Sober Living Stories Podcast
Welcome to the "Sober Living Stories Podcast." Every Tuesday, Jessica Stipanovic, your host, shines a spotlight on individuals who have undergone remarkable transformations in their lives.
Each guest shares their story giving examples of bold beginnings disguised as endings and life lessons that teach how the darkest moments often hold the key to unlocking the brightest light.
This podcast is designed for those in search of inspiration to make positive life changes. Whether you're sober curious, living an alcohol-free lifestyle, or supporting someone suffering from addiction (sugar, food, drugs or spending, etc.) our episodes promise to leave you feeling understood, hopeful, and motivated to create meaningful transformations in your life.
Join us for powerful new episodes every Tuesday where even the most harrowing of experiences can serve to uplift and inspire. Regardless of your background or belief system, "The Sober Living Stories Podcast" is your ultimate destination for uplifting narratives where hope shines from the most unexpected places.
In addition to featuring our weekly guests, each month on the "Sober Living Stories Podcast," we have the privilege of sitting down with a new addiction author, delving into their story and the wisdom they've shared in their book.
Here's the exciting part: their book becomes the giveaway for that month.
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Sober Living Stories Podcast
Ditch the Binge: Renae Saager’s No-BS Approach to Life Without Addiction
Host Jessica Stipanovic and Renae Saager sit down to talk about how Renae teaches go-getter women worldwide how to start living a powerful, authentic life free from food and weight obsession. Tapping into her own unique journey with disordered eating and alcoholism, Renae connects with her clients on a deeper level, supporting them through the process of rewiring their brains with her no-BS approach. Renae can help clients challenge their mindset and begin healing, using her sense of humor and unparalleled perspective, creating a more enjoyable and transformational process. Undoing the crazy you feel around food is Renae's specialty, the confidence and clarity gained are the guilt-free icing on the cake
Listeners will uncover the raw truth behind the struggle with dual addictions to food and alcohol. Renae's transparency about the progression from casual drinking to dependency paints a vivid picture of the challenges faced. She emphasizes the importance of confronting the discomfort of change, illustrating how hitting rock bottom can transform into a powerful catalyst for seeking help and embracing sobriety. Her zest for life is a powerful example of living life out loud.
As we dive into the nature of dual addictions, Renea shares insights on reclaiming self-identity and solutions. Her experiences highlight the significant turning points in overcoming obsessive dieting and binge eating, emphasizing the deeper work needed to address anxiety and self-worth. Renea encourages listeners to connect with her through her podcast "Ditch the Binge" and other platforms, offering inspiration and support for those seeking an authentic life free from the constraints of addiction. Tune in for an episode filled with hope, resilience, and the pursuit of a life well-lived.
Connect with Renae on Instagram:
Website: Renae Saager
Ig: @renaesaager
Ditch the Binge Podcast: A Ballsy Podcast — Renae Saager
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Your story matters.
Undoing the crazy you feel around. Food is Renee's specialty. The confidence and clarity gained is the guilt-free icing on the cake. If you're someone who's a go-getter woman, who wants to start living a powerful, authentic life free from food and weight obsession, renee is your person Certified health and life coach and emotional eating expert, and she taps into her own unique personal story in this episode, where she has battled eating disorders and alcoholism. So she takes that life experience and she teaches other women around the world how to be free from it itself. So tune in today for your next best episode.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Sober Living Stories podcast. This podcast is dedicated to sharing stories of sobriety. We shine a spotlight on individuals who have faced the challenges of alcoholism and addiction and are today living out their best lives sober. Each guest has experienced incredible transformation and are here to share their story with you. I'm Jessica Stepanovich, your host. Join me each week as guests from all walks of life share their stories to inspire and provide hope to those who need it most. Welcome to another episode of the Sober Living Stories podcast. My guest today is Renee Sager. She's a certified health and life coach and also an emotional eating expert who teaches go-getter women around the world how to start living a powerful, authentic life free from food and weight obsession. Today she's going to share her personal story, her own unique journey, where she had battled alcoholism and an eating disorder herself, which brings her to helping others today. Do the same, get into the solution. I'm so happy to have you on today, renee, welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I'm excited to be here. I love getting to talk about this stuff.
