Thrive Beyond Size – Details, episodes & analysis

This week on Thrive Beyond Size, Michelle dives into a growing narrative in the trauma-informed wellness world: that if you heal your trauma, you’ll lose weight.

While well-meaning, this belief is not only overly simplistic—it’s harmful.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why trauma can influence weight—but doesn’t always
• What the ACEs study really tells us about trauma and health outcomes
• How intergenerational trauma  may shape body size
• Why assuming fatness is always trauma-based reinforces stigma, not healing
• The truth about emotional eating (hint: we all do it!)
• How simply living in a larger body in a fatphobic world can itself be traumatic
• Why searching for trauma to “explain” your body can backfire and deepen shame

And most importantly: you can be deeply healed and still live in a larger body

Michelle reminds us:

“Your body is not your failure. It’s not your fault. And it’s not unfinished business.”

If this episode gave you something to think about—or a little relief—please share it with someone who needs to hear it.

Want to continue the conversation? Email Michelle at michelle@wayzahealth.com

Follow along:
🌐 Website: www.wayzahealth.com
📬 Substack: Rebellious Nourishment
 

In this urgent and deeply moving episode, Michelle sits down with Emma Cloney and Diana Dimmock—two powerful advocates from Lipedema Canada—to talk about the medical condition most clinicians have never even heard of, despite its potential to affect 1 in 9 women.

Together, they dive into:

• What lipedema actually is—and how it differs from lymphedema and obesity
• Why lipedema is painful, progressive, and devastating when left untreated
• The staggering lack of awareness in Canadian medical schools and healthcare systems
• How fatphobia, gender bias, and medical gaslighting keep patients in the dark
• The emotional and financial toll of living with an unrecognized condition
• Practical resources for patients and clinicians
• What needs to change—and how we can all be part of that change

This episode is more than just a discussion—it’s a rallying cry for justice, compassion, and recognition.

Whether you're a clinician, patient, or simply someone who cares about women's health, you don’t want to miss this conversation.

Lipedema Canada – For patient info, clinician resources, advocacy tools & support

Lipedema.org (US-based) – Diagnostic tools and educational materials

Follow @LipedemaCanada on social media for shareable awareness content

Emma Cloney 

Emma Cloney is a Women’s Health Nurse and the Vice President and co-founder of Lipedema Canada / Lipœdème Canada, the national nonprofit association for lipedema dedicated to raising awareness, improving access to care, and advancing research for people living with lipedema—a chronic and often misdiagnosed fat disorder that primarily affects women.

Emma brings over ten years of clinical experience and a deeply personal connection to this work. Diagnosed with lipedema in 2021, she became the first Canadian to receive multiple mobility-preserving surgeries for the condition funded through provincial healthcare—after successfully advocating for policy change in Manitoba. Her experience highlighted the serious gaps in diagnosis, treatment, and public awareness across Canada.

In response, Emma co-founded Lipedema Canada in 2023 alongside a group of passionate patients from across the country. Today, she leads the organization’s clinical outreach and education efforts, working to empower patients and healthcare providers alike. Whether she’s speaking to policymakers, clinicians, or fellow patients, Emma is committed to changing the narrative around lipedema and ensuring that no one faces this condition alone.

Lipedema Canada

Diana Dimmock 

Diana Dimmock is the founder of Accessibility 4 Every Body Consulting, a size-inclusive consulting firm based in Sherwood Park, Alberta. As an advocate, educator, and speaker, Diana is passionate about promoting accessibility and inclusivity for people of all body sizes and abilities. Through her work, she challenges the marginalization of larger bodies and assists organizations in creating more welcoming, inclusive environments. Through her business, Diana offers valuable insights into the intersection of size, ability, and access, making her a powerful voice in the push for equity and inclusion.

Recently diagnosed with lipo-lymphedema, Diana has identified this condition as a long-standing aspect of her health since adolescence. While struggling to seek appropriate medical care and experiencing discrimination based on her body size, Diana became dedicated to ensuring that all individuals receive equitable healthcare. She is deeply committed to self-advocacy and raising awareness with the public and with healthcare professionals about lipedema in Canada. Diana is dedicated to supporting efforts in advocating for improved diagnosis and management strategies for this condition with Lipedema Canada.

https://linktr.ee/accessibility4everybody

Find Diana on LinkedIn here.

