11/08/2025
Perimenopause Weight Loss & Diet Culture: Why the Restrict → Binge Cycle Fails (Even for Joe Wicks)
Joe Wicks banned sugar — even fruit 🍌 (yes, really) — then binged a packet of Jaffa Cakes 🍪. Not shocked. Always going to happen.
I hesitated posting this… my new page with 600 followers calling out the UK’s biggest fitness name with 11 million. But BS advice is BS advice — even if unintentional. If my clients did this, I’d call it out in a heartbeat.
Cut something out completely and you won’t stop wanting it — you’ll think about it more… until you then go gangbusters and eat ALL of it. That’s not willpower failure. That’s biology + psychology + diet culture déjà vu.
The restrict → binge → guilt cycle is as old as diet culture — and about as helpful as a chocolate teapot ☕🍫.
How to actually manage sugar:
🥗 Eat 3 balanced meals (+ 1–2 snacks) with protein, fibre & healthy fats.
🍫 Add upgrades (Snickers dates = elite) — doesn’t mean no Lotus biscuits, just crowds them out.
🍪 Keep the foods you love — they’ll take up less space when you’re well-fed.
Fruit is NEVER the villain:
🍏 Most eat too little fruit & veg.
🥝 Every 10g lowers heart disease risk.
🍌 Great for a sweet tooth. Demonising fruit? Pure BS.
If sugar in the house makes you nervous, start by having it out — cake at a coffee shop, dessert after a meal. Food for body and soul — there’s room for both.
Ditch these words: ‘Relapse’, ‘Good/Bad’ food, ‘Cheat days’. They fuel all-or-nothing thinking + guilt.
If sugar’s your crutch, meet your needs in other ways — bath, Netflix, dog cuddles, walk, chat, breathe. Lower cortisol, boost happy hormones, and sugar becomes a choice, not a compulsion.
Perimenopause? Be mindful of refined foods — they can worsen symptoms — but 80/20 (or 90/10 if flaring) works.
Tired of the binge–restrict circus? DM me RESET for a midlife weight loss plan that works in your real life — no banana bans, no biscuit guilt.
📌 Save & repost this for someone stuck in the cycle.
