February 5, 2025 • 23 mins
Obesity is not a body type—it's a choice. Join me as I share my personal journey from weighing 411 pounds and grappling with severe health issues like uncontrolled gout and atrial fibrillation, to realizing the self-inflicted nature of my burden. This episode strips away the myths of the weight loss industry, confronting the idea that one can be both "fat and healthy." It's time to move past excuses, embrace personal accountability, and understand how every decision we make shapes our health and well-being. I promise you'll gain insight into how mindful choices can revolutionize your mindset and health.
We also tackle the controversial wave of fat activism, examining how it might detract from the critical focus on health. While body positivity matters, it's vital to pair self-love with accountability. This discussion highlights the significance of simple lifestyle changes—like portion control and enjoyable physical activities—that lead to a healthier life. You'll discover that each small effort counts, as we explore practical strategies to take ownership of your health journey. Let's prioritize well-being through informed choices, and remember: it's possible to feel confident and be truly healthy at the same time.
Lose Weight Without Starving or Obsessing! Learn the simple, no-BS system that helped me lose 140 pounds naturally—no extreme diets, no endless gym hours, just real, sustainable fat loss for real people.
Join the Effortless Weight Loss Academy HERE
Please leave me a review on whatever platform you listen to your podcasts.
Send me questions or comments to Jonathan.Ressler@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:02):
If you're a whiny snowflake that can't handle the
truth, is offended by the wordfuck and about 37 uses of it in
different forms gets ass hurt.
When you hear someone speak theabsolute, real and raw truth,
you should leave Like right now.
This is Shut Up and Choose, thepodcast where we cut through
(00:25):
the shit and get real aboutweight loss, life and everything
in between.
We get into the nitty gritty ofmaking small, smart choices
that add up to big results.
From what's on your plate tohow you approach life's
challenges.
We'll explore how the simpleact of choosing differently can
transform your health, yourmindset and your entire freaking
(00:48):
life.
So if you're ready to cutthrough the bullshit and start
making some real changes, thenbuckle up and shut up, because
we're about to choose our way toa healthier, happier life.
This is Shut Up and Choose.
Let's do this Now.
Your host, jonathan Ressler.
Jonathan Ressler (01:14):
Welcome back to Shut Up and Choose the
podcast that cuts the noise andnonsense and all the garbage
that you're hearing out therefrom the weight loss industry,
from the so-called internetgurus, from all the people that
seem to know more than you doabout weight loss, but the truth
is they don't, because youalready know what to do.
There's no sense in kidding.
We're all programmed within ourbodies.
We all know how to lose weight.
(01:34):
So let's talk about, let'scatch up on something I was
talking about last week, whichwas the fat activist and this
thing, fat Con.
I did try to find some the fatactivists, and this thing,
fatcon.
I did try to find some.
If you listened last week, youknow that I read something.
One of the sessions there isbasically BDSM rope suspension
for big fat people.
I tried to find some pictures.
(01:55):
I wasn't lucky enough to findany, but if I do, I'll surely
share them on social media.
Having said all that, I want totalk again a little bit about
fat activists, but, moreimportantly, about how being fat
, being obese, is nothing shortof slow motion suicide.
So look, let's be brutallyhonest here.
If you're fat, if you're obese,you are definitely not living
(02:19):
your best life.
You're slowly killing yourself,one bite, one excuse and one
delusional thought at a time.
And believe me, I know.
Before I started all this, Iweighed 411 pounds.
I lived all the excuses, Iconvinced myself that my size
wasn't a big deal.
I told myself hey, I'm just abig guy.
Guess what?
I was lying to myself.
(02:40):
I couldn't walk a hundred feet.
I was in and out of thehospital nonstop.
I had uncontrolled gout.
I had atrial fibrillation.
I had everything short, forwhatever reason.
I didn't have diabetes, I don'tknow why, but I had pretty much
every other ailment you couldhave from being obese.
My joints hurt all the time, Iwas always in aches and pains
(03:04):
and it was just a miserable life.
But the truth is I've learnedover the last year or two years
since I've been doing this is.
Fat is not a body type, it's afucking burden.
Is what it is.
Obesity is not a disability,it's self-inflicted.
I did all of that to myself.
Nobody did it to me.
I'm not a victim ofcircumstance, I'm a victim of
(03:27):
the choices that I made.
There's no such thing as fat andhealthy.
It just doesn't exist.
You can't be fat and healthy.
Sure, I always said, yeah, mydoctor said I'm perfectly
healthy, which is obviously acrock of shit.
But you can't be fat andhealthy Even if you're not
feeling the things that arehappening inside of you.
(03:49):
They're happening if you'reoverweight.
They're happening if you'reobese.
I'm not talking about fivepounds overweight, I'm talking
at least 20 pounds, and in mycase I was probably 150 pounds
overweight.
I'm not a small guy now, so I'mnot saying I'm thin and I'm not
saying I'm the most fit guy inthe world, but I'm a hell of a
lot healthier than I was a yearand a half or whatever it is,
(04:11):
when I was at my max.
And even when I was down to 350pounds, I was still morbidly
obese.
And fat and healthy is just afairy tale that's made up by
lazy people who don't want tochange and, like I said, I'm no
exception.
I did it, I get it, I lived it,but I escaped it.
But I had to face some harshrealities first, and you do too
(04:35):
if you're overweight.
Remember, I always say thatbeing personally accountable is
the most important thing.
You have to get to that pointwhere you can admit to yourself
okay, this was a choice, this isa result of the choices that I
made.
It didn't happen to me byaccident.
It didn't happen to me when Iwasn't looking.