Speaker 1:Good, okay. So yeah, just bring us back. This is your story. Bring us back as far back as you'd like, up to the presently what you're doing now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, I was thinking about this this morning when I was at the gym. Actually, I was going pee and I was like you know what? Did I get drunk the first time that I drank and I think that I did it was Corona, and it was a New Year's Eve party and I was 14, I think 14 or 15. And a bunch of families were at our house and we were playing bunco and I don't remember how many I had, but I knew that I was getting intoxicated and I felt terrible. The next day I was definitely drunk and that was like the first time I really drank. And after that nothing really came of it. You know cause, again, I was 14, I think. So at that point my food stuff was still pretty dormant and so I just I had that that episode where I got drunk and my mom was upset and she's like I can't believe you're drinking and like she didn't know because we were sneaking it and I didn't want to do it again because I felt so sick.
Speaker 2:So then, you know, fast forward a couple of years and that was when I started getting a little bit more into health and fitness and my body. I was a normal, you know, likeyear-old girl, you start your period, your body changes, you start paying attention to guys, you start paying attention to your social circles and I just started becoming very aware of my body and my friend's situation was not ideal. I would say I have a little bit of trauma, little t-trauma, from back then where I just never really had a solid group of girlfriends, and the ones that I did have kind of plucked me out of the social circle. One gal in particular it felt like her mission in life to just erode me from this group and I didn't have the skills or the tools to know what was going on with that as a 15-year-old girl. But what I did start to notice was that I could distract myself with food and exercise. And what I also started to notice was that when you're 15 years old and you start paying more attention to what you're eating and you start working out, your body is extremely receptive, and so it didn't take much for me to start losing a little bit of weight and my body starting to change.
Speaker 2:And not long after that the compliments started coming in. I was like, oh my gosh. I guess people think this is hard Like this is easy for me. I obsess over my calories. I work out no matter what. Like I'm focused, I don't have to pay attention to what's going on at school, I don't have to worry about the fact that I feel alone and that nobody wants to hang out with me. It's fine, I'm fine, I'm going to focus on this.
Speaker 2:And so I got really good at restricting. I got really good at working out and pushing through any limits that I thought that I had. But then it kind of made a shift where it went from me being able to have control over this food thing and this exercise thing and felt empowered by it and felt like almost like an air of superiority, like I'm better than you because I don't have to eat. I'm better than you because I can work out when it's hot. But it started to flip and I started eating more and more.
Speaker 2:At night, where I used to think it was like a badge of honor to go to sleep with hunger pains and push through that, it now became this thing where I didn't have control I had to eat. Not only did I have to eat, I had to eat so much that I could barely stand upright. I had to hunch over because my stomach hurts so bad and I was in that cycle of quote clean eating aka restricting, aka eating nothing all day long and working out once, twice a day depends on the day, sometimes three and to binge eating at night, just like for hours after people would go to sleep. And then, after a few years of this, I can't really remember what. My parents always had a liquor cabinet they sometimes entertained and it didn't have a lock on it and it was under, it was in the kitchen, it was open and probably 15 different kinds of liqueurs and stuff in there. Both my parents drank, not alcoholically, but my mom would enjoy a gin and tonic or a couple glasses of wine and my dad would have some beers. So that was never an abnormal thing.
Speaker 2:But what I started to notice was that, because of my obsession with food and restriction, that when I would drink, the desire to eat left. Not only did the desire to eat leave, but the insanity that was going on in my brain about can you have this? How many calories Did you burn this off? Do they like you? You're not good enough. Nobody's ever going to think this of you. You're too fat, you're too this. All of that inner chatter was softened and I was like this is incredible. This is incredible. Not only do I not want to binge, I don't want to eat and I'm finally relaxed, which was like the first time in years where I was like, where I was like this allows me to go outside and sit in a chair and just sit. I could never do that. Yes, I was too anxious.
