episode 200: it’s the 200th episode!
Welcome to the 200th episode of The Diet Diaries! 🎉
In this episode, I’m reflecting on how we got here—why I started the podcast, how it’s evolved, and why I’ve stuck with it for four years.
(Spoiler: it’s not about the numbers. It’s about showing up and making sure you never feel alone in your journey with food, body image, and all the tough stuff that comes with it).
I’m also diving into what consistency looks like over the course of 4 years, how I come up with content when inspiration runs dry, and why even the tiniest steps forward are always better than doing nothing. I also share what keeps me motivated to show up every week, even when it’s hard.
Most importantly, thank you for being here—whether it’s your 200th episode or your first. Here’s to the next 200!
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200
[00:00:00] Hello, everyone. Thank you for listening today and every day, especially today, maybe, because today is the 200th episode of of the Diet Diaries, formerly known as the Movement Diaries. If you are newer here, you might not know that, and I will talk about that. So 200 feels like a big number, and I just kind of wanted to talk about that today.
Um, so no new news, no new announcements, no new skills, hopefully just a shorter, easy listen, um, about this podcast, about why it's here, about why I do it, about where it's going, um, about you guys and this community and, and all of that, um. I started this podcast four years ago. Um, we were driving to Vermont for a long weekend over teacher convention, which are like these few days we have off every year in New Jersey, the beginning of November.
And what's funny is that just shortly before that. So that was the fall of 2020, right? So we were, [00:01:00] Ben was going to school, um, half days, only two days a week. And the rest of the time was at home on a computer. He was in third grade. We were really, um, in the thick of COVID. And prior to this, um, a year or so before I had started a podcast club when I was still, this is well before I started coaching.
I was teaching yoga and movement and strength, which I had been doing for quite a long time at that point. And I started a podcast club where I would select a podcast each month and a group of women that were kind of in my community, we would all listen, then we'd hop on and talk about it. Kind of like a book club, but for podcasts.
And I remember when I announced that, someone thought that I was announcing that I was starting my own podcast and they were like, Oh my God, are you starting a podcast? And I was like, hell no, I would never do a podcast. I have no interest. And that was maybe like a year or a year and a half, I think, before I started.
The diet diaries and it's so funny to me to think back on that about how vehemently and like viscerally opposed I was [00:02:00] to having a podcast and now here I am 200 episodes and four years later, and I am so proud of the consistency with which I have run and created this podcast. I have published a new episode.
Every single Monday for the last four years, except for a few Mondays when I have been on vacation. So, I mean, you can kind of do the math. There's 52 weeks in a year times four years is just over 200, right? Whatever that is, save for the few Mondays that I did not publish. Um, a lot of people start podcasts and the market is so saturated.
Real talk. I listen to podcasts infrequently. There's only a few that I listen to, and to be honest, it's not on a regular basis. That's just, I'm just being totally honest with you. I listen to a lot of audiobooks. That's what I prefer to listen to. So I know some people prefer podcasts, don't listen to anything, some people listen to it all, right?
It's all kind of very personal. [00:03:00] Um, I kind of go through phases with podcasts. I also find that most podcast episodes are so long. So long, too long. I don't need to listen to a two and a half hour podcast. It's fucking ridiculous. Like edit, right? It's just, it's too much. Um, all of my episodes, the longest episode might be an hour.
I haven't done an hour long episode in a while. It would be a guest episode. All of my solo episodes are usually in the neighborhood of 15 to 30 minutes. Um, and there's a lot of really good stuff packed in there. So that's just my personal take. I just don't have the tolerance to listen to a two and a half hour podcast.
Um, All this said, I started this podcast. I got this idea. It just kind of like came to me. I felt like there were all these things that I wanted to talk about and say. And at the time I was just kind of ramping up on social media four years ago. I really started right around COVID. So about four and a half years ago, and I sent.
You know, my emails, newsletters, it was not weekly at that point. It was maybe once every like four or five weeks. Now I send an email every week and I [00:04:00] just wanted a place to talk about stuff. And I had, I think at that time and what I think is still kind of a slightly different, more maybe unique or less traditional perspective on movement.
Maybe not, it's not as unique now, but at the time it was, um, and I wanted to have a space to talk about it. And my, um, kind of business mentor at the time had created this really simple like start a podcast PDF. And because it was really easy to get it started, like you don't need a lot of stuff. Um, I'm really good with technology and learning things.
So I taught myself garage band and I don't do any fancy editing. It's very, very simple. I did invest in a microphone, which was not like a crazy expense, and I just started doing it. Um, and I first started off by alternating solo episodes and guests, and I did that for a long time, so I used to have a lot of guests.
