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: 1:15

Hey, welcome back to Shut Up and Choose the podcast where we take all the confusing, contradictory and downright useless diet advice floating around out there, light it on fire and then replace it with something that actually makes sense and, thatright, useless. The light's floating around out there, light it on fire and then replace it with something that actually makes sense and that actually works. If you've been following me, you know I have been gone for the last two weeks. I had some personal family business that I'd take care of and I had to do what was most important and that was taking care of that business. But that actually made me think. That made me think about today's episode and what I wanted to talk about. So if you're new here, I want to say welcome. If you've been here before, you already know what's coming the truth, with no sugarcoating, probably a few curse words that your nutritionist would definitely frown at.

Speaker 2: 1:58

But today I want to talk about healthy eating habits. And no, I'm not talking about the influencer-approved bullshit where your fridge is like color-coded and you eat six times a day out of a special glass container and your grocery bill looks like a car payment. I'm talking about real habits and we're also going to talk about a couple other things and you'll see why this makes sense, that I was gone for two weeks and why this inspired this episode. So I want to talk about real habits, the kind that real people people with jobs and kids and bills and stress and cravings, and actual fucking lives can build and keep without losing their mind. Because here's the deal Most of what we've been told about healthy eating is either wildly unrealistic or completely disconnected from real life. You've got diet culture screaming at you to eat clean or cut carbs, avoid sugar fast until noon, track every morsel, drink your weight in water and somehow still make meals that actually look like Pinterest boards, and people wonder why no one can stick to anything for more than two weeks. Let's be real If you're trying to survive on chicken breasts, steamed broccoli and motivational quotes alone, of course you're going to end up face first in a bag of Doritos by Saturday night. That's what happens when we chase perfection instead of progress. And, as you know, I've been there. I've played the game. I've done the extreme diets, the 30-day resets. Let's cut everything fun and call it wellness plans, and every time it ends up pretty much the same way I'm exhausted, frustrated and right back to where I started and, in most cases, usually heavier than when I started.

Speaker 2: 3:34

So in today's episode, we're going to throw that whole perfection mindset away and talk about how to build habits that don't suck Habits you can actually stick with long enough to see results not for a few weeks, not until your high school reunion you know those bullshit goals but for life. We're going to get into why most people fail at building habits, and I'm going to give you a hint it's not because you suck, it's because your strategy sucks. How to start small without feeling like you're not doing enough, why healthy doesn't mean being miserable, and how to make eating well a normal, automatic part of your day, like brushing your teeth, I guess with more protein, though. So if you ever felt like you're either on a plan or completely off the rails, if you ever started monday with green juice and end the friday night with pizza and self-loathing, this episode is 100% for you, because it is not about shame and it's not about guilt, and it's definitely not about being perfect. It's about making better, small, smart choices more often and building a life that feels good, not one that feels like punishment. So get ready. It's time to stop overthinking, to stop overcomplicating shit and start building real, sustainable, healthy eating habits that can actually fit into your life, not someone else's life your life. So let's just call this what it is.

Speaker 2: 4:58

Most people treat healthy eating like a hostage situation. Like a hostage situation, they go from eating whatever the fuck they want to pizza, soda, random handfuls of cereal, donuts, to suddenly deciding that starting Monday, they're a new person, a better person, a person who eats nothing but grilled chicken, steamed broccoli and a sad little container of quinoa that tastes like shit soaked in regret. So they think, okay, I'm gonna start drinking water with lemon, skip dessert and walk around with a reusable water bottle like it's a new appendage. By Wednesday, they're white-knuckling their way through cravings. By Thursday, they're fantasizing about bread like it's a porno. And by Friday night they're face-deep in the pizza box wondering what the fuck happened again. And if that sounds familiar to you, you're in the right place. It sounds familiar to me.