I knew exactly what I was doing.
(04:56):
I chose not to pay attention tothose things, but I knew I was
eating too much.
Like you know, if you're a 50or a hundred pounds, you're
eating too much.
Like you know, if you're 50 or100 pounds, you're eating too
much.
I love people who tell me I'vetried everything and nothing
works.
Well, that's also a big fuckinglie, because you haven't tried
everything.
The thing that you should try,if you're one of those people
that says, is maybe pushing theplate away or maybe really
(05:17):
taking account for what you eat,taking responsibilities for
what you eat.
If you're eating ultraprocessed food and I'm not
saying you can never eat that,but if you're eating all that
shit and drinking soda and it'schoices, man, you're making
choices and I guess I didn'twant to face the fact.
But being overweight, beingobese, being morbidly obese, was
(05:37):
affecting my body, becauseobesity is not just an
appearance issue.
I know a lot of people want tobe thin because it'll look
better.
But obesity isn't just anappearance issue.
It's a full-blown systemicbreakdown of your body.
It affects every single organand it slowly grinds your health
to the ground.
I learned that I made thismiraculous change when, honestly
(06:00):
, I was laying in a hospital bedready to die.
It took me that long, honestly.
I was laying in a hospital bedready to die.
It took me that long.
So I hope that if you'relistening to this, and I hope if
you're in a similar situationwhere you're 50 or 100 pounds
overweight, that you take someaction.
You do stuff, you do what'snecessary to lose the weight and
get yourself healthy.
Like I said, I had atrialfibrillation, I had congestive
heart failure, I had all kindsof heart issues, but I convinced
(06:26):
myself again that I was fat andhealthy.
But your heart just isn'tdesigned to push blood through
layers of excess fat.
That should just be commonknowledge.
But when you're overweight,your heart has to work overtime,
every single second of yourlife.
It's working overtime everysecond of your life.
And why do you think?
You have high blood pressure.
You get high blood pressure andyour arteries become clogged
with fat, forcing your heart topump even harder.
(06:47):
You get all kinds of heartdisease, other things.
The fat buildup narrows yourarteries and that certainly
increases risk of a heart attack.
Now, thankfully, I never had aheart attack, but I was surely a
prime candidate.
And also, your stroke risk goesto the roof when your arteries
are blocked, your blood flowslows down and you're one bad
(07:11):
day one who knows crazy incidentaway from a stroke.
And how do I know that?
Well, a, it's common knowledge.
But B, because at 411 pounds, Icouldn't walk across a parking
lot without wheezing.
I could actually feel my heartstruggling, my chest pounding,
like I was ready to explode.
If I walked 100 yards, I had tosit down and take a little rest
(07:34):
before I went any further.
That should have been a wake-upcall for me, but it wasn't.
I kept eating, and eating, andeating until I was laying in the
hospital ready to die.
So if you're listening to thisand you're in a similar
situation where you can't walk,you can't do things it's time to
do something about it.
It wasn't until I lost theweight that I realized how close
(07:55):
I was to actually dropping deadin my 50s.
That's a scary thing that I hadto look back.
Now the second thing I don'tknow how I didn't have diabetes,
but I didn't.
And you might think thatdiabetes is just about cutting
back on sugar, but you'recompletely wrong.
It's a full body disaster.
Your insulin resistance goesthrough the roof, meaning your
(08:17):
body can't regulate your bloodsugar anymore.
Your nerves and blood vesselsstart to die off, leading to
amputations, blindness andkidney failure.
Now I did have some kidneyfailure, so again.
I don't know how I didn't havediabetes but I did have some
kidney failure and your bodyliterally starts rotting from
the inside out.
That's really an awful thought.
(08:38):
When you think about it, youever see like a diabetic lose a
foot.
Yeah, that's a real thing andit's 100% avoidable.
But if you keep eating likeshit, you're going to find out
firsthand.
I was pre-diabetic at 411pounds.
My doctor told me I was on thefast track to insulin shots and
(08:58):
neuropathy.
And losing weight didn't justchange my life, it saved it
Really.
It saved it and, by the way, itwasn't the doctor or anybody
else telling me to lose weight.
It was when I came to therealization and I took
accountability for what I waseating and how I was living.
Another thing that reallyaffected me and honestly, the
(09:21):
residual effects I still feeltoday is that your joints are
literally breaking down yourknees, your hips, your spine.
They weren't built to carry 100or 150 extra pounds.
That's why, for people that aremorbidly obese, people that
really need to lose asignificant amount of weight,
arthritis sets in early.
(09:41):
The cartilage in your jointwears away faster, causing
constant pain.
I will tell you again it's inmy hands.
It's weird, but I went and Ihad to have a little hand
surgery and the doctor told melike five of my fingers the
cartilage was gone and there'sno way to repair it.
I don't know, my hands werenever fat, but I will tell you
that I have a smaller ring size,probably two sizes smaller than
(10:03):
I did when I was at 411 pounds,so I guess it was affecting my
joint.
Your back gives out.
It doesn't take a rocketscientist to figure out that
extra belly weight pulls yourspine forward and that leads to
herniated discs.
It leads to all kinds of backproblems, back pain, and the
last thing which I certainlyexperienced was that basic
(10:24):
movement becomes torture.
Walking up the steps that feelslike climbing fucking Mount
Everest.
You just think, oh my God, I'mnot going to make it, and you
dread it and you avoid it at allcosts.
At my heaviest I avoided stairslike they were poison and I
always said, hey, lucky I livein Florida, there's not a lot of
steps.
But that was definitely thewrong approach.