And the podcast was about movement, right? It was called The Movement Diaries, and I fucking loved that name. I remember coming up with that name in the car on the way to Vermont. [00:05:00] I never considered any other names. I'm like, this is a fucking awesome name. And I remember being on my computer and sitting and we had rented an Airbnb and working on like the key art for it.
And I can't believe that was four years ago. Um, and I talked a lot about movement and our relationship with movement and our bodies and different types of exercise and how we think about movement and consistency and all of this. And then I, at that time, was actually starting to make a shift around like, The way I was working with people and what I was interested in I started trying to transition very shortly thereafter Into coaching and I coached and taught movement for a good chunk of time well over a year year and a half I was doing both before I fully transitioned into coaching which is around three years ago I 100 percent transitioned to coaching but have been coaching for like three and a half a little more than three and a half years and there's such an overlap between teaching movement and the type of coaching that I do in terms of the body [00:06:00] awareness, the language that we use, the kind of the approach that I take in terms of skills and consistency.
Um, anyway, I don't need to go down that road, but I, the name, The Movement Diaries, no longer felt, um, Accurate. And I, but I love the concept of a diary, right? And the reason I call the diaries, because like your diary is something that you write for yourself, right? That's private, where you have a space to kind of talk about all the shit that you might be ashamed or embarrassed to talk about publicly.
That's why I call this the blank diaries, because I want this podcast to be that. I want this podcast to be the place where I talk about things and therefore you hear things that you might never expect to hear in a public place. Space that you might only ever think inside of your own head and therefore think that you are the only person who thinks or Experiences that right?
I just went off on a bit of a tangent, but it's something I wanted to talk about Which is why do I do this? Why do I do this every week? Why do I keep showing up [00:07:00] and that is because I? There are so many facets of life where this is true, but specifically right in my wheelhouse is around food and behavior and body image.
And when it comes to those things, we carry so much shame and so much, am I the only one who thinks this? Or nobody else could possibly have ever felt this or thought this or experienced this. And I will tell you that that is true. almost never true. I don't want to speak in absolutes. Almost never true.
And so this podcast exists first and foremost, so that you know that you are not alone because there is nothing worse than feeling that I felt that way for many, many years of my life. And I don't want anyone else to feel that way. And that's why I do this, right? It's like not complicated. That is why I do this.
Um, It's not because I have this endless stream of ideas of things that I have to talk about. I come up with things to [00:08:00] talk about, right? And I go through phases with that. Like real talk, sometimes having this podcast is super easy and I will have a list of six or seven ideas, meaning that six or seven weeks of episodes.
sitting there in the notes section of my phone. And then other times I have zero, I got nothing, and I have to come up with something. And I come up with something because I show up. And I am so, so proud of the fact that I have published an episode every Monday of the last four years, minus probably like five or six episodes.
That to me is really significant. And sometimes, I'm always proud of the episodes I publish. Do I like some better than others? Do I think that some are more helpful and more useful than others? For sure. Absolutely. I would not say they're all of equal quality. But that said, I show up and I do something.
And I'm hoping that by doing that, It, it communicates to you the value and showing up that it's not perfect or [00:09:00] nothing, right? That done is better than perfect. That doing something adds up. That zero plus zero plus zero is always going to be zero, but 0. 01 plus 0. 01 plus 0. 01 is always going to add up to something bigger.
Doesn't matter how small it is, right? And that is true for everything, right? So I take that approach with this podcast and I hope. And I'm saying it overtly now, so if it hasn't been evident before, which maybe it hasn't, I'm just talking to myself, it's evident now that showing up in some form in any way When it comes to food, when it comes to behavior around food, exercise, body image, when it comes to how you talk to yourself, showing up in any form always counts, and it always moves you along the spectrum.
Doesn't matter how small it is. And so these are the reasons why I do it. do this. Um, I like talking and I like talking about these things and it's fun and I keep it [00:10:00] casual and easy and I feel like I'm really myself on here. I don't edit these. The likes, the ums, the rights. I say right. I don't know if you guys have ever noticed this.
I will say a sentence and go right. It's like my thing, almost more so than saying like. And I hear myself doing that. I don't edit it. I don't take it out. Like, this is me. Like, this is it. What you see is what you get. Um, I really try to be radically honest on here. And I share things on here because there's a space and time that there isn't, certainly on social media.
I mean, we don't have the attention span on there to, I mean, we share deep, heavy things, but. And sometimes it's helpful, but. It's nice to have a little bit more space here. Not two and a half hours of space, right? You know, 35, 45 minutes is certainly different than a 60 second reel when you're in the middle of trying to absorb so much as you're swiping through that.
Um, and that being said, right, I mentioned this at the beginning, the podcast market is [00:11:00] so saturated. It's so saturated. So I just, and I say this, I haven't said it maybe in a few weeks, but I'm gonna say it again now. I truly appreciate you listening. I just said that I don't listen to a lot of podcasts, right?
