Weight Loss Forensics: FBI Tactics to Investigate Cravings, Overeating, and Why Diets Suck

What if I told you that the patterns many women experience with men… I’m talking about the guys who make you question your worth… these are the same patterns that show up in your relationship with food? Today, we’re going beyond the clinical and looking at patterns of behavior between toxic and narcissistic men and food. And there’s a lot more similarities than you realize.

Together, we will unpack:

• Why toxic relationship patterns with men often mirror emotional eating patterns with food.
• The surprising connection between narcissistic traits and food guilt, shame, and binge cycles.
• The 7 narcissistic traits that might be sabotaging your relationship with food, without you realizing it.
• How love bombing and ghosting show up on your plate (yes, really).
• The manipulation tactics we accept from food that we’d never tolerate from a man.
• Why drama and chaos tie back to your overeating habits.
• What you can do right now to break these patterns and rebuild a healthy relationship with food.

Connect with Holly:

▶️ BECOME A SUSTAINABLE WEIGHT LOSS MACHINE - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/pl-machine-reg

▶️ FREE EMOTIONAL EATING PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE - https://pinkfortitude.mykajabi.com/weight-quiz

▶️ JOIN THE BREAK EMOTIONAL EATING ACCELERATOR - 

https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/break-emotional-eating-accelerator

▶️ APPLY FOR ELITE-LEVEL PRIVATE COACHING WITH HOLLY - https://wkf.ms/3XtDIKV

▶️QUIT SUGAR IN 5 DAYS - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/register-for-sugar

▶️ SUBSCRIBE TO SUBSTACK - https://substack.com/@hollybertone

▶️ FOLLOW HOLLY BERTONE ON INSTAGRAM - @holly.bertone 

If this is your vibe, be sure to hit the follow button where you are listening and also tap those 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a great review.

If you’re a woman over 40 who is struggling to lose weight, and the pounds refuse to come off, regardless of what you try, this episode might be interesting to you. Today, I’m going to tell you the 5 hard truths about why you can’t lose weight. Two of these are what everyone blames and thinks are the problem, but they’re actually not. And the fifth one is the hard truth that no one else will say. Because what you think is the problem… isn’t the problem at all.

Together, we will unpack:

• The 5 hard truths about losing weight that we’ve been taught to believe.
• Why eating less and moving more is hurting your metabolism after 40.
• The truth about midlife hormones - should we really blame them?
• What your chaotic sleep pattern is really doing to your cravings and energy.
• Why your 40+ body can’t sustain your 20-30 year-old eating habits.
• The shocking truth about calorie underreporting (backed by science).
• Why most women over 40 are undernourished and what the real consequences are.

Mentioned Resources:

▶️ Book: The Great Menopause Myth - https://amzn.to/449Defl

▶️ Episode 176: The Psychology of Emotional Eating: What Your Body Language & Behavior Are Trying to Say

▶️ Episode 164: I Don’t Even Know Where to Start Anymore

Connect with Holly:

▶️ BECOME A SUSTAINABLE WEIGHT LOSS MACHINE - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/pl-machine-reg

▶️ FREE EMOTIONAL EATING PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE - https://pinkfortitude.mykajabi.com/weight-quiz

▶️ JOIN THE BREAK EMOTIONAL EATING ACCELERATOR - 

https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/break-emotional-eating-accelerator

▶️ APPLY FOR ELITE-LEVEL PRIVATE COACHING WITH HOLLY - https://wkf.ms/3XtDIKV

▶️QUIT SUGAR IN 5 DAYS - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/register-for-sugar

▶️ SUBSCRIBE TO SUBSTACK - https://substack.com/@hollybertone

▶️ FOLLOW HOLLY BERTONE ON INSTAGRAM - @holly.bertone 

If this is your vibe, be sure to hit the follow button where you are listening and also tap those 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a great review.

I can tell in 60 seconds if you are an emotional eater, just by observing your body language and behavior. If you want to know the psychology of emotional eating, and how to tell if your habits, posture, and clothes are secretly revealing your relationship with food, this episode is for you.

Together, we will unpack:

• What your voice, posture, and behavior reveal about emotional eating, even when you’re not saying a word.
• 7 behavioral “tells” that silently reveal if you’re an emotional
  eater (and yes, you probably do more than you think).
• How your body language is your nervous system’s cry for safety.
• 5 emotional eating identities, and how each one uses food to
  self-soothe.
• Why women who avoid conflict, crave validation, or are
  hyper-independent are the ones most likely to eat in secret.
• Why the diet industry gives you a System 2 solution for a System 1 problem, and why that never works long-term.
• How emotional forensics coaching helps you shift your automatic emotional eating and overeating behaviors.

