I’ve been where you are.

For years, I thought being healthy only meant being slim. I obsessively chased weight loss, thinking I needed to eat less, exercise more, have more willpower, and stop being such a lazy bitch.

I spent years yo-yo dieting which resulted in weight loss/weight gain/then weight loss again.

The scales were my nemesis. I obsessed over the numbers, beat myself up over food choices, splurged again, and convinced myself I needed to start over every time Monday rolled around.

I was wrong about so many things.

I didn’t need another diet. I needed to change my relationship with food, exercise, and myself.

Now, I’m putting it right and I want to help you too.

Braw Bodies. Braw Minds. 100 people fitter, healthier, happier by the end of 2027

I’m on a mission to help 100 people get fitter, healthier, and happier through better nutrition, mindset, and movement in 2027.

But it’s 2026, Diane.

I know.

BUT

2027 is just around the corner.

Let’s start now.

How will I help you?

I will help you to make changes that work in real life, YOUR life.

Social media highlight reels show influencers prepping a week’s worth of meals, training six days a week, meditating daily, cold water dipping/or sweating in a sauna, before rounding out the day bathing in donkey milk (maybe that was Cleopatra, but whatever).

If that appeals to you, great.

If that’s your life, great.

But it’s probably not.

Real life ingredients include:

• Work

• Family

• Stress

• Holidays

• Nights out

• Eating out

• Hard days

• Busy days

• Days when you just can’t be arsed

You have to work around it and you CAN work around it with a little belief and a whole lot of encouragement.

I will help you to eat better without obsessing over food.

I will encourage you to move more without hating every minute of it.

I will encourage you to get fitter without comparing yourself to anybody else.

Ditch the idea of perfection. Learn how to keep going when things don’t go to plan because they won’t. Life will keep on life-ing.

I won’t tell you that I have the secret formula because there isn’t one. There is no hack. No cheat code or any other buzz word you commonly see online.

I’m not here to make false promises.

I won’t fuel unrealistic expectations.

I AM here to help you find something that works for you.

Food you like, movement you choose, your goals, your life.

I AM here to be your coach, teammate, and cheerleader.

I’ll help you set goals, build habits, and keep you accountable. If you have a shit day or week, we won’t throw everything in the fuck-it bucket and start again on Monday. We’ll figure out what happened, adjust, and keep going.

That’s the kind of coaching you’ll get from me.

100 people. That’s the magic number.

100 people who:

• want to become healthier, fitter, and more confident in themselves

• want to stop starting again with the latest fad diet

• want to make changes but don’t know where to begin

• want support rather than another set of rules

If you’re one of them, shoot me a message. Let’s get started.

I’m a nutrition and mindset coach with 8+ years of running experience, 2+ years of strength training experience, and a background as a Run Leader and Female Captain of a hill running club.

Information is cheap. Years of training and coaching taught me that what most people really need is support, accountability, and a plan that works around their life.

Let’s work together.

I’m active on X. Find me here.

Enquiry form here.

Some people are so full of shit that colonic irrigation wouldn’t flush it out.

You’ll find plenty of them hanging around the fitness and nutrition space setting out their stalls to sell you their wares.

They have all the answers.

They can prescribe the perfect diet, the perfect training programme, the perfect supplement.

They are the keeper of secrets. They know the secret formula for fat loss, and now (apparently) the perfect peptide protocol.

Wallets at the ready.

There’s always something you “need”

Health, fitness, and nutrition advice has never been more accessible. With an internet connection and ChatGPT subscription, people are practically doctors (not really).

On the flip side, it has never been harder to know who to listen to. Like reading a restaurant menu with too many options, it’s information overload.

Open X, Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube or your social media fix of choice, and you’ll be bombarded with someone telling you:

• You’re not eating enough protein

• You’re eating too many carbs

• Seed oils are bad for you

• Intermittent fasting is good for you

• Eat breakfast vs skip breakfast

• This supplement is God-tier vs this supplement is expensive pee

• Train six days a week vs three is enough

• Walk 10,000 steps vs walking is pointless

• Running is the best sport vs running is bad for you

• Peptides are king vs peptides are poison

Get the combination wrong and you’ll sabotage your progress (allegedly).

Confusion, decision fatigue, and inactivity kicks in.

Not to worry, there will be someone waiting in the wings who will swoop in and sell you the solution.

“It worked for me”

One of the most persuasive forms of fitness advice is also one of the least useful. I did X and got Y result.

Examples:

• I followed the (insert name here) diet and lost 30 pounds

• I started taking this supplement or drug and got six-pack abs

• I ate steaks for breakfast and trained every day to gain 10 pounds of muscle

If these are genuine results, great. Pleased for you, pal. However, it doesn’t mean that one person’s anecdotal evidence should be prescriptive. What works for one person is not necessarily an optimal solution for another.

