From Food Obsession to Food Freedom: My Journey to Strength & Confidence

Breaking Free from Food Obsession: The Beginning of My Journey to Fitness and Mindset Transformation

Welcome to the Muscles & Mindset Revolution podcast, hosted by Anne Jones, a certified life coach and fitness professional with over 15 years of experience. This podcast is designed for busy, ambitious women looking to achieve stronger bodies, sustainable habits, and long-term fat loss.

In the inaugural episode, Anne shares her personal journey, beginning with her move from a small town in Northern BC to Toronto for university. She discusses her challenges with food, weight gain, and disordered eating, and how discovering group fitness changed her life. Anne also highlights the importance of mindset and offers a glimpse into future episodes focused on breaking free from food and exercise obsession. Tune in to transform your habits, prioritize yourself, and feel strong and energized for life.

• [FREE YOUR BODY YOUR WAY GUIDE]

• [Join our Free Facebook Community]

• [https://musclesandmindset.ca/]

Ready to build strength, feel confident AF, and lose fat without obsessing or stressing over it? [Apply to Join the Muscles & Mindset program here].

Connect With Me:

• Instagram: [@annejonesfit]

• Website: [https://www.annejonescoaching.ca/]

• YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@annejones]

Love This Episode? Share & Review!

If you found this episode helpful, take a screenshot and share it on your Instagram stories, tagging [@annejonesfit] so I can say thanks! Don’t forget to leave a review on your favourite podcast platform—it helps more women discover the show and start their transformation!

• [FREE YOUR BODY YOUR WAY GUIDE]

• [Join our Free Facebook Community]

• [https://musclesandmindset.ca/]

Ready to build strength, feel confident AF, and lose fat without obsessing or stressing over it? [Apply to Join the Muscles & Mindset program here].

Connect With Me:

• Instagram: [@annejonesfit]

• Website: [https://www.annejonescoaching.ca/]

• YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@annejones]

Love This Episode? Share & Review!

If you found this episode helpful, take a screenshot and share it on your Instagram stories, tagging [@annejonesfit] so I can say thanks! Don’t forget to leave a review on your favourite podcast platform—it helps more women discover the show and start their transformation!