Connect with Holly:

▶️ BECOME A SUSTAINABLE WEIGHT LOSS MACHINE - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/pl-machine-reg

▶️ FREE EMOTIONAL EATING PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE - https://pinkfortitude.mykajabi.com/weight-quiz

▶️ JOIN THE BREAK EMOTIONAL EATING ACCELERATOR - 

https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/break-emotional-eating-accelerator

▶️ APPLY FOR ELITE-LEVEL PRIVATE COACHING WITH HOLLY - https://wkf.ms/3XtDIKV

▶️QUIT SUGAR IN 5 DAYS - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/register-for-sugar

▶️ SUBSCRIBE TO SUBSTACK - https://substack.com/@hollybertone

▶️ FOLLOW HOLLY BERTONE ON INSTAGRAM - @holly.bertone 

If this is your vibe, be sure to hit the follow button where you are listening and also tap those 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a great review.

If you want to destroy a woman’s health for good, don’t attack her body.  Attack her identity. Make her question her voice, her worth, her past, and her future.  Make her believe she’s too much… and still not enough. This is Part 2 of how the enemy tries to destroy your weight loss progress and take you out. And today, we’re going in.

Together, we will unpack:

• Learn how “tone it down” messaging is used to silence powerful women in midlife.
• Discover how self-abandonment (disguised as selflessness) is wrecking your health more than any sugar binge ever could.
• Is your discipline actually a disguise? How chasing perfection keeps you trapped in control… and sets you up to crash.
• What if the REAL fear isn’t failure… but freedom? The enemy’s sneakiest move: convincing you you’re not ready for peace.

Connect with Holly:

▶️ BECOME A SUSTAINABLE WEIGHT LOSS MACHINE - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/pl-machine-reg

▶️ FREE EMOTIONAL EATING PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE - https://pinkfortitude.mykajabi.com/weight-quiz

▶️ JOIN THE BREAK EMOTIONAL EATING ACCELERATOR - 

https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/break-emotional-eating-accelerator

▶️ APPLY FOR ELITE-LEVEL PRIVATE COACHING WITH HOLLY - https://wkf.ms/3XtDIKV

▶️QUIT SUGAR IN 5 DAYS - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/register-for-sugar

▶️ SUBSCRIBE TO SUBSTACK - https://substack.com/@hollybertone

▶️ FOLLOW HOLLY BERTONE ON INSTAGRAM - @holly.bertone 

If this is your vibe, be sure to hit the follow button where you are listening and also tap those 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a great review.

If I wanted to sabotage your weight loss - on purpose - I know exactly how to do it.

When it comes to diet, weight loss, eating better and being healthier, and you feel like you’re at war with yourself, you need to get into the mind of what the enemy is thinking and planning. 

Because when you can go full-on enemy recon, when you can get into the mind of the enemy, when you know the enemy's strategy… you can start playing offense instead of defense. 

And today is all about putting that big W back on the scoreboard.

Together, we will unpack:

• Discover the 10 hidden tactics sabotaging your weight loss efforts without you even realizing it.
• Learn why high-achieving women in midlife often feel like they’re at war with themselves over food and health.
• Understand how guilt, comparison, and staying busy are actually part of a larger sabotage strategy when it comes to diet and weight loss.
• Find out why self-doubt shows up right after progress, and how to shut it down.
• Learn how unhealed trauma and past diet failures get weaponized against your success.
• Get clear on the difference between real hunger and emotional cravings.
  
  

Connect with Holly:

▶️ BECOME A SUSTAINABLE WEIGHT LOSS MACHINE - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/pl-machine-reg

▶️ FREE EMOTIONAL EATING PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE - https://pinkfortitude.mykajabi.com/weight-quiz

▶️ JOIN THE BREAK EMOTIONAL EATING ACCELERATOR - 

https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/break-emotional-eating-accelerator

▶️ APPLY FOR ELITE-LEVEL PRIVATE COACHING WITH HOLLY - https://wkf.ms/3XtDIKV

▶️QUIT SUGAR IN 5 DAYS - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/register-for-sugar

▶️ SUBSCRIBE TO SUBSTACK - https://substack.com/@hollybertone

▶️ FOLLOW HOLLY BERTONE ON INSTAGRAM - @holly.bertone 

If this is your vibe, be sure to hit the follow button where you are listening and also tap those 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a great review.

If someone in a lab coat told you to hurt a stranger, would you do it? Most people say no. But history says otherwise. If you ever wanted to go down the rabbit hole of how diet culture uses the Milgram experiment from the 1960's to control and dare I say… brainwash women, we are going there today and then some.  Your midlife comeback begins right now.