I should have been thinking,wow, I can't walk up steps, I
(10:47):
better do something about this.
But I didn't.
Every step felt like my kneeswere being crushed, like they
were going to explode.
Now, since I've lost the weight.
It gave me the freedom ofmovement back.
It sounds if you're not a bigguy or a big girl, if you're not
a big person.
You don't really understandthat.
But you really can't move.
When you're 100 poundsoverweight, 200 pounds
(11:10):
overweight, even 50 poundsoverweight, moving around, just
general movement, becomesdifficult, and I certainly had
this.
And you can't breathe literally, not figuratively.
Literally can't breathe.
Excess fat doesn't just sitthere, it presses against your
lungs Again one of those thingsthat you may not feel right now
(11:33):
but you will in time.
The fatter you get, the morepressure that's going to go on
your lungs and that leads tosleep apnea, which I definitely
had.
You used to say I snore like abear.
I'll tell you you couldn't bein the same, literally, if
someone was in another room theycould hear me snoring.
I didn't do anything about itbecause I'm an idiot, but I
never wore a CPAP or anythinglike that.
But what sleep apnea isbasically?
Your throat closes when yousleep, cutting off your oxygen
supply.
That's because the fat ispressing on your throat and your
(11:56):
lungs.
One of the side effects, one ofthe effects of sleep apnea is
you have chronic exhaustion.
You wake up more tired than youwent to bed.
That was me.
When I got up I was tired andthen walking around got me even
more tired.
I always had shortness ofbreath and that's why just basic
walking was a struggle for me.
(12:16):
It was a nightmare.
Just think about that in yourlife.
If you're having a hard timewalking, you need to do
something quick.
So I would wake up from thesleep apnea in the middle of the
night gasping for air.
I needed a sleep apnea machine,but I didn't get one.
But here's the crazy thing whenI lost the weight it fixed all
that no machine, no choking,just deep, restful sleep and,
(12:39):
most importantly, absolutely nosnore.
I'm sure I snore every now andthen, but I snored every single
night like a freight train.
Now I snore every now and then,I guess I think I certainly
don't wake up like oh, in themiddle of the night.
So it's I just.
It brings me back to the wholething with the fat activists.
I just they're promoting thisunhealthy.
(13:01):
They're basically promotingearly death.
I talked about that last week.
How many of them have died at avery young age?
It's scary.
One of the biggest threats toyour health is the fat
acceptance movement.
They tell you diets don't work.
Well, yes, they do.
You know I don't believe inquote-unquote dieting, but
losing weight definitely works.
(13:22):
You just have to start whateveryou're doing.
If you're not doing it my wayand you're doing fat diets,
you're doing whatever.
You just have to stop quittingthe diet, whatever diet it may
be.
I've heard people say, oh,weight loss is impossible.
No, it's not.
You just don't want to do thework to get it done.
Fat activists are telling youyou know, that's just the way
(13:43):
your body is.
You don't need to lose weightBullshit, you need to lose
weight.
And then, of course, the biggestlie is you're beautiful at any
size.
Well, that part may be true.
You're beautiful at a big size.
But your looks aren't the issue.
Your health is.
It's not about how you look.
You could look great and thendie at 40 years old Because
(14:05):
you're so goddamn fat and you'retoo fucking lazy to do the work
.
And you believe these assholefat activists who tell you yeah,
you're beautiful in any size,don't worry, you're great.
The ugly truth about thosepeople is they're afraid of
accountability and they don'twant to admit their size is
self-inflicted.
They have every excuse underthe sun.
They lie to other people tomake themselves feel better,
(14:28):
right?
So yeah, no, fat is beautiful.
The whole fat con thing is justweighing on my mind all week no
pun intended was weighing on mymind all weekend that those
people are there celebratingtheir fatness.
They should be celebratingtheir early deaths, because I
would imagine most of them and Isaw, did see some pictures.
They're humongous.
(14:49):
I'm not talking about people whoare 20, 30, 50 pounds
overweight.
I'm talking about people thatare two or 300 pounds overweight
.
They're honestly I'm not achubby chaser they're disgusting
to look at.
They have fat hanging all overthe place.
It's great that they're outthere in bikinis and showing off
their bodies.
I do.
I think that's great becausedon't be ashamed of who you are.
(15:10):
That's your body, but youshould be ashamed that you're
not healthy.
You should want to get healthy,no matter what.
And the crazy part is these fatactivists demonize weight loss
because it exposes their ownlack of effort.
So fat activism is not aboutself-love at all.
It's about denial.
Fat activism is not aboutself-love at all.
It's about denial weakness anddragging other people down.
(15:33):
So don't fall for that bullshit.
It's a bunch of bullshit.
I don't know what else to sayother than really.
The choice is yours.
You can die fat or you canchoose to fight back.
I chose to fight back.
You got to stop eating likeyou're a dumpster, like cut out
the processed shit and thatdoesn't mean never eat it but
(15:54):
you should eat real food, mostlyreal food like proteins,
vegetables and healthy fats, anddefinitely control your portion
.
That's a huge piece of thepuzzle.
I always used to think well,I'm a big guy, I could eat two
or three.
If a normal person eats one, Icould eat two or three.
No, that's not the case.
I wouldn't be such a big guy ifI ate normal portion sizes.
(16:18):
So the second thing that I wouldtell you is move your body.
It took me a long time tofigure that out.
As you know, for the first year, I didn't do any exercise at
all.
I still, to this date, have notgone to the gym.
But exercise I guess I alwaysthought exercise was going to
the gym, doing these workoutsthat fucking suck, doing shit
that I hate.