Speaker 2:I felt too much guilt. Yeah, I felt too much guilt about sitting and doing nothing. I just I'm not that kind of person. It was like go, go, go, always on, always things to do, always stuff to accomplish. And so this was like such a relief because I was so exhausted. The thing that's different about alcohol versus food and I'm sure we'll get into this, because I think a lot of people think this is that one is very physically addicting, in that your body becomes physically addicted to it and food not so much. Again, we can get into this in a little bit.
Speaker 2:But I started drinking in the way that I kind of started my obsession with food, which was 0 to 100, where it would start with, like some Mike's hard lemonade light which they used to make back in the day, which was like 80 calories, low sugar. I was like this is great, I can get a buzz, low, low Cal, I don't have to worry about it. And then it started shifting to hard alcohol because I was like I have to drink more of that. The bottles are loud, I don't want to throw all this away. I have to pee a ton. I just I don't want to deal with that. I don't have to keep going to the store. The bottles are loud. So I switched to like gin and tonic and I then switched to just straight alcohol. Because I got to the point where I was drinking, you know, it started really innocent like a Mike's Heart lemonade at night and turned into thinking you know well, like, if taking the edge off at 4 or 5 pm is good, why not 10 or 11? Like, why wait, why put myself through all this suffering all day long when I can just like, feel this now, like what's the big deal? I don't know what the big. I just have a couple, and I mean, as you can guess, that again, the physical. I. I am a very not I'm a very intense type of alcoholic. I started drinking like that at age 18. And by age 21, 22, when I was in the hospital, the doctor said that she had noticed some cirrhosis of the liver starting. So I very quickly excelled. I got a straight A in that.
Speaker 2:But such a big purpose behind my drinking was just, I just wanted some peace of mind, I just wanted everything to be quiet, I just wanted to feel comfortable in my skin. But again, the alcohol, the physical dependency. For me, that became a big reason I would have to drink in the morning. So I had I was fired from multiple jobs. I would wake up and I would throw up bile, for you know, the first 10, 15 minutes that I was awake I couldn't keep anything down until I took some, a couple shots. So I never really took shots, I just drank it straight out of the bottle or whatever I could find.
Speaker 2:You know I had alcohol hidden in many, many places because people were always trying to get it. So I like had I had it in shoes, I had it out like nobody. I had it outside in this tool chest. No one ever found that one. But like I had so many different little secret Heidi spots that nobody knew about because I was like, well, if they find this one, I need to have backup. And that was just like my.
Speaker 2:That was my life. Like, get drunk, try not to get too drunk so you can go to your job, eat some alcohol in your car, so at lunch you can go out and get some or keep it in your purse so you can go to the bathroom and take a couple swigs make sure you have gum in there, okay, don't get true drunk, because you can't do it and then go home and then like just go crazy, go buck wild and just like hope that you wake up in the morning so you can do it all again. And that was my existence for a couple years and it was rough. I mean, I was drinking and driving constantly, constantly and I ruined relationships. I ruined relationships.
Speaker 2:At a certain point, basically my entire family said we want nothing to do with you. I had been to two treatment centers at that time. They had put me in two treatment centers, both of which I relapsed within a week or two. Finally, on the third one, I ended up relapsing again, but I got back back on the horse, quote unquote, after a few weeks of that. But that was when I was very against AA because I was like I'm not a 50 year old loser, I'm like what? I don't, this is not me. And now I'm like 50 is not whatever. I was 20 at the time, folks 22.
Speaker 1:So I was like I'm not going to this.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to these like weird meetings and also I'm not really an alcoholic Like, I just like to drink. It's not a problem. And you know, eventually I got to the point of going to AA and that was. You know, I personally kind of had to get to the point of losing everything, because I really did lose everything. I was dropped off.
