April 2, 2025 • 37 mins
Why is "eat less, move more" such terrible weight loss advice? Because it completely misses what actually drives our eating behaviors and sets us up for failure from the start.
The problem isn't that people don't understand how calories work—it's that they don't understand why they overeat in the first place. Food isn't just fuel; it's comfort during stress, celebration during joy, and often just a mindless habit. Until we address these psychological triggers, no amount of calorie-counting will lead to lasting change.
Your body isn't a simple calculator that responds predictably to calorie reduction. When you drastically cut calories, your metabolism slows, hunger hormones surge, and your body fights back against what it perceives as starvation. This biological resistance explains why crash diets almost always end in rebound weight gain.
Even more insidious is how processed foods manipulate our brain chemistry. That "you can't eat just one" feeling with chips or cookies? That's by design. These ultra-processed foods hit our reward centers like drugs, making moderation through willpower alone nearly impossible for most people.
The sustainable approach to weight management isn't about suffering or restriction—it's about building systems that make healthy choices easier. It's finding nutritious foods that actually satisfy you, forms of movement you genuinely enjoy, and creating an environment that supports your goals rather than sabotages them.
Most importantly, it's shifting from an all-or-nothing mindset to one of consistency. The people who succeed aren't those with ironclad willpower; they're the ones who understand that one imperfect meal doesn't ruin everything, and who've found a way of eating they can actually live with forever.
Ready to break free from the cycle of yo-yo dieting and discover what actually works for sustainable weight loss? Check out my book "Shut Up and Choose" on Amazon or my comprehensive video course "Effortless Weight Loss Academy" at learnshutupandchoose.com.
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
Mark as Played
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 (01:13):
Welcome back to Shut Up and Choose the podcast that
cuts through the noise, thenonsense and all the garbage of
the diet industry.
Internet gurus and Instagraminfluencers are spitting your
way, telling you they have theanswers and if you just follow
their simple plan, hey, it'll beall good.
But normally I spend a lot oftime talking about internet and
(01:36):
Instagram influencers who thinkthey just got it all figured out
, who've never lost a pound intheir fucking life, and, yeah,
just, I like to rip them apartas much as I can.
But today I'm going to take theepisode off that.
Today I'm going to talk aboutprobably a lot of people that
you know, people in your regulareveryday life, just regular
(01:56):
people.
And those are the people thattell you hey, I don't know why
you're overweight, all you haveto do is eat less and move more.
Hey, I don't know why you'reoverweight, all you have to do
is eat less and move more.
And that, to me, is probably thesingle worst weight loss advice
ever created.
For years, people have beentold and people told me hey,
(02:19):
it's easy, weight loss is easy,man, just eat less and move more
.
And that, of course, it soundslogical, right, if you cut back
on your calories and youexercise more, you're just going
to watch the pounds melt away.
Except that's not really how itworks.
If weight loss were really thatsimple, nobody would struggle
with it.
The diet industry wouldn't be amulti-billion dollar industry,
(02:41):
weight loss drugs wouldn't existand people wouldn't keep losing
and regaining the same 50pounds over and over again.
But the problem with the adviceto eat less and move more is
that it's just too simple, it'smisleading and, honestly, it
sets people up for failure.
It ignores the mindset, themental part of weight loss, and
(03:03):
you'll never convince me thatlosing weight and keeping it off
and sustaining that weight thatyou're trying to be at is not a
99% mental game.
So that advice ignores thepsychological, the emotional and
the physiological challengescome with weight loss.
It assumes that, like mostpeople are just robots who can
just flip a switch and eat less.
I can tell you I know it makessense, right, eat less and move
(03:28):
more.
But it never really considerswhy people eat the way they do.
So I'm going to break down foryou the biggest flaws in that
bullshit, shitty advice to eatless and move more, and the most
important one for me is therole of psychology and emotions
in eating.
Most people don't struggle withweight loss because they don't
know how to eat less.
(03:49):
Come on.
They struggle because theydon't understand why they
overeat in the first place.
We all know how to eat less,right, just put less shit in
your mouth.
But until you understand whyyou overeat, you're really kind
of behind the eight ball.
The reality is, people don'treally just eat because they're
hungry.
They eat because they'restressed out.
(04:09):
Right, food is comfort.
After a long, exhausting day ofdealing with bullshit, food
kind of feels like a reward.
Or they eat because they'rebored.
I'm so guilty of that I wouldjust spend hours mindlessly
snacking in front of the TV orscrolling through social media.
That's just like that's secondnature in our society.
A lot of people eat becausethey're sad or they're anxious.
(04:31):
Food provides relief.
You can say, oh, it doesn'tbullshit If someone's overweight
food is probably providing sometemporary relief from some
negative emotion.
I'm not going to do a deeppsychological dive and figure
out what your fucking problem is, but I know for me there was
definitely some sadness andanxiety there.
But on the flip side of that,food is also part of celebrating
(04:54):
.
Food is part of every holiday,every birthday nights out with
our friends.
Food is definitely considered acelebration.
And then the last part is thatfood oftentimes eating is tied
to routines.
It's triggered by habit.
If you've always had dessertafter dinner or a snack before
you go to bed, your brainexpects it.
You've trained your brain toexpect that even if you're not
(05:17):
hungry.
So saying just eat less ignoresall of that.
And it seems people can justsimply willpower their way
through cravings and stopemotional eating by choice.
Well, I do believe that you canchoose to stop that emotional
eating, but you have to actuallythink about it.
Okay, if someone?
Let me give you an analogy Ifsomeone smokes when they're
(05:39):
stressed out, just telling themto smoke less doesn't work.
They need to find healthierways to manage that stress.
Or if someone bites their nailsout of habits, just saying just
stop, that's not a solution.
They need a strategy to breakthe cycle.
And eating is the same exactthing.
Most people overeat because ofpatterns, habits and emotional
(06:00):
triggers, not because they don'tknow food has calories.
We all know food has calories.
We also all know that hascalories.
We also all know that a bowl ofCaptain Crunch has more
calories than two eggs.
We know that it's not just eatless and move more.
So I think, instead of tellingyourself to eat less, figure out
why you're eating in the firstplace.
This is where the mental gamecomes in.
(06:22):
I didn't do this, but I kept itin my mind Before you eat ask
yourself am I actually hungry oram I just eating out of stress,
boredom or habit?
