Full But Not Finished

Stefanie Michele
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Full But Not Finished is for anyone who's tried to "just stop eating when you're full" and realized it's never that simple. Hosted by somatic and intuitive eating coach Stefanie Michele, this podcast dives into the ongoing work of recovery — where fullness doesn't always mean satisfaction, and where food, body image, and self-worth collide. Each episode unpacks the psychology, nervous system patterns, and cultural conditioning that shape eating behaviors, showing why willpower alone doesn't work and what real regulation looks like. If you've lived the binge–restrict cycle, felt trapped in body image spirals, or wondered why "normal eating" feels out of reach, this is where we make sense of it — not with rules, but with integration, somatic tools, and a more human way forward.

  1. 4 DAYS AGO

    13. The January Trap: Last-Supper Eating, Gym Diet Culture, and Food Gifts [Q&A]

    If you're already thinking about how to "fix" your eating in 2026, listen to this first.    This Q&A episode covers three of the biggest pressure points people hit at the end of December and the start of January:   Last Supper eating, diet-culture talk in fitness spaces, and the anger that can come from getting food gifts from friends in their own food dysfunction.   I'm answering these questions with a grounded, anti-diet lens that helps you stay out of the reset → restrict → rebound cycle and move into the New Year in a more regulated way.   Q&A topics in this episode:   ⭐ New Year "start fresh" → Last Supper eating: why it happens, how it restarts the binge–restrict cycle, and what helps you stay out of the loop ⭐ Diet culture in fitness spaces: how to handle "work off the holiday calories" messaging, how to set boundaries, and what to look for in more weight-neutral/body-inclusive movement environments ⭐ Food gifts: when food gifts feel emotionally loaded, why that can be activating, and how to protect your relationship with food without turning it into a power struggle   SENSR COURSE OPENS JANUARY 2026 -- Save your seat here: https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com/sensr   You'll also hear...   ✨ The "fishing rod" visualization: noticing when your mind is 50 feet in the future and reeling it back into today ✨ How to tell grounded goals from hype: the physical difference between calm steadiness vs. "jazzy" urgent energy ✨ A language swap for goals that doesn't turn into food rules ✨ The "spam filter" method for diet-culture talk  ✨ What to do with the energy of anger   If you're navigating binge eating recovery, chronic dieting history, emotional eating, or "healthy eating" obsession, this episode gives you a steadier way to approach the New Year.   Subscribe for more Q&A episodes and conversations on binge eating recovery, body image, diet culture, nervous system regulation, and building a sustainable relationship with food.    BODY INCLUSIVE FITNESS STARTER PACK Louise Green Jessamyn Stanley Amy Snelling of The Snack Pass Meg Boggs SITA Size Inclusive Training Superfit Hero Body Positive Fitness Joyful Inclusive Movement  Search terms: weight inclusive fitness or body positive fitness  Apply to work with me: www.iamstefaniemichele.com/application

    43 min

  2. 24/12/2025

    12. Why Am I So Nostalgic? On being a highly sensitive person

    Nostalgia, body image, and high sensitivity are connected—and this episode explains why. This is for highly sensitive people who experience nostalgia as a full-body emotional event. Do you notice that when the past gets stirred, food and body stuff gets louder? Songs, places, photos, endings, and transitions don't just bring up memories, they can trigger urges to control food, reconsider our appearance, check, plan, restrict, overeat, or isolate. In this episode, we cover: Why highly sensitive nervous systems experience nostalgia as embodied memory, not just thought How childhood and adolescence can leave open stress loops that keep pulling us back Why food and body control can become a reliable way to contain emotional overwhelm Why you can feel pulled toward a time in your life that was actually painful or unstable Why longing for an old body and old coping patterns is often about unresolved emotional safety What recovery looks like when the buffer is gone and emotions come back online How to feel deeply without getting swallowed by it You'll also get a practical way to work with this when it hits: how to recognize the moment nostalgia arrives, how to give your body a short, contained window to feel what's there, and how to return to the present on purpose through simple routines that re-anchor you. Work with me If you want support applying these ideas to your actual life (not just your notes app), I offer 1:1 coaching for binge eating recovery, intuitive eating, and body image healing. Apply here! If this episode helps, subscribe and leave a rating or review—it's the easiest way to support the podcast and get this message out there!

