Lilach Bullock, marketing strategist and author of Escape the Diet Prison, was the guest on Episode 254 of the Honest AF Show, hosted by Daniella Clark and Barbara Ann Wild and published on 25 June 2025. Daniella is Lilach’s sister, and the 56 minute conversation moves from how the two of them first met at a Guns N’ Roses show at Wembley Stadium to the reason she was invited on: a 52 kilo weight loss, around 114 pounds, achieved over 18 months without dieting, calorie counting or medication. The three biggest points are that Lilach treated her problem as a sugar addiction rather than a willpower failure; that the change came from swapping her identity, not from restriction; and that the emotional freedom of a quiet mind has been at least as valuable to her as the physical change. The full episode is embedded below, followed by the key takeaways, a summary of each part of the conversation and a cleaned transcript.
Watch on YouTube: Honest AF Show Episode 254 With Very Special Guest Lilach Bullock. The show’s own site is honestafshow.com. As the hosts say in their disclaimer, they are not doctors and nothing in the episode is medical advice.
Key takeaways
- Lilach lost 52 kilos (later 53) over about 18 months. She did it without a diet, without counting calories and without medication. She was offered Ozempic and declined because after 30 years of diets she wanted to understand why she kept regaining the weight, not add another one.
- The core insight was that she was addicted to refined sugar and had not known it. She had been hiding food since the age of eight, and described the internal chatter at every meal with dessert on the table, followed by guilt, self-hate and the same loop again.
- Everyone has an inner saboteur, she said. She named hers her naughty chimp, and learned to visualise it and quieten it. That covered self-sabotage in her speaking career and relationships as well as food.
- The method she describes is a hybrid of mindset shifting, neuroplasticity and identity change. Her comparison: a vegetarian does not agonise over bacon because it is simply not who they are. Not eating refined sugar became part of who she is.
- She only cut her trigger foods, refined sugar, chocolate, cakes, sweets and crisps, and allowed everything else, because every past restriction had ended in regain.
- Her back was so bad she was in a wheelchair with a herniated disc and needed surgery, so exercise was not available at first. She started walking through the pain, timing the 10 minutes it took for the pain to stop, then swam for about a year, then joined a gym for the last six months. She now runs, lifts weights and does pull-ups.
- Her hot flashes have gone without HRT, and she is no longer diabetic. She keeps a daily morning routine of meditation, journaling and gratitude because the mindset work is continual.
- Rock bottom came when she noticed the “just love yourself as you are” message had, for her, become a way of giving up. Something inside her said she was worthy of more than a wheelchair.
How the sisters met at Wembley Stadium
The first part of the episode is family history. Daniella explained that she and Lilach share a father, that they were both born in Israel, and that they did not meet until Lilach was 17 or 18, when Daniella’s husband Gilby was in Guns N’ Roses and the band played Wembley Stadium. Their father, who had not seen Lilach since she was a baby, came to London for the show. Lilach said she remembers every second of it: meeting her biological family for the first time, being taken shopping and to dinner, riding in a limo, standing at the side of the stage, and how the whole family pulled her in without hesitation. Their father died not long afterwards, when Lilach was 19 and on her gap year on a kibbutz.
Daniella then told the story that gives the episode its emotional weight. She had kept their father’s belongings for over 30 years without being able to look through them. When Lilach visited with her family a few years ago she finally did, and found a photograph of Lilach as a baby that he had carried, with “For Lilach, beautiful” written on the back. She gave it to her. Lilach said she had wondered for years, and was grateful beyond words to have the answer.
Recognising the addiction and the saboteur
Daniella had been following Lilach’s transformation on Facebook and Instagram and wanted the conversation for listeners who struggle with weight, addiction or self-worth. Lilach explained why she called the book Escape the Diet Prison: “I felt like I was in a prison of yo-yoing for the last 30 years.” She said the industry needs disrupting because it is an addiction and a mental health issue, and the “eat less, move more” judgement misses that. It affects, in her words, your mind, your body and your soul, and every relationship you have.
