There are multiple stages in every weight loss journey. Real weight loss happens through progress, setbacks, and mindset shifts.
Learn to navigate success and failure with lasting confidence and clarity.
Often, it can take one, two, or even three nutrition consultations to identify the major challenge someone is facing—and that’s completely normal. While we don’t have to wait to start making progress, having clarity on what’s really getting in the way often makes all the difference.
Beyond Calories: Shifting the Focus to Quality and Mindset
I’ve worked with many clients who have spent years, sometimes decades, yo-yo dieting. They often find it difficult to let go of the habit of revolving everything they eat around calories. Instead of focusing on the quality or nutrient value of their food, they’re caught in the mindset of counting, restricting, and bargaining.
What isn’t in the Food Log?
During our sessions, I review not just food logs but also the thoughts, emotions, and experiences that don’t show up on those logs. I often ask, “What isn’t on the food log? What felt like a success this week beyond what I can see on paper?”
Beyond Calories: Focusing on Quality and Mindset
Many people who have struggled with yo-yo dieting find it hard to let go of calorie counting. They focus on numbers instead of the nutrition or quality of the food itself.
During my sessions, I don’t just look at food logs—I explore what isn’t written down: your thoughts, emotions, and habits around eating. I often ask clients:
“What felt like a success this week? Did you have less food noise? Feel more control?”
One client shared that she went to Dairy Queen with her kids but didn’t feel the urge to order anything. She didn’t feel deprived or proud—just comfortable. That moment showed she was beginning to change her relationship with food.
If I had only reviewed her food log, I would have missed that powerful success. The absence of struggle told the real story.
Hidden Successes
Almost every client has something meaningful to share. For example, one client told me, “I went to Dairy Queen with my kids, and this time I didn’t want anything. I didn’t feel like I was forcing myself not to have it—I just didn’t want it.” That moment was huge for her. She wasn’t feeling deprived or resentful; she simply didn’t have the urge to participate in an old pattern.
If I were only looking at her food log, I’d never know that. The absence of that ice cream—and more importantly, the absence of struggle—was a milestone worth celebrating.
Why Regular Conversations Matter
These are the types of insights that often emerge only during real conversations, not through quick check-ins or app-based tracking alone. Clients sometimes ask why we need regular consults, and this is why: progress isn’t just about what you ate—it’s also about how you think and feel about what you eat
When you’re rushing through your day, you may forget small but powerful breakthroughs. That’s why I encourage clients to use voice-to-text on their phones. If a realization hits you while walking, driving, or cooking, speak it out loud. Capturing those thoughts helps solidify them—and hearing yourself verbalize them can make them more real and easier to repeat later.
The Long Game: Letting Go of Old Rules
Reaching that kind of ease around food doesn’t happen overnight. For the client above, it took several months of frustration, reflection, and small wins before she felt that shift. Early on, she wrestled with resentment—feeling that she “deserved” certain foods or that a healthy plan was punishment. Over time, as she began to let go of calorie-counting and food “rules,” she stopped bartering with herself and started eating in a way that felt natural and free.
That mindset shift is at the heart of sustainable weight loss. Without it, you can follow plan after plan but still end up back where you started—stuck in the same mental loop of deprivation and reward.
Sometimes it takes months for someone to even recognize what’s holding them back. It might not be until month ten that a client begins to connect the dots between their mindset and their habits. As a dietitian, I guide those realizations through targeted questions—not to force change, but to spark awareness.
And awareness is what makes change possible. The moment someone begins to ask, “Am I ready to embrace what’s good for me rather than what I think I deserve?”—that’s the moment true transformation begins.