    39 min

  3. 17/12/2025

    11. My All-In Recovery Story: The Process That Ended My Binge Eating for Good

    In this episode, I explain my all-in recovery process and how it helped me stop binge eating after decades of battling food noise. I break down what "all in" actually means in practice, why unconditional permission to eat means (and doesn't mean), and how body image work played a central role in becoming binge-free for over six and a half years. I'm sharing my personal all-in recovery process—the shift that helped me become binge-free for over 6.5 years—and what I learned about unconditional permission to eat, food scarcity mindset, body image, and body neutrality along the way. This isn't a quick fix or a one-size-fits-all method. But if you've tried "moderation" a hundred different ways and it keeps turning into a failure, this episode will give you a different framework to consider. Work With Stef In this episode, I cover: What "all-in recovery" means (and why it doesn't have a formal clinical definition) Why unconditional permission to eat was the turning point for my binge eating recovery How restriction fuels binge eating through scarcity (not lack of "willpower") How intermittent fasting pushed my binge eating further (and what that taught me) The role of body image, culture, and conditioning (capitalism, feminism, racism) in food + self-trust What changed over time as my appetite regulated and food stopped feeling urgent My backstory (quick version) My relationship with food was chaotic from my teens until I turned 40—years of negotiating, compensating, and trying to outthink my body. Eventually it became clear that the "careful" approaches weren't working for me. I needed a more radical reset. A huge catalyst was reading "The F**k It Diet" by Caroline Dooner, because it named what I had been living: the bingeing wasn't some character flaw—it was an understandable response to deprivation and fear. Why unconditional permission matters The core of the all-in process (for me) was stopping the constant bargaining. When eating is no longer treated like a limited resource, binge urges lose their job. That's the part people miss: binge eating is often a scarcity response, not "lack of control." Body image isn't a side quest Working with body image coach Jessi Kneeland expanded the whole conversation for me. It helped me see that body hatred doesn't exist in a vacuum—there's a system that benefits when we stay preoccupied with shrinking ourselves. Body neutrality became a steadier foundation than chasing body "confidence." Want more context? If you haven't listened to my episode about losing control with food (episode , start there—it'll give you helpful background for this conversation. Work with me If you want support applying these ideas to your actual life (not just your notes app), I offer 1:1 coaching for binge eating recovery, intuitive eating, and body image healing. Apply here! If this episode helps, subscribe and leave a rating or review—it's the easiest way to support the podcast and get this message in front of more people.

    56 min

  4. 10/12/2025

    10. Celebrity Weight Loss: are we allowed to say something?

    Celebrity weight loss is back in the spotlight — in headlines, before-and-after photos, GLP-1 speculation, and nonstop commentary online. Alongside that has come a louder insistence that we "shouldn't talk about people's bodies" at all. But should we really keep quiet? This episode focuses on body image, diet culture, celebrity bodies, and how weight loss is discussed on social media. I talk about why I personally don't comment on bodies in everyday life, why praising weight loss is never neutral to me, and why that rule becomes harder to apply once bodies move into public media, celebrity culture, and influence. The episode moves through the different ways this conversation shows up right now — criticism, praise, silence, and backlash — and what happens when the only option we allow is not speaking. I also touch on kids growing up inside these images, the "double standard" argument, and the tension between personal body autonomy and cultural symbolism, and Lizzo's recent essay on "weight release." This is a conversation about what we're allowed to say, what we're told not to say, and how to redefine the conversation. Work With Stef Instagram Substack YouTube

    40 min

  5. 03/12/2025

    A Meditation for When You Feel Full or Over-Full

    In this guided meditation, I use pendulation to help you work with fullness without getting pulled into the usual fear or anxiety. You'll move between the sensation itself and calmer places in your body or environment, so your nervous system has room to settle in the here and now. This practice supports both everyday fullness and the kind of fullness that can happen after a binge. We keep the focus on separating sensation from story, giving your body a way to process what's happening without getting lost in meaning-making. Work With Stef Instagram Substack YouTube