So I get how valuable your time and attention are, right? I talk about time, energy, and attention as finite resources all the time. I know there's literally a million and one podcasts out there for you to listen to. The fact that you are choosing to listen to mine doesn't, is never lost on me. This podcast is small, right?
I'll share some numbers with you. For 200 episodes, 4 years, I'm at like 21, 000 downloads. That is really, really small, you guys. Really small. There are podcasts that get 21, 000 downloads in like the first hour that it's released on a Monday. Or it might even be the first like 10 minutes. Right? It's really, really small.
I'm not doing it for the numbers, right? I'm not doing it to like get famous or to get a deal with [00:12:00] Wondery or Audible or any of that stuff. I do it for the reasons that I said, is that I never want you to feel alone. I never want you to think that you were the only person thinking or feeling something because you aren't.
And sometimes that is a huge barrier to asking for help, to getting help, is because you think that there's something wrong with you because you're the only one that thinks that. Right? And then you think that there isn't help because if you think you're the only one, well, how could there possibly be help?
I'm the only person who has this problem. There is no help. I just have to deal with it. That's not true. It's not ever true. Um, so I, that being said, um, I'm going to ask a small favor, I guess. And that is really simple. And that is to just share this podcast, whether it's kind of the podcast as a whole, or just a specific episode.
with even one person that you think it would be helpful for, right? I'm not asking you to share just to share. I'm asking you to share if you can think of someone in your life for whom a specific episode [00:13:00] or the podcast itself would be helpful for. Share with them. That is everything. Word of mouth is everything.
It is the most valuable, reliable, helpful form of growth and marketing that there is. And even to this day, right, being on social media and all of this, my business grows because of word of mouth. Um, and so this podcast is no different than that. So I ask you for that because it helps me connect with more people.
And really my goal is, um, to make as many people. And I say that, you know, I guess, sure, would I love to reach millions of people? Of course, but I'm also sort of realistic about the way things are. So reaching even one more person or three more people or five more people counts and is significant. What if that one more person is you?
And what if you're the person who never listened to this? And here's this, here's an episode. And it's like, Oh my God. That happened to me. I don't think that happened to anyone else. [00:14:00] It's worth it. That's why I do it. Right? It's not the number of people. It's the quality of that connection. It is feeling seen.
And giving that to one person matters. Because what if that one person is you? Um, and the other, the kind of the flip side is that, of that, and I've said this before, And a couple of emails is that a lot of women don't actually know that this type of support and resources exist, right? There's most people.
If you've been listening for a while, you may start to kind of like forget this is the case, but like most people really are still very much trapped in like the diet culture place, um, with the full belief that happiness only exists on the other side of losing weight and the only way to lose weight is to go on a diet and to restrict and to be punitive and to be unhappy and to be miserable and to be hungry and to give up things and to sacrifice and all of this.
And so part of this is just. Again, like letting people know that there is support out there outside of what you [00:15:00] have always been told exists. Um, and you know, I, this is, this is a free resource. I share a lot of really good shit on here. And I know it gets hard because More is not always better, right?
With a podcast, it's like you keep going, so yes, episodes are going to accumulate. And so there's a lot. And there's a lot to go through, and it's hard to kind of, especially if you're newer, go back and like, you're not going to catch up on 200 episodes, it's kind of overwhelming. Um, but you can kind of scroll through, and I try to give a really good sense of what the episode is about with the name.
Sometimes, are some of them a little click baity, sometimes, but not usually, I don't really do that. Um, you really should get a pretty good sense of what the content is from the name of the uh, the podcast. And they all exist, not all of them, actually that's not true. Most at this point, probably well more than half are on my website.
Um, I started doing that a couple of years ago. And I tried to backdate all the old [00:16:00] ones and it just never happened. Um, but they're all on Apple Podcasts, they're all on Google, they're all in like the usual places. And I'll repeat things, right? Because it's like, are you going to go back and listen to episode like 73?
I don't know, like probably not. I don't even remember what episode 73 is, right? And things circle back and we need to hear things so many times before they sink in. So listening to one podcast, About one topic one time is great and it's a great starting place. Is that like permanent change? No. But all this to say that I share a lot of skills.
I share a lot of really practical, useful stuff. It's not like a teaser for things. It's not like just me blabbing and bullshitting about my own life. Um, there's really good stuff in here. Um, because I know that, One to one coaching is not a financial option for everyone. I know that. Um, and I want there to be free resources out there and support for you.
