EPISODE 21: Dietitian Reveals Her Secret Struggles With Dieting and The Only Thing That Worked

·1 hr 15 min·5 clips

Leslie Hooper reveals how she turned her own permanent weight loss success into a process that changes lives from the inside out.

Leslie Hooper, host of the Outsmart Overeating Podcast, introduces the episode by sharing her background as a former personal trainer and nutritionist turned emotional eating coach. She interviews Rachel, a 29-year-old dietitian from Central Florida, who recounts her dieting history starting at age 18 with MyFitnessPal and calorie tracking. Rachel describes cycles of binge and restrict eating, involvement in CrossFit and macro counting, and an attempt at the 75 Hard program in 2020, which led to extreme restriction and binge episodes. After achieving her goal weight, Rachel realized she was still unhappy and her husband expressed concern about her weight loss, prompting her to decide to stop dieting. She made a New Year's resolution in 2021 to not diet but continued to struggle with binge eating until joining the Unstuffed program in October 2021. Rachel discusses the shame of sharing her story and the importance of emotional work, including using a feelings wheel to identify emotions. Coach Stephanie Ramantes joins the conversation, highlighting how habits in the program provide structure and help clients identify emotional triggers. Rachel explains how therapy complemented the program by processing trauma while the program addressed food coping skills. The discussion covers the inner critic, which Rachel nicknamed 'Kanye,' and learning to manage it with humor and compassion. Rachel reflects on her relationship with food now, feeling empowered and in control, and able to enjoy social events without obsession. She advises listeners to focus on where they are now rather than comparing themselves to others. The episode concludes with Rachel sharing that the biggest change has been learning to feel proud of herself, moving beyond perfectionism to accept 'good enough.'

As heard by us

A candid, humane conversation about the emotional work that can begin after weight loss.

Rachel's story gives this single episode a clear center: a long dieting history, weight loss, and then the less tidy question of what comes after the goal.

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Why you'd press play

You will hear a dieting success story reach its harder turn: the weight comes off, maintenance arrives, and the emotional work asks for attention.

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