Speaker 2: 5:44

I always say I've been on over 100 diets and I succeeded on them all, and then I ultimately failed. As you know, I've lost over 140 pounds and kept it off for over two years, doing small, smart choices, by not beating myself up, by not being perfect by knowing that I'm a fucking human being. And that's why most people fail on everything else because they go all in on habits that aren't realistic, they're not enjoyable and they're sure as shit not sustainable. They make every single change all at once, thinking they'll willpower their way to a new body. You can't treat it like a sprint, a detox, a 30-day punishment camp. You expect to get long-term results from short-term suffering. It just doesn't work that way, sorry. So let me make this painfully clear for you If your healthy habit makes you miserable, it's not sustainable, it's fucking stupid. And before anybody comes at me with that bullshit no pain, no gain. I'm not saying the change should be completely effortless, no gain. I'm not saying the change should be completely effortless. I'm saying it should be doable every day without losing your fucking mind in the process. Look, I get it.

Speaker 2: 6:52

It's easy to get caught up in the trap of thinking healthy eating has to be extreme, and we've been conditioned by social media and the diet culture to believe that we're not suffering. We're not doing it right. Guilty as charged, I mean I used to believe that I suffered through suffering. We're not doing it right. I'm guilty as charged. I mean I used to believe that. I suffered through hundreds of diets.

Speaker 2: 7:08

We think that we have to cut carbs or count every macro, prep every meal, skip happy hour, apple cider vinegar, avoid fruit, track every calorie, and then we have to have the willpower of a buddhist stay on track. But here's the truth that no one's telling you. You don't need perfect habits, you need consistent ones. You don't have to eat clean 100% of the time, you don't have to cook every meal from scratch and you don't have to live off fucking green juice and air. What you need to do is show up most of the time and make better, small, smart choices more often. That's it. That's what actually works.

Speaker 2: 7:49

Eating better doesn't mean overhauling your life overnight. It means making small, smart choices that fit into your schedule, into your budget and, honestly, your taste buds, so you can actually stick with them. It means learning how to eat like a fucking grownup without treating food like it's a moral test. Because here's what happens when you try to be perfect right, you burn out for sure, then you binge, then you beat yourself up, then you start over Monday and then you repeat that cycle for months, for years, for your whole life, and the cycle just goes on and on, all while you convince yourself that you just don't have enough discipline or willpower to lose the weight. But the truth is it's not you, it's the plan.

Speaker 2: 8:32

It's the toxic idea that healthy eating has to suck, that it has to be boring, that it has to be bland, that it has to be restrictive, that it means saying no to everything you enjoy and white-knuckling your way through life just to fit into a smaller pair of pants. Let me be the one to break that bullshit for you. Healthy eating should fit into your life, not take over your life. It should make you feel better, not worse. It should give you energy and not drain it. And, yeah, it should still leave room for pizza and wine, chocolate, donuts and the occasional greasy bacon, egg and cheese sandwich when you're hung over your question of your life choices, the key is finding the balance point where your habits support your goals without turning your life into a never-ending episode of nutritional survivor.

Speaker 2: 9:20

You want to know what's real and what sustainable healthy eating looks like. It looks like consistency over chaos. It looks like building habits that are so normal people barely even notice them. I said that when I started this journey of losing all this weight, people didn't even know I was on a diet. I would just eat. I wasn't meal prepping and doing all kinds of crazy shit. It looks like here. I'll give you an example. It looks like ordering grilled chicken instead of the fried one, not because you have to, but because you want to feel better later.

Speaker 2: 9:52

It's about choosing meals that serve your goals most of the time Hear that Most of the times and also knowing that one meal won't make or break you. I get it. That's not sexy, it's not flashy, it's not great for Instagram, but it's the shit that actually works. And it works because it doesn't rely on willpower or perfection. It relies on systems, simplicity and choices you can repeat without losing your fucking mind. So if your current version of healthy eating feels like suffering, here's a newsflash. That's not health. That's a punishment plan in disguise. So let it go. Let's build something better. Start small, start real and start now. And, for the love of carbs, stop trying to change everything at once. So let's talk about the changes that actually stick.

Speaker 2: 10:41

Because, let's be honest, most of you out here trying to build your new healthy lifestyle like it's a Netflix documentary montage. Day one, you clean out your pantry. Day two, you meal prep like a contestant on Top Chef. On day three, you're posting your green smoothie with a motivational quote about discipline and by day five you're in a fucking Chick-fil-A line ordering fries with extra sauce, wondering what the fuck happened. Chick-fil-a line ordering fries with extra sauce. Wondering what the fuck happened. And what happened is simple you went too big, too fast. You tried to do everything all at once. You replace your old habits with aspirations and not systems. Aspirations are fine, but they don't get you through a stressful Tuesday when your kid is melting down or your inbox has 9,700 messages or you haven't taken a piss in six hours. So let's flip the script.