    20 min

  6. 26/11/2025

    8. Getting Through Thanksgiving Meal with a Steady Nervous System (and Food Regulation)

    Thanksgiving can bring up a lot for people who are working on binge eating recovery, intuitive eating, or nervous-system regulation. Big meals on holidays have more stimulation, more exposure, more history, and more pressure to "be good" even though your nervous system is doing its own thing underneath. In this episode, I talk through why the holiday environment makes appetite, pacing, and fullness feel different than they do on regular days, and what actually helps your body stay steady here. We look at the nervous-system side of hunger and fullness, why predictability matters (and how to use it), and how the pace of the room may be influencing you in ways you didn't even realize. I also talk about widening your focus so the entire holiday doesn't reduce down to "fixing this."  You aren't broken! The goal isn't a perfect Thanksgiving; it's a more regulated one. Work With Stef Instagram Substack YouTube Timestamps 00:00 — Intro: why holidays feel different 00:33 — Eating earlier vs. "saving up" 08:26 — Checking your pace 15:53 — Building a satisfying plate 22:11 — Navigating fullness 26:19 — Expanding the day beyond food

    31 min

  7. 19/11/2025

    7. The Reluctant Somatic: An Accessible Guide to Nervous System Regulation

    In this episode of Full But Not Finished, Stefanie breaks down somatic work in a practical, accessible way for anyone who has ever felt confused, skeptical, or resistant to it. She shares her own path toward becoming a Somatic Experiencing practitioner and how body-based work shifted patterns that mindset alone doesn't fully address -- including anxiety, depression, and long-standing food and body struggles. Stefanie explains the core ideas behind somatic therapy and nervous system regulation, then walks through the five most common barriers people face when trying to engage in somatic practices: resistance, lack of time, the belief that it's "too slow," assumptions that it's "woo woo," and not knowing where to begin. Each barrier is approached with clear language and real-world context. The episode also includes simple, effective somatic exercises to help you reconnect with interoception, regulation, and a steadier internal baseline — especially useful if you're navigating binge-restrict cycles, body image distress, or chronic stress responses. If you've been wanting a grounded entry point into somatic work, nervous system science, and the body-based side of healing your relationship with food, this conversation gives you the outbreath and direction you might need to start. Work With Stef Instagram Substack YouTube 00:01 What is Somatic Work 00:11 Personal Journey and Initial Skepticism 01:48 Understanding Somatic Therapy 03:06 Top Five Barriers to Somatic Work 06:09 Barrier 1: It Doesn't Work 12:39 Barrier 2: I Don't Have Time 18:14 Barrier 3: I Can't Slow Down! 26:29 Barrier 4: It's Too Woo Woo 30:49 Barrier 5: I Don't Know How 33:04 Practical Somatic Exercises

    40 min

  8. 12/11/2025

    6. How to Break Food Habits Without Restricting | Intuitive Eating & Nervous System Explained

    Are you eating out of habit or because your body actually needs something? In this episode of Full But Not Finished, I'm breaking down one of the most common recovery questions I get: how to know when it's a true habit versus a leftover pattern from restriction or stress eating. This isn't another "habit stacking" podcast. We're talking about how nervous system coding, allostatic load, and emotional regulation influence what we call "food habits"—and why as straightforward as "discipline" seems. You'll learn: 0:00 – Why food habits are different from other habits 2:15 – The Dunkin' Donuts story and what it reveals about emotional regulation 7:42 – How willpower really works (and why it's about energy, not strength) 11:05 – The difference between habit, restriction, and nervous system need 15:00 – How to approach food habits without falling back into diet mentality If you've ever said "I don't want to restrict, but I also want to stop doing this thing with food," this episode is for you. About this podcast: I'm Stefanie Michele — a coach who helps people recover from binge eating, food obsession, and body image struggles using a mix of psychology, nervous system science, and real-life context. New episodes every week. Work with Stefanie: https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele Read my essays on Substack: https://iamstefaniemichele.substack.com

    33 min
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About

Full But Not Finished is for anyone who's tried to "just stop eating when you're full" and realized it's never that simple. Hosted by somatic and intuitive eating coach Stefanie Michele, this podcast dives into the ongoing work of recovery — where fullness doesn't always mean satisfaction, and where food, body image, and self-worth collide. Each episode unpacks the psychology, nervous system patterns, and cultural conditioning that shape eating behaviors, showing why willpower alone doesn't work and what real regulation looks like. If you've lived the binge–restrict cycle, felt trapped in body image spirals, or wondered why "normal eating" feels out of reach, this is where we make sense of it — not with rules, but with integration, somatic tools, and a more human way forward.

Information

  • Creator
    Stefanie Michele
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    Full But Not Finished

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