Before Dieting...

Bronwyn Fletcher
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  • HEALTH & FITNESS

Before Dieting… is the podcast that finally makes sense of why weight is so hard to lose, no matter how many diets you’ve tried. Hosted by Bronwyn Fletcher, a systems thinker who has spoken with more than a thousand women stuck in the same frustrating cycle. This show will turn everything you thought you knew about weight on its head. If you’ve ever started the day eating healthy but finished it inhaling chocolate and hiding the wrappers, this is where you’ll find the reasons. Using systems thinking, Bronwyn gets to the causes behind the causes, so you can stop chasing temporary fixes and finally break the cycle that dieting never will. Here you won’t be told that food is the enemy, or that dieting is the only answer. Instead, you’ll discover that your weight story runs far deeper than calories or willpower. Every episode unpacks the hidden food stories and invisible eating systems that determine your relationship with food. These are the stories and systems that keep recycling the same weight outcomes. This is not a diet podcast; it’s a major reframe of how you gain weight in the first place. Because when you uncover the system that drives your eating, those ‘illogical’ food choices will make perfect sense. Here’s where lasting weight solutions start, Before Dieting…

  1. 1H AGO

    Systems Thinking vs Therapy

    Systems Thinking Isn’t Therapy; It’s the Diagnostic Layer to solving weight regain When weight keeps returning, the default assumption is often psychological. That the problem is low willpower or self-sabotage. But what if the issue isn’t purely emotional? In this episode, I explain the difference between therapy and systems thinking. And how confusing the two can keep women circling the same weight pattern for years. Therapy works with internal experience. Systems thinking investigates the structure producing the outcome. They are not interchangeable. They serve different purposes. And when weight regain has repeated for decades, clarity about which solution you’re using matters. In This Episode • Why systems thinking is a diagnostic practice not therapy • How feedback loops sustain weight regain • The difference between emotional processing and structural change • Why insight alone doesn’t dismantle the repeating weight cycle Four Key Points 1️⃣ Repeated weight regain is a feedback loop, not a character flaw. 2️⃣ Therapy explores how you experience the problem. Systems thinking identifies the structure that keeps it repeating. 3️⃣ Insight does not automatically change structure. 4️⃣ Lasting change requires making the eating system visible, not just managing emotions within it. What’s Coming Next Starting next week, we begin a special ten-episode season. Ten women. Ten weight histories. Ten eating systems deconstructed fully. Not extreme stories. Not dramatic cases. Just the structural patterns that formed over time and later showed up as repeating weight gain. You may not see yourself in one story. But parts of your story will be there. Listen in as we begin telling the ten women’s stories next week on Before Dieting. Because repeating weight gain isn’t just about food. And when you can finally see the system clearly, you can start in the right place. If you have any questions, you can email me at bronwyn@weightingforhappiness.com.au

    8 min

  2. FEB 10

    Listener Questions on Access, Agency, and Shame

    The last three episodes on childhood food access, agency, and Alison’s story prompted a strong response. Many of the questions that came in weren’t about definitions. They were about recognition. In this episode, Bronwyn responds to those questions and stays with what Alison’s story brought up for many listeners; how ordinary food rules can organise eating behaviour, why weight often appears much later, and how shame keeps patterns in place. Rather than treating these questions as problems to fix, this episode uses them to deepen understanding. Key takeaways: Eating systems often form through repetition, not dramatic events.Weight gain usually appears long after the system is established.Food freedom without agency skills leads to loss of regulation.Shame blocks enquiry and keeps eating patterns running. If these themes feel familiar but hard to explain, this episode helps put words around them. If you want to uncover the logic of your own eating story, rather than continuing to fight the visible end of it, you can join the Weighting for Happiness Project and begin that work in a structured way. Thanks for listening.