And then, if you have to writeit down, write down what you're
feeling and over time you'regoing to start to notice that
pattern.
Like I said, I didn't keep anyjournals, I didn't do anything
like that, but I was reallyfocused on mindful eating.
I still eat mindfully, probably90% of the time.
(06:46):
Sometimes I just shovel shitdown my throat, but you know why
?
Because I'm a fucking humanbeing.
So you have to find other copingmethods.
If stress is making you reachfor food, there's got to be
other things you can do.
I distracted myself by goingout for a walk or just my
version of whatever meditationis just kind of sitting there
quietly.
You can call somebody on thephone and whatever it is for you
(07:06):
.
Just find some other copingmechanism for stress and
emotional eating.
You could also this is kind ofthe same thing but you can
create what I call aninterruption strategy.
So, if you're always grabbing asnack when you walk in the
kitchen, change the routineright.
Do something else first, evenas simple as drinking a glass of
water, chewing gum, or just gooutside and step outside for a
(07:28):
few minutes, take a walk, evenif it's a three-minute walk.
Just interrupt that habit thatyou always do.
I talked about this before.
Definitely, you have to focus oneating mindfully Instead of
eating in front of the TV orscrolling on your phone.
Focus on your food.
Pay attention to your hungerand fullness so you don't eat
just because it's in front ofthe TV or scrolling on your
phone.
Focus on your food.
Pay attention to your hungerand fullness so you don't eat
just because it's in front ofyou.
I was the master of that.
(07:49):
Not only that once I finishedeating what was in front of me,
I put more in front of me and Iate all that.
So when you start to eatmindfully and you pay attention
to when you're full and whenyou're hungry before you start
eating, that will help you breakthat habit.
And this is so logical, but ittook me 59 years to figure this
out.
Make problem foods lessaccessible If you're always
(08:11):
reaching for chips when you'restressed out or when you're
sitting in front of the TVs.
Just don't keep them in thehouse.
If you want them, then get upoff your ass, get in the car or
whatever you have to do and goget them.
But if you set your environmentup to make healthy choices
easier, mindless eating becomesharder.
I will tell you that I didn'tkeep that shit in the house.
There were times when I got upand went out and got the shit
(08:32):
that I wanted, but it requiredsome effort.
So that's really a powerful oneis make those problem foods
less accessible.
One of the biggest problems ofeat less, move more is that it
doesn't teach people how toactually change their habits for
life.
Yeah, cutting calories andincreasing exercise is
definitely going to help someonelose some weight in the short
term.
But what happens after a fewweeks?
(08:54):
You get hungry, you get tired,you feel deprived.
Eventually you break and youbinge and you regain everything
you lost plus more, and that'syo-yo dieting.
I like to say I'm theself-proclaimed king of yo-yo
dieting, in case you don't know.
This is like the cycle of whata yo-yo diet is.
Millions and millions of peopleare trapped in.
(09:17):
First, you go on a super strictdiet.
You cut your caloriesdrastically, you eliminate
entire food groups and yousuffer through boring,
flavorless meals.
Step two you lose weight fastright, that's great.
Scale drops quickly Becauseyou're starving yourself I would
starve myself, or cut outthings and lose a ton of water
weight and you're going to loseweight.
And then step three this is thetough one you hit the breaking
(09:39):
point.
You start to get some hunger,some fatigue and the cravings
are just starting to build up.
I miss my favorite foods and Iwas feeling fucking miserable.
I wanted to eat those thingsthat I wanted to eat.
And then step four, of course,is you binge and you put the
weight back on Everything.
You go off the rails and youstart eating everything that
(10:00):
you've been restricting and,like I said over and over again,
you end up heavier than whenyou started.
And the worst part is that Iwould blame myself for failing,
when in reality, that approachof eat less, move more is
completely unsustainable.
Extreme dieting always leads torebound weight gain.
(10:21):
Your body doesn't like extremecalorie restriction.
When someone eats way toolittle for an extended period of
time, their body goes intosurvival mode.
Okay, so your metabolism isgoing to slow down because the
body burns a lot less calorieswhen it's trying to conserve
energy.
It thinks it's going into somekind of crisis.
Your hunger hormones go crazy,like ghrelin, which is the
hunger hormone.
It increases and it makes youcrave the high calorie foods.
(10:43):
And I can tell you, when you gointo an extreme calorie deficit
, you lose muscle Instead ofjust burning fat.
Your body breaks down musclefor energy and that slows down
your metabolism even more.
And that's why most people whodo crash diets, like myself,
regain the weight and then some.
Their metabolism now is slower,the hunger is stronger and you
(11:04):
never learned how to eat in asustainable way.
And the same goes for exercise.
Okay, you know I'm not a bigexercise guy, but I have
exercised in my life.
At one point I was an athlete.
But the move more part of thisadvice is just as flawed.
A lot of people think they haveto work out like a maniac to
lose weight.
You go spend two, three hoursin the gym, run 10 miles or
whatever it is, do the hitworkouts, the high intensity
(11:26):
workouts that just leave youwiped out.
But the truth is, if you hateyour workouts, you're not going
to keep doing them If you'reexhausted all the time, you're
going to quit, and if you pushtoo hard, too fast, you're going
to hurt yourself, you're goingto get frustrated and you're
going to get burned out.
So the result quit exercisealtogether and go right back to
the old habits.
(11:46):
That's where I was andtruthfully, lately I've been
considering.
This is a big announcement forme, but I have been considering
going back to the gym.
I've been talking to people.
I don't know if I'm going to goto the gym, but I'm certainly
going to start to do a moreaggressive exercise routine.
But I'd like to be able to doit at home, but I'm going to do
a whole episode about that whenI ultimately get back to it.
But if you're not doing shitthat you like, if you're not
(12:07):
doing exercises that you canmaintain, you're just not going
to keep doing them.
Exercise I came to therealization that exercise should
be something that enhances mylife, not something that makes
me fucking miserable.
If I force myself into aworkout routine that I hate,
it's only a matter of timebefore I'm going to quit.
So better advice for nutritionto me is eat in a small,
(12:34):
sustainable calorie deficit.
You don't have to cut athousand calories out of your
fucking daily diet overnight.
Start by just eating smallerportion sizes or just making
some smarter swaps for food.
So, instead of eating Frenchfries, eat a salad.
Definitely do not cut outentire food groups.
