Speaker 1: 0:02

If you're a whiny snowflake that can't handle the truth, is offended by the word fuck and about 37 uses of it in different forms gets ass hurt. When you hear someone speak the absolute, real and raw truth, you should leave Like right now. This is Shut Up and Choose, the podcast where we cut through the shit and get real about weight loss, life and everything in between. We get into the nitty gritty of making small, smart choices that add up to big results. From what's on your plate to how you approach life's challenges. We'll explore how the simple act of choosing differently can transform your health, your mindset and your entire freaking life. So if you're ready to cut through the bullshit and start making some real changes, then buckle up and shut up, because we're about to choose our way to a healthier, happier life. This is Shut Up and Choose. Let's do this Now. Your host, jonathan Ressler.

Speaker 2: 1:14

Welcome back to Shut Up and Choose the podcast that cuts the noise and nonsense and all the bullshit that those Instagram influencers and internet gurus are spewing your way. The reality is, we all know how to lose weight. There's no mystery to it, and I'm going to take you through today. I'm going to take you through a few different unpopular truths, things about sustainable weight loss that people just don't want you to hear. These are just things that you know. You know them deep down. We all know how to lose weight.

Speaker 2: 1:42

Anybody that tells you don't know how to lose weight or anybody that says they don't know how to lose weight is one thing and one thing only Completely full of shit. Look, let's be real. Weight loss advice is everywhere. Social media is flooded with all these fitness gurus pushing their detox teas and their magic fat burning supplements. One size fits all meal plans and all that shit promises quick results, but meanwhile, diet culture flips between extremes, right? So one day, carbs are the absolute devil and the next day, you should be eating nothing but carbs. It's exhausting, it's confusing and, honestly, it's a load of bullshit. Exhausting, it's confusing and, honestly, it's a load of bullshit. If you're tired of the noise and just want to hear the truth about losing weight and keeping it off, then buckle up, because the reality of sustainable weight loss isn't sexy and it's definitely not what the diet industry wants you to believe.

Speaker 2: 2:38

The truth it's simple but not easy, although honestly I do think it's easy, but it's really a simple thing. It's calories in versus calories out, but there's a lot of mindset around that, but the actual work, honestly, is easy. So it's simple and it's easy. It's about consistency and patience and making choices that support your goals every single day, even when you don't feel like it. And, most importantly, it's about accepting that there are no shortcuts. I know that heresy. I've looked for shortcuts my whole life, but there are no shortcuts and, honestly, that's where most people get stuck. They want results without the work. They want to eat clean all week and then binge like a motherfucker on the weekends and somehow still lose weight, and they want to blame their metabolism or their genetics or their busy schedule Anything but the choices that they make daily. Here's the thing Sustainable weight loss is 100% on you no magic diet, no workout or something that can do it for you. You have to step up, take accountability and make better choices, and not just for a few weeks, but for your whole life and make better choices and not just for a few weeks, but for your whole life. And don't get me wrong I was a big fat motherfucker for 59 years, so I get it.

Speaker 2: 3:51

No one wants to hear that losing weight requires effort or that the weekend cheat meals are probably holding you back, but if you're serious about making a lasting change, you need to hear the unpopular truths about sustainable weight loss. These aren't the feel-good, motivational, fucking soundbites that you're going to see on Instagram. That's all crock of shit. They're the things that people don't want to admit, because admitting them means actually accepting responsibility. So, if you're ready to stop making choices and finally get the results that you're looking for look, I lost over 140 pounds and I've kept it off.

Speaker 2: 4:23

Now coming up on two years, and next week I'm going to talk about what I learned in year two of my journey. That was actually year one of my podcast, but I didn't start podcasting until I was a year into this thing. So I'm going to tell you all the things that I learned next week, but if you want to learn about the 10 unpopular truths that are holding you back and, honestly, they'll change the way you think about weight loss. But the cool thing is, if you embrace them, you might just change your life. So the number one this is an unpopular truth. Number one is sustainable weight loss is fucking boring. That's the truth that nobody wants to hear. Sustainable weight loss is boring. It's not about trendy diets or flashy workouts or some secret hack that all these Instagram jerk-offs claim will melt the fat overnight.

