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: 1:13

Welcome back to Shut Up and Choose the podcast where we cut through all the noise and the nonsense and all the bullshit to the diet industry and all those Instagram guru morons are throwing at you telling you eat this one week, don't eat that the next week. Drink more water, drink less water, don't drink too much water. It's crazy, crazy shit. And every time you do one of those fad diets, one of those crazy things, you end up blowing it. But here's the truth you didn't blow it, you made a choice and now you get to make another choice and that's how progress works. That's how real change happens. But most people fuck this up. One cookie turns into I'll start over Monday. One missed workout if you're into that kind of thing becomes a whole lost week. A weekend off track becomes an excuse to give up completely, trash the plan and wait until the next month or the next year to really commit. I know I've been there, I've done that, but really that's not failure, it's a mindset problem. You don't need to start over, you just need to make a better choice. The all or nothing mentality is one of the biggest lies the diet industry ever sold you, and they sold it hard. It's the idea that if you're not doing everything perfectly, you might as well do nothing at all. Maybe they sold it to you. Maybe it's an excuse I know I use it as an excuse every time I blew it. I'll start over again Monday, but the truth is that's bullshit, because guess what? Life isn't perfect. You're not perfect and you don't need to be. What you need is to get better at bouncing back. What you need is to see your journey not as a perfect streak, but as a series of choices, and every single one of those choices is a new opportunity to move forward. Remember, my whole thing is about making small, smart choices more often than not. So let's break it down. You eat something off plan? Okay, big deal. That's just one moment in time. That's not your whole day, it's not your whole week and that's certainly not your identity. You don't need to throw in the towel and promise to start clean on Monday. You can literally turn it around right now by making a better choice at your next meal. Drink some water, go for a walk, get to bed early, boom, your momentum is right back.

Speaker 2: 3:33

So this episode is your wake-up call because of starting over is your go-to move, and it sure was for me, I was always starting over, but the truth is, if that is your go-to move to start over you're just practicing quitting, and quitting doesn't get you results. Consistency does. We're going to talk about what actually matters, which is building habits, stacking small wins and learning how to pivot without punishing yourself. You'll learn how to separate guilt from growth. You'll understand that making a better choice doesn't mean being perfect. It means being intentional.

Speaker 2: 4:09

There's a massive difference between someone who starts over every week and someone who just keeps choosing forward. I want you to become that second kind of person, the kind of person who says, yeah, that wasn't ideal, but I'm still in the game. That's the key. That is the easiest and most important thing when it comes to weight loss. So no, you're not broken, you're not off track. You're just in the middle of the process, and this episode is here to help you stop that drama, ditch the perfectionism and start making better choices, one at a time. So you don't need a Monday, you don't need a new month, you don't need a challenge, a detox, a trainer or anybody else yelling in your face. You just need to shut up and choose.

Speaker 2: 4:52

So let's get into it. The first thing is you have to stop confusing one bad choice with failure. Let's get this straight right now One bad choice is not failure, it's just a choice. One moment, one decision, that's it. That's all it is.

Speaker 2: 5:07

But thanks to decades of toxic diet culture, most people are conditioned to treat any slip-up like a full-on catastrophe. You eat a slice of pizza you're a failure. Skip a workout, lazy sack of shit. Have dessert, you blew it. And once people think they failed, they default. The only thing they've been trained to do start over. That's what the diet industry wants you to do. But that's the real problem. It's not the pizza, it's not the missed workout, it's not the birthday cake. The problem is what happens after. When people spiral into that. I'll start again.

Speaker 2: 5:43

Monday mode Diet culture. And yes, I'm talking about that multi-billion dollar industry that sells you pills and programs, waist trainers and just a whole bunch of unrealistic bullshit. They thrive on that exact loop Start, slip up, feel guilty, quit, start over, buy more shit and repeat it forever. I know I repeated it for a very long time 50 some odd years but let me break it to you. You're not a video game character and there's no game over screen because you had a donut. God knows, my game would be over almost every day.