The context matters. At the time she was in acute pain from a herniated disc, using a wheelchair and a walking stick with a fold-out seat she was frightened she would not fit on. She was menopausal, had an underactive thyroid, was newly diagnosed diabetic and, she said, was self-sabotaging her speaking career and relationships as well as her health. She wanted to know why it was effortless for others and a permanent battle for her, and the answer she landed on was that everyone has a saboteur. She named hers her naughty chimp and learned to quieten it.
She described the loop plainly: dessert on the table, half listening to friends, calculating whether she could take another piece and whether anyone was watching, then guilt, self-loathing and the promise to start again tomorrow. She had hidden food since she was eight, growing up in a home shaped by Holocaust survivor grandparents where you did not leave the table until your plate was clear. If that pattern of beating yourself up sounds familiar in your work as well as your eating, the same mechanism is laid out in 16 ways entrepreneurs beat themselves up and what to do about it.
Identity, not willpower
Asked how she did it, Lilach was specific. She put her own process into ChatGPT to find the words for it and got back a hybrid of mindset shifting, neuroplasticity and identity change. The identity part is what she says she can help people with most. Someone who is vegetarian, or who keeps kosher, does not fight a daily battle; it is simply who they are. So her identity became someone who does not eat refined sugar. She cut only her trigger foods and allowed everything else, and she does not count calories, because every previous restriction had ended in regain and she was exhausted by the yo-yo.
The physical side was slow by necessity. Walking came first, in pain, with a timer on her watch to see how long the pain took to fade. Swimming followed, for about a year, and only in the last six months did she reach the gym. She now runs, lifts weights and does pull-ups, and for the first time in her life is trying to build muscle rather than lose weight. Her back healed, her diabetes went, and her hot flashes stopped without HRT. She credits giving up sugar for a lot of that, plus sunlight, vitamin D and a daily routine of meditation, journaling and gratitude. She has written elsewhere about running a business through exactly this stage in menopause burnout and the days you cannot push through.
Rock bottom and the emotional freedom on the other side
The turning point, she said, was noticing she was getting sick, not just heavy, and that the “love yourself as you are” advice she had been leaning on had, for her, become giving up in the small print. She had been a successful high performance coach and giving up did not sit with her. Something inside said she was worthy of more than a wheelchair. She had tried diets and therapy in the past, so this time she decided to do it on her own.
What she values most now is the quiet. Everyone fixates on the physical result, she said, and she loves that too, but the emotional freedom is on a par with it or better. She had lived with the food noise since childhood and did not know a normal mind existed. Daniella, who is on Zepbound, said the drug had worked for her mainly as a mental medication that switched off the same bargaining voice, and both agreed the removal of that chatter is what changes your life. Lilach also spoke about the harder side: her daughter Emily had begged her to stop for years, and Lilach could not stop until she was ready, which meant hard conversations and apologies afterwards. She believes there is a genetic element, having learned about her father’s addictions late, and hopes her story makes people kinder about obesity as a disease and a form of mental health.
Her closing message was about choice. She cannot control outside forces, and living in Israel in June 2025 with sirens overnight made that literal, but she can control what she thinks, says and does. That is the same argument she makes for business owners in mindset for entrepreneurs when everything is hard.
Frequently asked questions
What does Lilach Bullock talk about on Honest AF Show Episode 254?
How she lost 52 kilos over about 18 months without dieting, calorie counting or weight loss medication, by recognising she was addicted to refined sugar, naming and quieting her inner saboteur, changing her identity so that not eating refined sugar became non-negotiable, and healing a herniated disc that had put her in a wheelchair. She also talks about her book Escape the Diet Prison and the emotional freedom that came with the change.
How did Lilach Bullock lose the weight?
She cut out her trigger foods only, refined sugar, chocolate, cakes, sweets and crisps, and did not restrict anything else or count calories. She started with short painful walks timed on her watch, moved to swimming, and only reached the gym in the last six months. The bigger work was mental: rewiring habits, visualising and quieting the saboteur she calls her naughty chimp, and adopting a new identity in the same way a vegetarian simply does not eat meat.