Speaker 2: 5:12

It's about doing the same simple, effective things over and over again until they become second nature. The reality is that most successful people in weight loss and fitness aren't constantly jumping from one fad to another and they're not looking for shortcuts or the next big thing. They eat mostly the same nutritious foods and stick to a somewhat structured routine and follow consistent exercise plan. It's not exciting and it's not sexy and it definitely won't go viral on tiktok. So that's why they're showing you all these magic hacks and super sub man man. Come on, I mean, that's a bunch of shit. It's not sexy, it's boring, but it works. And that's the problem for a lot of people. They want weight loss to feel fresh and fun all the time. They want every meal to be some new, exciting experience and every workout to feel like an adrenaline rush. As you know, I lost the first 125 pounds without doing a lick of exercise. So if you think that it's not all about what you eat, you're out of your fucking mind. So when people get on these fad diets or they do the exercise and they want it to feel like that adrenaline rush, and when it doesn't feel like that, they get bored and they lose motivation. They quit, only to start the cycle again, over and over again, when the next shiny diet catches their attention. I can tell you I am a victim of that. I tell you all the time I've been on over a hundred diets. I've done them all and I lose weight. I lost weight on every single one of them, but sooner or later it gets boring and I don't want to do it anymore. The reality is, weight loss isn't about entertainment, it's about results. If you're constantly chasing some novelty instead of focusing on what actually works, you're going to stay stuck. The people who succeed are the ones who embrace the boring shit, the making small, smart choices. I'm not a meal prepper, but if that works for you meal prepping, eating the same staple foods and doing a consistent workout and, like I said, I didn't work out for the first year and the workouts that I do now in year two are only walking. I still have not spent a moment in the gym. I'm going to change that, but I haven't spent a single second in the gym. So if you stick to your plan and don't look for something that's consistently new, always looking for the new thing you'll get the result. And that doesn't mean you can't ever switch things up. You don't have to eat chicken and broccoli every day or do the same exact workout forever. But if you're constantly hopping from one thing to another because you're bored, ask yourself if you're actually committed to getting the results or you're just looking for something to keep you entertained. Because the truth is, the basics work, man. It's calories in versus calories out. But they only work if you stick to them.

Speaker 2: 7:53

The second unpopular truth is that motivation is useless. Look, let's get that straight. Motivation is a fucking liar. It's unreliable, it's inconsistent and it disappears the second. Things go wrong or get hard. If you're relying on motivation to lose weight, you're setting yourself up for failure.

Speaker 2: 8:12

Yeah, motivation feels great when it's there. Maybe you watch some transformational video or you got pumped up by some new workout plan or stepped on the scale of progress. In those moments you're ready to eat clean, hit the gym, stay on track. Man, you don't have any motivational videos. I watched some people who lost a ton of weight and I said, if they did it, I can do this, but I didn't really have a plan or an idea.

Speaker 2: 8:37

So when life happens, when I was tired or stressed, honestly I just didn't fucking feel like it. That's when I would fall off, and or, honestly, I just didn't fucking feel like it. That's when I would fall off. And that's where most people fall off, because they were depending on motivation instead of something stronger. And you know, I think there's nothing stronger than the desire. So the harsh truth is you're not always going to feel like working out and you're not always going to feel like making the healthy choice of the small, smart choice. But here's the rub Do it anyway. The difference between people who succeed and those who don't isn't motivation, it's the ability to show up and do the work, even when you don't fucking feel like it. So think about it this way Do you brush your teeth every day because you're motivated? No, you do it because it's a habit, a non-negotiable part of your life, or at least I hope you do.

Speaker 2: 9:28

You don't sit around waiting for the inspiration to brush your teeth, you just do it. Sustainable weight loss works exactly the same way. The people who get results are the ones who treat healthy eating and exercise like a responsibility, not an option. And that's where so many people go wrong. They'll wait for the perfect time to start or for the right mood to strike, or for some magical surge of motivation to push them forward Again. Guilty as charged, I did it for 59 years. But when that feeling fades because we all know it always does they quit. And I would quit, I would hit some goal or I'd do whatever, and then I quit. And then I would tell myself that, okay, I'll start again on Monday or I'm going to take it easy for a while, went right back to my old eating habits and the cycle just repeats itself. Here's the truth, the harsh truth. Desire beats motivation. Every time, desire is showing up for yourself, even when, when it's inconvenient, because you know your why.

Speaker 2: 10:29

I did a whole episode on defining your why but you understand why you need to lose the weight, not just to get some bullshit, arbitrary number that you have in your head. It's small, smart choices. When you'd rather order that takeout food. You'd rather get on your phone and order something. No, don't do that. It's desire. It's getting off your ass when you'd rather stay on the couch, and it's making the right small, smart choices over and over again until they become habits.

Speaker 2: 11:00

For me now, eating the right foods and the right portions, it's a habit. And I'm not saying I don't feed my soul. You all know, if you listen to this podcast, I feed my soul all the time. So it's not about torturing yourself. So stop chasing motivation. It's fleeting and it's not going to get you where you want to go. So instead, understand your why, build that desire, because people who win at weight loss aren't the ones who are always motivated. They're the ones who show up anyway. The third unpopular truth and this is a big one is you're probably eating more than you think If we cut to the chase. You're eating more than you think you are If the scale isn't moving and you swear you're eating healthy chances are you're underestimating your portions, over-snacking or conveniently forgetting about the little extras that add up fast.