We all have different genetics, different preferences, routines, lifestyles, goals, time-availability, disposable income, relationships with food, motivation levels, and different barriers to entry.

You are not them and they are not you.

It might seem obvious and yet we repeatedly fall into the trap of believing that because something worked for someone who (apparently) has their shit together, it must be the ultimate solution.

There is no such thing.

Before and After Photos

Your body is not simply a before-and-after picture.

Granted, it’s great to see how far you have come. I’ve posted these. I will post again. However, just don’t forget about the part in the middle.

One of the biggest problems with social media fitness culture is that we only see the end result. Not everyone is honest about what it took to get there.

Things we don’t/can’t know:

• What else they were doing

• Whether they were using performance-enhancing drugs

• What their real diet was

• What happened after the photograph was taken

Yet we look at that one image and think, I want to be like that.

Someone can tell us exactly how to get it. For free.

Kidding.

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Follow the money, find the motive

I’m not suggesting everyone selling something in the fitness industry is a scammer.

There are plenty of excellent coaches, practitioners, and businesses providing genuinely useful products and services, but I think it’s reasonable to ask questions.

Is this person actually solving a problem? If so, what?

Is there evidence to prove their claim?

Would they still recommend it if they didn’t want me to buy their product or services?

Lastly, what happens if I don’t buy from them?

If the answer is that you’ll fail, stay fat, lose all your muscle, wreck your metabolism, and spend the rest of your life miserable then leave your card in your wallet.

Fear is a very effective sales tool.

The newest thing isn’t always the best thing

There’s always something new.

A new diet, supplement, training method, gadget, a new injection, a new peptide, and so on.

Suddenly, what was working before is obsolete.

This drives me batty because while certain voices in the fitness industry are busy convincing us that we need the latest breakthrough, the boring basics remain unticked.

• Eat a balanced diet

• Move your body

• Sleep/rest

Build habits you can maintain.

It’s not sexy, it’s simple. But, it’s effective.

Peptides joined the chat

Peptides are polarising.

Some people passionately promote them, others decry them. With the exception of licensed GLP drugs, scientific studies are rare and most reported results are anecdotal. If you do decide to try peptides, do your homework.

If you’re considering injecting yourself with something that can affect your health, it deserves more consideration than a dude sporting a six-pack telling you it’s the dog’s bollocks.

You don’t have to be anti-peptide, you just have to be willing to ask questions.

For the record, I’m on the fence. However, there is no doubt that the emergence of tools such as the GLP injections are helpful tools for those who need them, as long as they’re not abused.

You don’t need to do everything

You don’t need to follow every diet, try every supplement, copy someone’s morning routine, fast because an influencer told you it’s the secret to longevity, or jump on whatever fitness trend is currently doing the rounds.

You’re not failing because you’re not doing what everyone else is doing.

I’m not saying don’t listen to advice.

Listen. Learn. Ask questions. Just don’t automatically think that someone else is right because they sound confident. Having abs isn’t the same as being qualified. Having millions of followers doesn’t mean someone gives good advice and selling something isn’t proof that you need it.

Find a way of eating and moving that fits your life.

You don’t need the perfect diet, the newest supplement, the latest fitness trend or someone else’s definition of what your body should look like.

There’s a shitload of money to be made convincing you that you’re not good enough.

Don’t let someone else’s business model become your problem.

Your body is yours. Your body is not their business opportunity.

Leave a comment

I’m a nutrition and mindset coach with 8+ years of running experience, 2+ years of strength training experience, and a background as a Run Leader and Female Captain of a hill running club.

Information is cheap. Years of training and coaching taught me that what most people really need is support, accountability, and a plan that works around their life.

Let’s work together.

I’m active on X. Find me here.

Enquiry form here.

Happiness is whatever makes you happy. Whatever you want.

It’s simple.

Radiohead were right about that.

You’re so fucking special, but you’re not a creep or a weirdo.
(unless you are a creep or a weirdo).

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We’re all unique and find happiness in our own way, or ways. Aside from your loved ones, what brings you joy?

As adults we forget to have fun. It’s like we think that fun is only for kids, but why would we not want to enjoy life?

Life is hard.

Some shit is a struggle.

We work hard, the world is at war, and millions of micro stressors combine to raise our cortisol levels every day. If we can find a way to unwind, steal a pocket of calm, and/or get those endorphins pumping, it goes a long way to boosting those happiness levels.

Running is the best tonic for me.

Running picks me up when I’m down.

Running clears my mind when I’ve had a bad day.

Running helps me generate ideas when my mind is blank.

Running helped me turn my life around and was a springboard to other things:

• Sobriety

• Better diet

• Weight loss

• Confidence

• A gym habit

Running might not be your thing. That’s ok. I just used it to illustrate my point.