But the reality is you can doanything and move your body.
(16:40):
As you know, in the first yearof my weight loss journey, my
average step count my dailyaverage step count, was 931
steps a day.
That's not even fucking gettingout of bed.
You know what I mean.
That's like getting out of bed,going to the bathroom 931 steps
.
Now I'm averaging five to 7,500, sometimes 10 or 11,000,
(17:01):
depending on the day.
So move your body right.
You can walk, you can liftweights.
Hey, if you like liftingweights, by all means do that.
It's definitely better toexercise than to not exercise.
But I always tell people, ifyou're so fat that you can't and
again I always say that may be,that's what I said and it may
have been an excuse or it may bethe truth I didn't exercise for
(17:21):
the first year.
Then I started to walk and it'spretty amazing.
So you don't need a gym.
You just need to stop sittingon your ass all day, get up and
walk around.
Every step counts.
If you take a break in themiddle of the day and walk 100
steps, walk around the office,walk around your house, walk
around the block every singlestep counts.
If your thing is dancing oryoga, do what you'll do, because
(17:45):
if you hate the gym, like I do,going there is not going to
help you.
Because you're not going tostick to it, you're not going to
do it.
Something as easy as walking ordancing or yoga.
You can do that at home.
You don't need to join a gym,you don't need to do any of that
.
The only thing you have to dois start, and start small.
You don't have to say I'm goingto walk 10 miles, you're not
(18:06):
going to walk 10 miles.
Walk a quarter of a mile andthen the next day walk a quarter
of a mile.
Maybe the next week you walk alittle bit further.
So every single step you takecounts, and when I say step, I
mean every yoga thing you do,every bit of dancing, every
movement counts, and it'sgetting you towards your goal.
And then, of course, you have toown your choices, because every
single meal you eat is a choice.
(18:26):
I don't give a shit what youtell me.
Every time you open your mouth,you have an opportunity to eat
more or eat less, to eat foodthat is in line with your why or
food that's not in line withyour why.
And every day that you choosenot to walk or move or do
something, that's a choice.
And, more importantly or mostimportantly, every excuse you
(18:50):
make is a choice.
And it's not about making hugechanges in your life, it isn't.
It's about making small choicesevery day that add up to big
results.
So those are the things that Ithink are the most important.
Look, when I was 411 pounds, Ihad every excuse in the book.
I told myself I was big boned.
(19:11):
I'm sure you've heard peoplesay, oh, I'm big boned.
I convinced myself that dietsdidn't work, that it was just.
There's no way I could do this.
That diet's bullshit, thisdiet's bullshit and every diet.
It honestly is bullshit.
It's just a short-term fix.
But I convinced myself that Ijust couldn't diet anymore and I
totally let my cravings controlme.
And then one day I was laying inthe hospital bed.
(19:33):
I realized nobody was coming tosave me.
Man, if I was going to gethealthy, if I was going to do
shit, I had to do it on my own.
It wasn't going to be my doctor.
He wasn't going to save me.
Not my family, not some magicpill or not some fucking magic
shot, just me.
That's the only person that wasgoing to save me.
(19:54):
And I stopped making excuses andI started making choices and I
lost over 140 pounds.
And I'm still losing.
I'm still losing weight and I'mnot going to tell you I don't
go up one week and down.
I do, but I'm very aware of thechoices that I make when I open
my mouth.
So you can do this too.
It's not hard if you actuallythink about it and you take
(20:16):
responsibility for the choicesyou make.
But you have to choose it.
You have to wake up and admitthe truth that your weight is
killing you, and then you haveto do something about it.
So, like I said before, fatisn't a body type, fat isn't
healthy, and fat sure as shit isnot your identity.
(20:37):
Fat is just slow motion suicide, and you don't have to go out
like that.
You're in complete control.
You're the only one that canmake the choices that are going
to keep you alive, keep youhealthy and get you living your
best life.
You have to decide what's goingto be Keep slowly killing
(20:59):
yourself or shut up and chooseand take control of your life.
The choice is yours.
All I can say is it's your move, man.
Start today, make the hardchoices and take your life back,
because, like I said earlier,you're not meant to die like
this.
So that's it for today.
(21:20):
I'll tell you, as usual, you canget my book Shut Up and Choose.
It chronicles my journey oflosing over 140 pounds, eating
all the foods that I loved,didn't spend a minute in the gym
, didn't do any exercise for thefirst year, but I did it by
making small, smart choices thatadd up to big results.
I also have that.
By the way, that book isavailable on Amazon and I'm
(21:41):
getting tons of great reviews,still selling like crazy.
I'm grateful that people areusing it and getting great
results from it.
I also am about to launch abrand new video course called
the Effortless Weight LossAcademy.
I'll give you more informationon that as we go, but again,
it's going to be over 20 modules, 20 videos.
Rather, it's got a bunch ofdownloads, a bunch of quizzes,
(22:02):
just to kind of keep you ontrack.
I'm really really, really,really excited about this thing,
and I'll make an announcementnext week or the week after,
when it finally goes live.
It's in beta right now, whichmeans I'm basically giving it to
a bunch of people for free sothey can test it, find the kinks
, find the bugs and help me tomake it the best possible course
out there.
And again, it's all aboutmindful eating, making small,
(22:26):
smart choices and really livingyour best life.
I'm living my best life and I'mreally excited about that.
So that's it for today.
Make sure that you get up offyour lazy ass after you listen
to this and get out there andmove a little bit.
It's just a matter of gettingstarted.
That's it.
If you don't take the firststep, you can't take the second
(22:47):
step.