Speaker 2: 11:27

Let's talk about the real secret to building healthy eating habits. It's simple. It's small, stupid changes. Yeah, I said it Small, stupid changes. Right, start stupid. Small, so small it almost feels pointless. Because that's how habits work, that's how they build, not with grand gestures, but with small, repeatable actions that compound over time. You know what a good day one looks like. You want me to tell you Honestly Swapping your afternoon soda for flavored water, adding a protein source to your breakfast, eating one vegetable today, not five, just one. Not eating dinner over the sink like a fucking animal Guilty, shout out to all of us who've done it. And that's it. That's the kind of stuff that creates actual momentum, because, guess what? You don't need to earn your way into health by suffering. You don't need to overhaul your entire personality. You just need to stop eating like a fucking freshman in college with a vending machine addiction and start to make decisions that feel slightly better than yesterday's.

Speaker 2: 12:26

My whole thing is about small, smart choices, and small changes are powerful because they're doable, and doable means they're repeatable, and repeatable is what gets you results. Now, the problem is, we've been brainwashed to believe that small equals weak. We want results now. We want dramatic before and after photos. We want the Instagram story to lose 15 pounds in two weeks, and suddenly you love your life and wake up early and drink herbal tea and feel peace radiating from your pores. Sorry, no, you're going to wake up tomorrow and still crave junk food and still hate your fucking alarm clock and still wonder why your jeans fit weird after laundry day. That's the reality. But you'll also have made one better decision, one small smart choice, and then another, and then another, and that's where it starts.

Speaker 2: 13:12

So let me give you an example. Let's say your normal lunch is a fast food combo meal. Guilty, I've done it. I did it for years. That's fine. You don't need to switch that into a kale salad with grilled salmon overnight. Start by keeping the burger, but skip the fries. Or keep the fries and add water instead of soda. Just one change, one small change, one small small choice. That's it.

Speaker 2: 13:32

Because those small tweaks, they're gateway habits. They lead to bigger changes, naturally, without forcing them. Suddenly. You're like, hey, you know, I don't feel like shit after lunch and that feeling, that's motivation. But You're like, hey, you know, I don't feel like shit after lunch, and that feeling that's motivation. But it only shows up when you prove to yourself that you can actually stick to something. You don't need 37 new rules to follow. You need one small rule that you can follow for the next seven days. So try this I'll eat a protein-rich breakfast every weekday. Boom, that's your habit. Not eat clean, not avoid carbs, not be good. Just eat a solid breakfast, protein. That's how your system gets built. But remember, you're not chasing a temporary result, you're building a foundation. I get it. Big changes look sexy in theory, but they crumble fast when real life slaps you in the face. Small changes, they're kind of stealthy. They slip into your routine and become second nature and one day you wake up and realize you're living like a healthy person, not because you forced it, but because you became it.

Speaker 2: 14:35

I always use the example of me eating overnight oats every morning for breakfast. It was just what I did. I Made them the night before. I'm not a meal prepper, but I made them the night before because they take that much time. They take about 15 seconds to make and then you have to soak them overnight. I never thought that I would ever eat something like that and now it's what I eat every day and I love it. It just happened. It wasn't like I said.

Speaker 2: 14:58

I'm going to eat overnight oats from now on. No, I just. I had them one day and I said, all right, I'm going to have another day and before you know it, that was a healthy habit that I built. So if you're still out here trying to do a 21-day detox or track every macro or cut out anything that's fun, eat celery like it's your full-time job, stop it. You don't need to do more, you need to do less, but you need to do it better.