Perhaps you like to walk, or the gym is your second home. Maybe you’re more of a creative type and like to write, play an instrument, or make art. Maybe you have multiple hobbies. Whatever you like to do, rather than what you HAVE TO do, is the magic that you need in your life.

Happiness is not a one-time event.

Things change and feelings change. You have to work at it, but it comes easier if you do things you enjoy.

With that in mind, kiss goodbye to anything that brings stress and wave hello to anything that eases it.

Life is short.

Live well and enjoy the ride.

I’m a nutrition and mindset coach with 8+ years of running experience, 2+ years of strength training experience, and a background as a Run Leader and Female Captain of a hill running club.

Information is cheap. Years of training and coaching taught me that what most people really need is support, accountability, and a plan that works around their life.

Let’s work together.

I’m active on X. Find me here.

Enquiry form here.

You’re not proactive.

You’re not adaptable to change.

These are direct quotes from an ex-boss.

On the contrary, I have overcome my fair share of difficult times. I have adapted to a myriad of changes in my life; two redundancies, the death of my grandparents, and an overall lifestyle overhaul that included ditching alcohol, becoming a vegetarian, going to the gym and running regularly.

I work hard. I make plans. I look to the future and work out how those plans will come to fruition.

I am proactive.

I am adaptable to change.

More importantly, I am who I want to be.

However, I was in danger of losing myself for a while, because for too long I believed what she said about me. The negative comments were incessant. I agonised daily, churning over what I could have done wrong.

Why did she dislike me so much?
What was wrong with me?

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I escaped that toxic environment.

With hindsight, I recognise I was stuck in a culture of bullying that sadly will continue with other people. Now, I’m on a mission to choose my words wisely to help others believe in themselves because when you have belief, anything is possible.

Have you ever had someone tell you who you are?

You’re too much of this.
You’re not enough of that.
You’ll never do it.

Don’t believe it.

Someone else’s opinion of you should not become your opinion of you.

Get to know yourself, trust yourself, BELIEVE in yourself.

Be brave.
Be your own champion.
Be yourself.

You deserve it.

You deserve you!

I’m a nutrition and mindset coach with 8+ years of running experience, 2+ years of strength training experience, and a background as a Run Leader and Female Captain of a hill running club.

Information is cheap. Years of training and coaching taught me that what most people really need is support, accountability, and a plan that works around their life.

Let’s work together.

I’m active on X. Find me here.

Enquiry form here.

Like most “healthy” decisions I’ve made in the past, this one started with a familiar goal:

I wanted to be thinner.

I was a carb fiend. Give me chips, pasta, pizza, or rice, over meat and veg any day. I’d eat huge portions of these with a small mound of meat on top for protein.

I gave up alcohol. Partly because it didn’t fit my active lifestyle, but also because (yep, you’ve guessed it) I wanted to lose weight.

Buoyed by this success, I decided to stack another habit and ditched meat.

I didn’t like it much anyway. This was a fantastic way to cut calories and lose weight.

Veganuary was the answer. Vegans don’t eat much, I thought. A month of veganism is sure to slim me.

Don’t get me wrong, the ethical side effects were great too. I felt like I was doing something selfless. When the month was up, I didn’t go back to eating meat, but gradually dairy crept back in (I had missed chocolate the most).

I had no desire to eat meat. Although I grew up eating meat, it was typically only things like chicken, turkey, minced beef, and burgers. I didn’t enjoy steak, lamb, pork or anything meatier than birds and minced cow.

I shed some pounds. Vegetarianism worked well for me…until it didn’t.

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The Start of a Slippery Slope

I stopped drinking at the end of 2019.

I stopped eating meat at the start of 2020.

I stopped going out in 2020/2021.

Didn’t we all? Thank you, Covid.

My hormones went haywire thanks to a poorly fitted contraceptive implant and all that came after that.

I blamed hormones for everything for a while, and they could’ve been a contributing factor, but so too was my behaviour around certain foods.

I started binge eating.

At first it was occasional, then it became routine. Automatic.

For years, I was pushed and pulled by binge and restriction. Most evenings followed this pattern:

• Dinner

• Zombie snacking

• Lose control and zombie snack some more

• Snack, snack, snack til I could snack no more

It was a confusing, chaotic time.

I’d melt Nutella and mix in broken biscuits or cereal, eat large bowls of ice cream smothered in chocolate or syrup, or crunch on crisps, toast, chocolate biscuits, chocolate bars, and so on.

The strangest part was I didn’t feel hungry, but I lost complete focus and control. I went into a trance.

I felt that something was wrong with me and I didn’t know what or why.

I felt greedy and disgusting.

Hormones?

Yes, that must be the answer.

The Missing Piece

I was vegetarian for five years. It never occurred to me to start eating meat again. Perhaps I was stubborn or maybe it felt like giving up.

It took me a long time to realise what was missing, but now it feels obvious.

