One Facebook Post, a Masterclass, and Why Accountability Won’t Save You
A three-page Facebook post. Over 100 comments. And not one person in the thread looking at it from a Happy Calories® perspective. In this episode, Carmela reads through a real post from someone doing everything the diet and exercise model tells her to do — the cookbook, the water bottle, the weights, the drug, the accountability group — and breaks down word by word why the ship itself is the problem, not the passenger.
Does the Law of Attraction Actually Work for Weight Loss? Here’s the Real Answer
So many people come to the Law of Attraction hoping it will be the workaround they’ve been looking for — a way to get the body they want without the pain of the diet and exercise model. But there’s a reason it so often creates more frustration than freedom. In this episode, Carmela breaks down where the Law of Attraction is genuinely true, where the logical fallacies live, and why Happy Calories Don’t Count® lets it work through you without you having to think about it at all.
The 5 Steps of Happy Calories Don’t Count® — All of Them, Right Now
Back to school, back to basics — all five steps, laid out clearly in one episode. From embracing a model of alignment to clearing the channel, Carmela walks through the complete Happy Calories Don’t Count® framework and explains not just what each step is, but why the order matters and how they work together as a flexible, sustainable system that moves with you through real life.
It’s All About Being Happy — And Here’s What That Actually Means
The first sentence of the book Happy Calories Don’t Count was ‘I have learned that it’s all about being happy.’ Twelve years later, Carmela has a more sophisticated way of explaining why — and in this back-to-basics episode, she traces how that original insight connects directly to the two assumptions that make the diet and exercise model so painful, and why switching from a transaction-based model to a relationship-based one is the thing that actually sets you free.
Back to Basics — The Two Assumptions Behind All Your Body Drama
It’s back to school time, and that means getting clear on the fundamentals. In this episode, Carmela strips it all the way down to two specific assumptions that flow naturally from the diet and exercise model — the ones responsible for all the drama and all the shame — and explains exactly why changing your mindset from within that model will never be enough. This is where everything starts.
Fat Pride, Body Positivity, and Why Celebrating Fatness Isn’t the Same as Healing It
Bill Maher, Abercrombie, and a cultural moment that has everyone talking — but from a Happy Calories® perspective, both sides are missing the point. In this episode, Carmela untangles why rejecting shame is not the same as rejecting the diet and exercise model, why celebrating fat pride still leaves the real problem in place, and what actually creates healing at both the individual and cultural level.
Time To Move & Shake with Zibby Owens
My guest episode for Zibby Owens’ podcast. In this podcast, I teach actionable strategies to create more time for busy moms who deal with food, exercise, and body-image issues. Sharing personal insights gleaned from my own painful and life-threatening struggles surrounding my body and my weight, I outline a path for optimizing health, vitality, well-being, joy — and time!
Your Weight Is Not Your Identity — And the Diet and Exercise Model Is Why This Hurts So Much
Lizzo’s reality show, a fat pride academic conference, a comedian’s elaborate prank, and the Oscars slap all landed in the same week — and they all point to the same thing. In this episode, Carmela unpacks why the body positivity and fat pride movements, however well-intentioned, are still pushing against the diet and exercise model rather than dismantling it. And why no label — fat, thin, neurodivergent, or anything else — is your actual identity.
The Real Reason the “Just Eat Less, Move More” Advice Doesn’t Work
Bill Maher, Ben Shapiro, pedometers, and the obesity conversation nobody seems to be having honestly. In this episode, Carmela takes on the cultural assumption that weight is simply a matter of willpower and caloric math — and makes the case that the real epidemic isn’t obesity, it’s disconnection. From yourself, from your body, from your source. And no Fitbit is going to fix that.
What That Eating Disorder Treatment Ad on the Side of a Bus Got Wrong
A bus ad stops Carmela in her tracks — and she takes it apart word by word. In this episode, she breaks down how marketing language manufactures problems, why the ‘eating disorder voice’ isn’t a thing, and why eating disorder treatment centers keep missing the piece that actually creates healing. Knowledge is a rumor until it lives in the body — and this episode is about getting it there.