· Max Lowery · Podcast Episode · 3 min read
#117 I’m Addicted to Food. I Have No Willpower. Why Can’t I Lose Weight?
What if your weight loss struggle isn’t about willpower? Erin discovers how childhood food rules, stress and emotional eating shaped her relationship with food—and why understanding the root cause could finally help her break the cycle.
🎧 Prefer to listen on the go? Click on the podcast episode below!
Your current privacy settings prevent us from loading and showing you this embedded podcast.
Do you feel like you know exactly what you need to do to lose weight… but you still can’t seem to do it? Maybe you’ve even wondered why you have so little self-control around food.
In this first episode of the series Why Can’t I Lose Weight?, Max speaks with Erin, a busy teacher and mum of two teenage children who has struggled with her weight and relationship with food for years.
Erin came into the conversation believing she was the problem. She described feeling addicted to certain foods, unable to say no, and frustrated that, as an intelligent and capable woman, she couldn’t simply get herself under control.
But as the conversation unfolds, a very different picture emerges.
Growing up, certain foods were restricted and seen as “naughty.” This may have created a scarcity mindset around food — when something you love isn’t normally allowed, you can feel the need to eat as much as possible when you finally get the chance.
Then comes the guilt.
Erin also recognizes that food has become a way to cope with stress, overwhelm, and difficult emotions. And that creates a powerful cycle: you feel stressed, you eat to feel better, you blame yourself for eating, you feel worse… and then you want food again.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
How childhood food rules can still affect the way you eat decades later
Why restricting certain foods can lead to overeating and feeling out of control
How emotional eating can become a learned response to stress
Why guilt, blame, and shame can keep the cycle going
Why diets, calorie tracking, and more exercise may work temporarily but fail to address the root cause
Why struggling with food doesn’t automatically mean you need more willpower
Erin has tried many of the usual weight loss approaches, from Atkins and calorie tracking to increasing exercise. In her words, “it works until it doesn’t.”
And that’s the key.
If you’re a woman over 40 who keeps wondering why you can’t stick to a diet, this episode may help you ask a different question.
Instead of only asking “What should I eat?”, it may be time to understand why you’re eating in the first place.
Listen to the full episode now and discover what might really be keeping you stuck with food and weight loss.
Want to discover why YOU can't lose weight?
I'm inviting women to take part in future episodes of the Why Can't I Lose Weight? series.
We'll have an honest, in-depth conversation about your struggles and work together to uncover the root causes that may be keeping you stuck.
Everyone who takes part will receive a free, personalised action plan to help them start addressing those root causes.
You can also choose to remain anonymous.
Click the link below to apply to be featured in a future episode.
https://form.typeform.com/to/gA9Iid6z
Follow me on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/max.lowery/
Book a Food Freedom Breakthrough Call: https://www.neverdietagainmethod.uk/call-ig
Watch my The Cravings & Fat-Burning Masterclass: https://www.neverdietagainmethod.uk/register-podcast