RISE LEAN

09/25/2025

It’s easy to say, “I just want to drop 30 pounds.” It’s much harder to admit, “food controls me.”

Because it cuts into identity. And if you’re strong-spirited, Type A, driven—a leader—saying that out loud can feel like admitting you’ve lost control in front of the most basic thing. That’s a real stigma. And it hurts.

I understand it because I’ve been there:

Years ago, I was a daily binge eater who was 50 pounds heavier. I had the discipline and willpower that won me national level awards, scholarships, and recognition. Yet with food, I felt powerless.

- At 2 p.m. every day, I had to walk to Down The Road café for a cookie.

- If I ate a square of chocolate, I had to finish the bar.

- I cleared every plate, hungry or not.

- I said ‘no’ to social life because I feared eating in public.

For the whole time, I believed I was weak. And I felt embarrassed because no matter how much effort I put in to ‘manage’ my food issue, I still couldn’t trust myself.

Here’s what I want you to know: You are not weak. And you are not alone.

Strong, successful people struggle with food control more often than you think. In fact, if you’re a high-achiever, chances are you’re also more impulsive. And this very trait that fuel your success is scientifically linked to food addiction.

I see this every week in my Zoom classroom: Fortune 500 executives, TEDx speakers, bestselling authors, entrepreneurs with seven- to nine-figure exits, physicians, neuroscientists, and rising corporate stars. All extraordinary achievers. All wrestling with food behind the scenes.

You aren’t struggling because your mind is weak. You’re struggling because your powerful mind has been wired—psychologically and chemically—to:

- believe food is the enemy;

- unconsciously turn a simple thought of food into powerful cravings;

- make you crave the wrong things;

- push you to finish everything hungry or not;

- tie emotions to eating

The good news? Circuits can be reset.

And once they are, food stops running your life, and you’ll finally live life on your own terms.

————

I’m Leslie Chen — an award-winning neuroscience-based weight loss and food addiction coach.

Over the past 10 years, I’ve helped 400+ high-achievers sustainably regain their food freedom and body confidence with ease and fun.

09/09/2025

Your brain’s predictive coding is what keeps binge-eating on repeat. Period.

That’s why most people wrestle with it for years — even decades — stuck in methods that ignore the most basic principles of brain science.

But here’s the difference: when my clients start Lean Instinct Formula™, they finally break free. Not by fighting harder, but by rewiring the very system that kept them stuck.

In today’s article, I’m pulling back the curtain. You’ll see exactly why common approaches fail, and what it really takes to stop binge-eating for good. If you’ve been struggling, this will help you understand the path out — and avoid the traps that keep so many spinning in circles.

I’ve worked with people who have binged for 10, 20, even 30 years, and as soon as they start Lean Instinct Formula™, their bingeing stops. Lots of my clients find this amazing, and the question I hear the most is: “Why did this work when nothing else ever has?” There are several powerful wor...

08/25/2025

The culprit that allowed me to permanently drop 50 lbs in just one year (20 years and still counting, maintenance-free) is something I’ve rarely talked about.

Because most people can’t see it — they’re too hooked on the irrelevant things: diets, calories, workouts, food rules.

👉 It wasn’t a secret diet (I break diet rules daily).

👉 It wasn’t exercise.

👉 It wasn’t “Asian genes.”

It was my upbringing in China — specifically, 20 years of living in a world where staying fit while eating freely was the *default*.

That experience shaped my core belief:

Losing 50 lbs was simply returning to normal.

Here’s the biggest problem most Americans face:

You’ve been told since childhood you must fight for this most basic norm of life.

When obesity, deprivation, and dieting are everywhere, you end up believing

⚡ Being big (while self-depriving) is “normal.”

⚡ Counting every calorie, tracking every gram, is the only way to function.

So you over-think, over-analyze, over-correct, and over-deprive, and sabotage yourself.

To see the absurdity of it, imagine someone counting every second of their breathing so they don’t “over-inhale” oxygen.

Ridiculous, right? Yet diet culture has taught you to do exactly that with food.

Here’s the neuroscience truth:

Your body’s autonomic nervous system is designed to regulate eating and metabolism just as smoothly as it regulates oxygen in → CO₂ out.

It’s *instinct*.

The only reason it’s not working for you is that years of deprivation and dieting have derailed the mechanism. When your engine and GPS are broken, no amount of effort gets you to the right destination.

So what's the biggest force that traps you in the cycle?

👉 The inability to believe the instinct can be the default. The belief that you can eat freely and slim down.

Neuroscience 101:

Your brain drives consistency at all costs.

If your belief contradicts your behavior, your brain bends your experience until it matches the belief.

So if you believe you’re destined to struggle, your brain automates behaviors to make that your reality.

This is why willpower is irrelevant. And why every diet has failed you.

The moment you shift the belief, the results follow.

Here’s what it looks like in real life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmk1Gdkfk74&list=PLnH6P_lIEiG0NHOj9AH16VvtYJLtEf3Md&index=5

Weight started dropping effortlessly. 30 years of confusion gone. The excitement, zeal, confidence — priceless.

For me as her coach, it’s like watching someone blind for decades suddenly see again. And after 10 years and 400+ clients worldwide, I still never get tired of that moment.

The most common sentence I hear on graduation calls?

“Why did it take me decades to realize it could have been this simple?”

Frustrating, yes. But at least you don’t have to waste more decades on this battle.

____

Leslie Chen — Creator of Lean Instinct Formula™, which breaks generational weight and eating struggles via neuroscience.