Speaker 2:I ended up getting sober in a and starting my journey into sobriety in a clean and sober living house in Portland, oregon, with a bunch of other women. My parents took my car. I had been fired from like the last three or four jobs and there was an NA meeting that was down the street that I just walked to because I didn't know anyone, I didn't know anywhere to go, and so I started going there and eventually I got my car back and I started going to AA meetings and I never really felt the magic of AA necessarily. I just heard get a sponsor and do the steps and like your life is amazing then and I was like all right, let's go. Like, let's do these steps, I am ready to feel. Whatever these people are talking about, Bring it. So I got a sponsor, I cranked through those steps, nothing. I was like this sucks, this is not what I signed up for. I got another sponsor. I cranked through those steps, nothing. And up for I got another sponsor. I cranked through those steps, nothing. And I was like what is this a joke? Like I don't feel any better.
Speaker 2:I did the amends, I did the everything. I was like this is not great for me, like there's no, there's no, I don't understand. Um, and you know, at this point I no longer go to AA, but I do think that for me in the beginning, the first, you know, I I did go fairly consistency for sure for the first five years, but just being around other people that didn't drink was critical for me because, as a 22 year old, I genuinely thought my life was over. That was a thing that I was. I was questioning it's just so silly that I, at 22, I was so wildly single I mean, I was like a peer do at my wedding. If I can't toast with champagne, there is I can't how it's married without champagne. But that was how my brain worked, because alcohol was the center of everything. It's like what do you do when you on a Friday night with friends? What do you? Do you know, at a barbecue. What do you do with?
Speaker 2:your hands when you go to an event and you don't know anyone? How do you do you know at a barbecue? What do you do with your hands when you go to an event and you don't know anyone? How do you do these things? I don't understand. Like I really thought my life was over. I truly thought that and I think that being around other individuals that did not drink was super helpful. And just hearing like, oh, your life doesn't actually end. And just because that's, oh, your life doesn't actually end, and just because that's what you're used to, doesn't mean that's the only way to do life. You've just been. I mean, I really think that drinking can make our lives extremely small, because it just becomes the go-to, like, oh, let's just get a drink, let's get a drink, and honestly, like so many.
Speaker 2:I was just talking to my husband about this, but I think almost every single person that I've talked to that drinks has said to me at one point or another I wonder, if I have a problem with drinking, I should probably cut back. I don't know if I should be drinking as much as I should. It's a very, very challenging thing for people to moderate and I do think that the majority of the time people drink they wish they wouldn't have, but it's just what we're used to. It's like OK, I guess I'll have a couple beers. It turns into four, turns into five, turns into who knows what. You know, you wake up with a hangover. So that was, you know.
Speaker 2:I ended up getting sober then at 22 and kind of starting to rebuild my life, and then the food stuff really hung around and it turns out that being dual diagnosis is kind of what they call it. Having food issues and drinking issues is super common, is super common and I didn't realize that. But they actually have treatment centers that treat both disordered eating, slash eating disorders and alcoholism, because they are so similar and a lot of this is because our brains are seeking that, like dopamine, that excitement that get, like you know like, you get a rush and you get a release. You get a release when you're drinking, even if, like, if you're restricting, you get a high from that. If you're purging, you get a high from that. You know there's all, there's that release that you get. And so people with that kind of personality whether you're just, you know, eating a bag of chips at night or you're going through three drive throughs a day, like it's the same thing, it doesn't matter. And I've done all of it right. I've been the person that can't keep, you know, red vines in my house because I'll eat the whole bag. And I've been the person who has literally hit three or more drive-thrus or had to switch them up because I didn't want the cashiers to recognize me, which is the exact same thing I was doing with liquor stores. I was switching up the liquor stores because I was like they're going to know I can't be going in there this much. Unfortunately, I lived in a very small town, so I had to find people to get it for me or whatever. You get very resourceful when you have an addiction that you need to fulfill. You are so resourceful so I did all that.