Speaker 2: 11:54

So most people think they have a decent handle on how much they're eating. I know I always did. I was like, okay, I'm going to eat. Granted, I knew I ate a lot. But when I was trying to lose weight, I know what I'm eating. I'll say I don't eat that much, or for a while I was eating clean. But when you actually break it down, reality tells a different story. That little drizzle of olive oil, that's 120 calories. That handful of almonds, and usually two handfuls of almonds, that's over 200 calories. So a few bites off your kid's plate. Surprise, you just added a whole extra meal to your day.

Speaker 2: 12:31

The problem is that most people eyeball portions and guess calories, and they're almost always off. Studies have shown that even nutrition and dieticians underestimate their calorie intake. And if the experts get it wrong, what the fuck do you think the average person is doing Exactly? I will never advocate for measuring food and weighing food. Hey, if that works for you, by all means you should do it. But you know what to eat. Come on, give me a break. But when you eat mindfully and that's called paying attention to your food, even for a short period of time. It's a game changer, Not because you need to obsess over every calorie, I just said that but because it teaches you what proper portions actually look like. And you know what they look like. Come on, Most people think they're eating one serving of peanut butter, when in reality they're eating two or three. Most people think that their light salad dressing is harmless, but it's loaded with a shitload of calories and at that point you assume you're in a calorie deficit. But in reality you're eating just enough to maintain your weight. If your weight's not going down, you're eating enough to maintain that weight.

Speaker 2: 13:36

Now, before you say I don't want to track my food, you don't have to. But here's the deal If you're not seeing progress and you're not tracking your food, then how do you really know what's going wrong? You don't. It's like trying to save money without checking your bank balance. You think you're spending well, but you're wondering why your balance isn't going up. And again, I'm not telling you to track your food. But if you eat a certain size portion and you're not losing weight, then make it a little bit smaller. If you're eating these little snickety snacks during the day and you're not losing weight, then cut those snickety snacks out. So, if you're serious about making progress, stop playing the guessing game. If you want to track your food, do it, and you can just do it in your head until at least you learn what works, get a real understanding of what's going into your body. Once you've built that awareness, you can ease up, but until then, don't blame your metabolism, when the real issue is most likely your portions and all the little things that you're eating without thinking about them.

Speaker 2: 14:34

The fourth I'm living proof of the fourth one is that cardio isn't a magic solution. If you think pounding the treadmill for hours is a key to weight loss, I got some really bad news for you. Cardio is not the magic solution. In year one, I did none. As I've told you a hundred times, my average step count in year one was 931 steps a day. I mean, that's barely getting out of fucking bed.

Speaker 2: 14:57

Okay, you can run marathons and still not lose weight. If your diet is shit. In fact, a lot of runners actually struggle with it because they assume that, since they're burning calories, they can eat whatever they want. And here's the big spoiler alert that I always tell you. But let me say it again you can't out-exercise a bad diet. It's not possible.

Speaker 2: 15:19

And I'm not saying that cardio doesn't have benefits, because clearly it does. It's great for your heart, health and for endurance and your overall fitness. By all means, if you like doing it, do it. But if you're relying on cardio alone to lose weight, you're fighting an uphill battle. And here's why Cardio doesn't burn as many calories as you think. A 45-minute run that might burn 400 calories and that's great, but guess what? That's wiped out by a couple of quote unquote healthy snacks you weren't even thinking about. And since cardio makes some people hungrier, they end up eating back all the calories that just burns, and sometimes even more. Not that I have to worry about this, but for some people excessive cardio can burn muscle, not just fat.

Speaker 2: 16:02

When you focus too much on cardio without doing any strength training fortunately, I don't do either one, no, that's not true, I do walk and that is actually excellent cardio. But if you focus too much on cardio without doing some kind of strength training, you risk breaking down muscle along with the fat, and I'm not going to get into the whole argument here, but the reality is, less muscle equals a slower metabolism, equals making fat loss even harder in the long run. And let's say you're doing all that but you're still not seeing any results. Well, that's because your body adapts to cardio. Your body is smart. You ever notice how, over time, the same workout that used to leave you drenched in a sweat doesn't even feel challenging anymore. I can tell you I could walk. Maybe I started out walking maybe two tenths of a mile. Now I can walk five, six miles, and I'm good. Your body is smart. It adapts. The more you do cardio, the more efficient your body becomes, meaning that you'll burn less calories doing the same exact workout.

Speaker 2: 17:01

So what should you focus on instead? Your nutrition. Right Nutrition is the king. If you're not in a calorie deficit, you don't lose weight. Period, no matter how many miles you run, you will not lose weight if you're eating too many calories. And I'm not again, I'm not saying you should ditch cardio completely. Cardio should be a tool, not your entire strategy. So if you're into this kind of thing, a mix of strength training, some moderate cardio and a solid nutrition plan will get you way further than mindlessly grinding away on the treadmill. So stop thinking cardio alone is the answer. It's not. You have to eat smarter, not more big one.

Speaker 2: 17:43

For me, number five weekends count. So let's talk about one of the biggest reasons people struggle to lose weight. They diet monday through friday. Then they undo all their progress on the weekend, and I don't know if that sounds familiar to you, but it sure. Shit sounds familiar to me. I'd eat perfectly all week, I'd hit all my goals and I'd stay disciplined and I hate the fucking word discipline because I don't think it helps with weight loss. In fact I think it hurts. But that's a conversation for another day. So you're good all week.

Speaker 2: 18:16

Then Friday night rolls around. Suddenly, hey, it's just one dinner out or just a few drinks and just a little bit of dessert. By Sunday you've had a number, multiple high-calorie meals. You skipped your workout and you told yourself I'm going to get back on track on Monday. And then you sit there and wonder why the scale isn't moving. The truth is, a few bad meals can wipe out a whole week of progress. If you break it down, let's just say you're in a calorie deficit of 500 calories a day. That's 2,500 calories saved Monday through Friday. But then over the weekend you eat some big restaurant meal an extra 1,500 calories. You have a few drinks maybe an extra 800 calories. You have some snacks while you're watching Netflix, let's say, another 500. Sunday brunch another 1,200. Boom, you just wiped out your entire deficit and more. You're not in a calorie deficit anymore. In fact, depending on how much you ate and drank, you might actually be in a surplus. That's why the scale doesn't budge and, worse, why some people actually gain weight despite eating healthy.

Speaker 2: 19:17

Most of the time, the truth is, your body doesn't give a shit what day of the week it is. It doesn't know the difference between Wednesday salad and a Saturday burger. It only responds to the total calories you consume. Now, that doesn't mean you can't ever enjoy yourself on the weekends. Like I said before, and I've told you a million times, I like to feed my soul. But if you're treating Friday through Sunday like an all-you-can-eat vacation and just going off the rails, you're setting yourself back week after week.

Speaker 2: 19:47

So for me and for you, if you believe what I'm telling you, how do you fix that? Well, first is be mindful of your portions and what you're eating when you go out. Restaurant meals, generally speaking, are fucking calorie bombs. So really choose wisely. People are going to be pissed about this, but limit your alcohol? I don't, I try not to. And again, I'm not saying I never have a drink, but I try not to drink my calories, because those drinks add up fast and of course, you have enough of those drinks and they have your ability to make good food choices.

Speaker 2: 20:18

Small, smart choices go out the window with enough drinks. You got to stay active. You have to get a workout in Again, even if it's walking or dancing or whatever it is. Get a workout in and do something to keep moving. And most importantly for me anyway, is use that 80-20 rule, and that just means if you stick to your plan 80% of the time, 20% of the time you can feed your soul. You can just choose your treats in moderation. It's easy If you want results. The bottom line is weekends count. Unfortunately, you don't need to be perfect, but you do need to be consistent. So when you do that shit on the weekends, you're basically letting two days erase five days of hard work. So be smart and eat mindfully.

Speaker 2: 21:05

The sixth one for me is you don't need to cut out your favorite foods. People go fucking crazy when I say that you don't have to give up pizza or burgers or donuts or dessert to lose weight. That's one of the biggest myths in the diet world the idea that you have to suffer, you have to cut out all the quotequote bad foods and live off chicken and broccoli, and that's fucking nonsense. The problem is not the food itself, the problem is how much of it. You eat A slice of pizza, I promise you will not ruin your progress. But if just that one slice turns into a half a pizza, some garlic knots and a side order of regret, that's a different story. The issue isn't that pizza is bad. In fact, I think pizza is good. It's not that food is bad, it's that you're eating just way too much of it.

Speaker 2: 21:57

Lack of self-control, lack of small, small choices not the food itself is what holds most people back and, honestly, this is where people get it wrong. They try to be too strict, cutting out all their favorite foods entirely. What happens? You last a week, a couple weeks, whatever, but eventually you snap and you binge on everything that you've been depriving yourself of. I am guilty as charged and, by the way, after you do that, after you have your binge, you feel guilty, you quit and you start the same cycle over and over again. The truth is, sustainability beats perfection every single time.

Speaker 2: 22:38

If your diet makes you miserable, you're not going to stick to it, not long term. I was great I could stick to any diet for a month or two months and lose the weight and get to the place I wanted to be, but sooner or later I went back to my old way of eating. If you learn how to include your favorite foods just in moderation, you can still enjoy life and lose weight. So the key to doing that is pretty simple. I'm portion control. Have one slice of pizza, not five. Have a couple French fries, not the whole basket. It's not hard. And, by the way, you can make trade-offs. If I know that I'm going to have a big dinner out, I keep the rest of my meals that day and everything I eat much, much lighter. And of course, I tell you this all the time don't keep the trigger foods in the house. If you can't stop with just one, why the fuck are you bringing a whole box into the house? It just doesn't make sense. So get rid of those trigger foods and then, when you finally decide that you're going to be in that 20% where you're going to reward yourself, make sure you do it mindfully.