Welcome, everyone. I’m excited to have you back here this week because I want to talk to you about something truly life-changing. I call it the mirror effect. It has to do with diet culture telling us to fix our eating and fix our bodies when really those are not the issues. There’s nothing wrong with our bodies. I want to make the point that true freedom is releasing ourselves from the belief that we have to change our bodies to change our lives. If food isn’t the problem, maybe the way we eat is actually a mirror for how we relate to ourselves. So join me as I explore that.     

When diet culture drills into us the idea that we have to think about food in isolation, it makes food just food, just fuel, just calories in and calories out, we then believe that anything we do in regards to overeating or emotional eating or cravings is a problem to be solved. But what if we got curious instead and asked what our eating is reflecting back to us? If I focus just on the fact that I binge at night because I’m starving, I’ll miss the point that I’m not structuring my days in a way that allows for self-care and meeting my needs. We need to start asking what we truly need right now, rather than vilifying food or eating. How do we do that? What steps do we take to begin to understand the mirror effect? How do we gain a deeper understanding of why we’re eating? Those are the questions I ask and hopefully address for you in this episode.

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About Dr. Michelle Tubman:

Dr. Michelle Tubman is certified by the American Board of Obesity Medicine, which means she understands exactly what's happening in your body when you diet. Although she does not provide any medical advice in her coaching programs, this knowledge gives her an edge over most coaches.

She also holds Level 1 and Level 2 Precision Nutrition coaching certifications which make her skilled at coaching nutrition, dietary change, and habit change in general. Realizing that emotional eating and bingeing are complicated for most of us, she also did training in mind-body and intuitive eating. Peace around food is possible.

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Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram
• Email Michelle: michelle@wayzahealth.com

I recorded this interview on a gorgeous warm day in May and it really set the tone for talking about transformation. Susan Gold, author of “Toxic Family”, joins me to share how she grew beyond a traumatic childhood into peace and compassion. Susan talks very openly about her struggles with self-image, weight, judgement, and toxic memories and the freedom and beauty she has now discovered makes her magical to listen to. I cherish the conversation we had. Transformation is such a powerful thing to pursue and it’s open to every one of us.

We talk about how food can become an escape, perhaps the only escape we have access to, because we don’t have anything else. Sometimes it’s a punishment. But when we learn that we’re worthy of love and a career and care, we can start to unwind that need to use it as an escape. Susan talks about the things she learned, in retrospect, from her family and her ex-husband and the memories of her own parents’ failings. When she had her own child she understood she could change that trajectory, set her son on a different path. Susan’s book is about finding freedom from toxicity and trauma, transforming your life on your own terms. It’s incredibly powerful, like Susan, and like our conversation as well. 

About Susan Gold

Susan Gold is magical. After a challenging upbringing she made a name for herself matching celebrities to brands in NYC and LA. Cleaning up remnants of her past were part of her trajectory - including weigh issues  - included in her recently published memoir: Toxic Family: Transforming Childhood Trauma into Adult Freedom.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• “Toxic Family: Transforming Childhood Trauma Into Adult Freedom” by Susan Gold
• “How To Do The Work” by Dr. Nicole LePera

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Learn more about Dr Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

Learn more about Susan Gold:

• Website: https://www.susangold.us/
• Linktr.ee

The news that weight loss company Jenny Craig is shutting down had me thinking back on my times in Weight Watchers. Jenny Craig was a meal replacement system where you bought prepackaged foods or foods that were already calorie counted and macro portioned with the goal of weight loss. Weight Watchers is essentially the same: counting points assigned to food to reach a certain goal that will result in weight loss. Now, though, many weight loss companies are catching on that lifestyle changes are more in line with today’s goals. We want to be healthy, we want wellness, and they are pivoting to include that. So how can you determine what program is an actual lifestyle change program and which is still a weight loss system with an overlay of lifestyle change marketing?

The biggest question to ask is “is the goal of the program still to have you shrink your body?” If the goal isn’t just a healthier lifestyle but also to reduce the size of your body, the program is still just a weight loss program. Dieting is traumatizing. It does terrible things to our bodies, health, minds, and our souls. There is a lot of value in having a healthier lifestyle, absolutely, but dieting is dangerous. So I’m going to talk about things that suggest a program is more aligned with weight loss than lifestyle or health, drawing on my experiences with Weight Watchers. I have seven points to share with you. Seven points to watch out for to determine if a lifestyle program is just weight loss system in disguise. 

