109: Why Losing Weight Didn’t Fix Me (and What Did)
Why Losing Weight Didn't Fix Me (and What Did)
Discover why chasing weight loss kept me stuck and how strength training changed everything. Learn how to shift from restriction to freedom and measure progress beyond the scale.
Let's be real: we've all been sold the lie that losing weight will fix everything. Smaller body = happier life, right? Wrong. Dead wrong.
In this deeply personal episode of Broads, Tara pulls back the curtain on her own journey through diet culture hell and back. This isn't your typical before-and-after story. It's the messy, raw truth about what happens when you realize the thing you've been chasing for years was never the answer in the first place.
The Performance Trap
Growing up, Tara learned early that performance equals love. Be the best athlete. Get the praise. Repeat. But what happens when your entire identity is wrapped up in being the "athletic one" and then that identity gets ripped away?
The spiral started innocently enough. After losing her athletic identity, restriction crept in. Then came the bingeing. The over-exercising. Running herself into the ground, quite literally. When a coach told her to lose weight, shame became the fuel that powered every decision. And suddenly, "smaller" became the only goal that mattered, no matter what it cost.
Sound familiar? Yeah, thought so.
When Discipline Is Just Fear in Disguise
Here's the thing nobody talks about: that iron discipline you're so proud of? Sometimes it's not discipline at all. Sometimes it's just fear wearing a motivational Instagram caption.
Tara hit her breaking point when she realized her so-called "healthy habits" were actually a prison. The rigid meal plans. The punishment workouts. The constant mental calculation of whether she'd "earned" her food. That's not wellness, that's survival mode with a fitness tracker.
The breakthrough came when she stopped asking "how can I be smaller?" and started asking "what do I actually want?" Turns out, the answer had nothing to do with the number on a scale.
The Yes That Changed Everything
One decision. One single yes to showing up at a park workout. That's all it took to crack the door open.
But here's what made it different: it wasn't about the workout itself. It was about saying yes to something that felt good in her body instead of something that was supposed to punish it. HIIT opened the door to movement that felt powerful rather than punitive. And from there? Everything shifted.
This is where the real magic happens, when you stop treating exercise like penance for eating and start treating it like a celebration of what your body can do.
Lifting Changed the Game
Strength training wasn't just about building muscle. It was about completely rewiring what progress meant. When you're lifting 250 pounds, it's pretty damn hard to worry about taking up less space. In fact, you start to realize that taking up space is exactly the point.
Eating became fuel, not a moral failing. Progress became about getting stronger, not smaller. Worth became about what she could do, not what she looked like. Every rep was proof that her body wasn't the enemy, it was the most badass teammate she'd ever had.
Here's what strength training teaches you that cardio and restriction never will: your body is designed to be capable, not just acceptable.
Redefining "Enough"
The real transformation wasn't physical. It was learning to define what "enough" meant on her own terms. Not based on what a coach said. Not based on what diet culture promised. Not based on some arbitrary aesthetic standard that was designed to keep women small and hungry and compliant.
Tara shares how mindset shifts create momentum. How one decision beats perfection every single time. How real progress looks nothing like what you've been told it should look like. And spoiler alert: it's so much better than what you've been chasing.
The Power of One Yes
If you're feeling stuck right now, this is your sign. You don't need a complete overhaul. You don't need a 12-week transformation program. You don't need to wait until Monday or the first of the month or when you "have your shit together."
You just need one yes. One decision that moves you toward freedom instead of restriction. One choice that honors what your body can do instead of punishing what it looks like.
Maybe that's saying yes to a workout that makes you feel powerful. Maybe it's saying yes to eating enough to fuel your life instead of restricting to fit someone else's ideal. Maybe it's saying yes to taking up space in a world that profits from keeping women small.
Whatever your one yes is, start there. And then watch how every other part of your life begins to follow.
From Chasing Smaller to Claiming Freedom
Freedom is possible. Not the fake freedom that diet culture sells you (you know, the "freedom" to eat cake after you've earned it through suffering). Real freedom. The kind where you wake up and your worth isn't tied to what you ate yesterday or what the scale says this morning. The kind where you measure your life by your strength, your energy, your joy, not by how much space you take up.
The journey from restriction to strength isn't linear. It's messy and complicated and sometimes you take two steps forward and one step back. But here's what Tara knows for sure after living both sides: chasing smaller keeps you stuck. Choosing strength sets you free.
Ready to start your own journey from restriction to strength? Work 1:1 with a Broads Coach to get custom programming and nutritional guidance that helps you build a body that feels as good as it looks. Learn more at Broads.
What's your one yes going to be? Think about it. Choose it. And then go make it happen.
