Tough Cookie Talks

Jenna Jozefowski
  • 4.9 (47)
  • HEALTH & FITNESS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Tough Cookie Talks is a podcast we'll explore the intersection of fitness & anti-diet culture and all the gray areas in between. We'll let go of "shoulds" and judgment and dig into tough conversations with curiosity.

  1. 6D AGO

    "No Excuses" is Lazy Coaching (Here's Why I Want To Hear Yours!)

    Today's episode almost didn't happen. Then I remembered that much like a workout, a 15 minute podcast episode still counts and is better than nothing. And also sometimes I have good ideas that don't get shared often enough. So here we are! On this episode we talk about: How I almost didn't record it, but then I remembered my own advice. Why "no excuses" is lazy coaching, IMO.Why I actually want to hear my client's excuses.Turning phrases like "excuses only satisfy those who give them" into something that can be helpful for YOU.The fact that some excuses are actually b******t and how to tell if that's what yours are. How shame thrives in the dark and how putting things out there in the open take a lot of pressure off.The difference between a legit excuse and a barrier (that can be moved).What your excuses can tell you about what you about what you actually value and what's not working for you right now. So many other good things!⁠Work with me⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Download Resistance Training⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow & tag me on Instagram⁠

    16 min

  2. FEB 26

    Laughing So We Don't Cry: Beauty Standards, Millennial Youth, and the Aftermath of the Epstein Files with Dr. Melissa Cioffi

    Dr. Mel is back and this time we're not talking about our usual fitness and physical therapy stuff. We're talking shit about the Epstein files. Or more specifically, how we're coming to terms with the fact that the beauty standards pushed on us as teenagers were created by literal pedophiles. Dr. Melissa Cioffi is a physical therapist, women’s fitness coach, and owner of New Quest Physical Therapy. As a pelvic floor PT, Melissa is passionate about helping vagina owners discover the power they hold within their bodies that they never realized existed. Using a mix of movement and no-nonsense education, she helps folks learn how to finally use their body in ways they’ve never dreamed they could, instead of being afraid of it. On this episode we talk about: How we're feeling in the aftermath of the Epstein files.Les Wexner--the man behind the brands that shaped our millennial youth. The messages we received from the clothes, body splashes, and images we were sold and how that shaped our body image and self worth in our teens. The ways we normalized the horrible behavior in men and tried to impress them. Even the ones with dumpster mattresses and dirty sheets. Whether all of our youth obsessed beauty standards are actually rooted in pedophilia. The cringe things we did and said for the male gaze when we were younger. How these revelations are shaping the way we think about beauty standards now. How we distinguish whether or not we're doing things like shaving our legs or painting our nails for ourselves or for the male gaze. How we're reclaiming our style for our younger selves by dressing like unhinged My Little Pony and Demented Tinkerbell.The ways that all of this is related to many of our pelvic floor issues. The things that are bringing us joy and keeping us sane in these times. So many other important and hilarious things! Follow Dr. Mel on TikTok Get Dr. Mel's Core & Pelvic Floor Jumpstart Freebie ⁠Work with me⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Download Resistance Training⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow & tag me on Instagram⁠

    1h 1m

  3. FEB 19

    Does Wanting to Lose Weight Make You Fatphobic?

    ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Today's episode is inspired by a post I saw on Instagram last weekend where someone was asking if having a weight loss goal made them fatphobic. The comments section was interesting because a lot of people seemed very confused about what that word even means. I was tempted to write a novel in response, but them I remembered that I have a podcast. So I decided to turn my comment into content. In a world where every other person you know is taking a GLP-1 and being super skinny is cool again, we need to talk about the very real pull you might be feeling to lose weight. On this episode we talk about: What fatphobia even is (and why we shouldn't take the word literally). The difference between systemic fatphobia and internalized fatphobia.Why you might feel shame around having a weight loss goal even if nobody is actually shaming you. Why we need to stop considering being called "fatphobic" an insult and instead look at it for what it actually is. How our individual lived experiences about our weight and its correlation with our health and happiness affects our perception of weight loss. Why it's so important to not conflate health, fitness, and weight/body size. Better questions to ask yourself besides when part of you does want to lose weight. 3 books I recommend to help you unpack all of this for yourself. So many other important things! Work with me⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Download Resistance Training⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow & tag me on Instagram⁠

