Changing Mindset to Overcome Yo-Yo Dieting, Emotional Eating, and Improving Your Relationship with Food with Lisa Goldberg
Have you ever wondered why, no matter how many diets you try, the results never seem to stick?
You lose the weight, feel good for a while, and then somehow find yourself back where you started, sometimes even heavier than before. It’s a frustrating, exhausting cycle that leaves so many people feeling stuck and defeated.
This is exactly what Lisa Goldberg, a nationally recognized nutritionist and behavioral weight-loss expert, has been helping her clients break free from since 2001. As a coach, speaker, and author, Lisa has dedicated her career to helping people shift their mindset, overcome emotional eating, and finally break away from the trap of yo-yo dieting. Her approach goes beyond meal plans and calorie counts. It’s about understanding behavior, building self-awareness, and creating sustainable habits that last.
In this episode, Lisa shares practical strategies and insights on how to change the way you think about food and your body. From recognizing emotional triggers to learning how to rebuild trust with yourself, this conversation dives into what it really takes to create a healthier, more balanced relationship with food, one that feels good and actually sticks.
Breaking Free from the Dieter’s Mindset
People who have been on countless diets tend to share the same struggles. Many have been trying to lose weight for decades. They often succeed in shedding pounds but eventually gain them back because they never learned how to maintain their results. The reason is simple. The methods they used to lose weight were too restrictive or unrealistic to sustain long-term.
This cycle often starts with the belief that weight loss requires cutting something out completely, most commonly carbohydrates. Years ago, when I first wanted to lose weight, my approach was the same. I would grab a magazine or a diet book, all of which promoted restriction as the answer. And because the goal was always to lose weight as quickly as possible, the focus was never on building habits that could last.
The problem with this quick-fix ideology is that it creates what I call the dieter’s mindset: a rigid, all-or-nothing way of thinking that almost everyone who has yo-yo dieted eventually develops. Clients often say things like, “I was good today,” “I was bad today,” or “I cheated.” They will eat something they regret and immediately think, I blew it, so I might as well keep eating and start again tomorrow.
But when you break it down logically, it does not hold up. If you eat 200 calories’ worth of cookies, you are still better off stopping there than eating 2,000 of those calories because you decided the day was already ruined. That thought, I might as well keep eating, only keeps you stuck.
Another common trap is underestimating the little things. Clients often tell themselves, It is just a little bit, it will not matter. Maybe it is a fun-sized candy bar, maybe a handful of chips. But when a little bit happens several times a day, or every day of the week, it adds up. Over time, those extra bites and nibbles can quietly stall progress without anyone realizing it.
Changing this pattern starts with awareness. The dieter’s mindset is not something people consciously hear anymore; it becomes background noise. By paying attention to those automatic thoughts and challenging them, real and lasting change becomes possible.
The Danger of the Dieter’s Mindset
The dieter’s mindset can also be harmful. It convinces people that healthy choices are only “worth it” if they lead to weight loss. It is the thought pattern that says, “Why eat broccoli if I’m not losing weight?”
This way of thinking is a trap. Eating balanced, nourishing meals is valuable regardless of what the scale says. It supports health, energy, mood, and a long-term, positive relationship with food and the body.
One practical strategy I share with clients is to pay attention to justifying and rationalizing. If you find yourself saying things like:
“I was good all day, so I deserve this.”
“I worked out, so I can eat whatever I want.”
“I fasted yesterday, so it’s fine if I overeat today.”
That is a red flag. When you are truly hungry, you do not need to convince yourself to eat. You simply eat. If you catch yourself rationalizing, it is usually not about physical hunger but about emotions, habits, or old thought patterns creeping back in.
From Urge to Awareness
One of the most powerful shifts in a weight-loss journey is learning to notice the thoughts driving eating habits. I often tell clients that the voice in their head, the one urging them to eat when they are not truly hungry, is the real challenge to overcome.
Lisa Goldberg shared how a client recently discovered this firsthand. She realized that every time she thought, You don’t really want to eat that, another voice would argue, Well, maybe you do. After years of this mental tug-of-war, she finally recognized the thought pattern that had been leading her to overeat.
That moment of awareness is a turning point. Many people hear that same internal dialogue so often that it fades into the background. They eat to quiet the noise, only to feel guilt and shame afterward, creating a cycle that feels impossible to break.
The key to change is pausing and asking the right questions. Am I actually hungry? What emotion am I trying to soothe? Often, it is not hunger at all. It can be stress, boredom, sadness, or simply a habit. That brief pause between the urge and the action is where transformation begins.