Together, we will unpack:

• Why the shocking 1961 Milgram Experiment still controls your eating habits today.
• The chilling psychology that’s silently wrecking your health.
• The connection between CIA mind control programs, societal obedience, and emotional eating.
• How fear, obedience, and authority quietly manipulate your food choices, and what to do about it.
• What the pandemic taught us about blind compliance (and how it still shows up on your dinner plate).
• The biggest consequence from the pandemic that we have yet to recover from.
• How diet culture uses psychological warfare to make you distrust your own body.

To get the notes and journal prompts for this episode, DM me on Instagram @holly.bertone with the word NOTES, and I'll send them right over. 

Connect with Holly:

▶️ BECOME A SUSTAINABLE WEIGHT LOSS MACHINE - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/pl-machine-reg

▶️ FREE EMOTIONAL EATING PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE - https://pinkfortitude.mykajabi.com/weight-quiz

▶️ JOIN THE BREAK EMOTIONAL EATING ACCELERATOR - 

https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/break-emotional-eating-accelerator

▶️ APPLY FOR ELITE-LEVEL PRIVATE COACHING WITH HOLLY - https://wkf.ms/3XtDIKV

▶️QUIT SUGAR IN 5 DAYS - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/register-for-sugar

▶️ SUBSCRIBE TO SUBSTACK - https://substack.com/@hollybertone

▶️ FOLLOW HOLLY BERTONE ON INSTAGRAM - @holly.bertone 

If this is your vibe, be sure to hit the follow button where you are listening and also tap those 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a great review.

Have you ever watched someone on stage and felt they’re not really there? That was James Hetfield in the early Metallica years. He was loud and full of rage. 

But a few weeks ago, I saw a totally different man. He was grounded and present. And it hit me. Emotional eating is the same performance. It’s just food instead of guitars. 

This episode isn’t about rock music, and you don’t even have to be a Metallica fan. Because this episode isn’t about music. It’s about you. It’s about the mask you are wearing in your every day life performance, and how food becomes the encore when you can’t find your voice.

Together, we will unpack:

• The surprising connection between Metallica’s frontman, James Hetfield, and your emotional eating, mindless snacking, and midlife weight gain.
• What James Hetfield’s midlife glow-up reveals about emotional eating and healing.
• Why high-achieving women hide their pain behind control, success, and secret cravings.
• What early Metallica performances can teach us about trauma and emotional armor.
• What the diet industry gets wrong and why their methods never seem to work.

References Mentioned: 

VA Tech: https://hokiesports.com/news/2024/06/27/how-enter-sandman-became-the-most-electric-entrance-in-college-football

Metallica plays Enter Sandman at VA Tech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKNk5-9sP98

Connect with Holly:

▶️ BECOME A SUSTAINABLE WEIGHT LOSS MACHINE - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/pl-machine-reg

▶️ FREE EMOTIONAL EATING PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE - https://pinkfortitude.mykajabi.com/weight-quiz

▶️ JOIN THE BREAK EMOTIONAL EATING ACCELERATOR - 

https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/break-emotional-eating-accelerator

▶️ APPLY FOR ELITE-LEVEL PRIVATE COACHING WITH HOLLY - https://wkf.ms/3XtDIKV

▶️QUIT SUGAR IN 5 DAYS - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/register-for-sugar

▶️ SUBSCRIBE TO SUBSTACK - https://substack.com/@hollybertone

▶️ FOLLOW HOLLY BERTONE ON INSTAGRAM - @holly.bertone 

If this is your vibe, be sure to hit the follow button where you are listening and also tap those 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a great review.

Fear runs more of your life than you think. It’s not loud and it doesn’t show up with drama. It’s that quiet whisper of… “Don’t mess this up.” Or, “Why bother? You’ll just fail again.” In today’s episode, we are going to talk about that fear that’s keeping you from getting results - especially with your nutrition, food, and healthy weight. 

Together, we will unpack:

• Why fear (not food) is the real reason you’re stuck in emotional eating.
• The hidden and sneaky ways fear shows up.
• Why your brain views failed diets as safer than lasting success.
• 16 hidden fears that are likely running your habits, without you even realizing it.

Connect with Holly:

▶️ BECOME A SUSTAINABLE WEIGHT LOSS MACHINE - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/pl-machine-reg

▶️ FREE EMOTIONAL EATING PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE - https://pinkfortitude.mykajabi.com/weight-quiz

▶️ JOIN THE BREAK EMOTIONAL EATING ACCELERATOR - 

https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/break-emotional-eating-accelerator

▶️ APPLY FOR ELITE-LEVEL PRIVATE COACHING WITH HOLLY - https://wkf.ms/3XtDIKV

▶️QUIT SUGAR IN 5 DAYS - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/register-for-sugar

▶️ SUBSCRIBE TO SUBSTACK - https://substack.com/@hollybertone

▶️ FOLLOW HOLLY BERTONE ON INSTAGRAM - @holly.bertone 

If this is your vibe, be sure to hit the follow button where you are listening and also tap those 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a great review.