I wasn’t eating enough protein.

People think protein is only necessary for building muscle, but that’s not true. Protein is the most important macronutrient for appetite regulation. It increases satiety more than carbohydrates or fats, partly by influencing hormones like GLP-1 which signal fullness.

When protein is low, meals may be high in calories and still not feel like they’re enough.

That summed up my entire diet.

I was eating a lot, but rarely felt satisfied so my body kept demanding more.

It’s easy to call it lack of discipline, but it makes sense physiologically that low protein intake equals less satiety, a high intake of refined carbs invites unstable energy, and the result is strong, persistent cravings. With the addition of habit and emotion, it’s a recipe for binge eating.

The crash triggers cravings for quick, sugary foods, which is exactly what I was reaching for at night and perpetuating a vicious cycle.

What changed?

Everything clicked into place. I don’t know why, it just did. The time was just right.

I returned to eating meat, eggs, and dairy to prioritise protein. It wasn’t a perfect diet, I wasn’t obsessed with packing protein in, but I began to feel satisfied after meals again, and as a result, the binge eating stopped.

To be clear this isn’t an attack on vegetarianism.

Plenty of people eat plant-based diets and feel amazing, but they’re intentional about it. They build meals around protein sources such as lentils, tofu, beans, dairy, and eggs and make sure they’re getting enough.

I wasn’t doing that.

I was eating like a carboholic who had simply removed meat.

I can’t say for certain that being vegetarian caused my binge eating. Undoubtedly, there were other factors and lifestyle changes at play, such as giving up alcohol. I didn’t fully understand my habits at the time.

But I got what I wanted.

The binges are gone. If you feel like you’re constantly fighting your appetite, like you’re doing everything right but still frequenting the kitchen at night, it might be worth taking a few steps back.

Ask yourself:

Are your meals really satisfying you?

For years, I thought I needed better control, more willpower. But it wasn’t as deep as that. I just needed more nourishment. Better nourishment.

Once I gave my body what it was asking for, the fight stopped.

This experience prompted me to go on a quest, a mission, to learn more, to help myself and to help others who are stuck just as I was. If you’re in a rut, you don’t have to stay there. Better days are ahead.

Need some support along the way?

Reach out.

I’m a nutrition and mindset coach with 8+ years of running experience, 2+ years of strength training experience, and a background as a Run Leader and Female Captain of a hill running club.

Information is cheap. Years of training and coaching taught me that what most people really need is support, accountability, and a plan that works around their life.

Let’s work together.

I’m active on X. Find me here.

Enquiry form here.

We are not the same, you and me.

To compare one with another would be like comparing apples and oranges. We have different goals and ambitions, different physiques and abilities. Comparing myself to anyone else would rob me of my own goals and progress.

I am my own competition.

YOU are your competition.

Sometimes, it’s detrimental to compare current me to my past peak fitness and former glories, but it’s far better than wishing I were someone else or wishing I were better than someone else.

I’m lucky to think this way, I guess. Not everyone agrees.

This debate missed the point

An argument broke out on Fitness X recently about whether people should disclose whether they are taking performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) or not.

The original poster said:

“I think everyone should disclose whether they’re building naturally or not. It’s very misleading to see results and think they were achieved solely through hard work. What do you think?”

On the surface, and read on its own, this might read like a valid, reasonable point. However, to add some brief context, it appears to be an aimed post. The poster recently cast doubt over someone’s waist size by comparing their photograph to her own measurements. Additionally, I’ve followed this account for a year or so, and gradually the posts have become more narcissistic and include provocative half-naked shots, scantily-clad dance videos, and a display of dumbness that is unbecoming of someone who has been attending the gym daily for years.

It seems that jealousy and the need for attention/validation drove this post, but the question is an interesting one and divided opinion.

Some people argued that enhanced athletes are an illusion. They didn’t build their physique naturally, which to some people translates as they didn’t put in the work. The implication was that they achieved their physiques by cheating and they’re giving natural athletes false hope that they can achieve the same bulging biceps, chiseled abs, and vascularity that would make a vampire horny.

Others said nobody owes strangers an explanation of their choices.

Posts that divide opinion bring eyes, and that’s exactly what debates about being natty or not do.

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Hard work doesn’t disappear

People achieve results naturally, or with assistance, but the common denominator is hard work. You can’t take PEDs and instantly bulk up or get shredded without showing up at the gym consistently and working for it.

An equivalent running example is thinking that someone can only run fast because they wear carbon shoes. They didn’t roll off the couch, put on a pair of super shoes, and run a sub-3 marathon. They worked hard. They put in the miles when it was cold, dark, pissing with rain or scorching hot, when it was easy, when it was hard, when they would rather have been doing something else.

The same applies to lifters.

Every session is a new opportunity to be better, however that looks to them.

