THE CONFIDENT BODY PODCAST - Brain-based strategies and self-compassion practices to unlock your full potential

You had a really good couple of weeks. The food noise got quiet. You were sleeping well, stopping when you'd had enough, and thinking, "Maybe I finally have this."

Then one night it all came creeping back. Maybe it was a bag of chocolate on the couch after dinner. And the next morning, the big question showed up: "What happened? I was doing so well. Is it ever going to get better?"

In this episode, I share a coaching call with a client who was in that exact spot. We use one simple picture, riding a bike, to see what's really going on. Because weight loss has flat stretches and it has hills. A hill doesn't mean you did something wrong. It just means you hit a hill.

Easy weeks and hard weeks are just part of the road. They say nothing about who you are or whether this is working. You don't need a perfect, flat road to lose weight. You just keep making your everyday choices, like drinking your water, stopping at enough, and going to bed. That's what keeps you moving, and it's normal life, not a punishment.

Want More?

If this episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to subscribe to The Confident Body Podcast. Every week we talk about the mental and emotional side of weight loss, the part that diets never cover.

We cover things like sustainable weight loss, emotional eating, self-trust around food, and how to break free from diet rules that have never worked long term. Because the goal isn't just to lose the weight. It's to become someone who knows how to keep it off and feel good while doing it.

Leave a review if this episode helped you. It only takes thirty seconds and it helps other women find the show.

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

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

Also, check out my first book:

Do you feel like your worth depends on how much you get done in a day? Meals, errands, work projects, other people's problems. Every morning the score resets to zero, and you have to earn your place all over again.

Then you finally sit down to rest, and guilt comes crashing in. Shouldn't I be doing something?

In this episode, I share a coaching conversation with a client of mine who was always on the go. She kept eating at night, tired and resentful as she watched her husband relax on the couch. What we found underneath that resentment surprised us both. It has a lot to do with emotional eating, worth, and the deep need to be needed.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

Key Takeaway

Your worth was never on your to-do list. It was there before you checked off a single thing. Like the sun on a cloudy day, it keeps shining whether anyone notices or not. When you let yourself rest without earning it first, food no longer has to be your only break at the end of a long day.

Listen If You've Ever Thought:

Want More?

If this episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to subscribe to The Confident Body Podcast. Every week we talk about the mental and emotional side of weight loss, the part that diets never cover.

We cover things like sustainable weight loss, emotional eating, self-trust around food, and how to break free from diet rules that have never worked long term. Because the goal isn't just to lose the weight. It's to become someone who knows how to keep it off and feel good while doing it.

Leave a review if this episode helped you. It only takes thirty seconds and it helps other women find the show.

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

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

Also, check out my first book:

If you keep asking who am I to think I can do this and want to finally believe you're allowed to try anyway, then this episode is for you.

Have you ever felt like you're the only one struggling with weight loss while everyone else has it figured out? Maybe you've watched a friend or coworker have success with weight loss medication and thought, maybe I should try that too. Or maybe that sneaky little thought creeps in, if I really wanted this, I would be doing better by now.

That voice has a name. It is called imposter syndrome, and it does not just show up in your career or your goals. It shows up in weight loss too.

In this episode, I dig into why self-doubt and comparison show up so much on this path, why waiting to feel ready is a trap, and how to stop comparison from stealing your progress. Because self-doubt does not mean you are failing. It means you are human.

Self-doubt is not proof that you are failing. It is proof that you are human. You do not have to feel confident to take action. You just have to take the next small step, doubt and all.

Want More?

If this episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to subscribe to The Confident Body Podcast. Every week we talk about the mental and emotional side of weight loss, the part that diets never cover.

We cover things like sustainable weight loss, emotional eating, self-trust around food, and how to break free from diet rules that have never worked long term. Because the goal isn't just to lose the weight. It's to become someone who knows how to keep it off and feel good while doing it.

Leave a review if this episode helped you. It only takes thirty seconds and it helps other women find the show.

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

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

Also, check out my first book:

Do you ever feel like the second you stop dieting, all bets are off? Maybe it's a vacation. Maybe you got sick. Maybe it's just a weekend. And suddenly you're back to old habits, wondering why you can't just eat like a normal person.

If that sounds familiar, I want you to know you are not alone. This episode came from a real conversation I had with a client, one where I mapped out a simple three-step process on the spot. And I knew right away it needed to be an episode.

Here's the thing. The secret to weight loss that actually lasts is not another diet. It is not a quick fix. It is slowly changing what normal eating looks like for you, one small step at a time.

In this episode, I walk you through why diets keep failing you, and I give you the exact three-step framework I use with clients to build a new normal that sticks, without feeling deprived.

Lasting change does not come from a diet. It comes from slowly building a new normal, one small level up at a time. When you stop trying to overhaul everything overnight, your brain stops fighting you, and the change actually sticks.

Want More?