Speaker 2: 6:20

You know I love my donuts, but you don't have to go back to level one just because your lunch wasn't keto approved. Life doesn't work that way and your health, sure as shit doesn't work that way. So you're not broken, you're not off track. You just made one choice and the beautiful, powerful thing is you get to make another one right now. You're always just one choice away from a better direction. So let's say, you hit the drive-thru for lunch and maybe you were hungry, I don't know, stressed, or you just didn't plan that well. So you grab the burger and fries. Okay, that happened Now. What? Now you just make a better choice. Dinner doesn't have to be more junk. You don't have to throw your hands up and binge your way through the night like some kind of self-fulfilling failure prophecy. You can drink some water, eat something balanced, go for a walk, boom, you just took the control back right there.

Speaker 2: 7:10

The problem is not the food, it's the story you tell yourself after you eat it. People literally talk themselves into failure. They treat every slip up like it means they're not cut out for this. I'll never get this right. It's too hard, it's too late, you're too far gone. That is the diet culture and the diet industry talking, and they're fucking liars. What you need isn't a reset. You need a next step. That's the mindset shift. Stop hitting the reset button like you're rebooting some broken system. You're not broken. You're just learning how to make better decisions more often, more consistently. That's it. That's the whole game.

Speaker 2: 7:53

Want to know the difference between people who get results and people who don't? It's not willpower, it sure shit. Ain't genetics. It's not who eats the least carbs and takes the most supplements. It's the one who keeps going when things aren't perfect. It's the person who has enough day and still shows up the next day. It's the person who has a bad meal and doesn't let it turn into a bad week. It's the person who doesn't quit. They just pivot, because success doesn't come from being perfect. It comes from being persistent, from being resilient, from stacking better choices even when you're not feeling it, even when you're tired or even when you messed up yesterday.

Speaker 2: 8:33

So let me ask you this If your kid got a C out of math test, would you tell him to drop out of school? No, of course not. That's fucking ridiculous. You'd say let's work on it and do better next time. So why are we treating our health journey like it's a pass fail test? Stop the drama. Stop confusing one moment of indulgent, one missed workout, one sleepy day with some epic, irreversible failure. You don't need a punishment, you don't need to atone, you don't need a 30 day cleanse to make up for anything. You just need to make a better choice, and then another, and another, that's it. There's no wagon man. You didn't fall off it. You're not off the path. You are the path, and it's okay to stumble on it sometimes. Just keep moving forward. So next time you catch yourself thinking I'll start over Monday, stop. Ask yourself instead what's the next better choice I can make right now? Then go make it. That's how you win. So let's talk for a second about why better choices are greater than starting over.

Speaker 2: 9:39

Let's talk about what really creates change. It's not big, dramatic resets. It's not fresh starts. It's not this time I'm really going to do it declarations. I am guilty of all those things. I can't tell you how many times. This time I'm definitely going to do it. And I did it for a little while. Then, of course, I fell off.

Speaker 2: 9:56

Real change comes from one simple thing making better choices more often. That's it. That's the secret sauce. Every single choice you make throughout the day is an opportunity not to erase the past, but to improve the direction you're heading. This isn't about being perfect. It's about being present.

Speaker 2: 10:14

You can't go back and undo the pizza. Well, maybe you could. I guess you could stick your finger down your throat and throw it up, but I don't recommend that. So you can't go back and undo the pizza you ate or the workout you skipped, but you can absolutely make the best choice, the next choice that you make, and that's what matters the most. The problem is, we've been conditioned to believe that we need to wipe the slate clean and start over every time we do something less than ideal. But here's the deal You're not broken. You're just making choices. Some are going to be good and some are going to be not so good, and that's completely normal. You don't need a full reboot every time you fuck something up. You just need to choose better in the moment you're in. So let me paint the picture for you here.

Speaker 2: 11:00

Right, you scroll through your phone for an hour after dinner instead of going for a walk. Okay, next night, walk around the block instead. That's it. That's a better choice. You drink soda at lunch Big fucking deal. That's a better choice. You drink soda at lunch Big fucking deal. Later in the day, grab a water instead of your second soda Better choice. You hit a drive-thru and order double cheeseburger and fries Guilty, I've done it many times. That's fine. At dinner, grab a grilled chicken bowl or make something at home with a lot of protein and veggies. That's a better choice. You find yourself mindlessly snacking while binging on Netflix Cool, who cares. But tomorrow you go to bed earlier instead, or set a cutoff time for snacks so you're not just eating out of boredom. Boom, right there. Better choice.