Speaker 2:But you know, my food started feeling it was just like my drinking. And I remember thinking, you know, I was at this point, I was wildly bulimic and just thinking, you know, and I had a partner, I had a relationship, I had a job. At this point I'd been sober for five years and I was like I am in another type of hell, like I have gotten sober Finally. It took me so long, it was exhaust, it was not fun, but I did it and I'm rebuilding my life and I I'm in another personal hell. I might as well go drink because I don't want to live like this, like I'm so exhausted of the constant noise. And so I I bounced around, you know, to food addict meetings, therapists, nutritionists, personal trainers. I tried every program it's whole 30, the ordering food, not ordering food like anything, anything to relieve this food thing from me, because truly that was what came first for me. And you know it took about another five or so years before I really started to change my relationship with food, thank God. And now, you know, fast forward, I really feel like I've come to the other side of both my relationship with food and alcohol. But also I try not to get too cocky with either, so I'm not super excited about having a stocked liquor cabinet here.
Speaker 2:My husband drinks and and this was something that you know I remember asking my mom when I would come home and stay with her early on, like the first two years or so of sobriety. I'd be like I know this sounds dumb, but I need all of the alcohol out of the fridge, like I just was. I wasn't on solid, I was pretty solid, but I wasn't that solid. And so, even today though, I'm not like yeah, let's keep all these alcoholic beverages in our fridge because why not? Like I just, there's no need for me to do that, you know. There's no need for me to encourage it. And I don't mind.
Speaker 2:My husband drinks. He likes whiskey. He'll have some beers myself now and I can go to bars for meetups or go to a cocktail party with girlfriends and have a Diet Coke or whatever. It's genuinely no big deal now, but also it's not something I seek out to go attend. Same thing with my food.
Speaker 2:I can be in a workout class and I can be around someone that's talking about how much she hates her body, but do I enjoy it? No, will I say something? Probably because I'm like it's boring, I don't want to be around it. I don't want to do that. Like I I worked so hard to get out of that stuff that I just I don't tend to be drawn or attracted to people that are. You know, if you're a daily drinker, our, our lifestyles probably just aren't going to line up honestly. And if you're someone that wants to obsess over calories and weigh and measure everything and spend six hours in the gym every day, like fine to each their own. But, like I, just don't want to do that anymore. So that is is kind of a cliff notes version of some of my um story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you hit on so much, you hit on so many things, it's really good. I didn't want to interrupt one moment. So, yeah, and it's like from going way back to the beginning of this, this your story, you know, when you were pushed out of the girl group, right, you know I was going to say well that you know that that still happens, PS in, like forties, fifties, PS in like 40s, 50s, right, totally it's like that.
Speaker 1:But we're, you know, it's just so funny, it's just like you know. But as a 14, 15, or 16, you know you're affected more by it. When you're older you can see things for what they are. But you talked so wonderfully about all these different isms and stuff and the physicality and the appearance of alcoholism and also eating disorder. But two, I think that not the root issues, like issues of origin I'm talking about, but I think the feelings behind those, like the isolation, the shame, like if you're binge eating and your weight gain, it's like so similar, it keeps you home, you don't want to show up, somebody might see you. It's so similar to alcoholism where it's like you don't want to drink this much because you got to get there and they really go hand in hand. And so I was. I didn't know that there were rehabilitation centers that handled both because they were so closely connected. But I'm not surprised, you know.
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean they they have alcoholics anonymous meetings. They also have food addict anonymous meetings, which are so unhelpful. I spent years in and out of food addict anonymous meetings that they're just please if you're hearing this and you're like I relate to some of her story. Do not go to these meetings. They're not helpful. It will exacerbate your disorder, eating in like wildfire. But yeah, it's very common to have there be an overlap and, honestly, it's often people will say like I've just switched addictions.
Speaker 2:You know, I went, I used to drink a lot and now I eat a ton, or you know and this is something I work with my ladies around food stuff too, is that it's easy to clear up your food stuff and then be like, all of a sudden you're obsessed with exercise or all of a sudden you're obsessed with you know, your relationship and nitpicking you flip addictions. Yeah, it's, completely understood. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It happens all the time and, um, it's good to be aware of that, because then you could be, like so, imprisoned again you know, and that's not why anyone gets sober, that's not why anyone um tackles a disorder to to then move to another one and be be imprisoned by it. So talk about like you know. You said you're on the other side of it. So what is the freedom from those two things look like for you? Like, how does your life get bigger and become better?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, just touch on a couple, because there's so many yeah, it's literally every single thing, like I often. So I'll be coming up on 15 years in July and there is nothing in my life.
Speaker 2:Thank you. There is nothing in my life that would be possible without first having got sober. It just wouldn't, because alcohol inevitably ruined everything. And so I'm able to show up. I missed my dad's wedding because I got drunk and blacked out. I completely missed it. So there's photos and I'm missing in the photo.
Speaker 2:You know, I don't have to lie. I don't have to lie about why I can't make it or why I have to leave, or why this or why that. Like there was just so much lying and secrecy, and so I can just show up and do something on a whim, whereas before everything had to be very calculated, and this goes for food and for alcohol. Like everything had to be calculated. I was. Both of these things made me so tightly wound, just like, okay, I can't do this, I have to do this. Like just my brain was constantly going. And so now you know I can't do this, I have to do this, like just my brain was constantly going. And so now you know I can sit and read a book. I can, you know, not have to worry if something happens with my kid and I might have to drive us somewhere.
Speaker 2:You know, because before it was like I don't know, am I going to be drunk, Am I going to be blacked out Like I can't do anything if it's after 5 pm, because that's when I start drinking. So you know, there was just so many things in my life. Yes, and so to just honestly, be able to live you brought up the word exhaustion.
Speaker 1:a couple of times you brought up the word exhaustion a couple of times, and I think when I know from my own experience, when I got really exhausted at the end there, I was completely done. Cause it's like you bring it all the way to the point where you just can't do it, and it's mental exhaustion as well as physical because of all the things that you just said.
Speaker 1:And so something to be careful of because I know a lot of people listening are in sobriety is we're talking about food and alcohol, but then there's also like busyness.
Speaker 1:You know, those tabs can reopen if you're starting a business and you know, if you're finding yourself too busy where you can't sit and read a book, then you may be moving into like being addicted in a sense to the work or the hustle or the sideshow or the building, and so to be careful of that, because I mean, I know, for me I have a lot of tabs open and I'm thinking, wow, is this another form, but not such as?
Speaker 1:And then you just reel it back in, you know, and but we have the tools because we overcame the other stuff, and so it's just, it's a really good way of living. It's, you know, and you talk about exhaustion, and then here you're, here you are, you have so much energy, right, and it's like that's a gift, it's like amazing to have that positive energy, that that's coming out, you know, like cause it was so stifled for so long, right, it's just, it's incredible, it's a, it's a huge gift. Well, and I think so what are you doing now? Cause I know you help women. You help women do overcome certain things, so can you talk about that? Yeah, how you're what you, what you do, how you're using your um, your past to to in your professional life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I work with women around. I mean, honestly, so many of the things that we just touched on was many. I would say, um, like 40% of the women that I work with maybe aren't alcoholics, but they will say, like maybe I should look at my drinking, maybe I should actually take this into consideration. But for the most part, you know it's it's around the food, body weight obsession. They've spent years, decades, dieting, obsessing, weighing, spending hours in the gym counting every single freaking almond that they eat. I mean all of it.
Speaker 2:And they're at the point now where kind of like you were just talking about, where you're like I can't do this anymore. Or it's like the dieting isn't even working, like I don't know what else to do because nothing's working anymore. And while that can feel like such a defeating place to be, you have to reach that point to really do something different. Because I don't know about you, but I tried a million ways to navigate and manipulate my food to make it work. I'll drink. Only, you know, I'll switch back to beer instead of hard alcohol so I don't get as drunk and I'll make sure I don't start till seven and I'll make sure I cut off at 10. And I'll make sure this and I'll make sure that right start till seven and I'll make sure I cut off at 10 and I'll make sure this and I'll make sure that right, we have to go through all of those things to reach a level where we're like okay, I think I'm actually ready to do something different, and so that's the.
Speaker 2:That's the spot that they get in their relationship with food and, honestly, the food is the easiest thing to clear up, like if, if someone's binge eating, I can almost guarantee, depending on what I hear about them, that they will stop binge eating within the first two months, if not the first month, because it's so much more about managing.