If this episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to subscribe to The Confident Body Podcast. Every week we talk about the mental and emotional side of weight loss, the part that diets never cover.

We cover things like sustainable weight loss, emotional eating, self-trust around food, and how to break free from diet rules that have never worked long term. Because the goal isn't just to lose the weight. It's to become someone who knows how to keep it off and feel good while doing it.

Leave a review if this episode helped you. It only takes thirty seconds and it helps other women find the show.

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

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

Also, check out my first book:

If you're exhausted from being all in for two weeks and then all out for two more and want to find some steady middle ground, then this episode is for you.

Do you ever feel like you're always restarting your weight loss? One week you're all in, doing everything right, and a few weeks later you're worn out and back to old habits. The weight creeps back and it feels like you're right back at zero.

If that sounds familiar, this episode is for you. We're talking about why weight loss brings out all-or-nothing thinking, even in women who are flexible and easygoing in every other part of their life. The second a cookie shows up, it can feel like it's broccoli or bust.

We're also talking about something a lot of my clients say. "I just want to be done thinking about this." I get why you'd want that. But that mindset can actually keep you stuck. There's a better way to think about it, one that feels a lot more freeing.

One off day does not erase your progress. You are not starting over, you are picking up where you left off. Real change happens in the messy weeks, not just the perfect ones.

Want More?

If this episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to subscribe to The Confident Body Podcast. Every week we talk about the mental and emotional side of weight loss, the part that diets never cover.

We cover things like sustainable weight loss, emotional eating, self-trust around food, and how to break free from diet rules that have never worked long term. Because the goal isn't just to lose the weight. It's to become someone who knows how to keep it off and feel good while doing it.

Leave a review if this episode helped you. It only takes thirty seconds and it helps other women find the show.

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

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

Also, check out my first book:

"I want to go for my goal and lose weight but...

"This isn't the right season." "I should focus on my health first." "Once things calm down at work."

In this episode, I'm talking about the four sneaky ways fear shows up and tries to pass itself off as good judgment. I share the story of a thermostat quietly running in the background of your brain, keeping you exactly as small as it thinks is safe. And I walk through the same four step process my own coach used with me when I got nervous before speaking to a crowd of five hundred people.

This one goes deep on why staying stuck can feel so much safer than growing, even when growing is what you actually want.

Fear rarely shows up announcing itself. It shows up sounding like common sense. But underneath almost every "not right now," there's an old, understandable reason your brain thinks staying small keeps you safe. You don't have to argue with that voice or wait for it to disappear. You just have to stop handing it the pen every time it asks for it.

Quote credits:

Quote from A Return to Love — Marianne Williamson (1992)

Want More?

If this episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to subscribe to The Confident Body Podcast. Every week we talk about the mental and emotional side of weight loss, the part that diets never cover.

We cover things like sustainable weight loss, emotional eating, self-trust around food, and how to break free from diet rules that have never worked long term. Because the goal isn't just to lose the weight. It's to become someone who knows how to keep it off and feel good while doing it.

Leave a review if this episode helped you. It only takes thirty seconds and it helps other women find the show.

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

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

Also, check out my first book:

If you’ve ever thought "I'll do that when I've lost the weight." or "Who am I to think my voice matters?" then this episode is for YOU. 

This is episode #200!

When I started this podcast, I almost didn't. I wanted a co-host because I didn't think I could carry a whole show by myself. I was scared I'd run out of things to say. (Guess that wasn’t an issue.) Even though I was scared, I started messy, and I kept going.

Two hundred episodes later, I want to talk about something that goes way beyond the scale. Because somewhere in all the tracking and the trying and the starting over, a lot of us forget to ask the bigger question. What is all this weight loss actually FOR?

This episode is about the parts of your life you've put on hold while you wait to feel ready. The trip. The class. The creative thing. The relationship. The version of you that's been waiting in the wings for "someday."

What You'll Learn in This Episode

Key Takeaway

You don't have to finish losing weight before you start living. Your gifts, your voice, your particular way of showing up in the world, are needed right now, not on the other side of some number on a scale. Ready isn't a feeling that shows up. It's a decision you get to make today.

Listen If You've Ever Thought…

Music and quote credits:

"Be the Light" — Reesh Seely, 2025 (Carolina Sky Records)

Quote from A Return to Love — Marianne Williamson (1992)

Want More?

If this episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to subscribe to The Confident Body Podcast. Every week we talk about the mental and emotional side of weight loss, the part that diets never cover.

We cover things like sustainable weight loss, emotional eating, self-trust around food, and how to break free from diet rules that have never worked long term. Because the goal isn't just to lose the weight. It's to become someone who knows how to keep it off and feel good while doing it.

Leave a review if this episode helped you. It only takes thirty seconds and it helps other women find the show.

