Episode 86: My 35-Year Battle with Anorexia, Yo-Yo Dieting, and How Lifting Weights Finally Fixed My Broken Metabolism

Description:

Skinny talk is trending on social media—Gen Z's rebranded version of anorexia—and it's triggering as hell. Young women in their early 20s are promoting severe calorie restriction, telling everyone to avoid lifting weights because it "adds mass," chasing that emaciated 90s heroin chic look. And Johnna has a lot to say about this because she lived it for 35 years. This is her full story, start to finish, for the first time ever—because she'd never even put it all together herself until now.

We're breaking down the words that make us cringe—not because they're bad or wrong, but because of how they're used now. Safe space, toxic, healing, triggered, cutting people off—all co-opted, overused, and weaponized by people who haven't actually done the work. If you're constantly saying everyone else is toxic and you need a safe space from discomfort, this one's gonna sting a little. But that's kind of the point.

What we get into:

• What safe space actually is—protection from abuse, not from disagreement, discomfort, or being challenged (it's not an echo chamber for emotional immaturity)
• Toxic means chronic, repetitive, unaccountable, and resistant to repair—not "someone who challenges you or activates your insecurity"
• Healing builds capacity and resilience, not fragility—if healing makes you more reactive, rigid, or isolated, that's avoidance with better branding
• Triggered is information about what's unresolved inside you, not proof someone harmed you or owes you an apology
• When to actually cut people off versus when you're just avoiding the mirror—and why if everyone feels unsafe or beneath your frequency, the issue is you
• The spiritual ego trap—"I'm too healed to be around other people" just means you know fancy language intellectually without integration

We're walking through why labeling everyone else toxic avoids looking at your own patterns, why forgiveness is the antidote for the poison in your own veins, and the questions you need to ask yourself before writing someone off: Can you hear feedback? Are you willing to reflect? Do you show remorse? Can you tolerate discomfort? If you require perfection from humans to stay connected, you're gonna end up alone.

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We're tackling the 15 most-searched fitness questions on Google—in order—and giving you the real answers instead of the bullshit the industry wants you to believe. Spoiler alert: if you're Googling these questions, you should probably hire a trainer. But until you do, we're breaking down what actually works versus what keeps you stuck in the start-stop cycle forever.

What we get into:

• How many days a week should you really work out—and why body movement every day is non-negotiable (even if resistance training is 2-3x for beginners)
• The "I'm out of shape" excuse—everyone started out of shape, so just start (and stop trying to outrun what you eat)
• Why you need a program and can't wing it—Johnna writes her own programming and tracks everything, even after years of lifting
• The "why am I not seeing results" question—results take time, and if you're going twice a week it'll take way longer than someone going five days
• Cardio or weights first—stacking them in one day sends massive stress signals to your body and you'll burn out (do them on separate days)
• Why it's never too late to start lifting—Johnna just had a foundation session with a 79-year-old woman who'd never done a lunge in her life

We're walking through why the "I don't like water" excuse makes you sound like a two-year-old, why consistency is the only secret sauce (not fat burners or 12-week programs), and what actually matters: eat food from the fucking earth, move your body, pick up heavy shit and put it down, drink water, and sleep. That's it. No hacks.

Want more tools for your transformation? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter at cjelevatedlife.com—every Monday you'll get motivation, mindset shifts, and actionable micro-skills to keep you moving forward.