Speaker 2: 23:37

If you listen to my episode about the rule of four. It's a great rule. By the fourth bite you're satisfied. Don't get me wrong. You're going to keep eating out of habit. But if you're thinking about it, if you really use that rule of four, you won't inhale it and you won't feel guilty afterward. So at the end of the day, weight loss comes down to calories in versus calories out. I know that sucks to hear. I know people. No, that's it. You can get there doing keto. You can get there doing paleo. You can get there doing points. You can get there on the Mediterranean diet, you can get there on any of those fucking diets. But the bottom line is they all are just tricking you or, I guess, manipulating you into eating less calories. So I promise you a burger or some chocolate won't ruin your progress, but overeating it will. So instead of blaming food, take responsibility for your choices. Eat what you love, but do it in a way that really aligns with your goals. It's that simple.

Speaker 2: 24:35

The next one I didn't believe this until I actually experienced it. I used to sleep four or five hours a night and I said oh, I grew up in the nightclub business and I'm so used to sleeping four or five hours a night. And I said, oh, I grew up in the nightclub business and I'm so used to sleeping four or five hours a night. And you know what? That sleeping four or five hours a night and that not getting restful sleep and just always being, I guess, under rested for lack of a better word led me to weigh 411 fucking pounds. Right, and of course I didn't use this excuse. But people always say, well, I have a slow metabolism when they can't lose weight. I never said that because I never really thought of it. But the truth is it's probably not your metabolism, it's your stress levels and your lack of sleep.

Speaker 2: 25:19

Chronic stress and shitty sleep don't just make you feel tired, cranky and shitty. They actively work against your weight loss goals. They mess with your hormones, they increase your cravings and it makes it harder to stick to healthy habits. You're not paying attention to those factors. No amount of dieting or exercise is going to give you the results you want. And again, I hate I, I just everybody.

Speaker 2: 25:42

There's so much argument about this, but when you're stressed, your body releases cortisol and that's a hormone that tells your body to hold on to fat, especially around your belly, your midsection. High cortisol levels also trigger intense cravings for sugary, high-calorie foods. That I'm not disagreeing with. I agree with 100%. Look, you ever notice how you reach for junk food when you're overwhelmed. It's not just a lack of willpower. You ever notice how you reach for junk food when you're overwhelmed. It's not just a lack of willpower, that's biology. Your body is literally driving you toward comfort foods that make weight loss harder. And stress doesn't just affect your eating habit, it also drains your motivation. If you have something but your motivation to work out After a long, stressful day, are you more likely to hit the gym or collapse on the couch like a lazy sack of shit? In order to take out my point exactly and again, I don't want to get into a cortisol argument here and people argue about oh, cortisol, yeah, cortisol does some basic things. No, your high levels of cortisol are not what's making you fat, because that's all about what you eat and how much you eat, but they're not making it easier if you have high cortisol levels.

Speaker 2: 26:47

And when we're talking about the sleep I never really got enough sleep, although I convinced myself I did. If you don't get enough sleep, you're setting yourself up for failure before the day even starts. Sleep deprivation does two major things to fuck with your weight loss. And again, I only learned this after the fact and I don't like to get all scientific and medical, because A I'm not a doctor, I'm not a dietician, I'm just a guy that figured out how to do this shit. I like to say I cracked the code through trial and error, through 59 fucking years of trial and error. Now I'm almost 61. I'm living my best life, but anyway, when you don't get enough sleep, it definitely increases your hunger hormones. Lack of sleep raises ghrelin, and that's the hormone that makes you hungry, and it lowers leptin, and that's the hormone that makes you feel full. So the translation there is if you're tired, you're going to eat more and feel less satisfied.

Speaker 2: 27:35

The second thing poor sleep does is it kills your energy and your willpower. When you're tired, when you're exhausted, your body craves that quick energy junk food. And, let's be honest, when you're running on four hours of sleep, the last thing you want to do is exercise or make small, smart choices. So I would say you fix these things before you blame your slow metabolism. Give me a fucking break with slow metabolism. People love to say that their metabolism is broken, but if you're constantly stressed and not sleeping enough and running on caffeine and energy drinks and adrenaline, your body isn't functioning properly in the first place. So before you go out and blame your genetics or your metabolism, try to fix these few things first. First is get like seven, eight, nine hours of sleep, of quality sleep, because I promise you you're not fine on five hours. You got to prioritize your rest. You got to manage your stress and again, that's different for every single person.

Speaker 2: 28:32

If you're a meditator, meditate, do some breathing. You could journal if you're into that thing I am definitely not or even just go out and take a walk. That I'm into right Every day when I walk. It clears my mind. So just find ways to unwind without food and I'm not great at this one, but I know it's something you have to do. A set boundary right. Overworking yourself leads to burnout, which leads to shitty choices. So you got to learn to say no Limiting caffeine late in the day.