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

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

Also, check out my first book:

Why You Feel Like a Stranger in Your Own Body and The Five-Minute Tool That Calms Rage and Helps You Actually Sleep

Have you been waking up lately and feeling a little off? You are getting everything done, but somewhere in there you lost the version of you who felt steady and clear and easy to be around.

In this episode, I sit down with Jessica Long, a certified trauma informed breathwork facilitator and certified menopause coaching specialist. We talk about why so much of how you feel comes from your body first, before your thoughts ever get involved. That is a different starting point than most of us were taught when it comes to fixing stress, fog, or feeling stuck.

Jessica explains why so many of us breathe in a way that quietly tells our nervous system something is wrong, even when we are just sitting at our desk or scrolling our phone. We also talk about a skill called interoception. That is your ability to feel what is happening inside your own body. So many women lose touch with this skill without ever realizing it, and it is part of why you might feel disconnected from yourself.

This conversation is for any woman who has thought, "I just don't feel like myself anymore," and wants to understand why, and what to do about it.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

Key Takeaway

Feeling calm and feeling like yourself again does not start in your head. It starts in your body. When you give your nervous system a clear signal of safety, something as simple as your breath can do this, everything else gets a little easier. That includes the food noise in your head and how often you find yourself thinking about food. You do not need an hour or a perfect routine. You need a few minutes and a little bit of practice.

Listen If You've Ever Thought...

Learn More About Jessica Long

Want More?

If this episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to subscribe to The Confident Body Podcast. Every week we talk about the mental and emotional side of weight loss, the part that diets never cover.

We cover things like sustainable weight loss, emotional eating, self-trust around food, and how to break free from diet rules that have never worked long term. Because the goal isn't just to lose the weight. It's to become someone who knows how to keep it off and feel good while doing it.

Leave a review if this episode helped you. It only takes thirty seconds and it helps other women find the show.

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

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

Also, check out my first book:

Have you ever looked at an old picture of yourself and thought, wow, I looked amazing? And then you remembered that back then, you didn't feel good about yourself at all. You were on a diet then too. You were sure something needed to change.

That gap between how you looked and how you felt is what this episode is about. So many of us have hit a goal weight, or gotten close to one, and found out the peace we were promised never showed up. We just kept going, chasing the same feeling, sure that the next ten pounds would finally deliver it.

This episode comes from a real conversation I had with a client who found an old journal from when she was in her twenties. She weighed less than she does now. And she felt exactly as not enough as she does today. Same feeling, decades apart.

We get into why that happens, and what it actually takes to feel different this time, not just look different.

What you'll learn in this episode:

Key takeaway:

You can hit a goal weight and still feel exactly the way you did before you started. That's not a willpower problem. It's a sign that the target you were chasing was never clearly defined in the first place. The steadiness you're looking for isn't waiting for you somewhere out there. It's something you already carry, and this episode is about learning to trust it instead of keep searching for it.

Listen if you've ever thought:

Want More?

If this episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to subscribe to The Confident Body Podcast. Every week we talk about the mental and emotional side of weight loss, the part that diets never cover.

We cover things like sustainable weight loss, emotional eating, self-trust around food, and how to break free from diet rules that have never worked long term. Because the goal isn't just to lose the weight. It's to become someone who knows how to keep it off and feel good while doing it.

Leave a review if this episode helped you. It only takes thirty seconds and it helps other women find the show.

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

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

Also, check out my first book:

Why personality tests can explain a lot, but they are not your identity.

Have you ever known exactly what you were supposed to do and done the opposite thing anyway? You know the plan. You know you should rest instead of reaching for a snack. And somehow you end up in the pantry anyway.

In this episode, I sit down with life coach Kelly Tibbitts for a podcast swap. Kelly is an expert in the Enneagram and human design, and we talk about why knowing what to do and actually doing it are two completely different jobs.

Kelly used something as simple as a grocery cart in a parking lot to explain why two people can look at the same task and have a completely different, deeply held opinion about the right way to handle it. Once you hear it, you'll probably recognize yourself or someone you love immediately.

We also get into people pleasing, perfectionism, and a simple tool for feeling a feeling instead of eating over it.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

Key Takeaway

Your patterns make sense. The way you're wired explains why you reach for food, why you push through instead of resting, and why rest can feel impossible to give yourself. None of that means something is wrong with you. Once you understand your own wiring, you can trade judgment for grace. And underneath the wiring, underneath the patterns, the part of you that already knows who she is has been there the whole time.

Listen If You've Ever Thought…

Learn More About Kelly Tibbitts

Want More?

If this episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to subscribe to The Confident Body Podcast. Every week we talk about the mental and emotional side of weight loss, the part that diets never cover.

We cover things like sustainable weight loss, emotional eating, self-trust around food, and how to break free from diet rules that have never worked long term. Because the goal isn't just to lose the weight. It's to become someone who knows how to keep it off and feel good while doing it.

Leave a review if this episode helped you. It only takes thirty seconds and it helps other women find the show.

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

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

Also, check out my first book: