The Life Coach School Podcast · Brooke Castillo

Bonus: From Binge Eater to Bodybuilder with Nan Saysana

September 19, 2024·24 min·1 clip

From binge eater to bodybuilder - here's how I did it

Nan Saysana, a certified life and weight loss coach based in Paris, guest-hosts this episode while founder Brooke Castillo is away, coaching roughly 50 scholars per week at age 50. The episode centers on her personal journey from three decades of binge eating — triggered by emotional suppression — to becoming a bodybuilder who now presses 100 kilograms on the leg press. She provides a visceral account of a typical binge involving a burger, fries, and a full jar of Nutella consumed with escalating urgency, followed by shame and further eating to numb the guilt. The model revealed that her thoughts about food — not the food itself — drove the behavior, and that using the prefrontal cortex over the primitive brain broke the cycle. She became certified through the Life Coach School in 2019 and Corinne Crabtree's No BS Weight Loss University in 2021, and coaches French-speaking clients across Europe, noting that 72% of French speakers do not use English. She outlines five numbered insights: coaching in a native language accelerates results; the model converts a bad habit into a good one and the skill applies to any new goal; the model works for any topic from weight loss to golf; even coaches need coaching and she admits struggling personally 50% of the time while still serving clients well; and the model's utility is permanent because humans always have a primitive brain to manage. Client vignettes include Suzanne balancing running with three kids as a single mom, Catherine losing 8 kilograms and improving blood pressure, and Laurence turning urges into a Jenga game. She notes that the Life Coach School's Get Coached program ends in December 2024 but frames this as a beginning. The tone is warm, personal, and motivational, drawing on lived experience over abstraction. The episode targets current or aspiring coaches and anyone considering the self-coaching model for behavior change.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Life Coach School Podcast