The comparison trap (and how to bust out)

The bigger question is:

Why do we care so much what other people do?

Do you work out for other people or yourself?

For my part, I’m not saying natural or enhanced is best. People have to do what’s best for them.

That’s the point.

The gym is not a team sport.

It’s not a competition.

We are not the same, and we’ll never all be the same because the playing field is not level, and it never will be.

There will always be someone stronger than you.

Someone leaner.

Someone faster.

Someone with more time to train.

Someone with fewer responsibilities.

Someone who started ten years before you.

If your success depends on beating all of them, you’ll never feel like you’re winning.

Focus on personal progress and stop whining about things being unfair because someone has bigger biceps, more chiselled abs, or a smaller waist.

Focus on your next rep, not someone else’s.

That’s how you make progress.

Leave a comment

I’m a nutrition coach with 8+ years of running experience, 2+ years of strength training experience, and a background as a Run Leader and Female Captain of a running club.

Years of training and coaching have taught me that most people don’t need more information. They need support, accountability, and a plan that works around real life.

Let’s work together.

I’m active on X. Find me here.

Enquiry form here.

I’ll ask you a question and I want you to tell yourself the truth.

What’s your hang up?

Everybody has one, some people have many. We’re always our own biggest critic.

Too tall, too short, I don’t like my nose/hair/other body part(s), too fat, too thin, not enough muscle, and the list could go on and on.

Perhaps you’re the complete opposite and don’t give yourself a hard time at all. You’re accepting of everything and don’t see any flaws whatsoever, regardless of how that might impact your health.

Neither of these two mindsets is healthy.

What’s your health history?

Take a step back and think about it.

Be honest with yourself.

• What is your relationship with your body?

• What is your relationship with the scales?

• What is your relationship with food?

• What is your relationship with alcohol/drugs/smoking?

• What is your relationship with your mind?

Has it always been this way, or can you pinpoint when things changed for the better or the worst?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with my weight. All my adult life, it has been a recurring worry for me. I’ve had periods of avoiding the scale and weekly weigh-ins where I was afraid to look at the numbers.

Until now, I hadn’t stopped to consider why.

With the benefit of hindsight, I can see how subliminal diet culture messaging was. It was on morning television shows with lycra-clad “keep fit” trainers prancing around before breakfast, in the photographs of skinny models in magazines, and on the kitchen table with my mother’s Scottish Slimmers and Slimming World cook books and weight trackers. Whether it’s conscious consumption or not, it’s no wonder we’re conditioned to think thin is best.

In reality, most of my life I shouldn’t have worried about my weight. I was active at school. I enjoyed PE and joined after school clubs such as running, basketball, badminton, and orienteering. I was slim as a child, a teenager, and most of my twenties.

I first dieted when I was 20 after seeing an unflattering photograph of myself. As silly as it sounds, I hadn’t noticed body fat accumulating. Eating fast food every day for lunch and partying every weekend had started to catch up with me. I also did zero exercise.

However, I had youth on my side and lost two stone in weight relatively quickly. There was no grand diet plan. I stopped eating bread and bought an exercise bike. I managed to keep the weight off, despite being inactive and continuing to eat convenience foods and drink like a fish. I got away with it. I was in my twenties. I didn’t worry about my health at all. It felt like I had forever ahead. I had my first baby at 24 and my second at 27. Some women struggle to return to their pre-pregnancy weight, but I didn’t find that at all and bounced back to around 9st each time. I rode my luck and genetics for a decade.

My next significant period of weight gain was in my thirties. Again, disgusted by what I saw in a photograph, I was shocked into “dieting”. I had tried Slimming World with moderate success, but the weight came off and went back on again. I continued in this vein for years, trying short fixes, giving up and becoming more and more stressed and disgusted with myself.

It was time to try something drastic.

Cue running.

Running was a punishment. Age 35, 3 stone overweight, the heaviest I’d ever been and not feeling any benefit from doing one half-assed exercise class a week, it was time for drastic measures. I’m going to hate this, I thought, but I deserve it. It’s my fault for being so fat.

However, I was wrong about so many things. Running became much more than I could ever imagine. Running saved me in so many ways. While it started out as a punishment, it became a reward. I forgot about trying to lose weight. I loved running for running’s sake, nothing else. The weight loss was a welcome side effect, but for once, it wasn’t all consuming. I also stopped being such a bitch to myself.

Fast forward 8 years and I’m still a runner, but I’ve added in gym work. 2024 was pretty much a write-off in terms of my physical fitness. I succumbed to a prolonged period of stress-induced binge eating and my running and fitness suffered. As a result, I gained two stone. Determined not to get back to my heaviest weight, 2025 was about focusing on health and all the good habits required to feel, perform, and look my best.

Having made a good go of getting my mindset back in the game in 2025, 2026 is the year I stepped it up a notch.