Speaker 2: 15:21

So repeatable beats, impressive Simple beats, extreme and small smart choices those little changes beat the shit out of doing nothing because your plan is too overwhelming. You want to build healthy eating habits for the long haul? Then start like someone who's actually trying to win the long game. One decision at a time, one habit at a time. And if your changes feel too easy to matter, good, that means you're finally doing it right. Now. You know I'm all about mindset, so your mindset matters more than your meal plan. So let's talk a little bit about mindset, because here's the cold hard truth you can have the best meal plan in the world and the most optimized macro split in a fridge full of perfectly prepped food and still fuck yourself over if your brain isn't on board. Most people don't fail because they don't know what to eat. Everybody knows what to eat. They fail because they can't stop beating themselves up every time they're not perfect. And that toxic little mental loop that's what kills momentum faster than a two-for-one donut special.

Speaker 2: 16:27

You know I'm a donut guy, so let me put it this way If you eat one slice of pizza and your first thought is, oh, I blew it, I suck. I might as well eat the whole box and start over Monday. You don't need a new diet, you need a mindset overhaul, because the real problem is not the pizza, it's the shame, the spiral that you put yourself in, that you attach to the pizza. So we get real for a second. Like when did we start acting like?

Speaker 2: 16:51

Food is a moral issue. Pizza is bad, kale is good, sugar is evil, avocados are virtue. Come on, you're not a good or bad person based on what's on your plate. You didn't fail because you had a cookie. You didn't ruin your progress because you had a cookie. You didn't ruin your progress because you had a drink. You're not off track because you had a life. Here's like a little revolutionary thought for you. You're allowed to be a fucking human being who enjoys food.

Speaker 2: 17:14

What screws people up isn't the treat, it's the all or nothing thinking that follows it. You know what else kills consistency the belief that you're not perfect, that you're failing. You're not a robot. You're not a machine. You have cravings, you have stress, you have schedules, emotions. Sometimes you just want a fucking slice of cake. That doesn't mean you're broken. It means you're normal.

Speaker 2: 17:35

But somehow, along the way, the diet culture made you believe that any deviation from clean eating means you're weak, you're lazy, you're undisciplined or whatever other lie you repeated yourself in the mirror, god knows. I told myself a hundred lies about why I couldn't do it, why I was weak. But let's kill that noise here, because this is where people sabotage themselves Not in food choices, but in the mindset that says those food choices define their worth. They start eating healthy from a place of punishment Guilty. They try to shrink their bodies. Place of punishment, guilty. They try to shrink their bodies out of shame Guilty. They restrict because they think they don't deserve satisfaction. Well, here's a little fucking newsflash. Punishment does not create sustainable change. You can't hate yourself into a healthier version of you. You can't build good habits on a foundation of guilt. You have to come at this from a place of respect Respect your time, your energy, your health and respect your life.

Speaker 2: 18:31

Healthy eating is not about control, it's about care. It's about fueling your body so you can show up in your life like a badass, not. So you can hit some arbitrary number on a scale that still makes you feel miserable inside, because if you lose 30 pounds, you still hate yourself in the mirror. What the fuck did you win? You didn't win anything. Let me say that again If you lose weight but don't fix your mindset, nothing is going to change. So you're probably asking how do you actually shift the mental game?

Speaker 2: 19:00

Well, here's a couple things that you can start with. First, to stop labeling food as good or bad. Food has calories, not morality. A salad doesn't make you a saint and a donut does not make you a sinner. Okay, drop the guilt immediately. If you had a cookie, cool, great, fuck it. Who cares?

Speaker 2: 19:16

Move on, don't let one decision hijack your entire week. Focus on addition, right, not restriction. That sounds crazy in this diet world. But focus on addition, not restriction. Add more protein, add more water, add more fiber, add more meals that make you feel good. Crowding out junk food works better than banning it. I always told you I feed my soul. I fed my soul the whole way. I still do. I'll eat donut, I'll eat anything, but I don't let it take over my life. Take over my life.

Speaker 2: 19:43

And the fourth one, which is really important is play the long game. You're not on or off a diet. You're building a lifestyle One meal, one choice, one habit at a time. And then the last one is talk to yourself like someone you actually like, right? If your best friend had one bad day of eating, would you call him or her a failure? No, then stop fucking doing that shit to yourself. The mindset that works is the one built on ownership, not obsession. We're talking about compassion here, not control. This isn't about letting yourself off the hook. It's about staying in the fucking game even when you're not playing perfectly, because people who win at this they're not perfect, they're just consistent and they don't quit when it gets messy. So if your internal dialogue sounds like a drill sergeant's chirping at you, it's time to write the script. Start talking to yourself like someone worth showing up for, because guess what you are? I was. I started showing up for myself.