Speaker 2: 29:06

I'm not a real big coffee drinker. I used to be able to say I could drink espresso at night 10 o'clock and be asleep by 11. And I guess that's kind of true, but it definitely affects your sleep. So limit it can't hurt you to limit your caffeine late in the day and this is one that I'm also guilty of, and I'm trying to be better about it. But I'm not Again. I'm on a journey too. I'm going to be on this journey for the rest of my life.

Speaker 2: 29:31

But get off your phone at night. Blue light fucks with your melatonin and it makes it harder to fall asleep. I used to say I got to check everything before you go. Fuck that, you don't have to check your phone. I promise you, unless you're dealing with, say, like 8 o'clock, I'm done and tell people, hey, don't call me or don't text me and I'm not going to answer any of these text messages after. Set a time, set a boundary, it's what I said. But get off your phone at night. So the bottom line here I know it kind of went off on a little tangent there, but bottom line is if your stress is out of control and you're not sleeping enough, don't expect your body to work the way you want it to. You got to fix those things first and then, I promise you, you'll see way better results and you won't have to blame your metabolism anymore, because you're giving your body what it needs.

Speaker 2: 30:16

The eighth one, number eight. The eighth unpopular truth is your body doesn't give a shit about your feelings and, by the way, neither do I. This one might sting a little bit, but it needs to be said. Your body doesn't give a shit about your feelings and, by the way, neither do I. This one might sting a little bit, but it needs to be said. Your body doesn't care how hard you feel like you're working. It doesn't care that you think you're eating healthy or that you feel like you should be losing weight. Your results just fucking just that's it. That'll tell you the truth.

Speaker 2: 30:44

A lot of people get stuck in that trap. They say things like but I eat really clean, but they're eating a shitload of food. Or I work out all the time, but they don't push themselves. If they're into working out or they're not doing the right things, well, I deserve to see results. Your body doesn't operate on fairness. Okay, get over that shit. It responds to what you do. So the hard truth is if you're not losing weight, something needs to change. It doesn't matter how much effort you think you're putting in. If the results aren't there, the process isn't working.

Speaker 2: 31:16

I love the I eat healthy trap, one of the biggest reasons, I believe, that people don't lose weight is because they assume they're eating healthy when they're actually overeating. Not that I thought I was eating healthy, but I didn't think that I was eating as poorly as I was. So I can't say that I assumed that I was eating healthy. I wasn't. I was eating like shit. But a lot of people I know who just maybe have 20, 30 pounds well, I'm eating so healthy.

Speaker 2: 31:40

Let me tell you, just because a food is healthy, it doesn't mean it's calorie-free Shit. Just because a food is healthy, it doesn't mean it's calorie free Shit. Like avocados, nuts, olive oil, protein bars they're all great foods, but they're also really easy to overeat and if you're eating more calories than your body needs, you won't lose weight period. So if you're in that position, change it up a little bit. If you're not seeing results, stop guessing. Maybe at this point you do track your food. I'm not into tracking my food because I believe we all come pre-wired to know exactly what we eat. You know, eating Captain Crunch is definitely much worse breakfast than eating eggs. But whatever, at this point, if you need to track your food, track it, find out exactly how much you're eating and then make an adjustment. Don't get me wrong. If you're not losing weight, you know exactly what needs to be done. But if tracking your food makes you feel good, fuck it, then do it.

Speaker 2: 32:34

The other trap is I work out so much and I felt when I was younger I actually went to the gym for a while because I went there more for social. But I was working out. And common shit that I hear is I work out all the time but nothing's changing. And here's the thing Not all workouts are created equal. So if you're doing the same easy workout over and over guilty when I was young If you're doing that same workout over and over, you're not challenging your body. And again, I always say you don't have to exercise. But now, a couple years into this thing, I'm going to start to exercise and do a little strength training. I'm not saying I'm going to go to the gym, but I'm going to do a little bit of strength training.

Speaker 2: 33:12

And if you're using exercise as your excuse to eat more, I know the few times that I went to the gym. I forced myself in the gym. A few times I went there I would eat. I'd be like, hey, I just did an hour of exercise Fuck that I'm going to eat. So if you're doing that, you're undoing your progress. So you have to. If you're going to train, if you're going to exercise, do it with intent, right. Increase your resistance, lift heavier weights, walk further, do yoga for longer, dance for longer.

Speaker 2: 33:39

Whatever your workout is, make sure it actually aligns with your goals, because, at the end of the day, your body is just a reflection of your habits. If you're not seeing progress, something isn't working. So, instead of getting frustrated, take an honest look at your routine. Are you really in a calorie deficit? Are you consistent or just good some of the time, because, remember, weekends count? Are you pushing yourself in your workouts or are you just going through the motion, because the effort does actually matter? Are you sleeping enough, managing stress, taking care of your recovery? All that shit adds up. Your body isn't against you, it's just responding to what you do. So if the results aren't there, don't complain. Just adjust, adapt and do better, because, at the end of the day, feelings don't drive results, your actions do.

