

And so that was the biggest thing where I was like I need to get my nutrition under control Cause I'm overeating. My husband had suggested trying to like contacting a nutritionalist or somebody who specializes like in diet, like dietitian nutritionalists. So then I started just Googling, like the difference, or trying to understand. For like a split second, I considered like hiring a macro coach. So I was like maybe my macro's are off, because that was a lot of what this group talked about too. They would say, oh, like you have to find your sweet spot, you know the fat to carb ratio, Cause bottom line is the fat always had to be low, but they're like you have to find out, like hello, I don't know. So for a split second I was looking into a macro coach and I was like I knew I wanted something sustainable, like something I could just do forever, minus my intense workouts, and you know I just wanted to eat like a normal person and not have rules to follow.

Jaime: 9:25

because I just was like that doesn't make sense to me to like eliminate a food, whether type or food in general, and then say, okay, we're gonna add it back in. I was like I just need someone to tell me how to eat. It's like a normal person.

Michelle: 9:45

Yes, yeah. Do you feel like you now can eat without rules and eat like a normal person?

Jaime: 9:53

Yeah, easily, so easily, yeah, Good I'm like oh, thank God.

Michelle: 10:04

Yeah, it's amazing.

Jaime: 10:05

But I mean, and that truly, because I'd seen on Instagram, you know, people who were like, oh, food freedom, like I can eat what I want. But in my mind I was like that just doesn't make sense to me, Like I truly couldn't wrap my head around it, because it came off as, oh, will they truly eat cake every day or cookies every day? And that worried me because I was like, well, that's not sustainable either.

Jaime: 10:29

You know, it just came down to truly understanding what food freedom means and I think you explained it in a way where I was like this is actually applicable and it means I'm not eating one type of food every day or eliminating this type of food every day.

Michelle: 10:50

Yeah, yeah, that's such a common thing too is, from the outsider's perspective, it looks like food freedom, intuitive eating, is this like crazy concept of we're going to eat whatever we want, and so therefore, that means we have cake for breakfast, ice cream for lunch, brownies for dinner and soda every two hours. So then people are like, well, that can't be right either, which is exactly what you just said. You know, like that has a soonable either.

Michelle: 11:23

And it takes like. It's such a layered concept. It's not just like a cookie cutter, like here we go, this is what you do, this is how many macros you eat, and then you have achieved food freedom. It's like no, we got to really do some work and then you can get to a place where whatever you want to eat actually changes all the time and your body regulates it so that you have food freedom and you're nourished and feeling your body for your activities, getting stronger, all those things and preventing disease. And it's yeah, you can't just like figure that out how to do that from Instagram alone, right? Like there's a lot of root work done. So many layers, yeah, so many layers, yeah, yeah, you mentioned in the program you were in. It was severely restricting calories, encouraging them to my fitness hell and everything. You got to a point where you're binge eating. Did you say how many times a week was it? Oh gosh.

Jaime: 12:21

I'm sure it was at the end. When I contacted you, I'm pretty sure it was up to like three, maybe four times. It was more than half of the week.

Michelle: 12:30

Yeah, yeah. So three to four times a week you're binge eating.

Jaime: 12:34

Yeah, when it truly came, like when I added in the intermittent fasting, like the correlation of intermittent fasting and my binge eating like up there, yeah.

Michelle: 12:45

Yeah, yeah, so you used to be binge eating three to four times a week. How many times a week are you binge eating now? None.

Jaime: 12:54

I can't. The last time I was doing the binge eating was in that program, because when I started yours and like started the lesson plans, I yeah, I haven't done it since. That's crazy. It's crazy because I remember the me and the program and I truly was just like this is forever. And then even pre that program, like I said, I would randomly binge eat just because I thought that was what I do and I haven't struggled with that either, just randomly coming up for me. Yeah, I just don't feel amazing, because I truly did think, oh, it's just something I do because my family said I can't. It was like, yeah, just it's so different now. Yeah, it's awesome.

Michelle: 13:49

Another thing that we do and nourished and free is work through body image and that, that concept, which is yet another topic that is so layered. Again, there's no cookie cutter solution there, and that was something that we did work on a lot with you. How would you describe, I guess, how you felt in your skin confidence, wise, before you started, versus now?

Jaime: 14:15

I think it's. I mean it's definitely gotten better. And I think I mean I think because when I first started, just like with the program before this, I had started because I didn't feel good about my body. You know, I just had two babies and clearly my body was not for you baby and so wrapping your head around that in addition to sleep deprivation, you know you just don't feel pretty or you don't feel like comfortable in your skin, right. And so what's funny is in that last program it was just constant comparing yourself to all the other women in the program, and not only that, but it was encouraged to like make a vision board or have visual aids of like dream bodies and like you know, your ideal body that you hope to create with this workout program.

Jaime: 15:10

Yikes, and so in yours I it was great because it kind of just not only helped me learn what appropriate bodies look like, but I truly know when I'm just doing day to day things, like at the store or like out in public, when, when I see other bodies or body types I I see them so differently now, like just with with like neutrality or positivity, and when I see others that way, it makes me feel more confident in myself, because you know hindsight now I know that when everything was in such a competitive way of like, look at that person's body, you know they look amazing Then that was subconsciously insulting my own body, because of course I didn't look like that. Or if I was putting down someone's body because I didn't deem them as, like you know, beautiful or appropriate, then that too would be putting myself down as well, because if I had any glimpse of similarity, then that would be saying that about me.

