Episode 252

Take Your Foot Off the Gas (Reverse Dieting)

Published on: 29th May, 2024

Do you feel like you are juggling too many things between work, socializing, your health, family, etc. and something has to give? This may be the ideal time to take a step back, allow yourself to slow down and do less so you can achieve more. Tune in to learn more about what that looks like when it comes to your health and activity. 

This week, Jenn is talking about taking your foot off the gas when it comes to your health and wellness goals. She explains how to evaluate if you need to take a step back in your intensity (even if you feel like you’re already balanced in your nutrition) - whether that’s for a week, a month, or a season in order to show your body appreciation and allow it to rest and heal. Jenn explains how physiological stress can impact your hormones and how reverse dieting may be the next step in your wellness journey. She describes what is required during this phase and how you will know when you are done with the phase of less intensity. Tune in to learn more about reverse dieting and taking a step back!  

The Salad With a Side of Fries podcast is hosted by Jenn Trepeck, discussing wellness and weight loss for real life, clearing up the myths, misinformation, bad science & marketing surrounding our nutrition knowledge and the food industry. Let’s dive into wellness and weight loss for real life, including drinking, eating out, and skipping the grocery store. 

IN THIS EPISODE: 

  • [5:04] How do most people tend to approach weight management?
  • [9:00] What are different phases to focus on? 
  • [11:41] What's the connection between consistency and intensity? 
  • [14:40] When might you want to step back from your current maintenance intensity? 
  • [18:24] How do you know if there is physiological stress happening? 
  • [21:43] Why do we use food as a way to fill needs that aren’t actually physical stomach hunger?
  • [26:44] What does it mean to be on the same team as our body? 
  • [37:35] What is reverse dieting and how can it impact our health?
  • [46:22] What’s required for this phase to serve you? 
  • [47:50] How long do you stay in this phase and how do you know when you're done?

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

  • [10:08] Our metabolisms don’t like the same thing all the time. Surprises actually kick the body into working a little more. 
  • [36:40] The idea of achieving more by doing less is letting go of some of the things that we are holding onto, so that we can experience and hold the next thing that shows up. 
  • [39:57] When slowly adding more calories into your diet, it helps the body recover. It helps the body get out of that panic and out of that survival mode without shocking it. 

QUOTES: 

[11:07] “I talk all the time about living in the gray area, that in between, where we eat some and exercise some. That is really an area of balance and maintenance, that is in fact a long term strategy. Yet even in the bigger picture, there are times when each of these approaches fit, and a time when there’s another one that fits.” - Jenn Trepeck

[32:26] “We want to be on the same team as our body, instead of always fighting our body.” - Jenn Trepeck

[34:44] “Be more connected to your inner self. Give enough time to rest, to go to nature, and with that, your body can open up and also absorb more love and nutrition into your body, which makes you less hungry and which also makes you more happy to move around. In that case, the weight will go down automatically.” - Nandar

[46:19] “What’s required for this phase to serve you? Recognizing that even here in this phase, consistency is important. We want to also remove the fear from food, remove the fear from eating more, and the way we can do that is focus on the nutrients.” - Jenn Trepeck

[50:56] “Not every moment is a time to push. Sometimes even in a world of balance, we might choose to let things go a little more. You will know when you're ready to shift again.” Jenn Trepeck

[51:20] “It’s all about our self love. However you are feeling right now, if you are not feeling well, we have to take care of ourselves. It is not about how we look on the outside or how much we weigh on the scale, it’s about how we are feeling right now, so that it’s sustainable for the long run.” - Nandar

RESOURCES:

Become A Member of Salad with a Side of Fries

Jenn’s Free Menu Plan

A Salad With a Side of Fries

A Salad With A Side Of Fries Merch

A Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram

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About the Podcast

Salad With a Side of Fries Nutrition, Wellness & Weight Loss
Nutrition tips that actually work. Real-life healthy eating, balanced diet tools, and weight loss tips you can use today with coach Jenn Trepeck.*

