Maybe you hit your goal weight. Maybe you're still working toward it. Either way, you're still thinking about food more than you want to. Still feeling guilty when you eat the wrong thing. Still waiting to feel normal around food. Still wondering if you're one bad week away from blowing it all.

That feeling has a name. And it has nothing to do with willpower.

In this episode, I share a real conversation with a client who reached her goal weight and still felt like a fraud. Still felt like she hadn't figured out maintenance. Still felt like the war wasn't over. And I explain exactly why that happens, and what to do instead. Whether you're in maintenance or just starting out, this one is for you.

I also get specific about the moments that are hardest. The woman stress eating at 4pm because she hasn't stopped all day. The mom who turns to food because it's the one thing in her day that belongs to her. And the woman alone at night finally having the thing she's been waiting for since 3pm. All three of them get a moment in this episode.

This episode is about the shift from asking "is this allowed?" to asking "is this worth it to me?" It sounds simple. It changes everything.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why hitting your goal weight doesn't automatically create peace around food
• What maintenance actually is, and why it's simpler than you think
• Why thinking about food all the time is a sign of diet thinking, not a personal flaw
• The difference between following diet rules and making your own choices
• The one question that shifts your whole relationship with food
• Why self-trust with food has nothing to do with being perfect

Key Takeaway

Diets taught you how to follow rules. They never taught you how to choose. The shift from asking "is this allowed?" to asking "is this worth it to me?" is the whole game. The wisdom to trust yourself around food was never at the finish line. It has been inside you all along. And you can start uncovering it today, wherever you are in your journey.

Listen If You've Ever Thought...

• "I reached my goal and I still feel crazy around food."
• "I don't trust myself around food."
• "I keep waiting to feel normal around food."
• "Why am I still thinking about food all the time?"
• "I lost the weight. Why does it still feel like I'm on a diet?"
• "I feel like I'm one bad week away from gaining it all back."

Enjoy This Episode?

Subscribe to The Confident Body Podcast so you never miss an episode. Every week I talk about the mental and emotional side of weight loss that diets never touch. Things like self-trust around food, breaking free from diet rules, emotional eating, and building a relationship with your body that actually lasts.

If this episode resonated with you, it would mean so much if you left a review. It helps other women find the show and feel a little less alone in this.

Check out my new Substack page! You’ll get bonus articles, inspiration, and wisdom. Plus some extra goodies I’ve got rolled up my sleeve.

Check it out at:

https://substack.com/@coachlizziemerritt

PS: Ever had that moment when you just WANT it?

Your brain doesn’t care if you’re hungry. It just tastes SO good and you just want it.

If that’s you, then download the guide I JUST WANT IT. IT TASTES SO GOOD at:

confidentbody.coach/wantit

Get the book my new book LIGHT: The New Psychology of Weight Loss

Also, check out my first book: You Are A Miracle

If you've ever felt like every diet you've tried was the wrong tool for the job, this episode is for you. You knew deep down it was probably going to let you down again. But you tried it anyway. Because what else were you going to do?

This week's episode is unapologetically nerdy. It's May the 4th, which means it's Star Wars Day. And here's the wild part. The more I worked on this episode, the more I realized Star Wars actually holds the key to weight loss success. I'm not even kidding.

I walk you through six lessons from the saga that change the way you think about food, your body, and the version of you you've been waiting to become. By the end, you'll see why the help you've been searching for has been the wrong help, why your inner critic has been wearing your own face, and why the Force you used to wish was real has been inside you the whole time.

Whether you're a Star Wars superfan or you think Wookiees are a discontinued Girl Scout cookie (they're not, but honestly that would be cool), this episode is for you. The lightsabers are just the costume. The hero's journey is the story of every woman who has ever tried to lose weight.

• Why the help you keep searching for from diets and gurus is asking the wrong question
• The Yoda lesson that the entire first part of my book LIGHT is built on
• Why "I'll try harder Monday" is the trap, not the solution, and what to do instead
• How to recognize when you're fighting yourself instead of fighting your habits
• The difference between the fear path and the love path in weight loss
• A simple practice for trusting your body again, even when the cookies are right there at 9pm

The wisdom, the trust, the Force, the Light, all of it has been inside you the whole time. You don't need a better diet. You need a better relationship with yourself. The work isn't acquiring more rules. It's letting go of the ones that have never served you and remembering what was true when you were six years old and wanted to be a Jedi.