    8 min

  3. FEB 3

    Allison's Story - What happens when food Access and Agency are missing

    Alison’s story traces how a tightly controlled childhood around food quietly evolved into adult weight gain, dieting, and a powerful shame system and how understanding that story changed everything. Through her experience, we see why “you eat what you’re given” can turn into years of fighting your own body, even when you “know better.” Three key takeaways: Your current eating patterns are organised by earlier rules and conditions, not a broken willpower switch.When long-denied food freedom finally shows up, strong pulls toward comfort and pleasure are predictable not personal failure.Shame behaves like a looping system; mapping how it feels in your body and interrupting its scripts creates space for new choices.In this episode you’ll hear: Alison’s childhood in a home where food was controlled and her needs weren’t considered.How sudden autonomy around food at nineteen reshaped her eating and weight.The role shame played in keeping her stuck in dieting and self-blame.What changed when she started tracing the logic of her eating system instead of criticising herself. If you’re tired of looping through the same weight loss/regain patterns you need to understand your own story. The Weighting for Happiness has the roadmap, tools and guidance to help you unravel it. www.weightingforhappiness.com.au If you have a question you'd like answered in a future Podcast, email me at hello@weightingforhappiness.com.au

    9 min

  4. JAN 26

    Childhood Food Agency: When you weren’t allowed to choose.

    Most women assume that as adults they should know what ‘enough’ food looks like. But portion confidence, stopping cues, and self-trust don’t appear automatically. They’re built through early experiences of choice, permission, and authority at the table. In this episode we explore Agency: who decided what and how much you ate and how those early meal dynamics can shape adult patterns like dieting dependence, private overeating, and fear of judgement. This episode continues the paired theme with Access, because these two factors often work together to build the blueprint for lifelong eating. In this episode, you’ll learn 💛 What food agency actually means (and what it doesn’t) 💛 Why food confidence is often a developmental skill, not a motivation issue 💛 Why eating differently in front of others is a protective response 💛 How secrecy becomes a substitute for choice Key takeaways 😊 Agency is authority at meals is for choice, portion sizing and stopping 😊 Private overeating is often the system restoring autonomy 😊 The dinner table taught rules that still shape eating today If agency was limited in your early life, dieting won’t solve the root issue; it only temporarily overrides it. The Weighting for Happiness Project helps you investigate your specific blueprint and diagnose the true drivers behind weight regain, so lasting change becomes possible. Please leave a review or rate the Podcast so other women can find it. Cheers Bronwyn

    6 min

  5. JAN 20

    Childhood Food Access: When you weren’t allowed to eat.

    The real drivers of weight gain start in childhood, long before dieting ever entered the picture. In this episode we explore Childhood Food Access. This is the autonomy you had (or didn’t have) to obtaining food outside regular meals, and how it shapes lifelong patterns like urgency eating, secrecy, and scarcity thinking. This isn’t about blame. It’s about understanding. Because you can’t change what you can’t see. In this episode, you’ll learn ✔️ How focusing on reducing on current weight prevents you discovering the root cause of repeating weight patterns ✔️ The difference between access and agency (and why both matter) ✔️ How restricted access builds survival strategies around food ✔️ Why secret eating isn’t a moral failure, it’s a system response Key takeaways 💚 Food access is about permission and autonomy 💚 Many adult eating patterns were once childhood solutions 💚 Shame blocks the information you need to change your weight permanently If this episode has connected dots, you’ve never connected before, you’re ready for deeper investigation. The Weighting for Happiness Project was purpose-built to help you track your patterns, decode your food rules, and map the system that causes weight regain. This way change becomes possible without relying on willpower. Head on over to www.weightingforhappiness.com.au to join the project. Thanks Bronwyn

    7 min

  6. JAN 13

    The 8 types of eating and their impact on your weight

    Most women with a long history of dieting and weight regain end up trapped in binary thinking: good food vs bad food, dieting vs overeating. It’s simple, but it’s also the reason the cycle keeps repeating. In this episode, I introduce a systems-thinking model that breaks the binary: the Eight Types of Eating. It’s not a diet. It’s a map that helps you see what’s really driving eating, especially under pressure. 4 Key Takeaways 1) Binary thinking blocks change When eating gets reduced to dieting vs overeating, you lose the detail that creates options for change. 2) Diets only target part of the system Most diets focus on baseline meals, but they miss other types of eating that carry the real load. 3) Secondary eating is underestimated Invisible bites and ‘extras’ often don’t register as eating, but they add up quickly. 4) Relief eating is regulation Relief eating isn’t comfort eating. It’s automatic regulation, where the body eats until internal pressure settles. Call to action Go to the Weighting for Happiness Project website to download the visual model of The Eight Types of Eating. Then ask yourself: Which eating type contributes most to your weight gain?