Speaker 2: 11:46

That is what success actually looks like. Not the perfect week of salads and workouts and clean eating. No, it's the messy, real-life version where you keep showing up and keep making better calls when and where you can. And better choices are so much better than starting over every fucking time. Here's why Starting over is emotional, it's dramatic, it feeds this fantasy. The next version of you will be perfect, but that version hate to break it to you it doesn't exist. You'll still be you. You'll still have cravings, you'll still get tired, you'll still make mistakes, but you can always, always choose better in the moment that you're in.

Speaker 2: 12:33

So let's kill the lie that you need a new week or a new plan or some kind of magical reset button. You don't. You just need the next choice to be a little bit better than the last one. That's it. And over time, these choices add up big. They add up a lot. Drinking water instead of soda five times a week saves you hundreds of grams of sugar. Walking instead of scrolling adds up to thousands of extra steps a month. Choosing the protein forward meal instead of the deep fried sugar bomb adds fuel to your body instead of adding guilt to your brain, instead of making you feel bad. Those aren't minor tweaks. Those are foundational wins.

Speaker 2: 13:15

You don't need to start over. You need to level up just a little every time you get the chance, because really fattening loss is not about punishment and perfection. It's about momentum, and the more choices you stack, the more momentum you build, the more confident you feel, the more control you have and the more you start to trust yourself. And when you trust yourself, you stop needing extreme measures. You stop relying on starting over to save you. You don't need saving, you just need to choose forward. So, like, tattoo this on your arm, or probably it's a better place to tattoo. It is in your brain, but starting over is dramatic. Making better choices is mature. That's the energy, that's the vibe, that's how real change happens.

Speaker 2: 13:59

So the next time you catch yourself feeling like you failed or think you need to go back to square one, pause, take a breath and ask yourself what's the next better choice I can make? Then do that and do it again and again, because that's how you win this thing for the long haul. That's how you keep it sustainable. So you need to build I guess what I'm trying to say. You need to build this bounce back muscle, for lack of a better term. So messing up isn't the problem. Staying down is.

Speaker 2: 14:28

Everyone makes shitty choices. Sometimes I've made hundreds of thousands of shitty choices. Everyone skips workouts. I skip them all the time. I never work out. Everyone stress eats something they didn't plan for. Welcome to being a fucking human being. Sorry, I hate to break the bad news to you. You're never going to be perfect. The people who succeed long-term it's not because they never mess up, it's because they know how to bounce back fast. That's where most people completely fall apart. That's where most diets or fads just shit the bed.

Speaker 2: 15:00

You think that you have to wait for the stars to align or for Monday to get back on track. But here's the real deal. You don't need a Monday, you just need a moment. That's it, just one moment of choosing differently, choosing better and choosing forward. And like any muscle, your bounce back ability gets stronger the more you use it. Think about it like this If you trip going up the stairs, do you throw yourself down the rest of the stairs? No, of course not. That would be fucking ridiculous. So why is it? When someone eats off plan or misses one workout, they act like the whole week is blown Like well, I had three slices of pizza. Might as well eat half the cake and a bottle of wine. That's not a response. That's like a baby fucking temper tantrum and it's keeping you stuck. It kept me stuck.

Speaker 2: 15:46

Building that bounce back muscle means learning how to pivot in the moment, not later on. In the moment, not tomorrow, not Monday, not after you feel motivated again. You pivot right now. Here's how you do it my three-step better choice formula. Tattoo that on your brain, write it on your fridge, make it your home screen on your phone if you have to. But here it is. It's simple.

Speaker 2: 16:08

Step one is awareness. Okay, that wasn't a great call, I get it. This is where you admit what just happened, without diving headfirst into guilt and shame and some kind of free fall. Awareness doesn't mean beating yourself up. It means being honest. Yeah, I really didn't need that third slicer. I skipped the workout and scrolled Instagram instead for 45 minutes. I just skipped the workouts altogether. That fast food run wasn't about hunger, it was about stress. Don't ignore it and don't justify it. Just own it. Awareness alone is powerful. You can't fix what you won't face.