• "I'll be good today."
• "If I had a bad meal, the day is ruined."
• "Maybe THIS diet is the one that finally works."
• "I should already know better by now."
• "Why can't I just stick to it?"
• "Help me, xyz program. You're my only hope."

Enjoy This Episode?

Subscribe to The Confident Body Podcast so you never miss an episode. Every week I talk about the mental and emotional side of weight loss that diets never touch. Things like self-trust around food, breaking free from diet rules, emotional eating, and building a relationship with your body that actually lasts.

If this episode resonated with you, it would mean so much if you left a review. It helps other women find the show and feel a little less alone in this.

Check out my new Substack page! You’ll get bonus articles, inspiration, and wisdom. Plus some extra goodies I’ve got rolled up my sleeve.

Check it out at:

https://substack.com/@coachlizziemerritt

Get the book my new book LIGHT: The New Psychology of Weight Loss

Also, check out my first book: You Are A Miracle

Last week I told you my story. This week I want to talk about yours.

Because whether you have been losing weight and feel strangely anxious about it, or you have been stuck and doing things in secret you would never do in the daylight, I think the same belief is running in the background. And once you see it, so much of the struggle starts to make a different kind of sense.

This episode is for two women. The one hanging on by her fingernails as the weight comes off. And the one in the CVS parking lot who does not fully understand why she keeps ending up there. Both of them are dealing with the same thing underneath. And this episode names it.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why weight loss can feel dangerous even when it is working
• How the belief "it's not safe to be fully me" shows up differently depending on where you are in your journey
• Why secret eating is not a discipline problem and what it actually is
• Why you cannot lose your way into feeling worthy, and what actually changes the verdict
• The brain science behind why trying harder keeps backfiring
• How to start building safety one small honest choice at a time

Key Takeaway

You are not doing it wrong. You are covered. And there is a very big difference between those two things. The woman underneath the hiding, the patterns, and the protection has been there the whole time. The sun has been shining. This episode is about starting to let her out.

Listen If You've Ever Thought...

• "Why do I feel more anxious the more weight I lose?"
• "I keep eating in secret and I don't fully understand why."
• "I just want to feel normal around food."
• "I'll finally feel okay about myself when I reach my goal weight."
• "I know what I want to do. Why can't I just do it?"

Enjoy This Episode?

Subscribe to The Confident Body Podcast so you never miss an episode. Every week I talk about the mental and emotional side of weight loss that diets never touch. Things like self-trust around food, breaking free from diet rules, emotional eating, and building a relationship with your body that actually lasts.

If this one landed somewhere real for you, it would mean so much if you left a review. It helps other women find the show and feel a little less alone in this.

PS: Ever had that moment when you just WANT it?

Your brain doesn’t care if you’re hungry. It just tastes SO good and you just want it.

If that’s you, then download the guide I JUST WANT IT. IT TASTES SO GOOD at:

confidentbody.coach/wantit

Get the book my new book LIGHT: The New Psychology of Weight Loss

Also, check out my first book: You Are A Miracle

Have you ever felt like you've been holding back a part of yourself? Like there's a version of you that keeps almost showing up fully, and then something pulls you back.

You get a little smaller. A little more careful. A little more acceptable.

This episode is different from anything I've shared before. It's personal. It's honest.

I'm taking you inside a trip to California that turned into something much bigger than a work event. Through a coaching session in front of twelve people, a three hour kitchen table conversation with a Jewish rabbi, and a string of signs that were impossible to ignore, I came home with a declaration I've been afraid to make.

I'm done hiding. And I want to know if you are too.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• What the "crime of outshining" is and why it might be running quietly in the background of your life
• Why a moment at a childhood birthday party shaped decades of playing small
• What a rabbi said about my book that stopped me in my tracks
• Why the light you're looking for has been inside you all along
• What it means to choose life, choose light, every single day

Key Takeaway

The safest thing you can possibly be is who God made you to be. Not the smaller, more acceptable, more careful version. The whole thing. This episode is me saying that out loud for the first time, and inviting you to consider where you might be doing the same thing I was.