Speaker 1:Well, that's really good to hear, because I think people that do that tend to think like how do I get out of this? Like how do I stop? Like it's everywhere, like you know you have to eat, so for you to say that they're going to put that down and not do that anymore. That's a pretty good outcome fairly quickly.
Speaker 2:It is. And I, I I believe this with my whole being. I mean, I've done this work for several, many years, you know, at this point and I've worked with a lot of women and almost every single one will say I can't believe how quickly I stopped binge eating. I can't believe, I didn't think it would happen that fast. And they've been binge eating for you know, or dieting, or restricting or obsessing for 20 years, but that's like the first, first and fastest thing to to leave. And then we work on, like the anxiety, your self-worth, your self-confidence. Are you speaking up? Do you feel like you have to be busy? I honestly don't think there's anything wrong if you're just naturally more of a busy body type person, Like you like to have a lot of things going on, but it's more checking in with like, why are you really doing it? Like, are you doing it because you genuinely like it or are you doing it because you think?
Speaker 1:that if?
Speaker 2:you don't, people are going to think differently, like if you stop working out every morning at 6 am.
Speaker 2:Do you want to? Are you worried people are going to think like, oh, she's let herself go, I knew it was coming, you know, are you showing up to the meetings and the events because you want to? Are you doing it because you think that if you don't, people are going to think less of you? Right, and so it's really starting to get super solid on why you're doing what you're doing. And I find so many of my clients are in their 40s to 50s. I mean, I've worked with women as young as 16 and as old as 72. So it's the gamut, right.
Speaker 2:Food stuff and drinking stuff doesn't discriminate. But really, you know, we reach this point where we've done a lot, we've checked off a lot, and we're like I don't want to do that stuff anymore, like I've outgrown these tendencies and behaviors, I don't want to be this person anymore, but I don't know how to get over there. Like I kind of maybe have an idea of what I want to do, but I don't know how to get there, and so I come in and help kind of bridge that gap between where they're at and where they want to be and move over into that arena.
Speaker 1:Okay, do you do one-to-one coaching or how do you do that? Do you have a community?
Speaker 2:I have done a handful of groups in the past, which I love doing. I just kind of run those on a whim. I don't have a set schedule, just kind of whenever I feel like doing it honestly. But I primarily work with one-to-one clients and I kind of have a behind-the-scenes alumni group right now with past clients, which is super great because it's nice to kind of keep your foot in the water honestly.
Speaker 2:Where a gal just posted in there about talking about how her sister brought up diet stuff, or someone else talked about, you know, stress at work and not knowing how to handle it. So life just keeps lifing, you know, even if we clear up our food stuff and clear up our alcohol stuff, you know, so it's. It is really nice, I think, to keep those, those connections in that community. And also the diet industry and diet culture and weight loss stuff is rampant. You cannot watch a freaking cartoon without seeing this stuff, and so I think it's just nice to have women that are like, focused on, you know, taking better care of themselves and prioritizing themselves and eating in a way that feels good, without obsessing over calories and weight loss. It's like God. Every single person, every group, every, everything always talks about weight loss, and so it's just like can we just have a space where we don't talk about this for five seconds?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when you're not talking about what you're trying to overcome or your past problem, it opens up to something like what are you going to do now? Like it's like, wow, what are we going to talk about now? And it's like all future and all present tense, like stuff we're working on, whether it's business or what you want to do in your family, what your talent is, you know, and once you're not covering up all of that, you actually can like rediscover who you are, a and B, like reconcile those relationships, get new ones for the new person that you're becoming, like that different version you know, like a talent and like such as. Like I'm a writer, but sometimes people have creative talents, or you know they always wanted to be or do something and then it got completely interrupted with all of this. So those are the things that we get to revisit and bring back out, so that I think it's really exciting for a lot of women.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 1:So where can people find you during the? If they want to connect with you during the week, I'd love for them to be able to. Can you let them know where they could do that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they can, even on the weekends. You can message me on Instagram.
Speaker 1:If I'm around.