Undoubtedly, carrying extra weight is unhealthy. Obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and other health complications.

But why do we obsess over our appearance? It’s like we think we’re less worthy of love, happiness, or success if we’re not in peak physical condition.

Can you relate to any of this?

Do you think you’ve been brainwashed (subliminally or otherwise) into worrying about your weight?

Or, do you think you need to be beaten with a stick to chase the carrot?

We all have different motivations.

We all have different wants, needs, and goals.

What spurs on one person might not work for another.

Looking back on my key moments of weight gain, it seems I subconsciously ignored the problem.

I ignored my expanding reflection in the mirror.

I was blind to extra rolls of fat.

I bought clothes in a bigger size and didn’t think twice about it.

I saw bigger numbers on the scale and registered them with only a passing interest until I saw unflattering photographs that shamed me into getting back in shape.

I was shocked, miserable, and disgusted each time I saw one of those photographs. But, it was a negative spur into a positive solution.

I only regret letting the problem get so bad before I started to make it better.

Acknowledging the need to lose weight without beating yourself up is a win.

Do it for your health.

Do it because you want to.

Do it because you’re able to.

These are all steps towards better health.

You’re not a loser for being overweight. You’re a winner for recognising that something has to change and taking positive action for your health. However, your self-worth should be independent from the number on the scale.

There is so much more to you than what you weigh. There’s a whole personality in there, one who loves and is loved. One with specific skills, talents, and hobbies.

Don’t lose sight of yourself in your quest for better health. It’s better to have yourself as a best friend than a worst enemy.

Losing Weight Without Losing Your Mind

While there might not be a definitive one-size-fits all solution, here are some basics:

• Accept your starting point - You might want to lose fat, add muscle, or just feel fitter and healthier all round. It’s better to start from a point of positive acceptance than a pit of despair. You can do it. Get your mind onside first.

• Hydrate (water is best)

• Sleep well (7-9 hours is optimal for most people)

• Eat for health. Eat to feel good.

• Eat to fuel your body for daily function - we’ve gotta live.

• Eat to fuel your body for exercise and appreciate that fat loss and muscle gain take time.

• Have a goal - what do you want to achieve? Be specific. Visualise the outcome then reverse engineer it. Break your goal down into smaller, more manageable chunks. For example, if you want to run a marathon, the end goal is 26.2 miles. Perhaps you want to just complete it, in which case, follow a training plan for 20 weeks. If you have a time in mind, the plan will have to include running particular paces in training.

• Exercise - find something you enjoy doing and you’ll stick with it

• Take progress photographs - For your eyes only. Photographing yourself in your underwear doesn’t come naturally for everyone, but it lets you see the changes in your body that the scale might not show.

• Be patient - Trust yourself, trust your body, trust the process. Good things take time and effort.

• Forgive yourself if you slip up. Accept that you’re not perfect and if you overeat or deviate from any of your plans, it’s ok. Don’t let a slip turn into a slide. The outcome means something to you or you wouldn’t have started. Keep going. Onwards and upwards is the only way.

If you feel your weight and appearance makes up most of your personality, it doesn’t have to be a negative. There are worse habits to have than making your health a priority and putting the work in. There are worse obsessions to have. Time to turn that obsession around from worrying about weight and put the focus on eating well, exercising well, and feeling fucking fantastic.

Remember that you’re a person first and foremost, a person who might make mistakes and need support. Treat yourself as you would treat other people.

(Unless that’s anything other than love, kindness, and respect because then you are just a dick).

Your worth is not determined by the number on the scale, the weight you lift, or your reflection in the mirror. But, being overweight can be detrimental to a person’s health and if we’re in a position to do something about it, we can, and we should.

We only get one life. Let’s make it a healthy and happy one.

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I’m a nutrition coach with 8+ years of running experience, 2+ years of strength training experience, and a background as a Run Leader and Female Captain of a running club.

Years of training and coaching have taught me that most people don’t need more information. They need support, accountability, and a plan that works around real life.

Let’s work together.

I’m active on X. Find me here.

Enquiry form here.

Did you hear the one about the woman who thought so much her brain exploded?

Me neither, though it feels possible at times.

I’m sorry if anyone was expecting a joke. If, like me, your thoughts race like they’re doing laps of Silverstone, you’ll know it’s no laughing matter.

Overthinking is an insidious habit. It may start with a mere kernel of a thought, but its pervasive nature means that what might once have been a small, easy-to-extract weed, becomes a Japanese Knotweed infestation.

It slips in quietly. A comment you made, an email you sent, the way someone looked at you…

Better replay it on a loop to see if it eventually makes sense.

Do you have a thinking problem?

Admitting it is the first step. Now, you can take the necessary steps to get clean.

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It’s Rumination, Really

Overthinking (also known as rumination) is thinking about a situation or topic excessively, analyzing it to the finest details, and often repeating this loop for lengthy periods.

