Thrive Beyond Size

In this episode of Thrive Beyond Size , Michelle gets refreshingly real about the things that drive her absolutely crazy in the diet culture and wellness industry — and yes, that includes some corners of the anti-diet world too. Topics covered: The Diet Industry's Sacred Cows Why diets are designed to fail — and how companies like WW and Noom have built their entire business model around that fail...

If intuitive eating has ever felt frustrating, overwhelming, or strangely out of reach, this episode explains why. In this conversation, I share more of my personal evolution — from weight loss coaching and obesity medicine training to binge eating recovery and body trust work. There was a moment during my binge eating certification when everything clicked: intentional weight loss wasn’t just inef...

In this episode of Thrive Beyond Size , Michelle dives into the psychological process of transition and why healing your relationship with food and body is far more than a surface-level change. Drawing from Transitions by William Bridges, she explores the difference between change (external events) and transition (internal transformation), and why the “neutral zone” — the messy middle — is both un...

In this episode of Thrive Beyond Size , I’m talking about a moment many people experience on the intuitive eating and body trust journey, but rarely name out loud: the experience of doing all the “right” things and still finding it hard. Inspired by a recent personal experience and a reminder of how deeply diet culture still shows up around us, I explore why food struggles can resurface even when...

This episode was inspired by a quiet morning that quickly became emotionally charged after Michelle encountered a long-time friend’s post about yet another weight-loss attempt. What once would have felt familiar or even inviting now landed as unsettling and activating, prompting reflection on why seeing others engage in diet culture can feel so destabilizing when you’re doing healing work around f...

In this episode, Michelle takes a deep and compassionate look at self-betrayal —a word that often carries shame, but deserves far more nuance. Rather than framing self-betrayal as weakness, lack of integrity, or poor follow-through, this conversation explores how self-betrayal often develops as a protective response —a way the nervous system learns to prioritize safety, connection, and acceptance...

In this episode of Thrive Beyond Size , I share a very personal story about a rough week that ended with severe food poisoning—and the unexpected clarity it gave me about body trust, intuitive eating, and how our bodies communicate with us. In this episode, we explore: Why intuitive eating feels “easy” when your body is screaming—and harder when it’s whispering How illness stripped away food rules...

What if the most valuable part isn’t the most obvious one? In this episode of Thrive Beyond Size , Michelle shares a series of small synchronicities that led her to reflect on Earl Grey tea—and the surprising fact that its signature flavour comes not from the fruit itself, but from the oil in the peel of bergamot. From there, she explores how this metaphor applies to so many areas of our lives. Mi...

In this episode, Michelle explores what happens when you don’t know the next step—and why that experience is far more human (and helpful) than we’ve been taught to believe. She discusses: Why not knowing feels so uncomfortable—and where that discomfort comes from How diet culture and hustle culture both promise certainty and control The nervous system’s role in urgency, overthinking, and premature...

This New Year’s episode is both a moment of accountability and an invitation—to myself, and to you—to approach 2026 with more patience, presence, and trust. Rather than setting resolutions or performance-based goals, I share the principles guiding me forward, shaped by the lessons of 2025, my changing relationship with energy, and a deepening awareness of what it truly means to feel at home in my...

This episode drops on Christmas Day, and instead of a polished year-end recap, Michelle offers a slow, embodied reflection on the year that was. She shares why she chose rhythm as her guiding word, how that intention reshaped her relationship with movement, rest, and energy, and why perimenopause became an unexpected teacher in listening more closely to her body. Michelle explores the cultural pre...

Next week is Christmas, and as Michelle reflects on the season—what it holds, what it doesn’t, and the quieter spaces many of us feel at this time of year—an insight from a yin yoga class offers an unexpected theme: boredom. In yin yoga, long-held poses can bring up discomfort, restlessness, and resistance…but what caught Michelle’s attention was her teacher’s invitation to notice boredom specific...

In this week’s episode of Thrive Beyond Size , Michelle takes you to a tiny table in Canmore, Alberta, where a seven-course chef’s tasting menu becomes so much more than “just dinner.” After choosing the vegan “gatherer” menu, she’s guided through each course like a story—learning where the ingredients came from, how the flavors and textures play together, and what each dish is designed to awaken....