So really you have to takeresponsibility for your choices
and get into action, and byaction I don't mean walking
Action, I mean make the decisionto get yourself healthy.
So right now, the only thingleft to do is to shut up and
choose.
Announcer (23:06):
You've been listening to Shut Up and Choose and
choose.
You've been listening to shutup and choose.
Jonathan's passion is to sharehis journey of shedding 130
pounds in less than a yearwithout any of the usual
gimmicks no diets, no pills.
And we'll let you in on alittle secret no fucking Jim,
(23:26):
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 themeantime, find Jonathan on
Instagram atJonathanWrestlerBocaRaton.
Until next time, shut up andchoose.
If you're a whiny snowflake that can't handle the
truth, is offended by the wordfuck and about 37 uses of it in
different forms gets ass hurt.
When you hear someone speak theabsolute, real and raw truth,
you should leave Like right now.
This is Shut Up and Choose, thepodcast where we cut through
(00:25):
the shit and get real aboutweight loss, life and everything
in between.
We get into the nitty gritty ofmaking small, smart choices
that add up to big results.
From what's on your plate tohow you approach life's
challenges.
We'll explore how the simpleact of choosing differently can
transform your health, yourmindset and your entire freaking
(00:48):
life.
So if you're ready to cutthrough the bullshit and start
making some real changes, thenbuckle up and shut up, because
we're about to choose our way toa healthier, happier life.
This is Shut Up and Choose.
Let's do this Now.
Your host, jonathan Ressler.
Jonathan Ressler (01:14):
Welcome back to Shut Up and Choose the
podcast that cuts the noise andnonsense and all the garbage
that you're hearing out therefrom the weight loss industry,
from the so-called internetgurus, from all the people that
seem to know more than you doabout weight loss, but the truth
is they don't, because youalready know what to do.
There's no sense in kidding.
We're all programmed within ourbodies.
We all know how to lose weight.
(01:34):
So let's talk about, let'scatch up on something I was
talking about last week, whichwas the fat activist and this
thing, fat Con.
I did try to find some the fatactivists, and this thing,
fatcon.
I did try to find some.
If you listened last week, youknow that I read something.
One of the sessions there isbasically BDSM rope suspension
for big fat people.
I tried to find some pictures.
(01:55):
I wasn't lucky enough to findany, but if I do, I'll surely
share them on social media.
Having said all that, I want totalk again a little bit about
fat activists, but, moreimportantly, about how being fat
, being obese, is nothing shortof slow motion suicide.
So look, let's be brutallyhonest here.
If you're fat, if you're obese,you are definitely not living
(02:19):
your best life.
You're slowly killing yourself,one bite, one excuse and one
delusional thought at a time.
And believe me, I know.
Before I started all this, Iweighed 411 pounds.
I lived all the excuses, Iconvinced myself that my size
wasn't a big deal.
I told myself hey, I'm just abig guy.
Guess what?
I was lying to myself.
(02:40):
I couldn't walk a hundred feet.
I was in and out of thehospital nonstop.
I had uncontrolled gout.
I had atrial fibrillation.
I had everything short, forwhatever reason.
I didn't have diabetes, I don'tknow why, but I had pretty much
every other ailment you couldhave from being obese.
My joints hurt all the time, Iwas always in aches and pains
(03:04):
and it was just a miserable life.
But the truth is I've learnedover the last year or two years
since I've been doing this is.
Fat is not a body type, it's afucking burden.
Is what it is.
Obesity is not a disability,it's self-inflicted.
I did all of that to myself.
Nobody did it to me.
I'm not a victim ofcircumstance, I'm a victim of
(03:27):
the choices that I made.
There's no such thing as fat andhealthy.
It just doesn't exist.
You can't be fat and healthy.
Sure, I always said, yeah, mydoctor said I'm perfectly
healthy, which is obviously acrock of shit.
But you can't be fat andhealthy Even if you're not
feeling the things that arehappening inside of you.
(03:49):
They're happening if you'reoverweight.
They're happening if you'reobese.
I'm not talking about fivepounds overweight, I'm talking
at least 20 pounds, and in mycase I was probably 150 pounds
overweight.
I'm not a small guy now, so I'mnot saying I'm thin and I'm not
saying I'm the most fit guy inthe world, but I'm a hell of a
lot healthier than I was a yearand a half or whatever it is,
(04:11):
when I was at my max.
And even when I was down to 350pounds, I was still morbidly
obese.
And fat and healthy is just afairy tale that's made up by
lazy people who don't want tochange and, like I said, I'm no
exception.
I did it, I get it, I lived it,but I escaped it.
But I had to face some harshrealities first, and you do too
(04:35):
if you're overweight.
Remember, I always say thatbeing personally accountable is
the most important thing.
You have to get to that pointwhere you can admit to yourself
okay, this was a choice, this isa result of the choices that I
made.
It didn't happen to me byaccident.
It didn't happen to me when Iwasn't looking.
I knew exactly what I was doing.
(04:56):
I chose not to pay attention tothose things, but I knew I was
eating too much.
Like you know, if you're a 50or a hundred pounds, you're
eating too much.
Like you know, if you're 50 or100 pounds, you're eating too
much.
I love people who tell me I'vetried everything and nothing
works.
Well, that's also a big fuckinglie, because you haven't tried
everything.
The thing that you should try,if you're one of those people
that says, is maybe pushing theplate away or maybe really
(05:17):
taking account for what you eat,taking responsibilities for
what you eat.