Eliminating carbs I did that onpaleo, on Atkins, on keto or
cutting out sugar, which Ialways tried to do, no matter
(12:57):
what extreme diet I was on orlabeling foods as bad.
It just made me crave it moreand binge on it later, because
sooner or later I was going backto that shit.
And of course, I always tellyou this.
But prioritize protein.
Protein keeps you full longer.
Also fiber.
So things like I eat overnightoats every morning.
That will definitely keep youfull longer and it's easier to
(13:19):
eat less without feeling likeyou're fucking starving.
And follow the 80-20 rule Eatmostly whole, nutritious foods,
but leave room for the food thatyou actually love, but do it in
moderation.
As far as exercise goes and thisis I'm telling myself this as
I'm telling you this, but yougot to start small.
If someone like me I'm reallynot exercising at all other than
walking expecting me to go workout, to go to the gym six days
(13:42):
a week or even exercise six daysa week, it's unrealistic.
So I'm going to start out small, maybe 10 or 15 minutes a day,
and I'll build from there.
And you have to find a workoutthat you actually enjoy.
Me personally, I don't evenknow if I could run, but I hate
running.
Then I'm not going to run, Ifucking hate going to the gym,
so I'm not going to do that.
But if you like lifting weights, definitely do that.
(14:03):
Exercise should be somethingthat you look forward to, not
something that you dread.
And then again, like I focusedon consistency with my eating,
I'm going to focus onconsistency with my exercise.
So if I could do a 15 or 20minute workout that I actually
do is better than a 90 minuteworkout that I do for three days
(14:26):
and then quit.
So another problem with that eatless and move more mentality is
that mentality treats allcalories like they're equal, so
like as if eating 1,500 caloriesof fast food and soda is the
same as eating 1,500 calories ofnutrient-dense food that
actually keeps you full for along body.
(14:46):
It's not the same and it's noteven close.
Here's the reality.
What you eat matters just asmuch as how much you eat.
Certain foods make it easier tostay in a calorie deficit
without feeling miserable, whileother foods keep you trapped in
a cycle of cravings and hungerand overeating.
And at the most basic level,yes, a calorie is a calorie.
(15:09):
Other foods keep you trapped ina cycle of cravings and hunger
and overeating.
And at the most basic level,yes, a calorie is a calorie.
You burn more calories than youconsume.
You lose weight.
That's physics.
There's no dispute there.
But here's what that caloriemath doesn't really account for.
Some foods fill you up, whileothers leave you starving an
hour later.
We all know that.
You know that there's somefoods that you could eat and
you're like, oh man, I'm fulland yeah, no, I'm not hungry
(15:30):
right now.
And the other foods you eat andyou're starving as soon as
you're done eating it.
There's also foods thatliterally rewire your brain and
they make you want to eat more.
No, that sounds crazy.
I'm going to talk a little bitmore about that, but I'm.
Fast food and chips and thatjunk food, that ultra processed
shit, is designed to make youwant to eat more.
And then, of course, you haveto know how different foods
(15:51):
affect your blood sugar andenergy levels.
Some food spikes your bloodsugar and makes you crash, and
that leads you to more hungerand more bad choices.
So let's look at this realquickly.
So if we look at two different1,500-calorie days, so in
scenario one we're eatingprocessed food and sugar.
So for breakfast you're goingto have a bowl of Captain Crunch
(16:13):
and a big glass of orange juice.
For lunch, maybe eat some kindof fast food burger, five Guys
or In-N-Out whatever and somefries.
You have a snack toward the endof the day, a granola bar, and
then for dinner you go out withyour buddies and you have some
pizza and soda.
That meal is packed withrefined carbs, sugars and
(16:34):
unhealthy fats.
What happens?
Well, we just talked about this.
Your blood sugar spikes andthen it crashes.
So you're hungry again in anhour.
Your cravings go through theroof because processed foods
make you want to eat moreprocessed foods and, of course,
you feel sluggish because yourenergy crashes and at that point
going to the gym sounds likefucking torture.
Now, if you compare it to thesecond meal for breakfast you
have some eggs, avocado, maybesome whole wheat toast.
(16:56):
For lunch you have some grilledchicken, quinoa and, as you
know, I recently decided I likequinoa and some other veggies.
For your snack, you have Greekyogurt and maybe some almonds,
some other kind of nuts, and fordinner you have salmon.
Vicky made me delicious salmonthe other night with some
roasted sweet potatoes andgreens.
That meal, that meal plan forthe day and I fucking hate meal
(17:17):
plans but those meals for theday, they're high in protein,
they're high in fiber andthey're loaded with healthy fats
, which means you stay full forhours so you don't need to snack
every 30 minutes.
Your blood sugar stays stableso you don't crash, you don't
have any crazy hunger and yourenergy stays high because you
actually feel good enough to dowhat you need to do.
(17:38):
So those are the same calories.
Both of those are 1,500-caloriemeals, but they have completely
different results.
This is another thing that Ifind very interesting.
If you ever wonder why it'simpossible to eat just one chip
or one cookie, that's not anaccident.
Processed foods are literallyengineered to make you overeat.
Junk food is designed formaximum craveability.
(18:00):
Why is that?
Because A well, they're high insugar, salt and unhealthy fats.
There's little to no fiber orprotein that's going to fill you
up and it hits the brain'sreward system like a fucking
drug.
Man Lays ran a whole potato chipcampaign.
You can't just eat one.
You can't.
You can't eat one chip.
You can't eat six French fries,you just can't.
(18:21):
They're designed to make youwant to eat more.
So you just you can't.
They're designed to make youwant to eat more, so you don't
stop when you're full, you stopwhen you're stuffed.
So like, look at 200 caloriesof potato chips, you could eat
an entire fucking bag before youfeel even remotely full,
whereas if you eat two of thesame 200 calories of chicken
breast, you're full after oneserving.
And I'm not saying chickenbreast is an equivalent, is a
(18:49):
great substitute for chips, butit's still 200 calories of chips
or 200 calories of chickenbreast.
That's why willpower alonecan't save.
That's why I always saywillpower is fucking bullshit.
If your diet is built on fooddesigned to make you overeat,
you're fighting a losing battle.
And when you eat those things,when you eat mostly sugar and
refined carbs, your blood sugaris going to spike, followed by
that crash that makes you feeleven hungrier than before.
That's why just eat less fails.
(19:10):
When you're starving all thetime, you're way more likely to
binge.
So high-protein, fiber-richmeals keep your blood sugar
stable, which keeps your hungerand your cravings in check.
So, like I said before, a bowlof Captain Crunch might be 300
calories, but you're starving anhour later.
But a bowl of oatmeal with somenuts and berries or some kind
(19:32):
of fruit in it you stay full forhours.
So I would say, instead ofassessing how many calories you
eat, focus on what you're eating.
So again, eat that protein.
It builds muscles and keeps youfull.
You know what that is chicken,fish, beef, greek yogurt, all
(19:52):
that stuff, fiber, that slowdigestion.
It's hard to digest thoseovernight oats every morning.
For me, hard meaning my bodyhas to work harder so it digests
it more slowly and it keeps myhunger in check.
But it's not just overnight.
So that's vegetables and fruitand whole grains.
And then also you have to eatsome healthy fats, because that
helps you with your hormonebalance.
So those are things likeavocados and nuts, olive oil,
fatty fish, like that salmon Italked about.
Just by choosing the foods thatkeep you full and satisfied,
(20:15):
you naturally eat fewer calorieswithout feeling like you're
starving.
Because, at the end of the day,the best weight loss plan isn't
just one you can stick to, it'sone that makes you feel good
while you're doing it.
One of the worst parts about eatless, move more advice is that
it makes weight loss seem like apersonal failure.
If someone struggles withlosing weight, the message
(20:38):
becomes well, you're just nottrying hard enough or you just
need more discipline.
If you really want to loseweight, you just stop eating so
much and go to the gym more.
That's complete and utterbullshit.
Weight loss is not just aboutwillpower, it's about habits,
it's definitely about mindset,it's about food choices and it's
(21:01):
about environment.
If someone is constantlystruggling with their weight,
it's not because they're lazy,it's because they've been set up
to fail with terrible advice.
So you know I like to shit onwillpower because I don't think
you need willpower to succeed.
Let me tell you why willpower,in my mind, does not work.
Willpower is like a batteryright, it runs out If you think
(21:21):
about it.
You wake up determined to eathealthy by noon like I would be
stressed at work and I'm cravingsome junk food by the nighttime
.
By the time I got home fromwork, I was exhausted and
suddenly that bag of chips wascalling my name.
Did I suddenly become weak orlazy?
No, I just ran out of willpower.
So there's actually beenstudies that show that willpower
(21:45):
is a limited resource.
It gets drained throughout theday as you deal with stress and
decision makings and temptation,and that's why relying on
willpower alone is a recipe forfailure, a recipe for disaster.
People don't fail because theylack willpower.
They fail because they don'thave a system that sets them up
for success.
(22:05):
So real weight loss is not justabout trying harder.
It's about if someone isconstantly failing, it's usually
because of one of these factors.
There could be a couple offactors.
One is you're constantlysurrounded by junk food.
I always had junk food aroundme.
My house was full of chips andcookies and ice cream and
eventually I would always givein.
And it wasn't because I wasweak, it was because I'm fucking
(22:27):
human.
If the stuff's there, it tastesgood, I'm going to eat it.
The second reason that you mayfail, and that I certainly
failed, was I was followingdiets that were unsustainable,
cutting out all carbs orslashing calories too low.
That's not willpower, that'sjust a fucking bad plan.
Another reason I fail is that Inever had an easy go-to system
(22:49):
for meals.
If every meal feels like whenI'm making the meal, it's a
fucking battle.
I eventually grab the easiestand, honestly, usually the worst
option.
And the last thing maybe not thelast thing, but a big one for
me, and I still kind of see itthis way, to be perfectly honest
.
But a big one for me and Istill kind of see it this way,
to be perfectly honest.
But I see exercise aspunishment.
(23:09):
If I force myself into workoutsthat I hate, which I've done a
hundred times, I just can'tstick to it, period.
There's no other way to saythat Exercise is punishment for
me.
Or let me rephrase it Going tothe gym is punishment.
I do like to exercise, I dolike to go out and walk, but
going to the gym is just fuckingpunishment for me.
And the last thing that reallyhelped me was I never had a
(23:31):
routine that made good choicesautomatically.
I never thought about my food.
I never put the right food inmy house.
I never thought about okay, ifI'm out, what am I going to eat?
So if healthy eating andexercise require constant effort
, that's not going to last.
But if you set yourself up,that's how this sustainable
thing works.
Like I said, I've been doing itfor coming up on two years.
(23:51):
So it's not about discipline,it's about systems.
So instead of trying to whiteknuckle through every meal
during weight loss, you need toset yourself up a system that
makes healthy choices automatic.
So, like I was talking aboutbefore, I mean create an
environment that makes successeasier.
If junk food isn't in the house, you won't eat it.
Or if you do eat it, you'regoing to have to do some work to
(24:12):
get out there.
So that's number one Make yourdecisions ahead of time.
Again, I'm not a meal planner,but if you get onto a routine
where you know every day you'regoing to do this at this time,
it makes it a lot easier.
I eat the same high-proteinbreakfast pretty much every
single day.
I eat overnight oats and itjust works for me.
(24:33):
It takes the decision and thechoice and all the thought out
of it.
So you know for you it's takinga walk after dinner or even if
it's lifting weights a few timesa week.
The more automatic your stuffis, the better it is for weight
loss.
And of course I talked aboutthis before If you struggle with
eating at night, don't keepthat shit in the house.
That's it.
Or if you're the young I'malmost 61 now If you're for
(24:59):
younger people, if you're likemindlessly scrolling through
food delivery apps, just deletethem off your fucking phone.
I mean, it's that simple.
If you're always ordering.
My son told me the other daythat he came home.
Now, granted, he might havebeen mildly intoxicated, but he
came home and ordered $75 worthof Chinese food, I think.
He said he had roast pork, lomein, some fried rice, eight egg
(25:21):
rolls and seven spring rolls.
Now, granted, he fell asleepbefore that was delivered.
It was sitting outside his doorthe next morning and he didn't
eat it.
But I mean, if you have thosefood apps and getting food
delivered is so easy, deletethat shit off your phone.
And then, of course, findsomething that you actually
enjoy.
Find exercise you enjoy.
For me, it was walking.
I'm going to try to do a littlebit more.
(25:42):
Don't force yourself intoworkouts that you hate.
Find, I'm going to try to do alittle bit more.
Don't force yourself intoworkouts that you hate.
Find something that youactually want to do.
