Done with Dieting: Total Health for Women 40+ with Elizabeth Sherman

You have probably been following the same health rules for decades. Eat less, move more. Hit your calorie goal. Keep your body guessing. And if none of it is working the way it used to, you have likely been blaming yourself. This episode is here to tell you the rules are the problem, not you. In episode 278, Elizabeth Sherman calls out five of the most persistent health myths still circulating in...

If you've opened your podcast app recently and noticed something different, you're not imagining it. The show has a new name. Well, an old name. Sort of. In this short bonus episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on what happened when I changed "Done with Dieting" to "Total Health in Midlife" in 2023, why downloads dropped, and why I stayed with a name that wasn&a...

When a room full of financial advisors was asked when they planned to prioritize their health, the most common answer was the same one their clients give about saving for retirement: when things slow down. Elizabeth was in that room. And that answer is exactly why she was there. In this episode of Total Health in Midlife, Elizabeth shares the framework she brought to that room, called the Health-W...

Most women leave for vacation in a good rhythm. They're eating well, feeling good, and fully intending to keep it going on the road. Then the airport happens. Then the hotel breakfast buffet. Then dinner out every night with no familiar guardrails in sight. By the time they land back home, they need days, sometimes weeks, just to feel like themselves again. In this episode, Elizabeth breaks d...

In twenty years of working with women on their health, I've noticed something that doesn't get talked about enough. Some women come out of summer feeling really good. Lighter, more relaxed, like the season actually did something for them. And some women arrive at Labor Day feeling puffy, sluggish, and like they need a full reset before they can even think about their health again. The di...

You already know what you're supposed to do. You've read the articles, tried the plans, and given yourself more fresh starts than you can count. So why isn't it working? And more importantly, why does the idea of asking someone for help feel like admitting you've failed at something you should be able to handle yourself? That's exactly what this episode is about. Elizabeth...

You know what you're supposed to do. Eat better, move more, get to bed at a decent hour. You have the information. You've had it for years. And yet, at some point between making the plan and the moment it actually matters, something shifts. You end up exactly where you didn't want to be, again, and you can't quite explain why. There's a quote that gets attributed to Maya A...

If you have done the diets, followed the programs, worked with trainers, and still find yourself starting over every few months, this episode is going to reframe something important. The problem was probably never you. It was the model. And once you understand why the standard approach to health fails most women in midlife, the start-over cycle starts to make a lot more sense. In this episode, Eli...

You started the plan. You were doing well. And then one hard day, one moment of friction, one week where everything felt like too much, and it was over. Not because you failed. Because your brain did a calculation and handed you a verdict before you ever actually hit a wall. This episode started with a run. A slow, hard run on bad sleep, where Elizabeth's brain told her to stop long before he...

You've been eating reasonably well. You're moving your body. You're trying to get enough sleep. And the scale still won't move. If that sounds familiar, this episode is going to give you something most health advice never does: an actual biological explanation for why your body is responding the way it is right now, in this phase of your life. Elizabeth came across an article r...

You know what to do. You've known for a while. Eat better, move more, sleep enough, stress less. And yet here you are, starting over again on Monday, wondering why you can't just make it stick. If that sounds familiar, this episode is going to feel like a relief. In episode 269, I'm pulling back the curtain on something I see in almost every woman I work with in midlife: the start-o...

You've read the books. You've listened to the podcasts. You know what you're supposed to eat, how much you're supposed to move, and roughly how much sleep a human being requires to function like one. So why isn't any of it sticking? This episode is not about giving you more information. It's about asking a question most health content never asks: what if the real prob...

You know what to do. Eat the vegetables. Get to bed earlier. Move your body. You've known it for years. So why does it keep falling apart the second life gets hard — or honestly, even when it doesn't? In this episode, I'm making a case that might surprise you: the reason your healthy habits keep falling apart has almost nothing to do with food, and everything to do with how much you...