When was the episode published and how long is it?
It was published on YouTube on 25 June 2025 and runs for 56 minutes and 8 seconds. It was recorded remotely with Lilach in Israel and the hosts in the United States, and was a re-record after the first attempt the night before failed.
Full transcript
Cleaned and condensed from the episode’s auto-generated captions. Filler, crosstalk, bleeped language and an off-mic family cameo are removed; meaning kept. “Host” is Daniella Clark or Barbara Ann Wild. Lines are attributed to Lilach only where the speaker is clear.
Host: Welcome to another episode of the Honest AF Show, with me, Daniella Clark, and me, Barbara Ann Wild. We are doing this for a second time because we tried last night and somehow it did not work. This is exciting because we have my sister Lilach Bullock on. Lilach, welcome to the show. Lilach is in Israel and we are recording remotely. Barb, you are in your slice of heaven in Oregon. Lilach, are you out of the bomb shelter today?
Lilach: We had a quiet night, thank God. Let’s hope there are no sirens while we are recording.
Host: So Lilach is technically my stepsister, but I have always called her my sister. My dad, who raised me, was my stepfather, and he was Lilach’s biological father. He passed away a long time ago. I was 22 and you were about 19.
Lilach: Nineteen. I was in Israel on my year off, on a kibbutz, when it happened. It was all a bit of a blur.
Host: It was a real shock. I had been on the road because Gilby was in Guns N’ Roses at the time, and the day after I got home our dad passed away. I took it very badly. And we talked last night about how you and I never knew each other until we were older. I only met you when the band was playing Wembley Stadium. I brought my mum and Gilby’s mum out because it was such a big show, and my dad said he wanted to come too because he wanted to see you. He had not seen you since you were a baby, because your mum had moved to England after they split up. So your first meeting with us was at Wembley Stadium when you were 17 or 18. Do you remember much of it?
Lilach: I remember every second of it, because it was so surreal and such a big moment in my life. Meeting your biological family is huge anyway, and then to be surrounded by Guns N’ Roses. It is etched in my mind like a tattoo. I remember coming to the hotel first, before the stadium, and you opening the door. You were all so kind and so welcoming. The fact that we had not grown up together, you just brushed aside and pulled me into the family. You took me shopping with the other partners of the band, we went out to eat, I sat in a limo for the first time. And at the concert we were at the side of the stage. It was surreal, emotional and so much fun. Everyone in the band was so lovely and so intrigued by our story.
Host: All the mums were out, wearing earplugs on the stage. And I remember Gilby saying maybe you and I look a little bit alike. For our listeners, I have another sister, Shira, who I grew up with and who is Lilach’s biological sister, and I see a lot of similarities between the two of you. Certain little things remind me of our dad. And when you came out to visit a few years ago with Emily and your family, I decided to look through my dad’s things for the first time. I still have his cologne, his travel bag, a sweater, his briefcase, all his pictures. I had never dared go through any of it because it was too painful. When I did, I found a picture he had been carrying of you as a baby, and on the back he had written “For Lilach, beautiful”. It was almost as if he knew we would be together and wanted you to know. I have always been very stingy with his things, but I knew I had to give that to you. And after you left I felt devastated that I had not looked years earlier, because you would have known long ago that he always thought of you.
Lilach: It was such a special trip. I’m so grateful you gave it to me, because I did wonder, all those years. And we spent real quality time together and deepened our relationship. When you have not grown up with someone you don’t know the history and the stories, and you shared so many.
Host: Now I have that in reverse. I have reconnected with my biological father, who lives in Israel, and I have nine brothers and sisters there. So I’m in your shoes now. But the reason I wanted you on the podcast is that I have been watching your weight loss journey on Facebook and Instagram, and I thought it would be an inspiring conversation for our listeners, because a lot of people struggle with weight, with addiction, with self-worth and confidence. And you have written a book about it. Tell everybody the name of your book.
