How To Ghost The Diet-Binge Cycle In 2025 (Part 1)

Tired of the endless cycle of dieting and bingeing? You're not alone. Many people struggle with this yo-yo pattern, feeling trapped in a cycle of restriction and overindulgence. But you don't have to be a victim of this cycle. There is a way out, and it starts with understanding the root causes of your behavior. 

In this episode, I examine two ways to break free, from resisting the urge to start another restrictive diet as January 1st hits to shifting your focus from weight loss to overall health.

This is just the beginning of your journey to lasting change. Don't forget to tune into the next episode for more tips to help you break the diet-binge cycle once and for all.

TOPICS COVERED 👇 

The Diet Binge Cycle Explained (01:55)

Breaking the Cycle (03:13)

Change takes time and effort (08:00)

Negative Effects of Dieting (17:01)

Letting Go of Dieting (21:23)

LEARN MORE
🔥 My Signature 4-Month Program, Nourished & Free
📲 Follow me on Instagram (you'll get to know me pretty quickly!)
📖 Check out my Blog for tons of helpful articles

SHOW SOME LOVE
⭐️ Loved this episode? Leave a 5 star rating on Apple podcasts or Spotify (thank you!)
💌 Share this episode with a friend who you think will love it
📌 Subscribe/follow the show so you never miss an episode!

Transcript

Michelle 00:00:00  Welcome back to the Nourish and Free podcast. If you're struggling with constant thoughts of food or feeling confused around nutrition, if you're binge eating, yo yo dieting, or emotional overeating, you're in the right place. Be sure you hit the subscribe button. If you want to create a healthy relationship with food that nourishes and fuels you, while also setting you free from any toxic cycles that you find yourself in, or just food stress in general. If we haven't met yet, my name is Michelle Yates, I registered dietitian and certified health mindset coach with my master's in Health Psychology and a former MyFitnessPal addict. I was obsessed with my Fitness Pal and trying to control every calorie and trying to shrink my body. And I love talking about this stuff now, because not only do I have the professional training to help people with it, but I also just have the personal experience of knowing how worth it it is to put in the work to turn things around with your relationship with food. Something that I personally struggled with was the diet binge cycle.

Michelle 00:01:00  And we've got a fun series for you in the month of December. How to ghost the Diet binge cycle in 2025. We're digging in deep, so I want to break this up into multiple episodes. That way, you can take time in between each one to work on processing and implementing what we talk about today. Stick around for the whole series so that you can start off 2025 with a new outlook on food, your body, and your health. And finally, experience the freedom that you've been craving from the diet binge cycle. If you find yourself needing professional help, or you would just like to have some professional help to guide you through this in a more hands on way, feel free to visit the show notes to learn more about our signature Group coaching program, which is also called Nourished and Free, where we can really guide you through all of these things and personalise it to your situation. And you can get this thing done without having a second guess. And if you love what you hear and you're a fan of the show, don't forget to leave me some stars in the ratings and reviews on Spotify and Apple.

Michelle 00:01:55  So for today's episode, we're going to dig into the first two of the six points that we're going to be covering in this series. And the very first one is as tempting as it may be. Don't go on another diet. Let's think about a cycle or a circle, right? Like when we're stuck in this diet binge cycle, it's a constant evolution or revolution, I guess, of a diet happening for a period of time and then bingeing happening for a period of time, and then the diet happens again, and each one is fueling the other so that the cycle just continues and continues. And it's understandable when you think about it, because if you, you know, have this initial desire to start a diet or to start restricting or to start some sort of clean eating plan or whatever it is, it's probably coming from a place of, I'm guessing you want to lose weight or whatever it is. And then when that Restrictive period of time becomes too much to maintain as it always does. Then we end up wanting to let go of all the control, let go all of all the willpower and discipline that we've been trying so hard to have over the last, you know, however long it's been since we started the diet.

Michelle 00:03:13  And that can feel so good to just give in and to just let go and to not be trying anymore and to just have what you want. But then, of course, when you get to this point where it's like, okay, I've been not following my diet, I've been binging or I've been overeating or I've been really letting myself go here, and I've gained all this weight back that I had initially lost. Maybe even now I have more weight on me than I did to begin with. Now I need to go on a diet again. So the cycle starts again, and then it continues and continues. And if you're somebody who's experienced this for a long period of time, maybe decades. You might even notice that the time it takes to get from one end of the cycle to the other is getting shorter and shorter. Maybe you used to be able to maintain a diet for a few months, or even a few years, and then you fell off the wagon and then you got back on the wagon.