Welcome to Your Midlife Comeback Story, the go-to podcast for smart, successful, high-achieving women over 40 who are ready to break free from emotional eating, lose weight without dieting, and finally feel like yourself again.

You’ve probably asked yourself… how is it that I’ve risen to the top of my career, I’m crushing it with my family, and I’m a pillar of my community because of the systems and habits and discipline, but those same strategies don’t work with losing weight? And more than that, you’re diving into the snacks every night. And if we’re completely honest, there are probably more days than not that you just feel like a shell of who you used to be. And you might be wondering… how do some women in midlife seem to have this glow-up and confidence, while I’m over here looking all frumptastic, feeling like every day is a fight with my own body?

I’m your host, Holly Bertone. I’m a former FBI Chief of Staff for Counterintelligence turned Certified Holistic Health Coach. I help women in midlife break free from emotional eating so they can achieve a healthy and sustainable weight without counting calories or diets. Here’s the thing, I don’t just teach this. I lived it. I’ve been through my share of midlife struggles - juggling 20 years in project management consulting and federal government, battling breast cancer, healing myself from an autoimmune disease, divorce, empty nest, and losing my mom. But the throughline of all of this, I stopped prioritizing myself, I completely lost myself, and I turned to food to take the edge off. I’m a recovered emotional eater of over 40 years. 

I found a new way to create my own 50-something comeback, and that’s what you get in these episodes. This show dives into the psychology of weight loss, emotional eating triggers, and what it takes to thrive in midlife.

But we do things a little differently around here. You’re not going to hear about diets, calories, or macros. You get FBI counterintelligence-inspired strategies, the real psychology behind why you sabotage, and tools to finally feel… you again.

If you’re ready to be a little rebellious, to reclaim your It Girl Era energy, to create your comeback story that is worthy of an 80’s movie montage, and if you’re ready to own every room you walk in, to finally feel strong, free, confident, and at home in your body, you’re in the right place. Your comeback starts now. 

Let’s go.

Connect with Holly:

▶️ FREE TRAINING - THE PSYCHOLOGY-BASED METHOD TO OUTSMART EMOTIONAL EATING IN 10 DAYS - https://event.webinarjam.com/channel/hollybertone

▶️ FREE EMOTIONAL EATING PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE - https://pinkfortitude.mykajabi.com/weight-quiz

▶️ Follow Holly Bertone on Instagram - @holly.bertone

▶️ More resources for Your Midlife Comeback Story - yourcomeback.coach

If today's episode resonated with you, be sure to hit the follow button where you are listening and also tap those 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a great review because it would mean so much to me to hang out with you every week and because it will also help to get this podcast and message out to more listeners!

Your Comeback Story Podcast is brought to you in partnership with Leah Bryant Co.

A student in my program asked me, “If I take away comfort food… how am I supposed to take the edge off?” And that question? It cracked everything wide open. In today’s episode, we are digging into why those big emotions feel so scary and why many women feel like they can’t handle them. Oh, and we’re also going to throw in some dating stories, ghosting, and this whole Gen X disconnect that seems to be trending and hitting a little too close to home. So let’s go.

Together, we will unpack:

• What emotional eating and ghosting in dating have in common (and it’s not what you think).
• The crossed wire that changed everything for Gen X women.
• What to do when comfort food becomes your therapist.
• What dating at 53 taught me about emotional avoidance.
• How our brains are still riding in the back of Mom’s station wagon.
• The Frogger Effect: How we dodge discomfort 24/7.

Mentioned Resources:

▶️ Book Referenced: Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt - link: https://amzn.to/4mbU3yc

Connect with Holly:

▶️ BECOME A SUSTAINABLE WEIGHT LOSS MACHINE - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/pl-machine-reg

▶️ FREE EMOTIONAL EATING PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE - https://pinkfortitude.mykajabi.com/weight-quiz

▶️ JOIN THE BREAK EMOTIONAL EATING ACCELERATOR - 

https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/break-emotional-eating-accelerator

▶️ APPLY FOR ELITE-LEVEL PRIVATE COACHING WITH HOLLY - https://wkf.ms/3XtDIKV

▶️QUIT SUGAR IN 5 DAYS - https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/register-for-sugar

▶️ SUBSCRIBE TO SUBSTACK - https://substack.com/@hollybertone

▶️ FOLLOW HOLLY BERTONE ON INSTAGRAM - @holly.bertone 

If this is your vibe, be sure to hit the follow button where you are listening and also tap those 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a great review.