Lilach: I have lost 52 kilos now, maybe 53. We worked out last night that is about 114 pounds. I have lost it all naturally, using my mindset. I called the book Escape the Diet Prison because I felt I was in a prison of yo-yoing for the last 30 years, up and down. I have never lost this much weight in my life and never been this thin. I have pivoted my career from director of marketing and running agencies to helping others with this, because it is devastating how many women, and men, experience it. People are very judgmental and not very empathetic. They think, just eat less and move more. It is so much more than that. It is an addiction and a mental health issue. I want to disrupt the industry as well as help people, because I don’t think anyone should live in this. I call it a prison because it feels like one, in your mind, your body and your soul, and it affects every area of your life: your relationship with yourself, with other people, everything.
Host: Last night you talked about how self-sabotage played such a huge role, and that you almost had a visual of your saboteur. I thought that was really powerful.
Lilach: I’m a huge believer in visualisation. It was part of my process. I should add that at the time my back was really bad. I still have a herniated disc, and because I was so big it was so bad that at one point I was in a wheelchair, and I would go out with a walking stick that had a little seat on it, terrified I would fall off because I did not fit on it. I could barely move. Just standing up was torture. That made me put on even more weight, because I could not physically move, plus I was depressed from the pain. And I was menopausal, and I have an underactive thyroid. So I had so many things stacked against me.
Host: You were the perfect storm.
Lilach: Exactly. I did a huge amount of research, because I was successful in other areas of my life but I would self-sabotage my speaking career, my relationships, everything. I got to the stage where I was diagnosed diabetic because I was so big and so addicted to sugar, and I did not even realise I was addicted. It was a whole awakening. I did not want another diet. I was offered Ozempic, and while I know how valuable it is for other people, I had done so many diets I did not want another thing. I wanted to understand: why am I like this? Why is it effortless for other people and why do I keep putting it on and taking it off? That is when I did the deep work and realised that I have what I call a saboteur, and everybody has one. It tells us to do the thing we should not be doing, whether that is food or addiction or just bad choices. I named mine my naughty chimp, my naughty monkey, and learned to quieten it and stop the negative chatter and the self-sabotage.
Host: You told me you would go out to dinner with friends and half listen to them because you were so focused on what you wanted to eat next.
Lilach: It was not just going out to eat. It was every day. Food was a central focus of my life, quite obsessive, particularly anything sweet: cakes, chocolate, sweets, crisps, soda. If there was dessert I could not wait for it. As soon as I had a piece I would want more, and I would be aware of what other people were doing, whether they were watching, whether I could take another piece now or should wait a minute. The thoughts that would go through my head. It was chaotic. And afterwards would come the hate and the guilt and the resentment, the self-loathing, and it became a habit and a pattern.
Host: It becomes a vicious cycle. A loop.
Lilach: And when you have had over 30 years of that loop, it is so hard to break.
Host: How did you do it? Was there a pivotal moment?
Lilach: I had to hit rock bottom, unfortunately. My back was so bad and I was now at the stage of needing surgery, and that devastated me, because once you go down that road there is no going back, sometimes it is multiple surgeries, and I knew my mobility would be over. I had already had epidurals that did not work. I spent two and a half years trying to improve my back without losing weight. Maybe I should have done that one first.
I was also getting sick and I could feel it. I knew I had pushed myself beyond obese and was getting ill. My hot flashes were every minute, I was going out with a little electric fan and a sweat rag. It got to the stage where there was no good reason to continue, and I had to accept that I was killing myself and did not value myself. What led me there was the idea that maybe I should just love myself as I am, which is what everyone says. And I think in the small print that is giving up on yourself. I had been successful and a high performance coach, so for me to give up was really hard. And then something deep inside me said, I am worthy of more than this. I was not put on this planet to be in a wheelchair and not feel alive, not love myself, not feel sexy and happy. It grew from that. And I did it on my own, because I had tried so many diets and therapy in the past and nothing worked.
Host: It is so empowering that you were able to take control and change what you wanted to change.