Like learning an instrument, this process takes practice. Over time, the brain rewires itself, and responding with intention becomes easier. Staying connected to your “why” is also crucial. In those moments of temptation, remembering your deeper goals such as better health, more energy, or confidence makes it clear that eating out of emotion never truly serves you.
Finally, releasing black and white thinking is essential. Progress is not about perfection but about practice and patience. Even when you slip, you can pause, reset, and make a different choice.
This is the work: building awareness, practicing new responses, and staying focused on long-term goals. Over time, those small shifts add up until what once felt impossible becomes second nature.
Why Emotional Eating Isn’t About the Food
Emotional eating is something many people struggle with, often without fully realizing it. Food becomes the go-to coping mechanism for stress, loneliness, overwhelm, or the simple need for comfort. The problem is that eating only provides temporary relief. It distracts, numbs, or soothes in the moment, but it never fixes what is truly going on underneath.
Lisa spoke with a woman recently who had heard her speak and decided to schedule a call. The woman shared that she had gained and lost 50 pounds three different times, each through strict, restrictive dieting. What she wanted now, more than losing the weight again, was to finally stop the cycle.
And she is not alone. Many people Lisa works with do not necessarily have a large amount of weight to lose. Sometimes it is only 10 pounds. But they are stuck in the same exhausting pattern—the constant yo-yoing, the swings up and down, and the feeling of being out of control around food. More than anything, they want to build a healthy, balanced relationship with food.
For some, food fills what feels like an “empty bucket,” a lack of love, joy, connection, or fulfillment. For others, binge eating is about numbing completely, while emotional eating might simply look like distraction. The chewing, the tasting, and the brief sense of fullness become ways to avoid sitting with uncomfortable emotions or thoughts.
And here is what many people do not realize: for some, the journey is not even about weight loss. It is about reclaiming control. It is about finding freedom from the constant mental tug-of-war with food and learning to break free from emotional eating. Recognizing that truth is often the first step toward lasting change.
When the Scale Doesn’t Budge: Rethinking Progress Beyond Weight
It can be incredibly frustrating to put in the hard work of breaking free from emotional eating or binge eating, only to see the number on the scale stay exactly the same.
For many, the initial goal is simple: lose weight. They think, “If I just stop overeating, the weight will come off.” And sometimes, it does. But other times, even after developing a healthier relationship with food, letting go of yo-yo dieting, and moving past their trigger foods, the scale doesn’t move.
That moment can feel defeating. Many start to wonder, “What’s the point of all this work if the number isn’t changing?” But this is where mindset becomes everything.
The first thing I remind clients is that reducing emotional eating and breaking the binge-restrict cycle is already a huge win. Every time you choose not to emotionally eat, every time you fuel your body with balanced meals, every time you walk away from a late-night binge, you are creating a powerful change for your health.
Too often, this progress is dismissed because the scale doesn’t reflect it. But the scale is only one metric, and it’s not the only one that matters. Better energy, improved mood, balanced blood sugar, and reduced digestive discomfort are all signs your body is responding positively, even if the number stays the same.
Of course, there are times when weight loss stalls for physiological reasons. That’s when I look deeper at potential metabolic or hormonal issues, vitamin D levels, adrenal or cortisol imbalances, or nutrient deficiencies. Sometimes, it’s simply a matter of adjusting food balance to keep blood sugar steady.
But even when physical factors are addressed, I always remind my clients that the real transformation is in how you think and behave around food. When your relationship with eating changes, you build the foundation for lasting success, whether the weight comes off quickly, slowly, or not at all.
Progress is so much more than a number. Shifting your mindset around food is what allows you to step out of the exhausting cycle of restriction, overeating, guilt, and shame. The scale may take time to catch up, but your health, physical and emotional, begins to improve the moment you make those changes.
So if the scale hasn’t moved, but you’ve stopped the bingeing, stopped the emotional eating, and started nourishing your body consistently, celebrate that. That progress isn’t just real, it’s life-changing.
If there’s one thing this conversation with Lisa Goldberg makes clear, it’s that breaking free from yo-yo dieting and emotional eating isn’t about finding the perfect meal plan or the next quick fix. It’s about rewiring the way you think, rebuilding trust with yourself, and creating a relationship with food that feels balanced and sustainable.
Remember, progress is not just measured by the number on the scale. Every time you choose awareness over autopilot, every time you pause before eating to check in with your emotions, every time you fuel your body with intention, you are taking steps toward lasting change.
If you found value in what you heard today, take a moment to reflect on one mindset shift you can start practicing right now. Maybe it’s pausing before eating to ask yourself if you’re truly hungry, or maybe it’s letting go of the belief that a “good” or “bad” day defines your success. Small changes like these add up and lay the foundation for long-term success.
Tune in to this week’s episode for more insight about this important topic.
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