Speaker 2: 16:43

The next step is what's my better move? Right, think about what's my better move. This is the pivot point. Don't get stuck in awareness. Take some action and again, this isn't about making some perfect choice, it's just about a better one. So you overate for lunch. Eat a lighter, protein, protein rich dinner, but don't starve yourself. Don't say I'm going to fail, I'm not going to eat. That. That's ridiculous. You skip the morning workout Guilty. I do it every day. But go for a walk after dinner. You crush the sleeve of cookies, chug some water, get ready to go to bed early and start fresh in the morning with breakfast that has actual nutrients. You're not trying to undo what you did. That's not going to happen unless you stick your finger down your throat. That's not going to happen and you shouldn't punish yourself. You're just steering the wheel back into the right direction.

Speaker 2: 17:35

And then step three is accountability. Track it right, don't bury it. This is the part that most people avoid because they're embarrassed. But tracking what happened, writing it down, logging it in some app or just thinking about it, is what breaks that shame spiral, because once it's out in the open, you realize it's not that deep. You had a rough moment, big fucking deal. Track it, learn it and move on. When you bury your mistakes, they just rot. When you face them, they actually teach you.

Speaker 2: 18:06

So accountability is what separates the people who think about changing from the ones who actually do. You want to feel more confident. You want to trust yourself. You want to finally believe you can do this. Then build that muscle, because the more you bounce back, the less those slip up matters. They stop derailing you, they stop defining you. You stop labeling yourself as on track or off track every five minutes. You just live. You just keep choosing and remember I say this all the time, but I can't say it enough the goal is not to be perfect.

Speaker 2: 18:38

The goal is to respond faster. That's it. That's how progress gets made. So next time you feel like you fucked up, don't start over and don't overthink it and definitely don't spiral. Just remember the formula awareness, action, accountability. Use it. Strengthen that, bounce back muscle and then keep going. That's the whole point. That bounce back muscle and then keep going. That's the whole point.

Speaker 2: 19:04

So a lot of people say well, how do I track progress without starting over? Well, here's the question that fucks people up more than pretty much anything else how do I know if I'm making progress? And the most common answer and it's the wrong answers Well, I wasn't perfect this week, so I guess I blew it Wrong. All wrong, because progress has nothing to do with perfection. Progress is about consistency. It's about showing up more often than you don't, it's about choosing better, not perfect, most of the time.

Speaker 2: 19:34

The people who constantly feel like they're failing are usually just using the wrong scoreboard. They're tracking their losses, their fuck-ups, their skip workouts, their bad days, but they're not counting their wins, and that's why they keep thinking they need to start over. Let me say it very loud and very clear you don't need to start over, you just need to keep score differently. So if your only definition of success is I follow the plan perfectly, then guess what? You'll never feel successful because life isn't perfect. You're going to miss a workout, you're going to eat off plan, you're going to have shitty days. That's life, man.

Speaker 2: 20:18

So, instead of tracking perfection, start tracking progress. Ask yourself questions like this hey, did I drink water today? Did I eat something with protein? Did I get a walk-in? Did I make at least one better choice than I would have last month? If the answer is yes, then guess what you made progress. Try tracking a week like this I drank water five days this week. I worked out three times, even though I only planned for two. For me, that's always going to be. I worked out zero times, even though I planned for zero, but I walked instead of scrolled on my lunch four times this week. I made 12 better choices this week. That's real, that's honest and that's momentum, and you know what momentum leads to.

Speaker 2: 20:57

There's no secret here Long-term sustainable change, because now you're focused on stacking wins instead of obsessing where you slipped up. You have to stop racing the whole week. So let's say, you nailed your food, your movement, your mindset, monday through Thursday and then Friday night you went out and had some beer and some wings with some friends All right, cool. You had a fun night. That doesn't mean the whole week's a waste.

Speaker 2: 21:20

What drives people to quit is the idea that one misstep erases everything before it. That's insane when you think about it. Imagine like training for a marathon. I can't imagine that. But imagine training for a marathon, running 10 miles and tripping like on mile 11 and saying, eh, fuck it, I'm not a runner. Of course not. You get up and you keep running because the first 10 miles still count. The same goes with weight loss. You're building habits. You're learning how to live differently. That's going to get messy sometimes, so that doesn't mean you're not doing it.

