Welcome back to Rebuilding Trust With Your Body, I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. 

Before we dive into our main topic for today, you know what time it is…We’ve got some Wellness Woo to talk about. 

Wellness Woo is the stuff that diet and wellness culture tells us we should do in the name of health, but it’s really based on pseudoscience, exaggerated claims, or just nonsense. 

Today’s Wellness Woo is: Cycle syncing workouts

Influencers online claim that women should alter their exercise and diet based on what phase of their menstrual cycle they are in. (talk about becoming obsessed)

Although a number of studies have found exercise performance – and in particular, endurance performance – to vary between menstrual phases, there is an equal number of such studies reporting no differences.

He idea that a woman’s body changes in line with hormone fluctuations is undisputed. Studies confirm it: that the naturally occurring menstrual cycle causes shifts in energy levels, mood and stress. No shit.

In January 2023, research published in the Journal of Physiology showed that the respective phases of a menstrual cycle had no impact on female participants’ power output in cycling trials when compared to male counterparts.

A meta-analysis concluded: The conclusion? ‘It is highly premature to conclude that short-term fluctuations in ovarian hormones appreciably influence acute exercise performance or longer-term adaptations to resistance training. Thus, the development of RET [resistance exercise training] prescriptions based on cyclical hormonal changes is not an evidence-based approach.’

One doctor pointed out: ‘Cycle syncing can mean a lot of women are in fact undertraining, since following recommendations may mean you do only gentle movement for 10-14 days of a month, without adequate strength training and high-intensity movement.’

Why cycle syncing isn’t essential for everyone

• Inconclusive science: While the concept is popular, research has not conclusively shown that hormone levels significantly impact exercise performance across the menstrual cycle.
• Minimal performance impact: For most individuals, the actual differences in exercise performance between cycle phases are likely too minor to warrant a complete overhaul of a workout routine.
• Mental and emotional factors: Factors like fatigue, motivation, and pain perception have a larger impact on performance than hormone levels alone.
• The value of consistency: A consistent workout routine provides benefits that a rigid, rigid cycle-syncing approach may not. Sticking to a schedule is more important than strict adherence to a specific workout type for each phase. 

If you have an example of Wellness Woo that you want to share, send it to me at rebuildingtrustwithyourbody@gmail.com. 

Ok, that’s enough of that. Moving on to today’s main topic…“5 Sneaky Mindset Traps Blocking Your Peace With Food & Body This Holiday Season”

MINDSET TRAP #1: You’re still in the back of your mind thinking on some level “My Body Should Look How It Did Years Ago”

What it sounds like in their head:

• “I used to feel so much better at X weight/size.” – and therefore you assume that you’ll only feel ok at that size now.
• “I should be able to get back to that version of me.”
• And then during the holiday season you worry about what other people are thinking of you and your body, or maybe you’re feeling jealous of other people who have lost weight. (Go back and listen to the previous episode if this is you)

Why it’s a trap:

• Their past body existed in a different season of life, stress level, health status, hormonal phase, responsibilities, and metabolism
• Their body isn’t a time capsule—it’s a living organism that will change over time. That’s what bodies do. The fact that your body has changed doesn’t mean you’ve done something wrong…it means you’re human. 
• This mindset trap will interfere with you enjoying the holidays, from being present with your loved ones, from being in photos, from enjoying your favorite foods. And it can easily set you up to go overboard with food. 

Key reframe:

• “My body isn’t supposed to look the same forever—and that doesn’t mean anything is wrong.”
• Choose to honor the body you have today, and you may need to grieve your body…

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**MINDSET TRAP #2: “If I gain weight, that means intuitive eating isn’t working for me.”

(or “Intuitive Eating isn’t working unless I lose weight”)**

Why this mindset runs deep:

• Decades of conditioning that “gaining weight = bad”
• Fear of judgment, shame, or losing value
• Internalized weight stigma and fat phobia

Harmful impact:

• Now you’re ashamed to tell anyone that you’re doing IE (not that you need to tell other people how you’re approaching your eating) – but you know how people love talking about their diets, you might feel ashamed to say “I’m doing this thing called IE” because you’re afraid they’re going to look at you and think, “Well that’s clearly not working for you – look how much weight you’ve gained! Or you haven’t lost any weight.” And it doesn’t feel good to be at a holiday gathering feeling ashamed of your body, or your eating, or worried that people are judging you. It makes us want to avoid, retreat, hide, or put up a front or shield ourselves.
• Keeps you stuck in the trap of using the scale as your measure of success. Let’s remember the POINT of IE isn’t weight loss. That’s not what it was designed for. So we’re not going to measure effectiveness on the scale. That would be like taking BP medicine and wondering why it didn’t fix your thyroid…that’s not what it’s for, and it doesn’t mean that the BP medicine isn’t doing what it’s intended to do. IE is intended to help you make peace with food, work WITH your body rather than against it like dieting does, to allow you to maintain a stable weight without having to micromanage your food and exercise, and to make peace with your body itself. IE is also designed to honor your health. 
• Measuring “success” on the scale makes your feel like intuitive eating “isn’t working” even if you ARE creating more peace with food. It’s also going to block IE from working as well as it can for you. 
• And it’s hard to set boundaries at the holidays about diet talk when you don’t actually fully believe in the non-diet approach you’re taking.