Speaker 2:I'll get back to you, but I'm very active on Instagram, and that's just at Renee Sager. My website is Renee Sager dot com and I also have a podcast that goes way more into detail about all of this food stuff and I talk about my alcoholism. On there too, I have a couple of podcasts. I often do a podcast about my alcoholism. On there, too, I have a couple podcasts. I often do a podcast about my journey on my one year or on every year. So those are in there too, and that's Ditch the Binge.
Speaker 1:Ditch the Binge.
Speaker 2:That's your podcast name Ditch, ditch the Binge.
Speaker 1:Ditch. I thought you said bitch the binge, ditch the binge, love it. And your last name is spelled for listeners it's Renee S-A-A-G-E-R. That's S-A-A-G-E-R, so if you're looking for her on IG, you can find her there. And Ditch the Binge podcast. Be sure to check it out. I loved our conversation. You hit so many great points. It was like an all-in-one for, like everyone listening for you know, uncovering. Oh, it was great. I loved it.
Speaker 2:Is there anything.
Speaker 1:you can just lastly say if there's somebody out there who is suffering from bulimia or binge eating, any kind of eating disorder, or just getting started on their alcohol-free journey as far as sobriety, what can you tell them about the freedom that they're going to find and to not give up, because it is hard in the beginning to get new footing?
Speaker 2:I mean, I think that's the thing to just embrace. I think a lot of people and marketing out there try to steer clear of what I'm about to tell you, and that's just not my style. I'm very upfront and I think that we're adults and I think that you make better decisions when you're equipped with the truth. I know that. I personally appreciate that, and so the truth is it is hard in the beginning, it's hard in the beginning and then it's better than you ever could have imagined, and that sounds a little cliche, that sounds a little cheesy, yeah, but but like it's the truth
Speaker 2:though. Yeah, but so wrap your brain, stop trying. This is what gets us in so much trouble and this is what elongates so much of our suffering is trying to find the fastest way, and I get it. When you're in pain, you're like, yes, what's the 21 fix, what's the 28 day fix, what's the pill I can take, what's the shot I can take, and it's like, ok, see you in six months, like that sounds terrible, but like, truly, that's what it is. You're just you're. You're elongating the process, whereas if you just accept, this is going to be hard for a couple of months and then I'm going to get to see the light and it's going to get better and better and better.
Speaker 1:And I'm going to, and almost yeah, go ahead. Yeah, so if, if, if you are in this, some people sail through in the beginning, I would say the hard majority have a very difficult time in the beginning. So if you are having a difficult time, if you're uncomfortable, you don't feel great, then take that as a cue that you are on the right track.
Speaker 2:That's to the end. That's going to make you want to punch us in the face. You're uncomfortable. You're gonna be like I hate you both.
Speaker 1:I'm uncomfortable but it gets so much better.
Speaker 1:That'll bring you like, because if you stay the line right and you stay in this when it's hard, you're going to have a very hard time later on letting go of it and being like I'm going to drink that or I'm going to eat that, you're going to be like no, I put a lot of work into this and I know for me, if I pour work into something, I'm not going to let go of it very easily. So I guess the encouragement is from that like stay the course, and if it's hard you're right on track. You know, and just like the big changes is supposed to be easy, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the self-respect that you gain in doing this, like the self-confidence, is truly priceless. Because when you look back and you're like I did that, I did that, like nobody can take that away from you ever.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, and the things that, when you get around community, the fun component is. This is like I think the things that we were so desperate about are the things that we can laugh about now with people who have been through that as well, and that is that's a real change. That's a real change.
Speaker 1:So thank you so much for being on, and so, once again, I'll put all of Renee's information in the show notes. You can check her out on her podcast. That's Renee Sager, s-a-a-g-e-r, so check her out. If she's helping women around the world start living a powerful, more authentic life free from food and weight obsessions, listen in to her personal story and I thank you so much for being here. It was great. Loved every minute of it. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks. Thank you for tuning into the Sober Living Stories podcast. If you have been inspired, consider subscribing and sharing with anyone who could use hope in their lives. Remember to stay tuned for more inspiring stories in the episodes to come To view our featured author of the month.