There’s a moment that happens for a lot of people in diet culture where things just stop feeling sustainable.
Not because you’re doing it “wrong,” but because you’re doing everything you were told to do and it’s still not working the way you thought it would.
That’s where Carrie found herself about a year ago, right before she started working with our team.
She had done programs like 75 Hard, followed the rules, eaten the “right” foods, and tracked everything. And still, she was stuck in the same cycle of emotional eating, bingeing, and constantly thinking about food. More than anything, she was just exhausted with the mental load of it all.
“I was so tired of counting calories.”
She had already started exploring intuitive eating on her own, but there was a point where she realized she didn’t want to keep trying to figure it out alone.
And that shift, deciding to get support, changed everything.
One of her biggest goals was to stop counting calories. Not just in theory, but actually stop. Delete the apps. Stop pre-planning every meal. Stop saying no to foods because they didn’t “fit.”
And now, a year later, she has.
“I deleted the apps… having that freedom has been amazing.”
What surprised her most wasn’t just the food piece. Like a lot of people, she expected the work to focus on what to eat or how to eat. But what came up instead were conversations around body image, self-confidence, and working through years of shame and internalized beliefs.
“We really talked more about body image… self-confidence… working through shame.”
Because once the food rules start to fall away, you’re left with what was underneath them all along.
Over time, the shifts started to add up. Not in one big breakthrough moment, but in smaller, meaningful ways. She began trusting her body more. She stopped binge eating. She started enjoying movement again instead of using it as punishment. She learned how to shop for clothes that actually fit her body now instead of waiting for a different one.
And her confidence changed, not because her body changed, but because her relationship with it did.
People noticed it too, but not in the way diet culture usually frames it. Instead of comments about her body, she started hearing things like, “you seem happier.”
And she was.
What also changed was the amount of mental space she had. When your brain isn’t constantly calculating calories, negotiating food choices, or thinking about how your body looks, it frees up so much energy for everything else.
“It opened me up to become my true, authentic self.”
That doesn’t mean everything feels perfect all the time. Carrie was really honest about that. There are still moments where body image thoughts come up, but they don’t spiral into restriction or punishment anymore.
“I don’t have that urge to start restricting.”
And that’s a huge shift.
At the beginning of this process, she wanted food freedom, to stop counting calories, to feel more comfortable in her body, and to set a better example for her kids. A year later, she’s living those things in a way that feels real and sustainable, not rigid or performative.
This story was recently shared on the Find Food Freedom® Podcast. If you want to hear Carrie talk through her experience in her own words, you can listen to the full conversation here.
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If the cycle of trying to “get it right” with food has felt exhausting, that’s exactly the kind of work our team supports people through every day.
Many people have nutrition counseling sessions covered by their insurance. If you’re curious, you can submit a quick benefits check to see what your coverage might look like.