And the last reason, or maybethe second to last reason, that
eat less, move more is sofucking bad, is that it's so
vague.
I mean, it's meaningless.
What does eat less even mean?
Eat less than what?
By how much?
Less food overall?
(26:04):
Is that what I should do?
Or just fewer calories?
Should I stop eating carbs?
Should I walk 10 minutes a day?
Or should I train for amarathon?
Does vacuuming the house?
Does that count as moving more?
What if I'm already active andI'm not losing weight?
Advice is like telling someonestruggling financially to just
spend less and make more money.
(26:24):
Yes, tactically that's true,but it's completely useless if
you don't know how to do it.
So it's just crazy vague advice.
It just leaves so much room forinterpretation.
Some people take eat less tothe extreme, cutting their
calories and starving themselves.
Others might make these tiny,insignificant changes, like
(26:44):
skipping a single snack, andthey both wonder why they're not
losing weight.
It obviously creates confusionIf one person hears eat less and
cuts out all the carbs, anotherone thinks move more means you
have to start running five milesa day.
Neither one of those approachesis necessarily right and
neither is sustainable long term.
And lastly, it fails to provideany kind of actionable steps.
(27:08):
If someone's overeating, theyneed to know what to change and
how to do it in a way that'sactually sustainable.
I didn't know what to do andhow to do it until I stopped and
sat down and read and thoughtabout it.
If someone is inactive, theyneed guidance on what kind of
movement actually matters themost.
So you got to get specific andyou got to make small changes
(27:32):
that work.
So if you want to eat less,here's a couple of things you
can try Simple, easy stuff.
Swap out one processed snack aday for a whole food alternative
.
So, for example, get rid ofthose chips with a handful of
almonds or some Greek yogurt.
I would definitely tell you,and I've told you this many
times eat more protein.
Put protein in every singlemeal, because it keeps you full
longer and it prevents thecravings.
(27:53):
This is a trick that I taughtmyself, or maybe I read it, I
don't know but use a smallerplate for meals.
Our brain tells us that weshould eat what's on the plate.
Well, if your plate is smaller,that gives you portion control
without necessarily countingcalories.
It's easy.
One thing that I always try todo is drink a glass of water
before every meal, because itmakes you a little bit more full
(28:14):
, but it helps you with yourfullness cues and it helps you
to overeat, to stop overeatingrather, and definitely slow down
while you're eating.
This is something that Istruggle with on a daily basis.
I don't know, maybe it's justthe way I was raised, with two
brothers and my father, mymother was never really part of
that issue, but if you didn'teat fast, you didn't eat.
We ate like animals.
(28:43):
I struggle with that everysingle day, trying to eat slower
.
And the last piece to thispuzzle why this is the shitty
eat less, move more is theshittiest advice on the planet
is that it completely overlooksthe importance of mindset.
One of the biggest reasonspeople can't lose weight and I
couldn't lose weight and I wentup and down and I was a yo-yo
dieter.
It had nothing to do with foodor exercise, it was all about my
(29:04):
mindset.
Most people don't strugglebecause they lack knowledge.
We all know what it takes tolose weight.
We all know eating a caloriedeficit.
We all know that Captain Crunchis not as good for you as
overnight oats.
And most people don't strugglebecause they lack willpower.
I might have lacked willpower,I don't know, but a lot of
people don't and that's not whythey struggle.
(29:24):
And most people don't strugglebecause they've already lost the
battle in their own head,because they even start.
If you believe that weight lossis about suffering and
restriction and punishment,you're not going to stick with
it.
Most people look at weight lossand say, all right, I have to
starve myself to lose weight, orI have to exercise every single
day or I'm failing, or if I eatone big meal, I've ruined
(29:45):
everything.
I was the king of that.
I'd be on some diet and I'd bestrict, strict, strict, strict,
strict.
And then, as soon as I atesomething bad or went off the
plan, I ruined everything.
Bad or went off the plan, Iruined everything.
And last, here's a big one foreveryone If the scale doesn't go
down fast enough, I'm failing.
That negative all or nothingapproach is why so many people
fail and quit.
The second they slip up.
I know I do.
(30:05):
Well, I shouldn't say itbecause, like I said, I'm paleo.
I was really strict paleo, thenI was somewhat paleo, then I
was kind of paleo.
If you slip up, no big fuckingdeal.
So you have to get your headthinking right and you have to
get into a weight loss and a fatloss mentality if that's what
you want to do.
So if you think the weight lossis temporary, I can assure you
you're going to gain the weightback.
(30:27):
So, anybody, if you're lookingat your diet as a short-term
diet, you're always going to goback to your old habits once you
reach your goal, guilty ascharged, I would say, okay, I
got to lose 50, 60 pounds,whatever, 100, whatever it was.
I would lose the weight, but Iwould always put the weight back
on because, hey, I reached mygoal.
It was just a short-term thing.
Successful weight loss is notabout what you can do for a few
(30:48):
months.
It's about what you can doforever.
I've learned how to eat thisway forever and, like I've told
you many times, I go up a fewpounds, I go down a few pounds,
I'm kind of maintaining myweight, but I'm coming up on two
years.
I've passed the I can do thisstate Now it's a habit for me.
And second thing is, if youthink about weight loss as
suffering, you're going to quitwhen it gets hard.
That was the biggest thing Ilearned.
(31:12):
When I told myself I had to cutout all the carbs and never eat
a jelly donut and work out forhours, I always eventually gave
up.
I always said I want to go backto eating those things that I
love.
So people who lose weight andkeep it off this is what I
learned find a way to enjoy theprocess instead of making it
torture, and the way for me thatI learned to enjoy the process
(31:35):
is I never aim for perfection.
I always said I can eat thosejelly donuts anytime I want.
I'm just not going to eat themright now, but I can eat them
tomorrow.
So if you're aiming forperfection, when you fuck up
you're going to quit.
But here's what I want to tellyou.
Nobody eats perfectly every day.
Nobody sticks to their plan100% of the time and if you
think one bad meal means thatyou ruined everything, you're
(31:57):
going to give up when you don'tneed to.
People who succeed, people likeme because in my mind I'm a
success man.
I lost 140 pounds and I'mkeeping it off.
The people who succeed like mewe're just consistent.
I eat plenty of bad shit.
I eat plenty of stuff thateverybody would say is, oh, you
can't eat that Bullshit.
(32:18):
I'm teaching myself, like Isaid last week, to eat like a
normal person.