If you're eating ultraprocessed food and I'm not
saying you can never eat that,but if you're eating all that
shit and drinking soda and it'schoices, man, you're making
choices and I guess I didn'twant to face the fact.
But being overweight, beingobese, being morbidly obese, was
(05:37):
affecting my body, becauseobesity is not just an
appearance issue.
I know a lot of people want tobe thin because it'll look
better.
But obesity isn't just anappearance issue.
It's a full-blown systemicbreakdown of your body.
It affects every single organand it slowly grinds your health
to the ground.
I learned that I made thismiraculous change when, honestly
(06:00):
, I was laying in a hospital bedready to die.
It took me that long, honestly.
I was laying in a hospital bedready to die.
It took me that long.
So I hope that if you'relistening to this, and I hope if
you're in a similar situationwhere you're 50 or 100 pounds
overweight, that you take someaction.
You do stuff, you do what'snecessary to lose the weight and
get yourself healthy.
Like I said, I had atrialfibrillation, I had congestive
heart failure, I had all kindsof heart issues, but I convinced
(06:26):
myself again that I was fat andhealthy.
But your heart just isn'tdesigned to push blood through
layers of excess fat.
That should just be commonknowledge.
But when you're overweight,your heart has to work overtime,
every single second of yourlife.
It's working overtime everysecond of your life.
And why do you think?
You have high blood pressure.
You get high blood pressure andyour arteries become clogged
with fat, forcing your heart topump even harder.
(06:47):
You get all kinds of heartdisease, other things.
The fat buildup narrows yourarteries and that certainly
increases risk of a heart attack.
Now, thankfully, I never had aheart attack, but I was surely a
prime candidate.
And also, your stroke risk goesto the roof when your arteries
are blocked, your blood flowslows down and you're one bad
(07:11):
day one who knows crazy incidentaway from a stroke.
And how do I know that?
Well, a, it's common knowledge.
But B, because at 411 pounds, Icouldn't walk across a parking
lot without wheezing.
I could actually feel my heartstruggling, my chest pounding,
like I was ready to explode.
If I walked 100 yards, I had tosit down and take a little rest
(07:34):
before I went any further.
That should have been a wake-upcall for me, but it wasn't.
I kept eating, and eating, andeating until I was laying in the
hospital ready to die.
So if you're listening to thisand you're in a similar
situation where you can't walk,you can't do things it's time to
do something about it.
It wasn't until I lost theweight that I realized how close
(07:55):
I was to actually dropping deadin my 50s.
That's a scary thing that I hadto look back.
Now the second thing I don'tknow how I didn't have diabetes,
but I didn't.
And you might think thatdiabetes is just about cutting
back on sugar, but you'recompletely wrong.
It's a full body disaster.
Your insulin resistance goesthrough the roof, meaning your
(08:17):
body can't regulate your bloodsugar anymore.
Your nerves and blood vesselsstart to die off, leading to
amputations, blindness andkidney failure.
Now I did have some kidneyfailure, so again.
I don't know how I didn't havediabetes but I did have some
kidney failure and your bodyliterally starts rotting from
the inside out.
That's really an awful thought.
(08:38):
When you think about it, youever see like a diabetic lose a
foot.
Yeah, that's a real thing andit's 100% avoidable.
But if you keep eating likeshit, you're going to find out
firsthand.
I was pre-diabetic at 411pounds.
My doctor told me I was on thefast track to insulin shots and
(08:58):
neuropathy.
And losing weight didn't justchange my life, it saved it
Really.
It saved it and, by the way, itwasn't the doctor or anybody
else telling me to lose weight.
It was when I came to therealization and I took
accountability for what I waseating and how I was living.
Another thing that reallyaffected me and honestly, the
(09:21):
residual effects I still feeltoday is that your joints are
literally breaking down yourknees, your hips, your spine.
They weren't built to carry 100or 150 extra pounds.
That's why, for people that aremorbidly obese, people that
really need to lose asignificant amount of weight,
arthritis sets in early.
(09:41):
The cartilage in your jointwears away faster, causing
constant pain.
I will tell you again it's inmy hands.
It's weird, but I went and Ihad to have a little hand
surgery and the doctor told melike five of my fingers the
cartilage was gone and there'sno way to repair it.
I don't know, my hands werenever fat, but I will tell you
that I have a smaller ring size,probably two sizes smaller than
(10:03):
I did when I was at 411 pounds,so I guess it was affecting my
joint.
Your back gives out.
It doesn't take a rocketscientist to figure out that
extra belly weight pulls yourspine forward and that leads to
herniated discs.
It leads to all kinds of backproblems, back pain, and the
last thing which I certainlyexperienced was that basic
(10:24):
movement becomes torture.
Walking up the steps that feelslike climbing fucking Mount
Everest.
You just think, oh my God, I'mnot going to make it, and you
dread it and you avoid it at allcosts.
At my heaviest I avoided stairslike they were poison and I
always said, hey, lucky I livein Florida, there's not a lot of
steps.
But that was definitely thewrong approach.
I should have been thinking,wow, I can't walk up steps, I
(10:47):
better do something about this.
But I didn't.
Every step felt like my kneeswere being crushed, like they
were going to explode.
Now, since I've lost the weight.
It gave me the freedom ofmovement back.
It sounds if you're not a bigguy or a big girl, if you're not
a big person.
You don't really understandthat.
But you really can't move.
When you're 100 poundsoverweight, 200 pounds
(11:10):
overweight, even 50 poundsoverweight, moving around, just
general movement, becomesdifficult, and I certainly had
this.
And you can't breathe literally, not figuratively.
Literally can't breathe.