    13 min

  7. JAN 6

    What diets won't solve

    Summary: In this episode, you’ll meet Amy, a woman who’s spent over half her life trying to lose weight. Using systems thinking, we explore how her relationship with food was shaped by childhood experiences, family dynamics, and unspoken rules about appetite and body size. From stolen snacks to over-catered freedom, Amy’s story shows why long-term weight issues are never just about food. What You’ll Learn: Why Amy’s weight struggle didn’t start with dietingHow childhood rules around food shaped her adult patternsThe emotional logic behind overeatingWhy understanding your backstory is essential to lasting changeWhat systems thinking reveals that diets missKey Quote: “Without realising it, I’ve been performing the ‘fat people are jolly’ act... Every time I laughed, I was abandoning myself.” If you’ve tried every diet but are still stuck, this episode shows what to do next. Get started by downloading our Free E-Book at Weighting For Happiness Please subscribe and leave a review so other women can find this Podcast.

    6 min

  8. 12/16/2025

    Emotional Literacy: The Second Essential Skill for Breaking the Weight-Regain Cycle

    Emotional Literacy: The Second Essential Skill for Breaking the Weight-Regain Cycle that connects you with your body In this episode of Before Dieting, I continue with part two on the essential skills women need when they’re stuck in a repeating weight pattern. Last week’s episode explored the role of investigative journaling, how it slows you down, brings you back to yourself, and creates a space for honest enquiry about your weight. This week focuses on the second essential skill: emotional literacy. Many women caught in recurring weight gain feel disconnected from their bodies and unsure about what they’re actually feeling. Emotions can swing quickly, from hyper-alertness to numbness to over-the-top reactions, making it almost impossible to understand how emotions drive eating. Bronwyn explains how emotional literacy helps you identify and name emotions accurately, and why these matter for weight. When you can distinguish frustration from irritation or anger, you stop treating them as the same signal and food stops becoming the generic answer. Other topics covered include: • why emotional numbness is a survival strategy • how numbness blocks fullness cues and drives relief eating • how journal writing and emotional literacy work together • why “stress” and “anxiety” are not emotions • a simple three-step starting point for women who feel emotionally shut down I close with key takeaways and a reminder that emotional literacy is a skill that grows with practice, and every small step reconnects you to your body. If you’d like more information head over to https://www.weightingforhappiness.com.au or email me hello@weightingforhappiness.com.au

    6 min
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About

Before Dieting… is the podcast that finally makes sense of why weight is so hard to lose, no matter how many diets you’ve tried. Hosted by Bronwyn Fletcher, a systems thinker who has spoken with more than a thousand women stuck in the same frustrating cycle. This show will turn everything you thought you knew about weight on its head. If you’ve ever started the day eating healthy but finished it inhaling chocolate and hiding the wrappers, this is where you’ll find the reasons. Using systems thinking, Bronwyn gets to the causes behind the causes, so you can stop chasing temporary fixes and finally break the cycle that dieting never will. Here you won’t be told that food is the enemy, or that dieting is the only answer. Instead, you’ll discover that your weight story runs far deeper than calories or willpower. Every episode unpacks the hidden food stories and invisible eating systems that determine your relationship with food. These are the stories and systems that keep recycling the same weight outcomes. This is not a diet podcast; it’s a major reframe of how you gain weight in the first place. Because when you uncover the system that drives your eating, those ‘illogical’ food choices will make perfect sense. Here’s where lasting weight solutions start, Before Dieting…

Information

  • Creator
    Bronwyn Fletcher
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    31
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    Before Dieting...