If you have searched for nutrition tips, tried to keep a healthy lifestyle, or felt stuck following popular weight loss tips, this podcast is for you. Get straightforward wellness advice that works in real life, plus strategies for a balanced diet, sustainable healthy eating, and a smarter approach to fitness and nutrition. Is your diet making you hungrier, crankier, or less healthy? Tune in and find out.*

Free gift: Schedule a 15-minute curiosity call with Jenn to explore what is possible for you. https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/contact/

Welcome to Salad with a Side of Fries, where wellness meets real life. Award-winning host Jenn Trepeck, health and lifestyle coach and author of Uncomplicating Wellness, cuts through the noise with clear answers you can trust. Ranked in the top 1.5% of podcasts worldwide, the show won Ear Worthy’s Best Health Podcast in 2024 and 2025 and was nominated for Best Independent Podcast both years. Jenn also won Women Who Podcast’s Stellar Interview award in 2025 after being named one of Podcast Magazine’s 40 under 40 in 2022.

Jenn’s motto is “wellness without the weirdness.” With more than 17 years coaching after solving her own food struggles, she knows how confusing the industry can be. Each week you get the foundations of a balanced diet, sustainable healthy eating, metabolism basics, and long-term holistic health, plus straight talk on fad diets and supplements.

What you will get by listening:
✅How to eat and how to cheat, guilt-free
✅Nutrition tips that work in the real world
✅Weight loss tips that are effective, never restrictive
✅How to build a balanced plate at home, on the road, and eating out
✅Smart strategies for sustainable habits that include your favorite foods
✅Evidence-based insights on fitness and nutrition
✅Conversations about holistic health that go beyond food
✅Wellness advice you can use right away


About Jenn Trepeck:
Jenn is a health coach, speaker, and consultant who blends humor with practical science. She has helped thousands improve energy, metabolism, and confidence in their choices through one-on-one coaching, group programs, her book, and this podcast.

Connect with Jenn and the show:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenntrepeck/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saladwithasideoffriespod
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jenntrepeck
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferTrepeck/
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/425796548337541/
Website: https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/

If you are ready to trade guilt for freedom, confusion for clarity, and boring salads for fries on the side, press play. Health gets doable here.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This podcast and its guests are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

About your host

Profile picture for Jennifer Trepeck

Jennifer Trepeck

“My passion for nutrition and helping others stems from “kicking my food issues” with my own weight management saga.” ~ Jenn

I believe that the greatest accountability is paying it forward! That’s why I teach the nutrition education we are all supposed to know but no one ever taught us, along with the science behind food, fitness, and health.

After I graduated from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, I founded Better Life Now LLC while working full-time in hedge funds. In 2019, I took my practice from side-hustle to full-time self-employment and launched my podcast, Salad With a Side of Fries. On the show, we offer science-based tips and tricks for how to achieve wellness and weight loss for real life – because who wants a life without fries or dessert?!

Topics we tackle on the podcast include debunking fad diets, food myths, misinformation in marketing, bad science, and general nutrition. I encourage guests whose expertise is different from my own focus on weight management to bring their unique, fact-based perspectives to talk about subjects they are educated in and passionate about.

Due to my decade-long experience of working with clients, I have gained insight into the health and food industry and the how-tos of building a business.

Some specific health and wellness topics I can speak to include debunking fad diets, exposing the BS we are fed by the food and diet industry, how the people around us can positively and negatively impact our health journey, and shifting mindsets in order to overcome inappropriate barometers of success to instead achieve happy, healthy, and meaningful change.

On the subject of business, I can help you by teaching my critical pieces every entrepreneur should know, how to make your side-hustle into your full-time job, ways to sustainably achieve success without burning out, contemporary networking, and how to prioritize wellness while pursuing your projects.

When I find some free time, I’m typically working out at Physique57, discovering hidden gem restaurants in NYC, or traveling to spend time with friends and family.

I’d love to have an in-depth conversation with you, whether it’s leveling up in business or debunking food myths!