Excess fat doesn't just sitthere, it presses against your
lungs Again one of those thingsthat you may not feel right now
(11:33):
but you will in time.
The fatter you get, the morepressure that's going to go on
your lungs and that leads tosleep apnea, which I definitely
had.
You used to say I snore like abear.
I'll tell you you couldn't bein the same, literally, if
someone was in another room theycould hear me snoring.
I didn't do anything about itbecause I'm an idiot, but I
never wore a CPAP or anythinglike that.
But what sleep apnea isbasically?
Your throat closes when yousleep, cutting off your oxygen
supply.
That's because the fat ispressing on your throat and your
(11:56):
lungs.
One of the side effects, one ofthe effects of sleep apnea is
you have chronic exhaustion.
You wake up more tired than youwent to bed.
That was me.
When I got up I was tired andthen walking around got me even
more tired.
I always had shortness ofbreath and that's why just basic
walking was a struggle for me.
(12:16):
It was a nightmare.
Just think about that in yourlife.
If you're having a hard timewalking, you need to do
something quick.
So I would wake up from thesleep apnea in the middle of the
night gasping for air.
I needed a sleep apnea machine,but I didn't get one.
But here's the crazy thing whenI lost the weight it fixed all
that no machine, no choking,just deep, restful sleep and,
(12:39):
most importantly, absolutely nosnore.
I'm sure I snore every now andthen, but I snored every single
night like a freight train.
Now I snore every now and then,I guess I think I certainly
don't wake up like oh, in themiddle of the night.
So it's I just.
It brings me back to the wholething with the fat activists.
I just they're promoting thisunhealthy.
(13:01):
They're basically promotingearly death.
I talked about that last week.
How many of them have died at avery young age?
It's scary.
One of the biggest threats toyour health is the fat
acceptance movement.
They tell you diets don't work.
Well, yes, they do.
You know I don't believe inquote-unquote dieting, but
losing weight definitely works.
(13:22):
You just have to start whateveryou're doing.
If you're not doing it my wayand you're doing fat diets,
you're doing whatever.
You just have to stop quittingthe diet, whatever diet it may
be.
I've heard people say, oh,weight loss is impossible.
No, it's not.
You just don't want to do thework to get it done.
Fat activists are telling youyou know, that's just the way
(13:43):
your body is.
You don't need to lose weightBullshit, you need to lose
weight.
And then, of course, the biggestlie is you're beautiful at any
size.
Well, that part may be true.
You're beautiful at a big size.
But your looks aren't the issue.
Your health is.
It's not about how you look.
You could look great and thendie at 40 years old Because
(14:05):
you're so goddamn fat and you'retoo fucking lazy to do the work
.
And you believe these assholefat activists who tell you yeah,
you're beautiful in any size,don't worry, you're great.
The ugly truth about thosepeople is they're afraid of
accountability and they don'twant to admit their size is
self-inflicted.
They have every excuse underthe sun.
They lie to other people tomake themselves feel better,
(14:28):
right?
So yeah, no, fat is beautiful.
The whole fat con thing is justweighing on my mind all week no
pun intended was weighing on mymind all weekend that those
people are there celebratingtheir fatness.
They should be celebratingtheir early deaths, because I
would imagine most of them and Isaw, did see some pictures.
They're humongous.
(14:49):
I'm not talking about people whoare 20, 30, 50 pounds
overweight.
I'm talking about people thatare two or 300 pounds overweight
.
They're honestly I'm not achubby chaser they're disgusting
to look at.
They have fat hanging all overthe place.
It's great that they're outthere in bikinis and showing off
their bodies.
I do.
I think that's great becausedon't be ashamed of who you are.
(15:10):
That's your body, but youshould be ashamed that you're
not healthy.
You should want to get healthy,no matter what.
And the crazy part is these fatactivists demonize weight loss
because it exposes their ownlack of effort.
So fat activism is not aboutself-love at all.
It's about denial.
Fat activism is not aboutself-love at all.
It's about denial weakness anddragging other people down.
(15:33):
So don't fall for that bullshit.
It's a bunch of bullshit.
I don't know what else to sayother than really.
The choice is yours.
You can die fat or you canchoose to fight back.
I chose to fight back.
You got to stop eating likeyou're a dumpster, like cut out
the processed shit and thatdoesn't mean never eat it but
(15:54):
you should eat real food, mostlyreal food like proteins,
vegetables and healthy fats, anddefinitely control your portion
.
That's a huge piece of thepuzzle.
I always used to think well,I'm a big guy, I could eat two
or three.
If a normal person eats one, Icould eat two or three.
No, that's not the case.
I wouldn't be such a big guy ifI ate normal portion sizes.
(16:18):
So the second thing that I wouldtell you is move your body.
It took me a long time tofigure that out.
As you know, for the first year, I didn't do any exercise at
all.
I still, to this date, have notgone to the gym.
But exercise I guess I alwaysthought exercise was going to
the gym, doing these workoutsthat fucking suck, doing shit
that I hate.
But the reality is you can doanything and move your body.
(16:40):
As you know, in the first yearof my weight loss journey, my
average step count my dailyaverage step count, was 931
steps a day.
That's not even fucking gettingout of bed.
You know what I mean.
That's like getting out of bed,going to the bathroom 931 steps
.
Now I'm averaging five to 7,500, sometimes 10 or 11,000,
(17:01):
depending on the day.
So move your body right.
You can walk, you can liftweights.
Hey, if you like liftingweights, by all means do that.
It's definitely better toexercise than to not exercise.
But I always tell people, ifyou're so fat that you can't and
again I always say that may be,that's what I said and it may
have been an excuse or it may bethe truth I didn't exercise for
(17:21):
the first year.