Resources discussed in this episode:

• “Jenny Craig bankrupt, will close down business in US and Canada” by Pete Evans for CBC News

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Learn more about Dr Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

I’ve been reminiscing about my love of 90s era step classes lately. Step workouts were just so much fun and I could just check out and forget my worries and feel great after the workout. It turns out that my guest, Pam Sherman, used to be a step aerobics instructor! Friends, we bonded over step classes. More than that, though, Pam has been in the health and fitness world for 26 years as a group fitness instructor, personal trainer, food coach, and more. Her tagline is “your health is your wealth” and it’s so true. We talk about women’s health and the necessity of movement.

Women tend towards being all or nothing about our health: we either do nothing or start doing everything at once and can’t maintain it. We often think we need to be in shape to start working out. The truth, according to Pam, is that focusing our health is what matters. We need to love ourselves to health and stop hating ourselves to get to skinny. Pam and I talk about finding movement that we can love so we’re happy doing it, about envisioning the health we want in 20 years, the value of sleep, and the encouragement that can be found in joining classes. Pam supports women because it is our right to feel good in our bodies. She wants us to realize we deserve our health and that the work we put into it is valuable. I felt very invigorated talking to Pam and my hope is that you will too. And maybe you’ll even want to try a step workout!

About Pam Sherman:

Pam has been in the health/fitness world for 26 years as a group X instructor, personal trainer, food coach and more! She's passionate about helping women lose weight and feel great. Her no- nonsense approach to health and wellness goes back to the basics. Her tagline is - Your health is your wealth!

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Lululemon Studio Mirror

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Learn more about Dr Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

Contact Pam Sherman | CEO/Author: 

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• TikTok

Is the kitchen your favorite room in the house? If not, I’m really hoping it will be after this episode. We’re going to find out how to make friends with our kitchens and be at peace with food and eating. Heather Carey is a clinical nutritionist and culinary nutritionist and Heather joins me to talk about health and food, meal planning, and cooking healthy meals. I know I have struggled with meal planning and cooking at times, life gets busy, I don’t want to, and all sorts of reasons appear. So Heather talks about that, about the frustrations and obstacles that come up when we try to do what we know is good for us.

“Food is one of these very simple things that I think human beings complicate.” Heather says this to point out how we get caught up in numbers and diets and what we should and should not eat and the food confusion we end up drowning in. Right away she addresses the “good” and “bad” food labels we assign food. Food is neither good nor bad, it’s mindfulness in eating that we need to take into account. Cooking, shopping, meal planning, and snacking all can be simplified if we approach food with mindfulness, self-compassion, and a focus on our health. I share some of my personal food stories with Heather and learn a lot. This conversation gave me so many great tips for approaching meals and eating and I love my kitchen even more after our talk. I think you’ll love what Heather has to say as much as I do.

About Heather Carey:

Heather Carey is a clinical nutritionist and healthy foods cooking instructor (Culinary Nutritionist) who empowers women in midlife to make peace with their bodies, food, and eating.

Learn more about Heather Carey:

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

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Learn more about Dr Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Thrive Beyond Size website
• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

Oh friends, I’m so excited to share this episode with you! After this conversation with Caroline I went to my local gym and booked some sessions, I was so inspired. I can’t imagine anyone will listen to this episode and not get excited to lift some weights or go to the gym. I’m talking to Dr. Caroline Addington, who is a former scientist turned personal trainer, about the joy of deadlifts. Seriously, we love our deadlifts, they make you feel so powerful. Caroline shares all her thoughts about fitness and strength and how women being strong is part of defying the patriarchy because we are not expected to be or look strong. 

Caroline and I talk about why it is that there are mental blocks for women going to a gym. It’s intimidating to step through that door, to step into a world of buff men and equipment that gives us stress. But confronting that anxiety can turn that stress into a positive motivation. There are mental and emotional benefits to taking those steps. I talk about how much I love to deadlift and my new love affair with kettlebells and Caroline and I examine why women are reluctant to do weight training. We examine that fear of being or looking “unfeminine” that is drilled into us and how that’s a symptom of the patriarchy. Being at the gym together is an act of solidarity and in defying the criticisms of our bodies. I am so happy about this episode and I hope you are as excited as I am about Caroline’s fitness and strength inspiration.