If you’re tired to your bones, craving soup and bread, and wondering why you can’t seem to keep up with… well, anything right now, you’re not alone. In this episode, Michelle shares her own recent crash into winter exhaustion (including a 12-hour sleep after Black Friday) and walks you through what’s actually happening in your body and nervous system at this time of year. She explains how shorter...

If you’ve ever looked up and realized it’s 4 p.m. and you haven’t eaten, or found yourself grabbing whatever’s around because you’re exhausted, foggy, and starving, this episode is for you. Michelle shares candidly about her current season of “chaotic eating” — coming home from Morocco, navigating perimenopause, disrupted routines, and a fridge that doesn’t quite match what her body can tolerate a...

Today, Michelle dives into why she has chosen to remove the words obse and ob * sity from her vocabulary—both as a physician and as a coach—and why she believes it’s time for all of us to question the language we’ve been handed about bodies. Starting from a Facebook scroll that sparked a wave of anger, she unpacks the history behind the term, including insights from Dr. Sabrina Strings’ Fearing th...

In this warm, story-driven episode, Michelle shares how winter soup cravings led her to dust off the cookbooks she once boxed up on a coach’s orders to eliminate all “food porn.” She traces where the term came from, how restriction made food imagery feel dangerous, and what changed when she shifted to body trust. From Moroccan lentil soup to her grandmother’s church recipe books, Michelle makes th...

This week I’m getting honest about the messy middle: the place where body wisdom and mindset stories crash into each other. From returning to studio yoga after a 30-year hiatus (hello, vulnerability) to walking on pre-shift days and lifting with a trainer, I explore how fear, ego, and perfectionism can masquerade as “listening to my body.” I unpack the “chimp brain” vs. true body cues, why validat...

This week’s episode is an honest reflection on the language of diet culture — and how even the most well-intentioned words can carry hidden judgment. Michelle shares how a listener’s feedback prompted her to look more closely at her own phrasing, unpack the emotions underneath it, and re-examine what “neutral language” really means on the intuitive eating and body trust journey. You’ll walk away w...

Michelle is back from Morocco with sand in her shoes, stories in her heart, and a body that reminded her (loudly!) what it needs. In this reflective episode, she shares the surprising ways travel challenged her progress with food, body image, and self-care—and the simple, grace-filled practices she’s using to land softly back home. In this episode: When growth meets real life: Why stepping out of...

This week’s conversation zooms in on what Michelle calls “the myth at the heart of them all”: the belief that control equals peace. She begins by unpacking why control is so seductive. In a chaotic world, rules around food, body, work, or routines promise certainty, safety, and belonging. But as Michelle illustrates, control is like squeezing water in your hands—the tighter the grip, the more it s...

Michelle opens by naming the belief so many of us absorbed early: smaller bodies are healthier bodies. She walks through where that belief came from (BMI’s rise to medical dominance in the 1970s, the 1990s “obesity epidemic” framing) and why repetition isn’t truth. BMI was built for population averages, not diagnosis; over time it became a proxy for health that crowded out far more meaningful indi...

Michelle starts by naming the experience so many listeners know well: the panicky, out-of-control feeling around “forbidden” foods that seems to prove you’re an addict. She traces where that story came from—the early 2000s brain-scan headlines—and why “lights up the reward pathways” doesn’t equal addiction (music, hugs, laughter, and puppy greetings light them up, too). From there, she walks throu...

Today’s episode kicks off a four-week series Michelle recorded before heading to Morocco—so your feed stays nourished while she’s away. She starts by naming a trap many of us fell into this month: believing that if we just grit our teeth and push harder, everything will fall into place. That belief is intoxicating because it promises control, but in practice it leaves us exhausted, irritable, and...

September arrives with crisp air, new planners, and the quiet promise of a fresh start. But for many of us, that “reset” can quickly morph into all-or-nothing rules, shame, and overwhelm. In this candid episode, Michelle shares how she slid into the September Reset trap after a joyful, fulfilling summer—and how a quarterly planning day helped her course-correct back to care, not control. You’ll he...