Then I started to walk and it'spretty amazing.
So you don't need a gym.
You just need to stop sittingon your ass all day, get up and
walk around.
Every step counts.
If you take a break in themiddle of the day and walk 100
steps, walk around the office,walk around your house, walk
around the block every singlestep counts.
If your thing is dancing oryoga, do what you'll do, because
(17:45):
if you hate the gym, like I do,going there is not going to
help you.
Because you're not going tostick to it, you're not going to
do it.
Something as easy as walking ordancing or yoga.
You can do that at home.
You don't need to join a gym,you don't need to do any of that
.
The only thing you have to dois start, and start small.
You don't have to say I'm goingto walk 10 miles, you're not
(18:06):
going to walk 10 miles.
Walk a quarter of a mile andthen the next day walk a quarter
of a mile.
Maybe the next week you walk alittle bit further.
So every single step you takecounts, and when I say step, I
mean every yoga thing you do,every bit of dancing, every
movement counts, and it'sgetting you towards your goal.
And then, of course, you have toown your choices, because every
single meal you eat is a choice.
(18:26):
I don't give a shit what youtell me.
Every time you open your mouth,you have an opportunity to eat
more or eat less, to eat foodthat is in line with your why or
food that's not in line withyour why.
And every day that you choosenot to walk or move or do
something, that's a choice.
And, more importantly or mostimportantly, every excuse you
(18:50):
make is a choice.
And it's not about making hugechanges in your life, it isn't.
It's about making small choicesevery day that add up to big
results.
So those are the things that Ithink are the most important.
Look, when I was 411 pounds, Ihad every excuse in the book.
I told myself I was big boned.
(19:11):
I'm sure you've heard peoplesay, oh, I'm big boned.
I convinced myself that dietsdidn't work, that it was just.
There's no way I could do this.
That diet's bullshit, thisdiet's bullshit and every diet.
It honestly is bullshit.
It's just a short-term fix.
But I convinced myself that Ijust couldn't diet anymore and I
totally let my cravings controlme.
And then one day I was laying inthe hospital bed.
(19:33):
I realized nobody was coming tosave me.
Man, if I was going to gethealthy, if I was going to do
shit, I had to do it on my own.
It wasn't going to be my doctor.
He wasn't going to save me.
Not my family, not some magicpill or not some fucking magic
shot, just me.
That's the only person that wasgoing to save me.
(19:54):
And I stopped making excuses andI started making choices and I
lost over 140 pounds.
And I'm still losing.
I'm still losing weight and I'mnot going to tell you I don't
go up one week and down.
I do, but I'm very aware of thechoices that I make when I open
my mouth.
So you can do this too.
It's not hard if you actuallythink about it and you take
(20:16):
responsibility for the choicesyou make.
But you have to choose it.
You have to wake up and admitthe truth that your weight is
killing you, and then you haveto do something about it.
So, like I said before, fatisn't a body type, fat isn't
healthy, and fat sure as shit isnot your identity.
(20:37):
Fat is just slow motion suicide, and you don't have to go out
like that.
You're in complete control.
You're the only one that canmake the choices that are going
to keep you alive, keep youhealthy and get you living your
best life.
You have to decide what's goingto be Keep slowly killing
(20:59):
yourself or shut up and chooseand take control of your life.
The choice is yours.
All I can say is it's your move, man.
Start today, make the hardchoices and take your life back,
because, like I said earlier,you're not meant to die like
this.
So that's it for today.
(21:20):
I'll tell you, as usual, you canget my book Shut Up and Choose.
It chronicles my journey oflosing over 140 pounds, eating
all the foods that I loved,didn't spend a minute in the gym
, didn't do any exercise for thefirst year, but I did it by
making small, smart choices thatadd up to big results.
I also have that.
By the way, that book isavailable on Amazon and I'm
(21:41):
getting tons of great reviews,still selling like crazy.
I'm grateful that people areusing it and getting great
results from it.
I also am about to launch abrand new video course called
the Effortless Weight LossAcademy.
I'll give you more informationon that as we go, but again,
it's going to be over 20 modules, 20 videos.
Rather, it's got a bunch ofdownloads, a bunch of quizzes,
(22:02):
just to kind of keep you ontrack.
I'm really really, really,really excited about this thing,
and I'll make an announcementnext week or the week after,
when it finally goes live.
It's in beta right now, whichmeans I'm basically giving it to
a bunch of people for free sothey can test it, find the kinks
, find the bugs and help me tomake it the best possible course
out there.
And again, it's all aboutmindful eating, making small,
(22:26):
smart choices and really livingyour best life.
I'm living my best life and I'mreally excited about that.
So that's it for today.
Make sure that you get up offyour lazy ass after you listen
to this and get out there andmove a little bit.
It's just a matter of gettingstarted.
That's it.
If you don't take the firststep, you can't take the second
(22:47):
step.
So really you have to takeresponsibility for your choices
and get into action, and byaction I don't mean walking
Action, I mean make the decisionto get yourself healthy.
So right now, the only thingleft to do is to shut up and
choose.
Announcer (23:06):
You've been listening to Shut Up and Choose and
choose.
You've been listening to shutup and choose.
Jonathan's passion is to sharehis journey of shedding 130
pounds in less than a yearwithout any of the usual
gimmicks no diets, no pills.
And we'll let you in on alittle secret no fucking Jim,
(23:26):
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 themeantime, find Jonathan on
Instagram atJonathanWrestlerBocaRaton.
Until next time, shut up andchoose.
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