✅ Most women think weight change is about discipline, motivation or the right diet plan.

While these help, there’s more to it.

In this week’s episode of Before Dieting, I answer a question from Michelle about the four stages of change in the Weighting for Happiness® Project and why permanent change doesn’t come from forcing behaviour.

Women are trained to expect speed and short-term results. But recurring weight patterns don’t begin in a week, and they don’t change in a week. They change when women uncover the system that has been driving their eating for years.

There is a predictable sequence women move through when real change is happening:

Awareness → Insight → Realisation → Knowing.

These stages explain why diets only produce temporary results and why women who have struggled for decades often say, ‘I finally understand what’s been driving my weight.’

When women uncover their Eating System:

• clarity replaces confusion
• conscious choice replaces willpower and
• eating stops being controlled by the system so sensible diet plans can work

If you work with women in weight-related care or nutrition, this episode gives you an insider’s view of what systems change really looks like.

🎧 Listen to the episode: The Four Stages of Change (7minutes)

🔗 Download the FREE 4 Stages Cheat Sheet at Free Resource and if you have any questions, you can email me at bronwyn@weightingforhappiness.com.au

Yo-yo dieting explained - and it's not a failure of willpower

I've included a resource links at the end of these notes that enables you to map out your dieting model.

In this episode, I explore why diets so often begin with intense hope, fueled by marketing and outside influences. The classic Yo-yo dieting cycle.

Understand how your body's unconscious survival system interprets dietary restriction as starvation, often overpowering conscious willpower and forcing diet abandonment.

Learn why abandoning a diet isn't a personal failure, but instead is a predictable outcome driven by your biology.

Discover the phenomenon of weight "overshoot," where post-diet weight regain often exceeds the starting point because of slowed metabolism and increased fat storage

Hear why "low and slow" is key to lasting weight changes and how learning from past cycles, rather than forgetting them, can help break the pattern.

Key takeaway:

Sustainable progress requires working with your body's system, not trying to override it. Consulting a qualified dietician may help set up an approach that works in harmony with your biology.

Resource Links

Visit the resources page for a copy of the Diet Hope and Abandonment Cycle diagram and explore the Weight and Dieting History Program for deeper insights.

Free download Yo-yo dieting explained

Read my Blog Post about how Yoyo dieting is explained through the Diet Hope and Abandonment Cycle

Any questions you'd like me to answer in future podcasts, please email me

hello@weightingforhappiness.com.au

In this episode of Before Dieting, I answer a question from listener Karla about relief eating. An eating pattern many women have but almost no one is comfortable talking about. Relief eating is often mistaken for “bingeing”, but it’s something very different.

You’ll learn how relief eating works inside your Eating System, why it appears suddenly, why it feels automatic, and why it’s one of the biggest contributors to weight regain.

We walk through the three stages, so you can start recognising your own patterns with curiosity instead of shame.

🎧 WHY YOU SHOULD LISTEN

If you’ve ever wondered how you can start the day with a green smoothie and end it inhaling a block of chocolate, this episode finally explains why in simple, honest terms. It does this without blame or shame, and gives you a reframe on autopilot eating you’ve never been given before.

⭐ KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Relief eating isn’t bingeing

The word binge isn’t helpful and carries judgement. Relief eating is a system response, not a personal failure.

2. Relief eating begins with an emotional disturbance

It starts with hungering, a body-level disturbance that signals emotional imbalance.

3. The system takes over

During the eating phase, the behaviour feels automatic because your Eating System is trying to stabilise you.

4. Relief eating can be avoided

By recognising the signs of hungering non-food solutions can be employed.

Please leave a review or send me an email hello@weightingforhappiness.com.au with any feedback