So, instead of looking at thisand approaching this thing, the
mindset here is don't look at itas a short-term diet.
Shift your mindset to thinkingit's long-term success you're
going after.
Accept the fact that it's notgoing to be perfect.
Weight loss is not linear.
It's an up and down road.
(32:39):
If you look at it on a graph.
It goes up and down.
One bad meal or one missedworkout is not failure.
The only way to fail is to quit.
So you do that by focusing onconsistency over perfection.
If you can eat well 80% of thetime, that's a hell of a lot
more effective than beingperfect for a month and giving
(33:00):
up.
And then the third thing is tryto find a way to make your
weight loss enjoyable.
If you hate every second ofwhat you're doing, do you really
think you're going to fuckingstick to it?
Of course not.
Then, of course, stop seeingfood as good or bad.
Nothing is off limits For me.
When I was doing this thing, nofood was off limits.
It was about balance andportion control and making smart
(33:20):
choices most of the time.
And last but not least, andmaybe even the most important,
stop looking for the fuckingquick fix.
It doesn't exist.
Stop looking for the quick fixand start focusing on what you
can do for the rest of your life.
Now, if you don't fix yourmindset before you go and start
(33:41):
that journey, no diet or workoutplan is going to be long-term.
Weight loss should not be aboutsuffering or restriction or
perfection.
It's about making small, smartchoices consistently and finding
the plan that you can actuallylive with.
Because, like I said, thepeople who succeed aren't the
ones with the most willpower,they're the ones with the best
(34:02):
mindset.
So that's what I think abouteat less and move more.
If someone tells you to eat lessand move more, you can be
pretty sure of one of thesethree things.
One is they've never struggledwith weight loss themselves.
Number two is they have no realunderstanding of how behavior
works.
And number three, they justdon't give a shit enough to give
(34:25):
you real useful advice.
Because here's the truth Weightloss isn't just about math,
it's about mindset.
So telling someone to eat lessjust ignores the emotional and
psychological reasons thatpeople overeat.
It ignores the fact that foodcravings and hunger hormones
work against extreme calorierestriction.
It ignores the fact thatprocessed foods are engineered
(34:46):
to keep people addicted.
And in terms of the Move Moreadvice, it completely ignores
that over-exercising without theright nutrition can actually
make your weight loss actuallyharder and that physical
activity should improve thequality of life, not feel like
punishment.
And the bottom line is that eatless, move more.
That advice is not just lazy,it's fucking harmful Because it
(35:08):
makes people feel like theirfailures are their own fault and
it suggests that someone isn'tlosing weight they're just not
trying hard enough, when inreality they were just given
some really shitty advice.
So the bottom line here isweight loss isn't about starving
yourself and running on atreadmill until you hate your
fucking life.
It's about finding a way to eat, move and live that works for
(35:31):
you forever.
So forget that whole eat less,move more bullshit.
Instead, learn to eat smarter,move more consistently and build
habits that last.
That's how real, sustainableweight loss happens and that's
how you win this game for good.
So there's my thoughts on thatfucking horrible advice eat less
(35:53):
, move more.
If you want to find out how Iactually lost the weight, I kept
it off for well, not reallygoing to tell you.
I kept it off, but I was goingto tell you all about my journey
.
You can buy my book.
It's called Shut Up and Choose.
It's on Amazon.
We're an Amazon bestseller,great five-star reviews.
Again, it's called Shut Up andChoose.
You can also get, if you need alittle bit more advice.
You can get, my 20 plus videocourse.
(36:14):
It's available at well, firstof all, it's called the
Effortless Weight Loss Academy.
You can get that atlearnshutupandchoosecom.
That's learnshutupandchoosecom.
So that's it.
That's all I have to say today.
Next time someone tells you toeat less and move more, you got
two choices.
You can tell them.
The first choice is you cantell them to go fuck themselves,
which I might actually suggest,actually, you know what.
(36:37):
The second choice is betterShut up and choose.
Announcer (36:42):
You've been listening to Shut Up 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 gym.
And guess what?
(37:03):
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 atJonathanWrestlerBoccaRaton.
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 (01:13):
Welcome back to Shut Up and Choose the podcast that
cuts through the noise, thenonsense and all the garbage of
the diet industry.
Internet gurus and Instagraminfluencers are spitting your
way, telling you they have theanswers and if you just follow
their simple plan, hey, it'll beall good.
But normally I spend a lot oftime talking about internet and
(01:36):
Instagram influencers who thinkthey just got it all figured out
, who've never lost a pound intheir fucking life, and, yeah,
just, I like to rip them apartas much as I can.
But today I'm going to take theepisode off that.
Today I'm going to talk aboutprobably a lot of people that
you know, people in your regulareveryday life, just regular
(01:56):
people.
And those are the people thattell you hey, I don't know why
you're overweight, all you haveto do is eat less and move more.
Hey, I don't know why you'reoverweight, all you have to do
is eat less and move more.
And that, to me, is probably thesingle worst weight loss advice
ever created.
For years, people have beentold and people told me hey,
(02:19):
it's easy, weight loss is easy,man, just eat less and move more
.
And that, of course, it soundslogical, right, if you cut back
on your calories and youexercise more, you're just going
to watch the pounds melt away.
Except that's not really how itworks.
If weight loss were really thatsimple, nobody would struggle
with it.
The diet industry wouldn't be amulti-billion dollar industry,
(02:41):
weight loss drugs wouldn't existand people wouldn't keep losing
and regaining the same 50pounds over and over again.
But the problem with the adviceto eat less and move more is
that it's just too simple, it'smisleading and, honestly, it
sets people up for failure.
It ignores the mindset, themental part of weight loss, and
(03:03):
you'll never convince me thatlosing weight and keeping it off
and sustaining that weight thatyou're trying to be at is not a
99% mental game.
So that advice ignores thepsychological, the emotional and
the physiological challengescome with weight loss.
It assumes that, like mostpeople are just robots who can
just flip a switch and eat less.
I can tell you I know it makessense, right, eat less and move
(03:28):
more.
But it never really considerswhy people eat the way they do.
So I'm going to break down foryou the biggest flaws in that
bullshit, shitty advice to eatless and move more, and the most
important one for me is therole of psychology and emotions
in eating.
Most people don't struggle withweight loss because they don't
know how to eat less.
(03:49):
Come on.