Reminders:

• Weight changes are often a normal, expected, healthy response to ending restriction
• The actual measures of “IE working” = more peace, less chaos, better energy, stable hunger cues, reduced guilt, improved health behaviors
  

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MINDSET TRAP #3: The “Healthy = Losing Weight” Mentality

Where it comes from:

• Doctors, media, diet culture, family comments
• Misunderstanding correlation vs. causation
• Equating thinness with virtue and effort
  

Why it’s harmful:

• Prevents actual health improvements
• Keeps you chasing weight loss instead of health-promoting behaviors
• Creates shame around health challenges. 
• During the holidays, you’ll be looking at people who have lost weight and in your mind you’re thinking, “Oh look at them, they’re getting healthier, and look at me. I’m a giant loser, and a gross disgusting blob and they probably think I’m so unhealthy now because I’ve gained weight or I’m not dieting.”
  • First of all, these assumptions aren’t even fair. You don’t know their whole story (even if they just spent the last 3 hours at Thanksgiving telling you all about their weight loss journey). You don’t know what their internal world is like, and what their current thoughts and behaviors are actually like with food. I sit with clients every day who tell me things they do with food when nobody else is around that they’ve never told another human because they’re so ashamed. You don’t know if their weight loss is part of an ED – I hear this from my clients with ED’s all the time. They get complimented and praised for weight loss, and deep down they know that they’re being praised for their ED and how messed up that is. There are also times that someone might have lost weight due to stress, grief, cancer, or some other health condition. We need to stop making assumptions. 
  • Let’s also remember that each person has a different body, a different life, a different biology, and that even if we all ate and exercised the same we’d still all look different.
  • And lastly, we don’t know how another person’s current situation will play out long-term. Statistically, dieting and intentional weight loss are the #1 predictor of future weight GAIN (and it’s the #1 cause of both slowed metabolism and eating disorders). There’s a decent chance that within 2-5 years they will have regained any weight they lost if it was via dieting. 
  • Don’t let this ruin your holiday, or trip you up, or get you stuck in comparison and feeling inferior. 
  • This is something that I cover more inside of my free Holiday Intuitive Eating Guide, which covers 6 key tips for navigating the holidays and stressing less about food and your body this holiday season. I highly recommend you grab it (and if you already have it from before, I want you to grab it again because I actually just updated it this year!) Go to nondietacademy.com/holiday or you can DM me for the link (it’s also in the show notes).

Remember:

• Health is not a number on the scale, and weight loss doesn’t automatically = better health (nor does weight gain automatically = worse health)
• You can support and honor your health in a lot of ways this holiday season:
  • Examples: sleep, stress, nutrition, meds, movement, labs, self-care
    

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MINDSET TRAP #4: “Sugar and Carbs Are Bad”

Talk about stealing holiday joy!

Real-life examples:

• Avoiding Christmas cookies despite craving them
• Feeling guilty eating the homemade sourdough someone gifted
• Judging sweet potato casserole as “too much sugar”

Why this trap persists:

• Fear-based messaging
• Misunderstanding blood sugar science
• Belief that fun foods cause loss of control

What actually happens:

• Restriction → obsession
• Moralizing foods → guilt → overeating
• Fear → rebellion → shame → more fear

Reframe:

• Carbs = body’s preferred fuel
• Sugar = part of normal human eating
• Satisfaction reduces overeating

Holiday-specific coaching:

• Permission + mindfulness + pairing foods for stability

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MINDSET TRAP #5: “I Need to Earn or Make Up for My Food with Exercise”

What this looks like:

• Working out before a holiday meal
• Planning a “big workout” the next day
• Feeling like skipping a workout = “losing control”
• Counting steps or calories burned

Why this trap hurts them:

• Turns movement into punishment
• Disconnects you from what truly feels good or supports your body’s needs
• Keeps you stuck in all-or-none thinking, and “earn or burn” thinking with food

Reframe:

• Exercise is for energy, mood, strength, stress relief—not earning or balancing food
• You already have permission to eat, just for being human

Something to consider:

• Ask: “If exercise had nothing to do with your weight, what kind of movement would you actually enjoy? What might make you feel good?”

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Wapping Up

• Normalize how persistent and sneaky these thoughts can be
• Shifting these mindsets is the real gateway to peace with food and body
• Let’s recap:
  • MINDSET TRAP #1: You’re still in the back of your mind thinking on some level “My Body Should Look How It Did Years Ago”
  • **MINDSET TRAP #2: “If I gain weight, that means intuitive eating isn’t working for me.”
    • (or “Intuitive Eating isn’t working unless I lose weight”)**
  • MINDSET TRAP #3: The “Healthy = Losing Weight” Mentality
  • MINDSET TRAP #4: “Sugar and Carbs Are Bad”
  • MINDSET TRAP #5: “I Need to Earn or Make Up for My Food with Exercise”
• Notice which trap resonates most, and focus on getting out of this trap. It will take practice and repetition, so you’ll have to be intentional about it. 
• Pick 1 small, specific shift they can practice today – and DM me to let me know which one you’re going to do.
• Don’t forget to grab the holiday guide!
  

In case nobody has told you today – you are worthy just as you are. We’ll talk again soon.

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