    26 min

  4. FEB 12

    Why Your New Years Goals Didn't Stick (+ What We Need For Actual Progress)

    It's the second week in February and I know why your New Year's goals (or resolutions or intentions or whatever) didn't stick. It's the same reason they usually don't, and if you're more of a "New Year Same Me" kind of person, maybe you've known this all along. On this episode we talk about: The mind blowing realization I had when I realized that my goals for the New Year have been the same (and largely unachieved) for a few years now. The harsh reality of trying to work towards health, fitness, wellness, relationship, and even leisure related goals in a world that wasn't designed for us to be well or relax.How we've lost the plot (and perhaps been misled?)What needs to happen if we want next year to be different. So many other good things! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Work with me⁠ ⁠Download Resistance Training⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow & tag me on Instagram

    12 min

  5. FEB 5

    She Quit Social Media For a Year! Real Life Off the Internet with Liz Brinkmoeller

    Today my good friend and former podcast guest Liz Brinkmoeller is back from her year off the internet! Or rather her year off Instagram and most other forms of social media. This is something that I and many other people I know have contemplated in the past few years, so I'm excited for her to share her experience with all of us. Liz Brinkmoeller has been a trainer/fitness instructor since 2014. She to be very diet culture and hustle culture focused but she slowly realized that it was getting her deeply burned out and depressed. Now she is a personal trainer with a full schedule of (mostly) ideal clients and much better work boundaries. She loves teaching people to get strong enough to smash the patriarchy. She has also recently started scull rowing and loves it! On this episode we talk about: ​What brought Liz to quit the internet (ok mostly just Instagram) for a whole year and what that looked like logistically. ​How being online too much was contributing to her burnout as a trainer.​Our hot takes on what the best and worst parts of the internet right now. ​What brought her back and how she's doing things differently this time.​How to reconcile staying informed with the news without burying your head in the sand or getting consumed by it.​Our predictions for the future of all things internet, social media, and tech. ​What's bringing Liz joy + small actions we can take to make the world a better place AND keep ourselves more sane. ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Work with me⁠ ⁠Download Resistance Training⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow & tag me on Instagram

    1h 3m

  6. JAN 29

    Running My Mouth While I Still Can (We're Back For Season 4!)

    We are officially BACK for season 4 and I am feeling ever emboldened to keep running my mouth while I still can. On this episode we talk about: My origin story and how we got here.How some people still don't know what diet culture is but need to. Bringing things full circle for the new people who are already "political" but need to upgrade their approach to fitness to reflect those values. What you can expect for Season 4! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Work with me Download Resistance Training ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow & tag me on Instagram

    25 min

  7. 12/25/2025 · BONUS

    Fundamentalism in Fitness and Escaping the Christian Patriarchy with Tia Levings (Best of Season 3 Replay!)

