Lael Atkinson | Beyond Shrinking & Drinking
Step out of the
restrict → binge → drink → shame cycle
I help people untangle their relationship with alcohol, food, and their bodies - so they can live with clarity, balance, and self-trust.
20-minute conversation • no pressure • just a chance to see if it feels like a good fit
Welcome!
Hi, I’m Lael — a Recovery Coach and Certified Body Trust® Provider.
I know firsthand what it’s like to feel trapped in a cycle of restriction, bingeing, drinking, and deep shame — and the breakthroughs that become possible when you begin to break free.
You’re Not Alone
Many people I work with recognize themselves in patterns like these:
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Feeling caught in a restrict → binge → drink → shame cycle
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Trying to “reset” by restricting or being extra disciplined
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Feeling frustrated or ashamed afterward
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Promising yourself it will be different next time
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Finding yourself back in the same cycle
And often there’s an exhausting mental back-and-forth happening in the background —thinking about what you’ll allow yourself, what you shouldn’t have had, what you’ll do differently tomorrow, and how to finally get things “under control.”
It can feel as if
just when you’ve finally gotten a handle on things — the drinking, the “final” diet, the thing that will finally make you feel okay with yourself — it slips out of your grasp and you’re back where you started, often with even less energy and hope that things will really change.
If this feels familiar, you’re not broken — you’ve been doing the best you can with the tools you had.
These patterns don’t appear for no reason. Often they’re ways you’ve learned to cope with stress, pressure, and the complicated relationship many of us develop with food, alcohol, and our bodies.
You might worry that
if you loosen your grip on the tools you’ve used to cope — alcohol, controlling food, exercise, trying to change your body — everything that’s holding your life together could come undone.
But what if it didn’t have to be that way?
The problem isn’t a lack of willpower. Often it’s that the relationship between alcohol, food, your body, and coping has become tangled in ways that are hard to see from the inside.
When these dynamics start to make more sense, something important begins to shift.
How We Begin Untangling the Cycle
Rather than trying to control the behavior, we look at the underlying dynamics that drive it:
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How alcohol, food, or body control have been keeping you afloat
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The ways stress, shame, and pressure have shaped your coping
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The repeating cycles of restriction, bingeing, and drinking that leave you feeling frustrated and exhausted
From there, we explore ways to build stability and self-trust instead of relying on control or punishment. The goal isn’t perfection — it’s creating a steadier relationship with yourself and the parts of life you’ve been trying to manage through old coping strategies.
This work is for anyone who’s tired of the cycle but unsure how to step out of it. Together, we’ll identify what’s been driving these experiences, experiment with small shifts, and create a framework that actually supports your life — without shame or self-judgment.
I offer virtual 1:1 coaching to help you untangle the
restrict–binge–drink–shame cycle and build
stability, self-trust, and freedom from shame.
Learn More
Free Clarity Call (20 minutes)
If you feel stuck in complicated patterns with alcohol, food, and your body, this call is a chance to talk about what’s been going on.
You don’t need to have everything figured out. Many people I work with are caught in the drink/binge–restrict–shame cycle and aren’t sure what to do differently.
During this conversation we can explore your situation and see whether working together might feel supportive.
There’s no pressure to continue — it’s simply a chance to connect and see if it feels like a good fit.