They struggle because theydon't understand why they
overeat in the first place.
We all know how to eat less,right, just put less shit in
your mouth.
But until you understand whyyou overeat, you're really kind
of behind the eight ball.
The reality is, people don'treally just eat because they're
hungry.
They eat because they'restressed out.
(04:09):
Right, food is comfort.
After a long, exhausting day ofdealing with bullshit, food
kind of feels like a reward.
Or they eat because they'rebored.
I'm so guilty of that I wouldjust spend hours mindlessly
snacking in front of the TV orscrolling through social media.
That's just like that's secondnature in our society.
A lot of people eat becausethey're sad or they're anxious.
(04:31):
Food provides relief.
You can say, oh, it doesn'tbullshit If someone's overweight
food is probably providing sometemporary relief from some
negative emotion.
I'm not going to do a deeppsychological dive and figure
out what your fucking problem is, but I know for me there was
definitely some sadness andanxiety there.
But on the flip side of that,food is also part of celebrating
(04:54):
.
Food is part of every holiday,every birthday nights out with
our friends.
Food is definitely considered acelebration.
And then the last part is thatfood oftentimes eating is tied
to routines.
It's triggered by habit.
If you've always had dessertafter dinner or a snack before
you go to bed, your brainexpects it.
You've trained your brain toexpect that even if you're not
(05:17):
hungry.
So saying just eat less ignoresall of that.
And it seems people can justsimply willpower their way
through cravings and stopemotional eating by choice.
Well, I do believe that you canchoose to stop that emotional
eating, but you have to actuallythink about it.
Okay, if someone?
Let me give you an analogy Ifsomeone smokes when they're
(05:39):
stressed out, just telling themto smoke less doesn't work.
They need to find healthierways to manage that stress.
Or if someone bites their nailsout of habits, just saying just
stop, that's not a solution.
They need a strategy to breakthe cycle.
And eating is the same exactthing.
Most people overeat because ofpatterns, habits and emotional
(06:00):
triggers, not because they don'tknow food has calories.
We all know food has calories.
We also all know that hascalories.
We also all know that a bowl ofCaptain Crunch has more
calories than two eggs.
We know that it's not just eatless and move more.
So I think, instead of tellingyourself to eat less, figure out
why you're eating in the firstplace.
This is where the mental gamecomes in.
(06:22):
I didn't do this, but I kept itin my mind Before you eat ask
yourself am I actually hungry oram I just eating out of stress,
boredom or habit?
And then, if you have to writeit down, write down what you're
feeling and over time you'regoing to start to notice that
pattern.
Like I said, I didn't keep anyjournals, I didn't do anything
like that, but I was reallyfocused on mindful eating.
I still eat mindfully, probably90% of the time.
(06:46):
Sometimes I just shovel shitdown my throat, but you know why
?
Because I'm a fucking humanbeing.
So you have to find other copingmethods.
If stress is making you reachfor food, there's got to be
other things you can do.
I distracted myself by goingout for a walk or just my
version of whatever meditationis just kind of sitting there
quietly.
You can call somebody on thephone and whatever it is for you
(07:06):
.
Just find some other copingmechanism for stress and
emotional eating.
You could also this is kind ofthe same thing but you can
create what I call aninterruption strategy.
So, if you're always grabbing asnack when you walk in the
kitchen, change the routineright.
Do something else first, evenas simple as drinking a glass of
water, chewing gum, or just gooutside and step outside for a
(07:28):
few minutes, take a walk, evenif it's a three-minute walk.
Just interrupt that habit thatyou always do.
I talked about this before.
Definitely, you have to focus oneating mindfully Instead of
eating in front of the TV orscrolling on your phone.
Focus on your food.
Pay attention to your hungerand fullness so you don't eat
just because it's in front ofthe TV or scrolling on your
phone.
Focus on your food.
Pay attention to your hungerand fullness so you don't eat
just because it's in front ofyou.
I was the master of that.
(07:49):
Not only that once I finishedeating what was in front of me,
I put more in front of me and Iate all that.
So when you start to eatmindfully and you pay attention
to when you're full and whenyou're hungry before you start
eating, that will help you breakthat habit.
And this is so logical, but ittook me 59 years to figure this
out.
Make problem foods lessaccessible If you're always
(08:11):
reaching for chips when you'restressed out or when you're
sitting in front of the TVs.
Just don't keep them in thehouse.
If you want them, then get upoff your ass, get in the car or
whatever you have to do and goget them.
But if you set your environmentup to make healthy choices
easier, mindless eating becomesharder.
I will tell you that I didn'tkeep that shit in the house.
There were times when I got upand went out and got the shit
(08:32):
that I wanted, but it requiredsome effort.
So that's really a powerful oneis make those problem foods
less accessible.
One of the biggest problems ofeat less, move more is that it
doesn't teach people how toactually change their habits for
life.
Yeah, cutting calories andincreasing exercise is
definitely going to help someonelose some weight in the short
term.
But what happens after a fewweeks?
(08:54):
You get hungry, you get tired,you feel deprived.
Eventually you break and youbinge and you regain everything
you lost plus more, and that'syo-yo dieting.
I like to say I'm theself-proclaimed king of yo-yo
dieting, in case you don't know.
This is like the cycle of whata yo-yo diet is.
Millions and millions of peopleare trapped in.
(09:17):
First, you go on a super strictdiet.
You cut your caloriesdrastically, you eliminate
entire food groups and yousuffer through boring,
flavorless meals.
Step two you lose weight fastright, that's great.
Scale drops quickly Becauseyou're starving yourself I would
starve myself, or cut outthings and lose a ton of water
weight and you're going to loseweight.
And then step three this is thetough one you hit the breaking
(09:39):
point.
You start to get some hunger,some fatigue and the cravings
are just starting to build up.
I miss my favorite foods and Iwas feeling fucking miserable.
I wanted to eat those thingsthat I wanted to eat.
And then step four, of course,is you binge and you put the
weight back on Everything.
You go off the rails and youstart eating everything that
(10:00):
you've been restricting and,like I said over and over again,
you end up heavier than whenyou started.
And the worst part is that Iwould blame myself for failing,
when in reality, that approachof eat less, move more is
completely unsustainable.
Extreme dieting always leads torebound weight gain.
(10:21):
Your body doesn't like extremecalorie restriction.
When someone eats way toolittle for an extended period of
time, their body goes intosurvival mode.