Speaker 2: 21:53

And here's a mindset shift that really changes the game, and you know I'm all about mindset. Start collecting proof that you're doing better than you used to. Literally write it down. If you have to Get a notebook, open your notes app, whatever, it doesn't matter, just track it. Every time you drink water instead of soda, write it down, or make a note of it. Every time you take a walk instead of skipping some. Make a note of it. Write it down Every time you choose protein over some other junk food. Write it down Every time you bounce back instead of quitting. Celebrate that You're not just changing your habits, you're changing your identity, and that takes time. But it also takes proof. Proof that you're capable, proof that you're consistent, proof that you're becoming that healthier version of yourself, one choice at a time. And guess what that proof is? Everywhere. You just have to look for it.

Speaker 2: 22:47

Here's what progress really looks like. You made more better choices this week than last week. You moved your body even when you didn't feel like it. You got back on track without needing to start over. You responded faster to setbacks. You feel more in control. I mean, that's success. And the more you stack those wins, the less appealing starting over even sounds anymore. Why reset something that's already working? You're not at square one, you're not behind, you're in it. You're learning, you're adapting and you're getting better. So track that, own that and build on it.

Speaker 2: 23:18

The bottom line is progress isn't about being perfect. I don't know how many times I've said that, but I'm going to say it forever. It's about refusing to quit. Stop resetting your life every time you get uncomfortable. Start stacking wins and building momentum. One better choice, one honest track or one proud moment at a time. That's how you track progress and that's how you win.

Speaker 2: 23:44

You don't need to wait for a new week, a new month or a new mindset. You just need to make the next better choice. Keep choosing forward Seriously. Stop waiting for the calendar to give you permission to get your life together. Monday isn't magic. January doesn't have any superpowers in your mindset. It doesn't change by sitting on your ass and hoping for it to change. You don't need a reset. You need a response. You made a choice that wasn't ideal, big fucking deal. Join the club.

Speaker 2: 24:16

The next choice is what matters. Not some dramatic start over, not throwing everything out because it didn't go perfectly. Just one better choice. That's how the momentum starts. Better doesn't mean perfect. Better means well, better, slight improvement, smarter decision one notch closer to the person that you say that you want to become.

Speaker 2: 24:37

You had pizza Great. Go eat some veggies and some protein. Next, you skipped a workout. Move your body for 10 minutes. Right now. You've been eating like shit for three days. Drink some fucking water and make your next choice and your next meal count Done. You don't need a plan, a cleanse or a fresh journal. You need to act. That's it right now, in this moment, because the longer you wait, the heavier the guilt gets and the harder it becomes to move forward.

Speaker 2: 25:05

Choosing forward is the whole game. One decision at a time, one step at a time, over and over. That's how real change happens Not from starting over, but from not stopping. So now I want you to go and make your better choice. So those are my thoughts on how to actually lose weight and keep it off. Burn that fat off, get rid of it. It's not going to happen overnight. You didn't put the weight on overnight but it doesn't have to be punishment and torture and all this crazy shit. You just have to make small, smart choices.

Speaker 2: 25:43

If you want to hear more about my journey of losing over 140 pounds, I have a book on Amazon. It's called funny enough, shut Up and Choose, same as this podcast. It chronicles my 140-pound weight loss over. At that point it was about a year and it really takes you through the mindset and the changes and the shifts that I made and how I really got my head into the game, because I do believe weight loss, and sustainable weight loss certainly is a mind shift. It happens in your head first and then you go from there. If you're more of a visual learner, I have a video course called the Effortless Weight Loss Academy. It's 23 short videos. Each one is five to seven minutes. You can watch the entire course in a couple of hours. You can find that course at learnshutupandchoosecom. That's learnshutupandchoosecom.

Speaker 2: 26:33

That's it, I think, for today. It's all about small, smart choices. It's all about not quitting. It's all about accepting that you're not going to be perfect. You're just building momentum. You get better each month and you'll be sailing along, doing everything perfectly and boom, you have a fuck-up Big deal. Make the next choice a better choice, that's, as. I don't know how to make it any simpler than that. So now that you know the secret, you have the keys to the kingdom. All you need to do is shut up and choose.

Speaker 1: 27:10

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.