Rumination masquerades as problem-solving, but it rarely solves anything. Analysis without action equals motion without movement.

We convince ourselves that if we just think a little harder, we’ll crack the code, prevent the embarrassment, avoid the mistake, control the outcome.

But, thinking is not the same as doing.

There’s a huge difference between preparation and paralysis.

When thoughts loop long enough, they stop being helpful and start weighing heavy. The mind gets cluttered. The body feels tense. Sleep becomes optional.

Your brain isn't separate from the rest of you. When you're under-fuelled, sleep-deprived, or haven't moved your body for days, your mind struggles to stay calm and rational. Looking after your physical health makes it easier to look after your mental health.

Overthinking can bring feelings of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because thinking about what you could have done differently (regret = depression) and constantly imagining the worst (doom-mongering = anxiety) can be exhausting.

Regret pulls you back into the past.
Catastrophising throws you into the future.
Meanwhile, the present moment sits ignored.

You’re not really here, you’re there.

Experts like Julie Smith remind us that thoughts and feelings aren’t facts, they’re information and information can be misinterpreted.

Just because your mind shouts confidently, it doesn’t make that thought true.

Overthinking is an addiction.

Imagine you are fond of alcohol. The more you drink, the drunker you get. Intoxicated. It’s a struggle to string a sentence together and put one foot in front of the other. And so it is with overthinking. It becomes a swarm of noise. You are drunk on thoughts and nothing makes sense anymore.

I’m going to ask you to think now.

The irony, I know.

Think about a time you had a problem and your thoughts swam round, and round, and round. Were you able to stop them by thinking?

If you said yes, I don’t believe you.

But don’t worry, there are things you can do to stop overthinking in its tracks next time.

5 Practical Ways to Break the Loop

1. Get out of your head, and into your body

Move.

Exercise can help to break repetitive thoughts with the release of feel-good hormones (endorphins).

It doesn’t have to be an intense workout. As little as ten minutes of walking can be enough to remind your brain you are safe, present, and capable of shifting your state.

Walk, run, hit the gym, dance, or find any other activity in which you can move and focus purely on the body. Depending on how busy your brain is, yoga and meditation might also be good activities but don’t force it if your brain finds them too slow to tackle overthinking.

2. Do something mundane

Find something else to do to distract yourself. It might be gardening, cooking, cleaning, or another manual task. When you’re busy doing something else, your brain might subconsciously discover a solution to any problem you have been pondering. Or, it might simply clear out any unnecessary ruminations. As a handy by-product, you’ll get shit done.

3. Challenge negative thoughts

If you must continue to think, challenge the thoughts you are having.

Recognise ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts).

The most common ANTs are:

Fortune Telling — predicting the worst.
Mind Reading — believing you know what other people are thinking.
Guilt Beatings — using words like “should”
Blame — blaming someone else for your problems.
Labelling — calling yourself or someone else a name.

Remember, thoughts are not facts.

“Just as thoughts are not facts, feelings are not facts either. Emotions are information, but when that information is powerful, intense and loud, as emotions can be, then we are more vulnerable to believing in them as a true reflection of what is going on.”― Julie Smith,

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?

Just because the thought originated in your head, it doesn’t make it automatically true. Don’t believe everything you think. Examine thoughts rationally. Learn how to reframe them positively, if need be. If you can get into this habit, overthinking will occur less frequently.

Byron Katie encourages asking 4 questions:

Is it true? (Yes/No)
Can I absolutely know it’s true? (Evidence?)
How do you react/what happens when you believe that thought?
Who would you be without that thought?

Turn the thought around:

By turning the thought around, you can experience the opposite of what you believe. You will find at least one turnaround to your original statement, then you can look for examples as to how each turnaround is true for you.

You can read more about Byron Katie’s The Work here.

“I discovered that when I believed my thoughts I suffered, but when I didn’t believe them I didn’t suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that.”- Byron Katie, Author

4. Build a Stronger Relationship With Yourself

Overthinking is often born from dwelling on mistakes or worrying about things you cannot change. Instead of beating yourself up over it, accept things as they are and treat yourself with kindness and compassion. Forgive yourself, move on, and remember that nobody is perfect.

Perfection is a myth.

Building on personal skills such as self-awareness, self-confidence, self-control, and resilience can help you to stop overthinking because you will have faith in yourself, and your abilities to handle anything that comes your way, and the patience to work towards or accept resolutions, no matter how long it takes.

Self-care also includes the basics. Eating enough, drinking water, and sleeping well won’t solve every problem, but they give your brain the best chance of responding thoughtfully instead of reacting emotionally.

Read self-development books, learn new skills, spend time with people who lift you up, and practise habits that strengthen both your mind and body. You will rewire your brain to look for the good in all situations and develop natural confidence.