Speaker 2: 34:32

The ninth one this is one that I learned, and it's a hard one for me and probably for a lot of people, but the bottom line is there's no finish line.

Speaker 2: 34:41

A lot of people, myself included, treat weight loss like a temporary project, something that I just needed to finish so I could go back to my normal life. But here's the truth If you go back to your old habits, once you hit your weight goal, the weight's just going to come right back, guilty. Like I said, I've been on over 100 diets, I lost a lot of weight, but I put it all back on. The reality is there is no finish line and that's why so many people lose weight. They celebrate and then they regain everything, and usually some more weight, and they see weight loss as something they do instead of something they become, and I'm going to talk about this next week. But you have to become this thing. People grind through this restrictive diet, guilty, suffer through workouts they hate not so much because I hate the gym and count down the days until they can finally eat normal again.

Speaker 2: 35:30

But, what happens when they stop that thing they're doing, that restrictive diet. The old habits come back and so does the weight. So weight loss sorry, it's not a one-time event. It's a lifestyle shift. Sustainable weight loss means sustainable habits forever. That doesn't mean you have to be perfect every day for the rest of your life, but it does mean you can't just revert back to the behaviors that put you where you are just because you lost the weight.

Speaker 2: 35:59

Think about it like this If you clean your house once, does it stay clean forever? That would be great If it did. Hey, I made my bed, I cleaned the house. Hey, it's going to be that way forever. But of course it doesn't. You have to maintain it. Your body works the same exact way. And again, I'm going to go a lot deeper into this next week talking about what I learned in my first year of podcasting, my second year of this weight loss journey. You got to stop chasing quick fixes. If your diet is something you can't maintain long-term, it's not the right approach.

Speaker 2: 36:35

Find a way of eating that works for life, not just for weight loss, and keep tracking and when I talk about tracking, I'm not talking about writing it down on a spreadsheet how many calories I'll eat. 200 calories of chicken, no fuck that. You don't have to count calories forever. You know what to eat. You know what to eat, so just keep track of that. Eat mindfully. This one is big.

Speaker 2: 36:51

For me is stay active, right. Exercise isn't just for losing weight, it's for maintaining your health, your strength and your energy. Make it a non-negotiable part of your life. I walk every single day. Well, sometimes it's cold or rainy, I might not walk, but I walk every single day. Well, sometimes it's cold or rainy, I might not walk, but I walk. I would say I walk six and a half days a week.

Speaker 2: 37:12

And, most importantly, build habits, not just routines. It's not about following the plan perfectly. I talked about this last week. Your meal plan is a bunch of shit. It has to be a habit, not just a routine. It's about integrating habits into your daily life that make maintaining your weight feel normal.

Speaker 2: 37:31

At the end of the day, weight loss isn't the goal. Long-term health and consistency are. There's no done button. There's no finish line. There's no magical point where you get to stop giving a shit. The only way to keep the weight off is to keep doing what got you there in the first place.

Speaker 2: 37:53

So if you're looking for a quick fix, I hate to break it to you. It doesn't exist. This is for life. But if you build habits you actually enjoy, that's not a bad thing. It's just who you are now, and I'm going to talk about how I transformed my whole life next week, but the last one and I'm also going to talk about this a little bit more next week but number 10, the last one I'm going to talk about is no one else can do it for you.

Speaker 2: 38:11

Let's be real. No coach, no diet plan, no internet guru, no Instagram fucking jerk off your accountability. Buddy can make you lose weight. Yeah, they can guide you, they can support you, they can give you a little tools in the world, but at the end of the day, it's on you to show up and do the work.

Speaker 2: 38:29

A lot of people look for someone or something to fix them. They hire trainers guilty. They join weight loss programs guilty. They spend money on meal plans guilty, hoping that this time is going to be different. But guess what? None of that shit matters if you don't take personal responsibility. You can have the best trainer in the world and, believe me, I hired highly recommended and expensive trainers, but if you don't show up and put in the effort, nothing changes. You could have that perfect meal plan, that perfect diet which I always had, but if you don't actually follow it, you won't lose weight. You can have your support system cheering you on my kids were always cheering me on when I was doing it but if you're still sneaking those little snacks or making excuses, you're the fucking problem, not them.

Speaker 2: 39:14

No one can want it more than you do. My kids wanted it my whole life for me more than I did. I wanted it, but not as much as they wanted me to be healthy. So people love to blame external factors for their lack of progress. My trainer didn't give me the right workout plan Bullshit, you just didn't fucking do it. My diet coach didn't tell me what to eat.