Michelle 00:04:11  But then every time that you're back on the wagon, that period of time is shorter and shorter. Maybe now you can only make it a couple of days, or even just the morning before you fall off the wagon. And that's pretty telling, right? That this is something that's unsustainable. We cannot keep up with this, so we have to break the cycle. And so we really need to, you know, if we're thinking about that, that circle, we need to create an escape route. And the best thing you can do to get out of the diet binge cycle is to just not go on another diet, because then you don't have an opportunity for that cycle to begin again. And as scary as that sounds, it can be the most Freeing thing ever. And I think that there's a huge mindset component and a huge psychological component here because we want control and we want to feel like we're working towards something where we're working towards our goals, and we get put in this position where we feel like, well, this is the only thing I can do to reach that goal, but we have to challenge ourselves about that and look back and think, well, has that thing that I, that I thought was the only way to achieve my goal ever worked for me? Am I closer or farther to my goal than I ever have been? So when we reflect on that, if you decide you know what, actually continuing to go down this route has not brought me closer to my goals.

Michelle 00:05:46  It has not brought me closer to my values. Maybe it's even taken me away from the things I value, because every time I'm on a diet, I'm not able to eat out with family or go on a spontaneous ice cream day, or have donuts with my kids, that might be really valuable to you to be able to do that right, or to be able to enjoy food in social circumstances, or to be able to even just enjoy people in general without having these constant buzzing thoughts of food in your head. If it's taking you further and further away from the person that you really want to be, then isn't it time to try something new and to break the cycle and go in a different direction? Like I said, I know that's scary though, because we get really stuck on that idea of like, that's the only way I have to do that in order to become the person I want to be. So if we're not dieting, right, if we're not starting the new year off with a new diet, right? January 1st, this is where it all changes.

Michelle 00:06:46  then what do we do? What do we focus on instead if we're not focusing on this thing that we've been trying to do for so many years and putting out all of our thoughts and energy toward for so many years. Well, we're going to answer that question as we continue to go along in this series. But one thing I do want to say now is that it's time that you accept and start to consider that this isn't going to be a quick fix, right? There's a lot of layers to who you are in your life and your health and your relationship with food and with your body and your body image and all of that, that you can't just quick fix your way out of this. You've tried and it hasn't worked right. All it's done is led to a longer amount of time of grief. Right is just created more and more issues prolonging the issue instead of ever actually fixing it. And I want you to think about like any time something has been worth it in your life, or anytime you've accomplished something that ultimately brought a really good moment of growth for you, where it changed you forever.

Michelle 00:08:00  Was that a quick thing? Was that a quick fix? Like if you had to go through getting a degree in order to get the job that you wanted, right. That's a long process. That's not a quick thing. Or if you're in a relationship, a really solid relationship with somebody who you care about so deeply. That relationship has taken a long amount of time to grow and develop, and it takes work, right? Like it's not something that you can just find and then, figure out overnight, you know, it takes effort. Or when you're raising kids, it takes a lot of diligence and it's a not an overnight thing. You have to, especially when you're trying to teach them something new. I have two little kids right now, a four year old and a two year old, and I have to repeat myself multiple times a day, every day for weeks before something's finally clicked. Like, that's just parenting in a nutshell, right? Is you're continually reinforcing right and wrong for these kiddos and teaching them how to go about life.

Michelle 00:09:03  And and that's not a quick fix, right? The things that are worth it take effort and they take time. So that's just like a friendly reminder for you because I think it's I mean, wouldn't it be so nice, you know, for this just to be a quick thing that we can just fix right away and we're good and we don't have to worry about it anymore. But you already know if this has been going on in your life for long enough and you've been stuck in this cycle that you can't get out of it quickly because you've already tried. And so shift your expectation for yourself and for this, this struggle in your life that you know what, this is going to take some time and that's going to take some effort. And that's okay. Right? It's worth it to put in that time and to put in that effort, and to not expect overnight results, because what's going to wait at the end of it is so worth it. So speaking of letting go of that idea of like a quick fix or just hopping on another diet, I want to share with you a story about one of our clients who worked with us and nourished in our signature group coaching program, and she's been graduated now for a couple of weeks, maybe a month, and something that she shared when she was coming to the end, I think was was so powerful.