Speaker 2: 20:41

All right, let's talk about how we get tactical here, how we actually do it. We talked about why most healthy habits fail, how to start small and how your mindset matters more than your macro. But we need to answer the question. Everyone's silently screaming, which is all right, cool, but how do I actually do this? How do you turn eating better from a random burst of Monday motivation? Is it something that just happens, without mental breakdown, or a 45-minute internal debate over whether to cook or order from Uber Eats? Here's the real talk. Right, willpower is bullshit. Habits are everything. And no. Habits don't magically form because you want it enough. They form when you build them intentionally with systems, not just like good vibes. Let me break it down a little further for you. So first is build into what you already do.

Speaker 2: 21:28

The biggest mistake people make when they're building new habits they try to bolt them onto their life, some kind of side hustle. You can't just say I'm going to eat healthier now and expect your brain to say, oh, all right, cool, got it. No, your brain is fucking lazy. It loves routine, it loves familiarity. It doesn't want to work harder than it has to. So what do we do? We sneak the new habit into something you already do. It's called habit stacking and it works like magic. So here's how it looks. I don't know. After I make my morning coffee, I'm going to drink a glass of water. After I put the kids to bed, I'm going to prep tomorrow's lunch, if you're a meal prepper. After I brush my teeth at night, I'm going to plan my meals for the next day. That's fine. You're not creating a brand new moment in your day, you're just piggybacking off one that already exists. That's how habits become automatic.

Speaker 2: 22:18

The second thing you want to do is and you know this, but is make healthier choices easier. You know why most people don't stick with healthy habits Because they're inconvenient as hell. Junk food is easier, takeout is faster, the soda's right there. So if you want to win this game, you have to rig it in your favor. Make the healthy choice the easy choice. Stock your fridge with grab-and-go protein. Chop up some veggies if you want. Have emergency snacks that you actually like I learned this from the supermarket but put the food you actually want to eat At eye level. Okay, the supermarket puts all the bad the high margin, the bad food for you at eye level and all the healthy shit is down low. So put the food you want to eat at eye level. Hide the shit, the crap, because we can all say we're going to empty out the refrigerator, but we all know you're not. So hide the shit that you don't want to eat behind, like the three things that you would never reach for, make it a pain in the ass.

Speaker 2: 23:13

Don't rely on willpower when you're tired, stressed, or definitely not when you're hangry. Set up your environment so your default decision is a good one. Think of it like this If your kitchen's a landmine of junk, your habits don't stand a chance. I get it. You have kids. It doesn't matter. If your kitchen is a landmine of shit food, your habits don't stand a chance.

Speaker 2: 23:34

The next thing is remove the drama. Okay, here's the pro tip that nobody tells you Healthy eating habits should be boring. They shouldn't be motivational. Not eating habits should be boring. They shouldn't be motivational, not inspirational, not Instagrammable, just boring automatic. I do this because it's what I do. That simple. The goal is not to hype yourself up every day. That shit doesn't work and it doesn't last. The goal is to remove the drama from the decision.

Speaker 2: 23:57

So let's say you're trying to eat breakfast instead of skipping it. It shouldn't be like a 10-minute debate about what's healthy, what fits your macro, how many blueberries fuck that it should be. I eat the same two or three things every weekday morning. Done Decision fatigue kills habits, so don't create a plan that makes you think 14 times before noon. Make the routine so predictable that your brain stops noticing you're even doing it that. Going back to my overnight oats thing that's just what I eat. My brain just goes to that. Next step is going to be a tough one, or a great one, in my opinion. But lower the fucking bar, okay. No, I said lower the bar. I'll say it again for perfectionists Okay, lower the fucking bar.