Jaime: 16:23

So so I feel like it's not only improved, just my own opinion of my body and body image, but of others as well, which I certainly was not expecting or realized was a concept, and I didn't even realize that was a concept intertwined with diet culture, because it's so ingrained, right, yeah. So media, media, yeah.

Michelle: 16:45

Yeah, not only did you improve how you view yourself, but now you can view others more positively too.

Jaime: 16:51

Yeah.

Michelle: 16:52

That's amazing. That's so, so good. So, Jamie, with somebody that's considering enrolling in Nourished and Free, let's say that they're coming from a similar background as you. Maybe they're a mom, or maybe they're coming off of a program that was heavy in restriction, vision boards, peer-based coaching and in terms of like, what did you do wrong? Why did you do that wrong? That's, I would call that fear-based coaching and not really having support. What would you say to somebody considering enrolling in Nourished and Free, I would say in Nourished and Free.

Jaime: 17:32

Yeah, I mean truly. I would say Nourished and Free is. It's one of those programs where I think at first I would assume it's if you've done diets your whole life, right, then go into this, because you'll learn how to view food without all the rules of diet and, like I said before, even before this last program, I'd never really done a diet before this. But I also know that I grew up in a culture with diet, culture with body image rules, and so just that alone Nourished and Free has taught me so much more about what we're taught or told is appropriate eating or body image or just anything that fits with that, whether it's even exercise too, because I, you know, you're in a component with that as well and so it made me realize this is something that's so applicable to truly anybody who's just grown up in this culture and wants to have food freedom like, truly, wants to feel like they can eat whatever they want and not feel guilty about it, or feel like there's any emotional connection to it beyond hunger and fullness.

Jaime: 18:49

Yeah, so I feel like it's just very applicable to any type of person.

Michelle: 18:54

Yeah so, so everybody should do it.

Jaime: 18:59

Absolutely everybody, but you know just anybody who has struggles with food or body image or both, because they're, you know, intertwined.

Michelle: 19:11

Yeah.

Jaime: 19:11

And then, just you know, to find a healthy balance with it.

Michelle: 19:15

Yeah, yeah, absolutely so. Do you feel like what you were hoping for, hoping to achieve at the end of Nourished and Free? Are you there?

Jaime: 19:24

I would say so. What's funny is, I think I was. I think initially I was like I'm still going to learn, like the right and wrong foods, because I think you're always under the impression that there's right and wrong foods, so so I certainly like learned there's really it's. Those weren't even the right terms I was going for, because I don't have right or wrong anymore and I think I know I came to you because I was like I want to stop being cheating and I want to know how to just eat. And that's what I learned. You know, I can eat whatever I want and I'm confident in that, rather than feeling guilty or feeling bad about that. So absolutely.

Michelle: 20:11

So good, jamie, you're such a rock star. You did such a good job of showing up and being a faithful client and putting in the work. I mean you were really motivated to make this happen. I remember your enrollment call. You're just like, yeah, I'm done with this, like I'm sick of this. I don't want to like.

Michelle: 20:26

You know, I went through peanut butter in two days and I was just mad and I want to make a change. You know, you just thought after it. You know, and I think that's that's a really important. You know we joked around about this being for everybody, but it's actually not. You know you have to be committed to. I don't want to be a part of diet culture anymore. I don't want to subscribe to that narrative. I actually want to feel good in my body and not have conditions on it and not have conditions on food either and otherwise. If you don't feel that way, then this is just going to be in one in one year, out the other. You know it takes work. You know I feel like this process is pretty. We get pretty deep into who you are. So, jamie, I thank you so much for sitting down with me today and for being an awesome client and trusting me in this process.

Jaime: 21:22

Yeah, absolutely. You're a great coach and so easy to talk to and lean back, so I really appreciate it.

Michelle: 21:30

If you resonate with Jamie's story at all, my program, nourished and Free, is made for you. This is a group program where you'll get to be in a community of like-minded women with similar struggles and you'll be able to actually open up about what's going on instead of continuing to hide and suffer in silence. I truly believe this is the best program out there, because I've seen success after success come out as a result of this very same process. This is the process that has helped women overcome binge eating, get off of the diet roller coaster, stop feeling stressed about food and feel more comfortable in their body. Not only that, the results I'm seeing with the women when I work with them is continuing to last. This is because my process is all about learning how to do things on your own and not to rely on me or rely on some sort of restrictive lifestyle that you can't maintain.

Michelle: 22:21

Just like Jamie have told me long after they've finished that they've still been able to maintain their results, and that's what they wanted was something sustainable. If you're ready for something sustainable that helps you to have a healthy relationship with food and not obsess over calories or macros or weighing your lettuce, then I can't recommend this program enough. Fill out an application at YatesTentritioncom slash application or you can go to the link in my show notes and I'd love to chat more with you and see if this is a good fit. This is a no pressure application for us to just get to know each other better and see if this even makes sense for you. If you know somebody who would benefit from hearing Jamie's story, please share this episode with them and be sure to leave me a quick rating and let me know how much you're loving this show. I'll see you next time.