Michelle 00:10:26  So I'm going to read what she said, and then I'll kind of reflect on what I want to point out in that. So, quote, the biggest point of growth has definitely been taking back power of different foods. There are some that I'm just uninterested in now. All their power is gone and others I still love. But through our work here, I realize there's nothing evil or off limits about food I love. I can have them, and being able to have them in private and in public has changed my relationship to them. I don't have to have zero for months and then eat 100 on a bad day. I can just eat one. It's been a while the way I can have these foods in the house and not binge on them. I did lose weight, I can tell from my clothes, but it's not from counting calories or food restriction. It's just because the incessant binges aren't part of my. Every week I feel so much more in control, and I know that it won't be perfectly smooth sailing.

Michelle 00:11:19  But I also know that after a bad day, I haven't failed and I don't need to quit. What I want to highlight here, with what Marcy shared at the end of her time with us, is how different of a mindset this is compared to when you're on a diet, right? When you're on a diet, it's like, I can't eat these things. They're off limits. I shouldn't have them in the house. And then when you inevitably are around those foods, it's like 0 to 100. But because of the work that we did to make sure that, well, first of all, to just get her off of the diet, binge roller coaster and like, stop the dieting and find a new approach with food, one that's more stable and balanced and sustainable. Now she's able to just have a cookie when she wants it and it not turn into a binge, right? And she feels more in control. She, was particularly struggling when she first started with this idea of going to work conference where there was going to be she knew there was going to be pizza because there's always pizza at work conferences.

Michelle 00:12:28  And she had a really difficult time in those situations, eating in front of other people. She felt really embarrassed because she felt like, you know, she had all of these narratives running in her head about what other people were thinking about her. It was really cool to see her move through that and challenge those thoughts. And you know, we gave her some tools and things to think about in the midst of that. And when she came back, she was like, I did it. I ate in front of other people and it was not a big deal. And now, like at the end of her time with us, she was sharing how she would have pizza at home and it was no big deal. She would have like one piece and and a salad too, and move on. And and before it would have been a full on binge. Right. So she didn't go on another diet. Right. She stopped the cycle by deciding, no, we're going to work at this. We're not going to look for the quick fix anymore.

Michelle 00:13:25  We're not going to keep doing this cat and mouse game of starting a diet, only to then eventually fall off the wagon and binge. We're going to put a stop to the cycle and try something new. So, yeah. Hopefully. Hopefully you find that encouraging here. A big hangup with making that shift, though, of not starting another diet is definitely that pursuit of weight loss element. Because if we're being honest, that's usually why we start a diet unless there's like a medical condition going on. But I'm not really talking about that right now. I'm talking more about when we do a diet because we want to lose weight, or we feel like we need to because we've been bingeing. So we need to like white knuckle and really hammer down on our self-control. We better get some rules set in place, because otherwise we can't trust ourselves, you know? And the hang up here is typically, well, I don't want to stop trying to lose weight, though. Like, I don't want to give up on my health or on my dream body.

Michelle 00:14:24  And that's a really big sticking point. And it's challenging, right? It's so challenging. And that can be a huge barrier for ever. Getting out of the diet binge cycle is just that willingness to kind of let go of us intentionally pursuing losing weight, or at least let go of how we've been doing it or how we've been trying to do it. So my second point today is I want you to consider approaching the way that you think about your weight differently. And here's what I don't mean. There's definitely people out there who are very much like, you should never question your weight. Your weight is never an issue. Just be happy and move on. And that's not the camp that I, I hang out in. I think it's okay to like, have self-improvement goals, like if you want to, and to also acknowledge that weight can impact your health. Like there's plenty of data to back that up, and I'm not going to deny that. But here's the thing has intentionally trying to lose weight actually helped you lose weight? Or has it led you to ultimately gain more weight? When you really zoom out and you look at the big picture? I've worked with women who for decades they've been on this diet binge roller coaster, and it's always had this common denominator of, well, I'm trying to lose weight because I hate my body and I want to be happy in my body.

Michelle 00:15:56  And they'll talk about how well I look back at pictures. Ten years ago, I thought I was fat then and now I wish that I looked like that. Like what? What? I keep getting more and more weight, keep getting bigger and bigger despite my my best efforts not to write. And so if you relate to that, then perhaps it's time to see that, like, even though you've been trying your dance to lose the weight, if it's just created more issues with food, or it's created more issues with your weight and your health, then maybe it's time to not be focusing on losing weight, because that actually might be the wrong focus for you, right? Why is that? Well, when we're hyper fixated on our weight, it's typically not always, but it's typically coming from this place of shame and punishment. Right? I don't like how I look. I hate my body. I don't want others to see me. I'm not deserving of love in this body, so I have to fix it.