About Dr. Caroline Addington:

Dr. Caroline Addington is a former scientist turned NASM Certified Personal Trainer who loves helping women lift heavy, get strong and *actually enjoy* the gym. She's the host of top-rated podcast Co-create, founder of Well + Strong Training and an Aries through and through ❤

Learn more about Dr. Caroline Addington:

• Website
• Instagram
• Podcast

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Resources mentioned in this episode:

• “The Upside of Stress” by Kelly McGonigal
• “The Joy of Movement” by Kelly McGonigal
• “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan
• “The Book of SHE” by Sara Avant Stover

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Learn more about Dr Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

We understand the journey of learning to make healthier choices for ourselves, right? But what about our kids? How do we help our kids not only make healthier choices but want to make healthier choices for themselves? I’m asked this question a lot. How do we guide our families through nutrition choices? I have to admit that not being a parent means I don’t know how we should be teaching our kids. So I asked my colleague, Dr. Sheila Carroll - who is a board certified pediatrician, obesity medicine physician, life coach, and mom - to talk with me about exactly that: encouraging healthy paths for our children.  

Dr. Sheila Carroll and I have similar childhood stories about how something that was said to us as children affected our body image and relationship with food early on. Sheila understands exactly why we have to be very careful about the message we send to our children. She believes that anything we want to change for our kids needs to start with us. That’s right, the parents are the ones who need to model the behaviors they want their kids to adopt! It doesn’t mean parents need to be perfect, but it does mean we do as we say. We need to make home a healthy influence on our children’s understanding of nutrition and their own value. Sheila has valuable advice to share and she draws from vast experience to explain how we can help children make healthy choices. So join my conversation with Dr. Sheila Carroll to learn how to guide kids onto a healthier path. 

About Dr. Sheila Carroll:

Sheila Carroll, MD is board certified in general pediatrics and obesity medicine. She has been working in the clinical practice of medicine for 22 years.

After discovering life coaching, she applied what she learned to her own life and experienced an upleveling transformation. She then became a certified Life and Weight Loss Coach through The Life Coach School to be able to help other people experience similar life transformations.

She lives and works in Maine with her son Theo and their 14-year-old puppy Finn.

Learn more about Dr. Sheila Carroll:

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

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Learn more about Dr Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Thrive Beyond Size website
• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

Welcome to the first episode of Thrive Beyond Size! I am excited to move past weight loss as a focus because dieting causes us harm. So going forward, we’re going to talk about living your beautiful and vibrant life in the body you have right now. For this first episode I talk with Christa Elza who is a board certified nurse practitioner who helps clients around the country through her virtual health practice. Christa and I talk about her functional medicine path and how hormones, lifestyle, and nutrition come together to affect our health.  

How much about our body chemistry do we really know? Because our hormones, which include insulin, play a very big part in how we feel and how we gain weight. Christa works in areas like how metabolic health is affected by hormones, the clearing of blood glucose, how our adrenal gland is functioning, and the effect of stress on our bodily health. This is what our conversation explores, how hormones and hormonal imbalances directly impact our health and weight, specifically in women. Christa shares her expertise and offers insight into the quality of food we should be eating and the types of exercise that contribute best to our health, as well as explaining the root causes of what we feel when we feel it. I learned a lot from her and I hope you get as much value from our conversation as I did.

About Christa Elza:

Christa graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Nursing in 2000.  She was immediately drawn to Emergency Medicine and was a trauma nurse for 8 years.  She has since earned her Masters Degree in Nursing from Texas State University and is a board certified nurse practitioner in Family Practice Medicine.  She was the sole practitioner in a clinic specializing in weight loss, hormone balance, and aesthetics.  During this time she realized the tool box of what she could offer for health solutions was too limited for how she wanted to serve her patients. She wanted a better way to help her patients achieve lasting health results.  With that vision in mind, Christa began her journey with the School of Applied Functional Medicine, learning the root cause approach to personalized healthcare.

In August of 2020, Christa launched her virtual health practice and is now able to provide help to clients around the country via webcam.  As a functional-medicine expert, she specializes in clinically investigating underlying factors of fatigue, hormone balance, thyroid issues, digestive issues, and more.   Christa uses breakthrough diagnostic testing that’s rarely done in conventional settings to uncover the hidden causes of why people feel the way they feel.  From here, the real healing is possible.

In her free time you can find Christa spending time with her husband of 16 years, Jon, their 3 boys, + her puppy, Sage.  She is now living in the San Antonio, TX area and loves being outdoors, skiing, traveling, hanging out poolside, + spending time with friends.

Learn more about Christa Elza:

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook

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Learn more about Dr Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Thrive Beyond Size website
• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram