How to Lose Weight Without Hating Yourself Along the Way with Megan Gaul

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I sit down with Megan Gaul, who lost around 100 pounds and has maintained her weight loss for approximately eight years.But what interested me most about Megan’s story wasn’t simply how much weight she lost. It was everything she had to learn about emotional eating, stress, guilt, self-trust, and what happens after the diet is over.Megan shares how food became a way for her to calm stress during her workday, why an earlier 40-pound weight loss eventually came back, and the question that changed her approach the next time around:“Can I see myself doing this when I’m 50 or 70?”Instead of building another short-term diet, she began choosing habits she was willing to keep for years.We talk about why emotional eating doesn’t magically disappear when you lose weight, how Megan learned to recognize when she was eating because of stress rather than hunger, and the non-food strategies she now uses to soothe herself when life gets difficult. We also explore why labeling meals as “bad” can make our relationship with food harder, how she learned to include foods she enjoys without feeling like she had failed, and why consistency doesn’t mean making every decision perfectly. Most importantly, we spend time on something that doesn’t get talked about enough: maintaining lost weight.Megan explains why maintenance requires a different mindset than weight loss, why stressful seasons are when old habits often return, and why lasting change means creating a new normal rather than waiting for the day you can go back to how you used to live. In this episode, we talk about:Megan’s journey from 235 pounds to losing around 100 poundshow stress and emotional eating affected her relationship with foodwhy her first 40-pound weight loss didn’t lastthe question she asks before adopting any new health habitwhy slower weight loss can sometimes teach you morehow she included restaurants, dessert and enjoyable foods while losing weightwhy emotional eating can return even years into maintenancehow to recognize stress eating before automatically reaching for foodMegan’s menu of non-food ways to handle stressanxiety and the discomfort of uncertaintywhy guilt around food often makes things worsewhy she challenges the idea of a “bad meal”what consistency really meanswhy maintenance is a completely different skill from losing weighthow to prepare your habits before a stressful seasonwhy successful maintenance requires creating a new normalwhether practicing maintenance during a weight-loss phase can helpwhat women in their 40s, 50s and beyond should know about starting againthe changes that never show up in a before-and-after picturethe habits Megan credits most with maintaining her resultsYou can find Megan on Instagram:@megan_gaul Message Turo on Instagram @personaltrainer_turoTry The Consistency ResetMy new personalized coaching app for women 35–55 who are tired of starting over with diets, workouts, and healthy habits.Get simple daily actions, realistic workouts, practical nutrition habits, and Reset Mode to help you keep going when life gets busy.Take the quiz and build your personalized plan here: studio.com/turo/consistency-reset