Lilach: I’m really proud of myself, and that is why it is my new mission. I believe everyone has the power to change. For some it is a lot harder, but we all have it within ourselves. The mind is incredible. Everyone talks about fitness and growing your muscles, but we don’t invest enough in growing the mind. I did not just lose weight. I removed all the negative chatter that consumed my mind. It has transformed everything: my relationships with people, with myself, my family, my friends, work.
Host: And in your book you detail how you rewired your brain to think this way.
Lilach: Yes. I put my process into ChatGPT and asked, what is my approach, because I did not know how to explain it. It is a hybrid of mind shifting, neuroplasticity and changing my identity. When people ask, I say the biggest thing I can help you with is changing your identity. Think about someone who is vegetarian. That is their identity. They are not going to suddenly love the smell of bacon and eat it. It is the same if you keep kosher; that is who you are. So as part of my new identity I decided not to eat refined sugar, because I realised I was addicted to it. And I also did not realise how big I was, which sounds insane. I knew I was overweight, but I did not have many old photos because I hated the way I looked. Now when Emily or Ian or a friend sends me an old photo, I don’t recognise myself. It is strange how the mind protects you from seeing the truth.
Host: When I see old photos of myself it just makes me sad. I can relate, because I have been on a weight loss journey too, and I am on Zepbound. What you said about the chatter in your head, I relate to completely. For me Zepbound has been more of a mental medication. It stopped all that noise, the bargaining with myself, the “tomorrow I won’t eat and then I’ll work out extra”. I would have complete conversations with myself and it was such a waste of time. I’m so much happier because I don’t have those conversations any more. And I have four children and I hated taking pictures, so I don’t have the pregnancy photos, and that makes me sad. But not thinking about food at all now is like a miracle.
Lilach: It is like a miracle. Everyone is fixated on the weight loss, the physical, which is lovely and I’m loving it, but there are times when the emotional freedom is better. Sometimes on a par, but it is so liberating. You feel like a new person. I feel like a superwoman, if I’m honest, because I have achieved something I never thought was possible. I did not know emotional freedom existed. I did not know this is what a normal mind is, because I have had this since I was a child. So to experience it makes you feel unstoppable. If I can do this, I can do anything. And they have done studies, and I’m not comparing myself in any way, on people who have overcome really hard things, and how a big transformation changes your mind and even your longevity. It is very interesting.
Host: I see it with my husband, who is 15 years sober. All the time he used to spend hiding in a bar is now spent on things that enrich his life: his kids, his dogs, his music. With any addiction it is so empowering when you overcome it, and it shows people that you have all the capability within yourself. It is not a magic pill. Bravo to you.
Lilach: Thank you. All forms of addiction, whether it is gambling, alcohol or drugs, are not easy to give up and should be celebrated. And it is interesting you say he would hide it, because I would hide wrappers and sneak things into my room. I have been hiding food since I was eight years old. My mum, who I love to bits and who I’m in a really good place with now, this journey has brought us much closer, and I threw her a party for her eightieth a couple of months ago and I’m so grateful she was here for it. But on my mum’s side we come from Holocaust survivors, and I was brought up in a home where you could not leave the table unless you finished all your food, however cold it went. So I would hide food and flush it down the toilet. And I was restricted from sweet food, so I wanted it more. Even my husband and daughter would try to restrict me, and I would react like a naughty teenager and eat more. It was a battle, but really I was battling myself, not them.
Host: And how are you feeling now? You healed your own back, you don’t have the diabetes any more.
Lilach: I feel incredible. I’m working out, running, lifting weights, doing pull-ups. I’m the healthiest and fittest I have ever been. My stats at the gym are through the roof. I have bypassed HRT and my hot flashes are totally gone. I think sugar exacerbates everything, from menopause onwards. Plus losing the weight, the exercise, vitamin D and sunlight. I meditate daily, I journal, I do gratitude. I have my little morning routines because I have to keep working on my mindset every day. I want to keep growing and being the best version of myself. We can always improve, can’t we?