Listen If You've Ever Thought...

• "I feel like I've been holding something back but I don't know what."
• "I'm afraid if I show up too fully, people will think I'm too much."
• "Why does being seen feel so scary, even when things are going well?"
• "I've been waiting for permission to just be myself."
• "I know there's more in me. I just don't know how to let it out."

Part 2 is coming next week. And it gets very specific about how all of this shows up in your weight loss. You won't want to miss it.

PS: Ever had that moment when you just WANT it?

Your brain doesn’t care if you’re hungry. It just tastes SO good and you just want it.

If that’s you, then download the guide I JUST WANT IT. IT TASTES SO GOOD at:

confidentbody.coach/wantit

Get the book my new book LIGHT: The New Psychology of Weight Loss

Also, check out my first book: You Are A Miracle

Somewhere between Friday night and Sunday afternoon, things went sideways.

Your brain found a crack in the rules and said, “Now's my chance.”

And by Monday you were standing in the kitchen feeling defeated, wondering how you ended up right back where you started.

If that sounds familiar, this episode is for you.

The problem is that diet culture trained your brain to treat certain foods as forbidden. And forbidden things feel exciting the second no one's watching.

This episode is about understanding why that happens, and what to do instead.

We dig into the 6 most common mistakes that cause weight loss to fall apart, and why fixing them has almost nothing to do with what's on your plate.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why your brain says "now's my chance" the second you're alone
• How treating your plan like a rulebook sets you up to fail
• Why all-or-nothing thinking turns one overeat into a whole day
• The real reason waiting for the perfect time keeps you stuck
• Why shame makes weight loss harder, not easier
• How self compassion is actually a more effective strategy than self criticism
• Why weight loss is more about how you think than what you eat

Key Takeaway

Food impacts your body exactly the same whether you're alone on a Saturday or sitting at a dinner table with your family. So if the rules feel different when no one's watching, the real work isn't about the food. It's about the story your brain is telling. And that story is worth getting curious about.

Listen If You've Ever Thought...

• "I was doing so well and then I just blew it."
• "Why do I eat things when I'm alone that I'd never eat otherwise?"
• "I'll start fresh on Monday."
• "I don't know why I keep doing this."
• "I just need more discipline."

PS: Ever had that moment when you just WANT it?

Your brain doesn’t care if you’re hungry. It just tastes SO good and you just want it.

If that’s you, then download the guide I JUST WANT IT. IT TASTES SO GOOD at:

confidentbody.coach/wantit

Get the book my new book LIGHT: The New Psychology of Weight Loss

Also, check out my first book: You Are A Miracle

You're not being dramatic.

You're just tired.

Tired of trying, tired of tracking, tired of thinking about food all the time. And not seeing the results you expected.

And in the back of your mind, you find yourself asking, "What's the point if it's not working?"

That feeling is real.

But the problem isn't your consistency or your willpower.

The real problem is that you're still playing by diet rules you never actually agreed to.

This episode is for the woman who is so close to quitting and needs to hear why that quit was never real to begin with.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why the exhaustion you feel isn't really about food
• What your brain is doing when it cycles through options and none of them feel right
• The truth about GLP-1s and why using them isn't cheating
• Why the scale going up doesn't mean it's not working
• The one sentence that changed everything for a client and might change everything for you too

Key Takeaway

You can only quit something you're on. And if you're not on a diet, if you're just living your life and making choices, there's nothing to quit. There's just the next choice. That shift in thinking is where sustainable weight loss actually begins.

Listen If You've Ever Thought...

• "I don't know how much longer I can do this."
• "I'm doing everything right and the scale still isn't moving."
• "Maybe I should just accept my body and stop trying."
• "Why do I keep starting over?"
• "I'm so tired of thinking about food."

PS: Ever had that moment when you just WANT it?

Your brain doesn’t care if you’re hungry. It just tastes SO good and you just want it.

If that’s you, then download the guide I JUST WANT IT. IT TASTES SO GOOD at:

confidentbody.coach/wantit

Get the book my new book LIGHT: The New Psychology of Weight Loss

Also, check out my first book: You Are A Miracle

You step on the scale and the number is higher than you hoped.