Speaker 2: 24:39

Trying to go from zero to meal prepping God in one weekend is how you burn out and hate life. Your first habit might be as small as making one healthy swap per meal, or cooking at home two nights a week, or packing your lunch twice this week, drinking an extra glass of water. Whatever I get it, they feel too small to matter. Right, good, that means they're realistic, and realistic equals repeatable, and repeatable equals transformation. So stop making your habits a performance. Make them something you can actually do on your worst day.

Speaker 2: 25:13

The next thing is I talk about this all the time but track your wins, not your perfection, your wins. If you want to feel like you're making progress. Start keeping a score where it counts, instead of assessing over the scale or whether you hit every macro perfectly. Track the days you followed your habit, the times you bounced back after making a small bad choice, meals that you actually enjoyed and support your goals, choices that felt easier than they used to feel. Progress is not just about what shows up in the mirror. It's about how often you're showing up for yourself, and small wins build trust, and trust builds momentum.

Speaker 2: 25:48

The bottom line here is systems are so much greater than willpower. You're not lazy, you're not broken. You just need a system. So stop making it harder than it needs to be. Pick one habit, tie it to a routine, make it easy, make it boring, track it and then repeat, repeat, repeat. Because if it's not something you do when you're busy, you're tired, you're annoyed and completely over it, then it's not a habit, it's just a phase, and phases don't change lives. Habits do. Success doesn't come from superhuman willpower. It comes from creating a life where the default choices are better choices, small, smart choices.

Speaker 2: 26:28

Perfection we talked a little bit about it, but I'm going to talk a little bit more about it. Perfection is a fucking lie. Flexibility is the truth. Flexibility wins. You will fuck up, get over it, you'll eat the cookie, you'll have the pizza and guess what? You're still on track. The goal is in perfection. It's consistency over time.

Speaker 2: 26:48

The people who succeed long term aren't the ones who eat perfectly every day. They're the ones who bounce back quickly when they don't. One bad meal is not a failure. One off day doesn't undo your progress. You're not a robot. You're not a machine. You're not a robot. You're not a machine. You're a fucking human being. So act like one, with some grace and not guilt. So look, if you've stuck with me this far, you're already smarter than probably half the wellness gurus on Instagram and the internet.

Speaker 2: 27:18

Now let's talk about the thing that's silently wrecking more weight loss efforts than carbs, sugar and even margaritas. Right, perfection, that all or nothing, black and white. I'm either crushing it or I'm trash mindset. Yeah, that's the real villain here. Let me say clearly perfection is a lie. It's a toxic fucking lie and it keeps you stuck. Because here's what perfection looks like in the real world. You decide to eat clean.

Speaker 2: 27:43

Monday and Tuesday go great. Wednesday you get slammed at work, you miss a meal and end up eating something off plan. Then the thoughts creep in I fucked up, I blew it, I already messed the day up. Might as well start again on Monday, and just like that, you go from one small bad choice, one less than perfect decision, to a five-day binge spiral over what A sandwich, a donut and that's the exact kind of self-sabotage perfection creates, not because your choice was bad, but because you believed it had to be flawless or it wasn't worth doing.

Speaker 2: 28:15

Guess what? That's not discipline, that's dysfunction. Let's be adults here. Your body does not need perfect, your body needs consistency. So let me give it to you straight here for a second.

Speaker 2: 28:28

The people who actually succeed at long-term weight loss, like me. They're not the most disciplined I'm certainly not. They're not the most motivated I'm certainly not. And they're not the ones eating air and tracking their fucking spinach. They're the ones who figured out how to stay in the game, even when life gets crazy. Because here's another spoiler alert Life will always get crazy. You're going to have stress, you're going to have birthdays, you're going to have holidays, long work days and fuck it moments.

Speaker 2: 28:58

The question really is what will you do next? Do you spiral into I'll start over next week, or do you make the next meal a better one and keep moving forward? That's what flexibility looks like. It's the ability to adapt, to adjust, to correct your course, not abandon ship every time things don't go 100% as planned. Here's the rule I teach straight out of Shut Up and Choose.

Speaker 2: 29:21

One bad decision is just a decision. Two bad decisions in a row that's momentum. And momentum works both ways. If you slip up, fine, you're human. You don't just turn one off meal into a weekend long binge-a-thon, followed by a shitload of self-loathing. And that's where real change happens, in how you respond when things aren't perfect.