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the muscles and mindset revolution. The podcast for busy, ambitious women who are tired of chasing quick fixes that are ready to finally achieve the results they want. Stronger bodies. Sustainable habits and long-term fat loss. I'm your host Anne Jones, certified life coach and fitness professional for over 15 years. And your guide to breaking free from inconsistency, overwhelm, and burnout. Each week we tackle the real obstacles holding you back; time management struggles, mindset barriers, and conflicting advice. So you can build a lifestyle of accountability, functional fitness, and strength that lasts. If you are ready to transform your habits, prioritize yourself and feel strong and energized for life. You're in the right place. Let's dive in. welcome to our first episode. In this first episode, I'm taking you back to where it all began. My time at Ryerson university now Toronto metropolitan university. Which is where I moved at 17 years old, from a small town in Northern BC, a town of 4,000 people approximately. To the big city, which was a. You would think would be a massive culture shock, but actually I don't even think that I realized it at the time that I felt out of place and insecure. But I did know that I was in a real city and I was surrounded by all these worldly, affluent, beautiful girls. But really the two biggest shocks. Were not the fashion or the traffic or the sounds. But the two biggest shocks were actually having to feed myself and no longer dancing competitively for a dozen hours a week to keep me active. My darling mother. Trying to teach me how to cook. I just didn't have an interest. Like I did stuff around the house, but I had no interest in learning, cooking, and I still don't really, to be honest, but I do feed myself, but we're going to get to that. And I used to dance competitively, for many hours a week. So I never worried about. Activity or fitness or food, like literally ever. And I grew up with a very healthy. Relationship. With food modeled by my mother. That's when I moved to the city and then I'm 17 years old. I'm all alone. I saw a lot of people around me, both at university and like in the media being very aware and conscious of what they were eating and. I think I just started to see it. Like, I didn't really start out that way. But because I wasn't dancing competitively anymore. And I had never made a lot of food choices for myself before really. I gained 30 pounds quite quickly in my first year. Like in the first few months probably. And I'm so glad that I did because. It changed the trajectory of my entire life. My relationship with food. Got a little wild. I didn't know how much to eat or what to eat or how to know if I was full, think I kind of did, but I would just like override it. But the worst part really was that I thought or worried about food constantly. What I could eat, what I shouldn't eat. What I should have avoided when I should eat. I remember watching friends and wondering like, how are those people living their lives? Not thinking about food all the time. Like I was always thinking about food. Always distracted. Always. I remember. Waiting for the clock to turn from 2 59 to three so that I could have a snack. Waiting for the clock to turn to like 5 55 so that I could go. Downstairs for dinner. I felt this constant low level anxiety about food. I tried starving myself. My next door neighbour. Who's now one of my very best friends. Is an activist. And so she would do like hunger strikes for good causes. But I was just like, this seems like a sneaky way that I can just not eat. I could never not do it all day for sure. And then I would just feel bad about binge eating peanut butter at the end of the day. There was definitely some. Disordered. Obsessive stuff going on. And the mental toll of obsessing over food. Drained my energy. So much. And made me feel. Very insecure and stuck. I actually would, not only binge and restrict, but purge food sometimes, which I actually completely forgot until I went to write this episode. And I was like, oh yeah, I used to do that. even once I was out of the dorm in my later years, My binge-eating would continue. I remember having a stressful day renewing my passport and I bought three Starbucks cookies, like giant Starbucks cookies, eating them on the street in downtown Toronto. Like I was like, this is the answer. To me like crying and feeling so frustrated and alone at that time. I remember I lived, with a roommate in the last two years and she brought birthday cake home and put it in our fridge and I ate all of it, like before she could even get to it. I just needed to eat something. I remember also around that time. Like buying a box of cookies at the grocery store and like eating half of them on the way home. And then hiding them under my bed. I wouldn't put them in the kitchen, so nobody would know about it. But then, like they wouldn't make it through the day. I would just eat the entire box of cookies. And then if I felt really bad about it, I would purge. So. Legitimately. I had some, disordered. Disordered eating for sure. And then. I discovered group fitness. I did try out for the dance troupe at my university but I came from like a tiny, a tiny, tiny town. My dance skills were like nowhere near these city girls. So I just, I just couldn't, I probably could have done it honestly, but I felt so embarrassed and uncomfortable. I didn't do it. But instead in the same gym, I discovered group fitness. And at that time, My relationship with group fitness was a bit of a dichotomous one. On one hand, it became my sanctuary, my absolute sanctuary. A place where I felt a sense of belonging and community and regained some control over my life. I began to take an interest in and learn about fitness, which, you know, led me to where we are today. But on the other hand, it quickly turned into something that I relied on. Too heavily, almost like a crutch. And another thing, like I was not aware of at the time, but I can definitely see now. As it was related to food, right? Like I may have been telling myself I was on the moral high ground and. Doing so great. Cause I went to the gym, literally, at least once every single day. In addition to all the walking that I was doing and the yoga classes that I was going to. Whether I knew it or not, it was fueled by this understanding that I had. Maybe not even consciously that you eat. Too much food or you eat any food and you have to burn off the food and more right. Which, I considered myself a group fitness bunny, but really, it was like if I didn't hit every cardio class, I'd feel anxious and guilty. And cardio was very big at this time, by the way. It wasn't just about moving my body. It wasn't all, it probably did help with my stress relief actually, but it caused other problems. It became about burning off food and trying to earn my worthiness. Because it was giving me a sense of control. I had this. Inaccurate belief because I was controlling this thing, like controlling my food or so I thought. Controlling my fitness. I was okay. But it turned into Skipping out on some of the very normal. University experiences, Like, Going out or declining breakfast on the weekend. You. At the diner with my roommates, because I had to go to a 7:30 AM, spin class on a Saturday. And looking back, I can see how I justified those behaviors as being dedicated or disciplined. But now I know. Not just because I'm now an expert on fitness and mindset, but. I have coached hundreds of clients through this, but I see now how that line of thinking was actually having a toll on my wellbeing. So it has taken a lot of trial and error, a lot of mindset shifts and a deep understanding of what true health and balance look like. To get where I am today. So, if you've ever found yourself in a similar cycle of feeling like you have to push harder to get results. Then you're in the right place. If my story resonated with you, I'd love for you to leave a five-star review and let me know why don't forget to subscribe. So you never miss a future episode. It's going to be so good. And if you're thinking, wow, I'm stuck in that cycle that she's talking about too. Don't worry. Because in the next episode, I'm going to share exactly how I broke free from obsessing over food and exercise, how I lost 30 pounds in university, subsequently put on a lot of muscle and finally started feeling confident, calm, and consistent without ever stressing about weight loss ever again. Thank you so much for tuning into the first episode of the Muscles and mindset revolution podcast.