Um, and also [00:17:00] just to know that you are part of a community. A podcast is weird. Like, I think podcasts are very one sided. I'm talking to you and you're listening, right? There's not a conversation. I will use the word conversation, but like, it's not really a conversation. It's kind of like me talking to you.
and you listening. Um, but talking and listening is its own relationship dynamic. Um, and so, you know, we are a small and mighty community. That's how I like to think about it, right? I don't actually know how many listeners there are. There's like, I don't really dive too much into like the nitty gritty of the data.
Um, right, 21, 000 downloads does not mean 21, 000 listeners, right? That could be, um, You know, it's a certain number of people who are downloading episodes, and there's some loyal listeners who listen every week, and there's some people who pop in and out, and there's some people, Hey, maybe this is your first episode, and if so, thank you for being here.
Um, But know that you are a part of a very small and mighty community of people who are doing this work, who are showing up, [00:18:00] who are doing the uncomfortable work of looking at your relationship with food, and the way you talk to yourself, and the behaviors you have around food, and who are willing to Just to do this work in some form, right?
That you are showing up, that you are even considering learning about this. Because this is uncomfortable. I talk about uncomfortable shit here, right? I'm not giving you quick fixes. There are no quick fixes on this podcast. There's no quick fixes when it comes to any of this stuff, but certainly not here.
The stuff that I talk about, the stuff that I share personally, the stuff that I offer is hard. It's uncomfortable. It's unfamiliar. It's not mainstream. And so the fact that you're even willing to kind of put yourself in that place to listen and be exposed to that. I think is awesome. Um, taking action, even better.
So just know that you are part of a small and mighty community of people who are doing that, right? Alongside you. Uh, 21, 000 downloads, that means 21, 000 episodes in some [00:19:00] combination have been listened to, which is like really fucking cool, right? It's small in terms of like podcasting world, but when you look at it in isolation on its own, it's really fucking cool.
So know that you are part of a community of people who who are doing this work and that you are not alone. If you have requests for episodes, please send them to me. I did one recently on intermittent fasting. Someone sent me a DM. I did an episode. I will do that. To my point earlier, sometimes I don't have like a laundry list of ideas going and I can open, I've asked on Instagram a couple of times.
It's kind of like But seriously, if you have something, send me a DM, send me an email. Um, that's really the best way. And I will say, we're getting to the end, and hopefully you're still listening, leaving a review on the podcast, I've been told, is helpful for the podcast. I haven't gotten a review in a really long time.
So if you have 60 seconds to go on there, and you could write one sentence, whatever you want, something [00:20:00] positive. If you, if you don't like it, don't listen. Don't say anything. Not that I don't want to hear it, but I know, you know, I think you get my point. Um, reviews are helpful. I do think it helps the podcast get found if people are searching for things under different like, you know, topics or whatever.
So that's really it. Where is this going? I don't know where it's going. It's not going anywhere. I can tell you that it's going to be here. And that even when I have days, weeks, months where. Content ideas are not readily coming because that just happens when you're, I'm a coach and also as part of being a coach, I am a content creator.
That's my side hustle, you could call it, which is also full time. It's all full time. Um, I'm going to show up. I'm going to be here because being here and showing up and being connected and knowing that you not, that you aren't alone is everything. And so, um, that's really it. Like, I don't have some like big vision to talk about for this podcast.
I'll continue to bring on guests that I [00:21:00] think are helpful. There are few and far between now. Um, I prefer doing solo episodes. So when I bring on a guest, it's for a really specific purpose. Um, if you have a guest idea, if you want to be a guest, I get a lot of cold pitches from like random people which are not of interest to me.
If you want to be a guest, for whatever reason, reach out to me. Let's talk and see if it makes sense. If it's a good fit. I've had a couple people do that, um, that have been like, I get a lot of cold stuff from people I've never been connected to. And then I've had a couple people reach out on Instagram that like, we've been connected or that follow me and be like, Hey, what do you think?
And I've been like, yeah, I think this makes a lot of sense. Um, that's really it. Thank you. Let me say it again. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being here, whether it is 200, two episodes, or this is your first one. Thank you if you have ever shared this. Thank you if you plan to share. I truly, truly mean that.
Like, I truly mean that. I, I, like, I wish I could express my gratitude further. Um, If you're not on my email list, that's another [00:22:00] amazing free resource, you can add yourself, there's always a link in the show notes to do that, um, I email every Monday, I think also really good stuff, like, not like newslettery fluff stuff, personal stories, client stories, skills, things I'm working on, recommendations, favorites, all that kind of stuff, um, and obviously on my social media.
So, there's a lot of ways for us to be connected and for you to learn, um, and that's not gonna change anytime soon. So, that's all I got. I'll be back next week. Next week is a guest episode. I'm really excited about this one. Um, a stylist, Connie Jesperson, who I have worked with personally. She's awesome.
You guys are gonna love this. And, um, yeah. Onward to the next 200.