You already know what to do. Eat better, move more, get enough sleep, stop picking at food at night. So why does follow-through keep falling apart — even when you're motivated, even when you really mean it this time? In this episode of Total Health in Midlife, health and life coach Elizabeth Sherman makes the case that for most midlife women, the problem has never been discipline. It's b...

You already know what to do. Eat better. Move your body. Go to bed earlier. So why does it keep falling apart by Tuesday? If you've ever ended the week feeling like you failed at something embarrassingly simple, this episode is going to stop that story in its tracks. In this episode of Total Health in Midlife, health coach Elizabeth Sherman takes on the 'Just Do It' mentality head-o...

Have you ever found yourself eating something and realized halfway through… you don’t even remember deciding to eat it? For a lot of midlife women, this moment feels confusing and frustrating. You know what healthy eating looks like. You’ve read the books, tried the diets, and built plenty of discipline in other areas of your life. And yet somehow you still find yourself standing in the kitchen at...

You’re competent everywhere else in your life. You manage work, relationships, responsibilities, and the endless logistics of adulthood. People rely on you because you figure things out. But when it comes to your health (your weight, your energy, your cravings) it feels like the one area that just won’t cooperate. In this episode, Elizabeth Sherman explores why so many capable, successful women st...

If you’ve ever said, “I just need more willpower around food,” this episode will challenge that belief in the best possible way. In this episode of Total Health in Midlife , Elizabeth Sherman breaks down the three types of overeating most common in high-functioning midlife women: end-of-day reward eating, all-day grazing, and weekend or social overeating. While they all feel like the same problem,...

If you’ve hit your 40s or 50s and suddenly feel like your metabolism stopped cooperating, you’re not imagining things—but the explanation might not be what you think. Many midlife women assume their metabolism is “broken.” The scale creeps up, energy drops, and the strategies that worked in their 20s and 30s—eat less, move more—no longer seem to work. It’s easy to blame hormones, aging, or menopau...

If you’ve ever found yourself thinking, “I know what I should be doing… so why am I not doing it?”—this episode is for you. Because the problem isn’t that you don’t know the basics. The problem is what happens in the ten seconds between intention and follow-through. In today’s episode, I’m talking about the 8 healthy habits that are the foundation of my work with clients—and the real reasons midli...

We’ve all been there—you wake up with the best of intentions. You know what to do. Move your body. Eat something green. Drink water instead of wine. But then… you don’t. And by the end of the day, you’re wondering what’s wrong with you. In this episode of Total Health in Midlife , I’m walking you through a powerful framework I use with clients called competing models—the real reason smart, capable...

When was the last time you ate something just because it was free? A glass of wine at a work event. A dessert “on the house.” That second trip to the buffet—even though you were already full. In this episode of Total Health in Midlife , we explore the subtle but powerful pull of free food and drink—why it’s so hard to say no, what it's really costing us, and how midlife women can start reclai...

If you’re hitting your step goal every day and still dealing with stubborn belly fat, low energy, or burnout, this episode is for you. The advice to “just walk more” sounds simple—but for many women in midlife, it’s not delivering the results they were promised. In this episode of Total Health in Midlife , Elizabeth Sherman breaks down the truth about step goals and why obsessing over numbers like...

Fear of hunger doesn’t usually look like skipping meals or white-knuckling through starvation. For most midlife women, it shows up much earlier—eating “just in case,” snacking to prevent discomfort, or worrying that if you don’t eat now, you’ll lose control later. Over time, this pattern quietly fuels overeating, weight frustration, and constant mental noise around food. In this episode of Total H...

Divorce and empty nest can feel like an emotional earthquake… and then your body starts acting weird on top of it. Sleep gets choppy. Appetite is all over the place. Your energy tanks. And suddenly your “midlife health issues” feel even more confusing because you can’t tell what’s hormones, what’s stress, and what’s just sheer life overload. In this episode, I’m joined by Julie Steed—certified lif...