Speaker 2: 29:43

Flexibility means you make better decisions more often, even when things aren't perfect. Flexibility means you make better decisions more often even when things aren't ideal. It means you can enjoy a slice of cake at your kid's birthday party, then get back to business in the next meal without guilt, without panic and without thinking you've ruined everything. Because here's the truth You're never more than one meal away from being right back on track. That's it. You don't need to spiral, you don't need to punish yourself, you don't need to start over. You just need to keep going. Let me give you, like a paint, a little picture for you. Let's say you were driving across the country and got a flat tire. Would you A pull over and fix it and keep going, or, b slash the other three tires, set the car on fire and walk home in shame, because that's what you're doing every time. You mess up and throw the whole plan out. Seriously, fix the fucking tire, keep driving.

Speaker 2: 30:33

Flexibility allows you to navigate real life. It keeps you in the game. It helps you bounce back faster. It's what actually leads to results that last more than 10 minutes. So if you've been stuck in this perfect or nothing cycle, listen, you don't need to be perfect. You need to be consistent. You need to be honest. You need to stop quitting every time things get inconvenient. Build a lifestyle you can live with on your worst day, not just your best, because that's what makes it real.

Speaker 2: 31:01

Let go of the idea that one bad meal ruins your progress. Let go of the idea that every plan has to be executed flawlessly and let go of the idea that starting over is the answer. You don't need another fucking reset. You need to shut up, take a breath, make a better choice and keep moving forward. That's how you build habits, that's how you build consistency and that's how you build a body and a mindset that you're proud of. Flexibility isn't weakness, it's wisdom. It's how you stay in this thing for the rest of your life.

Speaker 2: 31:36

So that's pretty much it. If any of this hit home for you. Let's be real. It probably did Do me a favor. Share it with someone who's stuck in the all or nothing cycle, or send to your friend who starts a new diet every month. They're just post and tag me. So I know you're one of the smart ones. So that's really it. It's all about being flexible, not being perfect, taking each choice, each decision, one decision at a time, and knowing that if you make a mistake, you didn't blow it.

Speaker 2: 32:00

And the way in case you're wondering how this ties into me missing the last two weeks is I could have easily. If I was in that mindset, I could have been ah, fuck it, I haven't done a podcast in two weeks or three weeks, whatever it was. So fuck it, I'm not going to do it anymore. No, I came back, right back, and I'm. I'm here, I'm talking to you and I'm making it happen because I know what happened over the last two weeks with my family. Stuff didn't derail my entire progress of my podcast. I've been doing it for a year and a half two years. It's having the grace to give yourself the grace to know okay, I messed up for the last two weeks, or I messed up this last meal, or I ate a donut, or I had some pizza, but I'm still going to move forward because you know what it's progress. I'm not trying to be perfect and I can tell you I am far well.

Speaker 2: 32:42

I probably don't need to tell you this, but I am far from perfect. So that's it for this week. That's it for this episode. As you know, I have a book on Amazon called Shut Up and Choose bestseller. Tons of great reviews. It chronicles my journey of losing 140 pounds in a year or so. Because really I lost 125 pounds in the first year and then I just lost another 15. The Because really I did lose 125 pounds in the first year and then I just lost another 15. The book gets great reviews. It's very easy to read. You can read it in an hour. You can get that on Amazon. You can. Also.

Speaker 2: 33:10

I have a video course called the Effortless Weight Loss Academy. You can get that at learnshutupandchoosecom. Learnshutupandchoosecom. It's 23 videos or so. Each video is only five to seven minutes. You can definitely watch it in a single day and that really takes you through the mindset and gets your head in the right space. Again, getting great reviews. People love it and I hopefully will. If you need the help, you'll be there too. Again, that's it for today. I don't know what else to say. I'm happy to be back here on the podcast. I'm happy to share my thoughts with you, share my I don't want to say wisdom, because I don't think I'm that smart, but I guess my experience with you. You have the ability to do this. You have the power to do it. All you have to do is shut up and choose.

Speaker 1: 33:59

You've been listening to Shut Up and Choose. 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.