5. Trick your brain

Try not thinking about a blue penguin.

You’re doing it, aren’t you?

Research-backed cognitive strategies suggest that suppression backfires. As psychologist Catherine Pittman explains, you can’t simply order your brain to stop. You must redirect it.

“Telling yourself to not to have a certain thought is not the way to not have the thought,” she says.” You need to replace the thought.” What if she were to tell you to stop thinking about pink elephants? What are you going to think about? That’s right: pink elephants. If you don’t want to think about a pink elephant, conjure up an image of, say, a tortoise. “Maybe there’s a big tortoise holding a rose in its mouth as it crawls,” says Pittman. “You’re not thinking about pink elephants now.”-Catherine Pittman, Associate Professor of Psychology at St. Mary’s College, Indiana via this interview on Headspace.com

Swap the thought. Interrupt the pattern.

5 + 1. Therapy/Medication

If overthinking becomes a big problem in your life, see a professional. There’s no shame in asking for help, whether that comes in the form of therapy, medication, or both.

I hope these suggestions will be useful to you. If you have a thinking problem, it doesn’t have to be for life. Gone is the drunken impairment from overindulging in rampant thoughts. Replace it instead with a newfound sobriety from employing healthier ways to live and think.

You can do it!

What do you think of these methods? Have you tried them? If not, would you try them? Do you have any other tips on how to overcome overthinking?

Leave a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’m a nutrition coach with 8+ years of running experience, 2+ years of strength training experience, and a background as a Run Leader and Female Captain of a running club.

Years of training and coaching have taught me that most people don’t need more information. They need support, accountability, and a plan that works around real life.

Let’s work together.

I’m active on X. Find me here.

I’ve been where you are.

Confused about nutrition, feeling stuck, disatisfied with my body, and frustrated that I couldn’t reach my goals.

I want to help people like me.

If you feel that you’re alone, know that you’re not.

The binge-restrict cycle is surprisingly common.

You might not need more information. Sometimes the struggle is staying consistent when life feels chaotic. You just need somebody on your side.

That’s where I can help.

I can help you to set goals.

I can help you to build healthy habits that don’t collapse the moment life gets in the way.

I can help to keep you accountable and guide you back on track.

I’m not the boss, I’m a teammate.

Let’s work together.

email: coaching@brawbodies.com

or fill out an enquiry form

For years, I thought my weight was my biggest problem. I was wrong.

I had a bigger problem than that.

My mind.

The bathroom scales were both my best friend and my worst enemy depending on the numbers they displayed. The pounds went up and down more times than the price of oil. Sometimes there was a reason why, a fitting excuse. Sometimes I accepted it without question. Mostly, I resisted it, but I was powerless to stop it. I was always trying to think my way out of negative thought spirals, or attempting to diet my way out of weight gain which ultimately led to another binge-restrict cycle.

Diet –> Control → Slip → Guilt → Restart.

The pattern repeated itself over and over again.

It was easy to stay on track, at first. I had ticks in all the boxes; focus, control, motivation… but it didn’t last. Life stuff took over (stress, social events, tiredness) and something would slip.

Enter: Binge eating.

“I’ve messed up. I’ll start again Monday.”

And repeat.

Excerpt from an article I wrote for X.

Why this happens over and over again

Most diets are built around strict rules, and strict rules don’t work well in real life.

You’re not lacking effort, you’re lacking flexibility in food choices.

The more rigid the approach, the harder it is to sustain.

How to change everything

The turning point for me wasn’t learning what to eat, it was learning how to stop restarting every time life got messy.

That meant:

• Removing “good vs bad” food labelling

• Stopping the cycle of earning and compensating

• Breaking the reliance on the scales

• Building consistency that works with real life

This is not perfect behaviour. There is no such thing. However, it’s sustainable behaviour.

You start to see real changes when you do this. Food becomes less all-consuming.

Imagine what you can achieve without all that mental noise. You stop swinging between control and chaos and actually start to make progress. You don’t have to constantly reset when life feels busy. Trust in yourself and the process. Free up space in your brain to work on something else.

Why I Became A Nutrition Coach

I want to help people like me.

If you feel that you’re alone, know that you’re not.

The binge-restrict cycle is surprisingly common.

You might not need more nutrition knowledge. Sometimes the struggle is staying consistent when life doesn’t go to plan.

That’s where I can help.

I can help you to set goals.

I can help you to build healthy habits that don’t collapse the moment life gets in the way.

I can help to keep you accountable and guide you back on track.

I’m not the boss, I’m your teammate.

Let’s work together.

I’m a nutrition coach with 8+ years of running experience, 2+ years of strength training experience, and a background as a Run Leader and Female Captain of a running club.

Years of training and coaching have taught me that most people don’t need more information. They need support, accountability, and a plan that works around real life.

Let’s work together.

I’m active on X. Find me here.