Host: You show up so differently when you are happy with yourself. Your optimism is infectious.
Lilach: Thank you. A lot of people say that, and that I have inspired them to go on this journey too. Life is challenging right now. We are in crazy times, and mindset helps. You can wallow and be sad, or you can choose to see the beauty in the world and be optimistic and hopeful. Every day we have a choice. What I have learned over the last two or three years is that I cannot control outside forces, but I can control what I think, what I say, how I react. That is what I focus on.
Host: How long did it take you?
Lilach: A good 18 months. I did it slowly, because my back was so damaged I could not move at all at first. In the past when I yo-yoed I would exercise, which helped, and I could not do any of that, so I had to go all in on the mindset. And I did not want to diet. I have never counted calories. The only things I don’t eat are my trigger foods: sugar, chocolate, cakes, crisps. Everything else I allow, because I did not want another restriction. Every time I restricted myself in the past I lost the weight and put it back on. I just wanted to be done with it. It is exhausting.
So I did it slowly. First I was walking, in pain. I would put a timer on my watch and it would take 10 minutes for the pain to stop. Then I went swimming, and I was walking and swimming for a good year, and the last six months I was at the gym. Now I’m running, lifting weights, doing pull-ups, things I have never done. And instead of trying to lose weight, for the first time I’m trying to build muscle. Ian, my husband, is a health nut, and it is strange that I was never influenced by him. And Emily has said to me that she would beg me to stop, and even now she asks why I did not stop when she begged me to. We have had some hard, uncomfortable conversations, and I have apologised and asked for forgiveness, because I could not stop when she wanted me to. I think she found it hard that I did not do it for her.
Host: That is true of most addictions. You won’t stop until you have hit rock bottom and you are ready, and it does not matter what it is. I went through years of therapy over that with our dad. He had addictions and I used to beg him to stop, and I was angry after he died because I thought, why would he not stop for me? It took me years to understand it had nothing to do with me.
Lilach: I did not know about our dad and his addictions until you told me, and I believe a lot of it is genetic. I have an addictive personality, and I think that played a part in my whole life and my low self-esteem. There are lots of reasons. And I was aware that he died far too young, and I did not want to go down that road; I had that in the back of my mind. I really hope that from sharing my story people will be kinder and more empathetic, because it is a disease and a form of mental health, and people don’t realise they are addicted. I did not. And it hurts the people around you. I cannot change my past. I don’t have lots of photos with Emily. I went to a wedding the other week and friends were taking photos and saying, hold the camera higher because it is more flattering, and I used to say that all the time and now I don’t have to. Little things change. And I think Emily has found the change in me hard, especially that I’m much more positive. I used to be quite angry, and I did not realise I was angry because I was sad and hurting. You take it out on the people closest to you.
Host: It is remarkable how good one can feel when they achieve something they never thought they could. When you push through something you don’t see a way out of, it changes your whole perspective.
Lilach: It is life-changing. It makes you feel unstoppable, and for me it has made me want to give other people hope and to not give up on themselves. And when you have a lot of weight to lose, everything becomes more difficult, and I have spoken publicly about the things nobody talks about, because we have an obesity problem and a low self-esteem problem. I look at the kids today and I feel so sad for them.
Host: I’m so happy for you, to see you feel good again, free from pain and empowered. This morning I texted Shira and said I had the best conversation with Lilach last night. I’m very proud of you.
Lilach: I’m so grateful. That is why I do my gratitude every day. I never thought this was possible. I’m honoured to share my story, and I hope it helps somebody listening who is in the same boat.
Host: Lilach, how can they find you and your book?
Lilach: Head over to escapethedietprison.com. I’m also on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and X. There is only one Lilach Bullock in the world. I’m giving away the first chapter free, and there are a few other freebies there, a freedom tracker and an audio.
Host: Thank you so much, and hopefully you have another quiet night tonight and get some good rest. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Honest AF with Barb, Lilach and me. You can check us out on our socials, we are Honest AF Show. Until next time, take care.