Right away your brain starts replaying the week.

“You shouldn’t have had bread at the restaurant.” “You knew better.” “What is wrong with you?”

Or the voice goes the other way.

“It’s fine.” “It doesn’t count.” “It was a stressful day.”

Many women feel stuck between these two voices.

One voice beats you up. The other voice lets everything slide.

But neither one helps you lose weight.

In this episode of The Confident Body Podcast, we talks about the three voices that show up in your head around food and weight loss.

You will learn why shame shuts down the learning part of your brain and why ignoring mistakes doesn’t help either.

Most important, you will learn about a third voice.

This voice still holds you to a higher standard, but it also believes in you.

Instead of saying:

“What is wrong with me?”

It asks:

“What happened here?”

That small shift helps you learn from your choices and start building real self-trust with food.

In This Episode We Cover

• Why beating yourself up about food does not lead to weight loss
• The cycle between shame and “it doesn’t count” thinking
• How negative self-talk shuts down the learning part of the brain
• Why curiosity helps change habits faster than criticism
• How to move past the all-or-nothing dieting mindset
• A simple way to learn from mistakes instead of hiding from them

Most women think their choices are:

Beat yourself up or Pretend it didn’t matter

But real growth happens with a third voice:

The voice that says,

“I believe in you. Because I care about you, I care enough to help you learn from this.”

That voice creates learning, growth, and lasting change.

Subscribe to The Confident Body Podcast

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to subscribe so you never miss a conversation about:

• sustainable weight loss • emotional eating • building self-trust • breaking free from diet rules

PS: Let’s spread this message!

There are women who need to hear that their purpose is not 20 pounds away.

If you host a podcast, or you know someone whose audience includes women stuck in the weight loss waiting room, I would love to bring this conversation to them.

You can reach me at:

lizzie@confidentbody.coach

Let’s get this message into the hands of the women who are ready to stop waiting.

Get the book my new book LIGHT: The New Psychology of Weight Loss CLICK HERE to get it in ebook format. Or CLICK HERE to get in in hard cover or audiobook.

Also, check out my first book: You Are A Miracle

Have you ever thought:

“I’m so tired of thinking about food all the time.”

Not just eating it.

Thinking about it. Planning it. Tracking it. Trying to decide what you should eat.

For many women trying to lose weight, food can start to feel like a full-time job. Every meal feels like a decision. Every snack feels like a test.

When that happens, it’s easy to think something is wrong with you.

But that’s usually not the problem.

In this episode of The Confident Body Podcast, we talk about why dieting can make food take up so much space in your brain.

You’ll learn why strict food rules often lead to feeling rebellious around food, and why weight loss can feel mentally exhausting.

We also talk about how learning to make your own choices around food can help you build real trust with yourself again.

If you have ever wondered why food feels so complicated, or why you feel worn out from thinking about it, this episode will help you understand what is really going on.

• Why dieting can make you think about food all the time • Why feeling rebellious around food is actually very normal • How food rules can create pressure in your brain • Why food can feel like a constant decision during weight loss • How learning to make your own choices around food can bring more calm

Dieting teaches you how to follow rules.

But it often does not teach you how to make your own choices.

When food decisions come from your own choices instead of strict rules, the pressure around food can start to ease.

The goal is not perfect eating.

The goal is learning how to trust yourself with food again.

• “I’m tired of thinking about food.” • “Why does weight loss feel so exhausting?” • “Why do I keep rebelling against diets?” • “Will I ever feel normal around food?”

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to subscribe so you never miss a conversation about:

• sustainable weight loss • emotional eating • building self-trust • breaking free from diet rules

PS: Let’s spread this message!

There are women who need to hear that their purpose is not 20 pounds away.

If you host a podcast, or you know someone whose audience includes women stuck in the weight loss waiting room, I would love to bring this conversation to them.

You can reach me at:

lizzie@confidentbody.coach

Let’s get this message into the hands of the women who are ready to stop waiting.

Get the book my new book LIGHT: The New Psychology of Weight Loss CLICK HERE to get it in ebook format. Or CLICK HERE to get in in hard cover or audiobook.

Also, check out my first book: You Are A Miracle