Michelle 00:17:01  I got to shrink it. I got to change this, this appearance. And that's coming from a really negative place. And so when that's kind of like the the core, the nucleus, then everything that comes after that can end up being pretty self-sabotaging and being pretty damaging, because all we care about is liking ourselves and liking what we see in the mirror. And we we make a connection that in order to do that, I have to have a smaller body. So I'm going to do whatever I can to get that smaller body. And then we become vulnerable. We become desperate, we become easily manipulated, and we jump into things that are not helpful and that maybe just are misguiding you from what you personally need to focus on. Right? Okay. So let me put this in a different way. If you have this primary focus of okay, I got to get this weight off. So then you go on a diet, you're like okay calorie restriction right? Calories and calories out. Got to be in a calorie deficit going to focus on restriction.

Michelle 00:18:05  But we like really intensely focus on that. And then we put all of these rules in place, all of these rules and regulations around what's okay, what's not okay to eat, how much exercise we need to be doing, how many calories we need, and we get super micromanaging. And again, it's coming from this place of like self-deprecation and and appreciation and wanting to punish ourselves in a way, or because we just don't like ourselves. It can create this really negative atmosphere for yourself in your head. You know, like everything's about fixing you and about correcting you and about changing you and and then eventually, usually we restrict too much because we're like, just diving way too hard into this. And then through a series of things that are both biological and psychological, eventually we can't maintain that. So then we end up bingeing. I was just talking with a previous client of ours. Her name is Riley. She actually works for us now, which is super fun. She's our community manager and she graduated a year ago and she was sharing with us and in team meeting this week how she would like restrict because she really wanted to lose weight.

Michelle 00:19:25  She'd be like under a thousand calories a day and then she couldn't keep up with it. So eventually she would end up bingeing and it would happen enough and frequently enough that she couldn't ever maintain any weight loss. Because then it just like every time she tried to lose weight, she would restrict, then it would end up bingeing. So there was just this constant tipping of the scales where, you know, she would lose weight, but then she'd gain it right back and she could never really even it out. Right. So when we worked with her and Nourished and Free and she went through this process, it was really difficult for her to stop focusing on losing the weight and instead focus on the deeper issues at play. But she was talking about how, like in the long run, that was the best thing she could have ever done for herself, because that focus was causing her to have so many more issues. And now that she's like, really let go of that, she doesn't weigh herself anymore.

Michelle 00:20:27  She's noticed that she has lost weight. And she was like, I'm down two sizes, all without ever weighing myself or obsessing over calories anymore. I just don't binge anymore because I don't have these days of or weeks of eating less than a thousand calories. Like, she broke this cycle, right? And her body is now regulating and evening out. And she said she went to the doctor's recently, and the doctor was like, your labs are the best they've ever been. And for her, what she really needed was to let go of that, like primary focus of, okay, I need to get this weight off, because what came after that was just not helpful for her. So when we took that away and we instead focus on other things and other behaviors and her relationship with food and all of that, it was really transformative for her. And ultimately her body has rewarded her through her physical health, mental health, all of that in her labs, you know, all that all that good stuff.

Michelle 00:21:23  So as, again, scary as it is to give up dieting, or this intentional desire, or this intentional pursuit of weight loss. Sometimes it can be the best thing for you. And that's not to say that those things are never okay. Like sometimes there's medical reasons to go on a diet, or somebody is going to really benefit from taking a period of time to evaluate how many calories they're having a day, or look at their macros or whatever. Like, I'm not anti intentional weight loss or tracking your calories or anything like that. But if you're sitting here today listening to this podcast episode because you're like, oh, this is about how to get out of the diet binge cycle, there's a good chance that focusing on those things isn't helpful for you. And that's okay. You don't need to be like somebody that you know, at work or the neighbor down the street, or like your sister in law who can just go on Weight Watchers and lose the weight and keep it off forever. Like, you don't need to be like that.

Michelle 00:22:19  You can be your own person and have your own journey and that's okay, you know? So I hope you found this helpful. To recap our first two points on how to get out of the diet binge cycle in 2025 is to not start another diet. Let New Year's Day be a day of no dieting, and consider approaching the way you think about your weight differently. Maybe it's time to take the focus off of intentionally losing weight and dig deeper into the behaviors, the thoughts, the actions that you have around around food and your health and everything. And and ultimately see weight as a side effect of those things, not your primary focus. We always want to focus on the root issues, not on the side effects. The side effects are affected by the root issues. So focus on those things and then see what happens. I hope you enjoyed this. Be sure that you are subscribed to the show so that you can tune in for part two when it comes out in two weeks. And I'm excited to continue this journey with you on how to be free from the diet binge cycle in 2025.