Speaker 2: 39:34

Well, you know what. No one needs to tell you what to eat. Nobody knows what you like to eat. That's a bunch of shit. You know what to eat. My husband or my wife keeps bringing junk food in the house. Give me a fucking break. That's just another excuse.

Speaker 2: 39:47

The truth is, if you really want to change, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse. I found them for 59 years. I get it, but once I decided to take responsibility for what I was doing, nothing could stop me. So if you want to lose weight here's the secret you have to make the choice every single day. Secret you have to make the choice every single day. No one is forcing you to eat junk food Nobody. You might like it, but nobody's putting that shit down your throat. No one is stopping you from exercising and again, that could be walking, yoga, stretching, whatever it is but no one's stopping you from doing that. And no one else is responsible for your success, but you.

Speaker 2: 40:22

So if you're not seeing progress, don't look for someone else to blame. Look in the mirror and ask yourself am I truly following my plan or am I just doing what I feel like it? Am I consistent or do I let every inconvenience throw me off? Am I taking responsibility or am I just waiting for someone else to fix me? At the end of the day, no one can do the work for you. It's not your trainer, it's not your doctor. It's not your doctor, it's not your best friend. You can have all the support in the world, but if you don't take ownership of your actions, of your choices, nothing's going to change. So stop waiting for motivation. Stop blaming your circumstances. You know what? Here's a good place. Shut up and choose, because the only person who could change your life is you. So look, if you made it this far, you probably realized something.

Speaker 2: 41:09

Sustainable weight loss isn't about finding the perfect diet, the best workout or waiting for the right moment. It's about taking responsibility. It's about being consistent, making small, smart choices, even when it's hard, even when it's boring and even when you don't feel like it. The truth is, most people struggle with weight loss not because they don't know what to do. Everybody knows what to do. It's because they don't want to accept the realities of what it takes. They want to take the easy way out. They want to eat like shit on the weekends, avoid any exercise and blame their metabolism and still see results. But I got news for you. That's not how this works.

Speaker 2: 41:49

If you take anything away from this episode today, let it be that you are in control. Nobody is going to do it for you. No one's coming to save you. But that's a good thing, because it means you have the power to change. So stop chasing the quick fixes. Stop waiting for motivation. It's not coming. Stop making excuses. Shut up and choose. Choose to eat mindfully, choose to train. Whatever it is you do with purpose. Choose to be consistent. Choose your own progress or lack of it, because the sooner you accept those truths, the sooner you'll finally get the results you've been chasing. And the best part of this whole thing is when you stop looking for the easy way out and start embracing this process. It stops feeling like a struggle and it starts to become who you are, and that's really what I'm going to talk about next week is who I've become over the past two years. I promise you it's going to be a great episode. I'm going to talk about my whole journey, from beginning to end, and it's going to be one that you don't want to miss. So those are the unpopular truths that I believe exist out there. Do with them what you choose, because at the end of the day, it's all about choice.

Speaker 2: 43:05

If you want to read my book, learn all about my journey, how I lost over 140 pounds and kept it off, it's available on Amazon. It's called Shut Up and Choose, same as this podcast. We're an Amazon bestseller. You can get it sent to you overnight. I promise you it will change your life. I get emails every day of people who have told me that I've changed their life just by reading the book because, again, it focuses on the mental side of things.

Speaker 2: 43:25

I'm not giving you a meal plan, I don't give you an exercise plan, I don't do any of that shit. I remind you that you know how to do this. I have a video course. It's called the Effortless Weight Loss Academy. You can get that at learnshutupandchoosecom and it's a 23, 24, I don't remember how many videos. That really helps you get into the right mindset to lose weight, because at the end of the day, it's all about mindset. You know how to do this thing. It's calories in versus calories out.

Speaker 2: 43:50

Whether you call it keto, I don't give a shit what you call it. It's about making small, smart choices. It's about understanding why you really want to lose weight. It's not about fitting into a size, small address. It's about figuring out why you really want and need to lose the weight. Again, that's called the Effortless Weight Loss Academy. It's 23 videos or something like that. I promise you can watch the whole thing in like two hours. It's not a big deal, but it reminds you of all the things that you forgot. So that's it. That's all I have to say for today. I know the things that I told you probably suck to hear. I didn't want to hear them for 59 years, but then I decided that I really needed to take control of my life and I needed to lose the weight and I needed to get myself healthier and I needed to really take control. And that's when I decided to just shut up and choose.

Speaker 1: 44:39

You've been listening to Shut Up and Choose. Jonathan's passion is to share his journey of shedding 130 pounds in less than a year without any of the usual gimmicks no diets, no pills. And we'll let you in on a little secret no fucking gym. And guess what? You can do it too. We hope you enjoyed the show. We had a fucking blast. If you did, make sure to like, rate and review. We'll be back soon, but in the meantime, find Jonathan on Instagram at JonathanWrestlerBocaRaton. Until next time, shut up and choose.