    I am so thrilled to be able to share this conversation with Tia Levings with you today because if you don't know her and her work, you need to! Tia Levings is the New York Times Bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife, her memoir of escape from Christian Patriarchy. She writes about the realities of religious trauma and the Trad wife life, decoding the fundamentalist influences in our news and culture. Her work and quotes have appeared in Teen Vogue, Salon, the Huffington Post, and Newsweek. She also appeared in the hit Amazon docu-series, Shiny Happy People. Based in North Carolina, she is mom to four incredible adults and likes to travel, hike, paint, and daydream. Find her on social media @TiaLevingsWriter and Substack at DeconstructingFundamentalism.com. Her second book releases with St. Martin’s Essentials May 5, 2026. On this episode we talk about: Tia's incredible life story that led her to be doing the work she does today.How we see it playing out in religion, in our homes, in our own lives, in our country as a whole. What could cause a person to gravitate to fundamentalist thinking and things we can do in our lives to push back against and avoid that.Parallels between what she experienced in her religion and home and what we sometimes get sucked into in fitness and wellness spaces.The pipeline from wellness to getting red pilled and how it happens.How to embrace more both/and thinking when our own experiences (a religion, dieting, our identity, life in general) have impacted us so profoundly that we just want to scream "NO YOU'RE WRONG!". How to reconcile doing that when some people are just terrible people with harmful ideas.Simple daily practices to keep ourselves grounded in a both/and sort of reality in a world that is increasingly polarized.How to we show up in our relationships when our loved ones see things so differently than we do.Insider info she wants to share with people as someone who was in a high control religion and marriage and got out.What to do if you see yourself in her story.So many other important things! ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to Tia's Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Tia on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Read Tia's book⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join the Kettlebells & Chaos Challenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Work with me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow me on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow me on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow me on Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

    1h 1m

  8. 12/18/2025 · BONUS

    Are We Ever Fully Recovered? Embracing the In-Between In Eating Disorder Recovery with Mallary Tenore Tarpley (Best of Season 3 Replay!)

    This week we are diving deep into the world of eating disorders and recovery, and much like all of the work I do here, Mallary Tenore Tarpley is here to help us embrace the gray area between being sick and fully recovered. She's here to normalize living in the in between place when you're trying to heal, and share some things that you may not have known about eating disorders. This topic is hard to talk about without dipping into some potentially triggering topics, so honor yourself and your own journey as you listen, especially if you are in early eating disorder recovery. Mallary Tenore is an assistant professor of practice at The University of Texas at Austin's School of Journalism and Media and McCombs School of Business, where she teaches writing and reporting courses for undergraduate and graduate students. Mallary specializes in a variety of topics, including longform feature writing, creative nonfiction, solutions journalism and nonprofit journalism.A longtime journalist, Mallary's articles and essays have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Tampa Bay Times, Harvard University’s Nieman Storyboard and more. She also maintains a weekly newsletter, Write at the Edge, where she shares writing tips and best practices. Mallary’s debut nonfiction book, “SLIP: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery,” will be published by Simon & Schuster's Simon Element imprint and is now available for pre-order. The book blends immersive reporting, emerging science and social history around eating disorders alongside Mallary’s own harrowing journey from a childhood with anorexia to her present-day reality as a mother in recovery. While working on the book, Mallary received a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support her reporting and writing. On this episode we talk about: Mallary's experience developing an eating disorder as a child that led her to write this book.  The most surprising discoveries she made about eating disorders while researching for her book?The social history of eating disorders. (And the wild parallels to what's happening today.)How anorexia can reduce your brain size, specifically gray matter.Things is life that can cause "slips" in recovery. How she hopes to redefine how we see slips and eating disorder recovery as a whole.The biggest things that are perpetuating eating disorders today.Getting treatment for your eating disorder when you don't fit the traditional mold of what we think an eating disorder looks like.What she wishes society knew and did differently when it comes to eating disorders.So many other important things! ⁠Subscribe to Mallary's Substack ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Follow Mallary on Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠Watch Mallary's TV interview⁠ ⁠Pre-order Mallary's book⁠  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join the Kettlebells & Chaos Challenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Work with me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow me on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow me on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow me on Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠

    57 min
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Trailer

4.9
out of 5
47 Ratings

About

Tough Cookie Talks is a podcast we'll explore the intersection of fitness & anti-diet culture and all the gray areas in between. We'll let go of "shoulds" and judgment and dig into tough conversations with curiosity.

Information

  • Creator
    Jenna Jozefowski
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    179
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Jenna Jozefowski
  • Show Website
    Tough Cookie Talks

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