Okay, so your metabolism isgoing to slow down because the
body burns a lot less calorieswhen it's trying to conserve
energy.
It thinks it's going into somekind of crisis.
Your hunger hormones go crazy,like ghrelin, which is the
hunger hormone.
It increases and it makes youcrave the high calorie foods.
(10:43):
And I can tell you, when you gointo an extreme calorie deficit
, you lose muscle Instead ofjust burning fat.
Your body breaks down musclefor energy and that slows down
your metabolism even more.
And that's why most people whodo crash diets, like myself,
regain the weight and then some.
Their metabolism now is slower,the hunger is stronger and you
(11:04):
never learned how to eat in asustainable way.
And the same goes for exercise.
Okay, you know I'm not a bigexercise guy, but I have
exercised in my life.
At one point I was an athlete.
But the move more part of thisadvice is just as flawed.
A lot of people think they haveto work out like a maniac to
lose weight.
You go spend two, three hoursin the gym, run 10 miles or
whatever it is, do the hitworkouts, the high intensity
(11:26):
workouts that just leave youwiped out.
But the truth is, if you hateyour workouts, you're not going
to keep doing them If you'reexhausted all the time, you're
going to quit, and if you pushtoo hard, too fast, you're going
to hurt yourself, you're goingto get frustrated and you're
going to get burned out.
So the result quit exercisealtogether and go right back to
the old habits.
(11:46):
That's where I was andtruthfully, lately I've been
considering.
This is a big announcement forme, but I have been considering
going back to the gym.
I've been talking to people.
I don't know if I'm going to goto the gym, but I'm certainly
going to start to do a moreaggressive exercise routine.
But I'd like to be able to doit at home, but I'm going to do
a whole episode about that whenI ultimately get back to it.
But if you're not doing shitthat you like, if you're not
(12:07):
doing exercises that you canmaintain, you're just not going
to keep doing them.
Exercise I came to therealization that exercise should
be something that enhances mylife, not something that makes
me fucking miserable.
If I force myself into aworkout routine that I hate,
it's only a matter of timebefore I'm going to quit.
So better advice for nutritionto me is eat in a small,
(12:34):
sustainable calorie deficit.
You don't have to cut athousand calories out of your
fucking daily diet overnight.
Start by just eating smallerportion sizes or just making
some smarter swaps for food.
So, instead of eating Frenchfries, eat a salad.
Definitely do not cut outentire food groups.
Eliminating carbs I did that onpaleo, on Atkins, on keto or
cutting out sugar, which Ialways tried to do, no matter
(12:57):
what extreme diet I was on orlabeling foods as bad.
It just made me crave it moreand binge on it later, because
sooner or later I was going backto that shit.
And of course, I always tellyou this.
But prioritize protein.
Protein keeps you full longer.
Also fiber.
So things like I eat overnightoats every morning.
That will definitely keep youfull longer and it's easier to
(13:19):
eat less without feeling likeyou're fucking starving.
And follow the 80-20 rule Eatmostly whole, nutritious foods,
but leave room for the food thatyou actually love, but do it in
moderation.
As far as exercise goes and thisis I'm telling myself this as
I'm telling you this, but yougot to start small.
If someone like me I'm reallynot exercising at all other than
walking expecting me to go workout, to go to the gym six days
(13:42):
a week or even exercise six daysa week, it's unrealistic.
So I'm going to start out small, maybe 10 or 15 minutes a day,
and I'll build from there.
And you have to find a workoutthat you actually enjoy.
Me personally, I don't evenknow if I could run, but I hate
running.
Then I'm not going to run, Ifucking hate going to the gym,
so I'm not going to do that.
But if you like lifting weights, definitely do that.
(14:03):
Exercise should be somethingthat you look forward to, not
something that you dread.
And then again, like I focusedon consistency with my eating,
I'm going to focus onconsistency with my exercise.
So if I could do a 15 or 20minute workout that I actually
do is better than a 90 minuteworkout that I do for three days
(14:26):
and then quit.
So another problem with that eatless and move more mentality is
that mentality treats allcalories like they're equal, so
like as if eating 1,500 caloriesof fast food and soda is the
same as eating 1,500 calories ofnutrient-dense food that
actually keeps you full for along body.
(14:46):
It's not the same and it's noteven close.
Here's the reality.
What you eat matters just asmuch as how much you eat.
Certain foods make it easier tostay in a calorie deficit
without feeling miserable, whileother foods keep you trapped in
a cycle of cravings and hungerand overeating.
And at the most basic level,yes, a calorie is a calorie.
(15:09):
Other foods keep you trapped ina cycle of cravings and hunger
and overeating.
And at the most basic level,yes, a calorie is a calorie.
You burn more calories than youconsume.
You lose weight.
That's physics.
There's no dispute there.
But here's what that caloriemath doesn't really account for.
Some foods fill you up, whileothers leave you starving an
hour later.
We all know that.
You know that there's somefoods that you could eat and
you're like, oh man, I'm fulland yeah, no, I'm not hungry
(15:30):
right now.
And the other foods you eat andyou're starving as soon as
you're done eating it.
There's also foods thatliterally rewire your brain and
they make you want to eat more.
No, that sounds crazy.
I'm going to talk a little bitmore about that, but I'm.
Fast food and chips and thatjunk food, that ultra processed
shit, is designed to make youwant to eat more.
And then, of course, you haveto know how different foods
(15:51):
affect your blood sugar andenergy levels.
Some food spikes your bloodsugar and makes you crash, and
that leads you to more hungerand more bad choices.
So let's look at this realquickly.
So if we look at two different1,500-calorie days, so in
scenario one we're eatingprocessed food and sugar.
So for breakfast you're goingto have a bowl of Captain Crunch
(16:13):
and a big glass of orange juice.
For lunch, maybe eat some kindof fast food burger, five Guys
or In-N-Out whatever and somefries.
You have a snack toward the endof the day, a granola bar, and
then for dinner you go out withyour buddies and you have some
pizza and soda.
That meal is packed withrefined carbs, sugars and
(16:34):
unhealthy fats.
What happens?
Well, we just talked about this.
Your blood sugar spikes andthen it crashes.
So you're hungry again in anhour.
Your cravings go through theroof because processed foods
make you want to eat moreprocessed foods and, of course,
you feel sluggish because yourenergy crashes and at that point
going to the gym sounds likefucking torture.
Now, if you compare it to thesecond meal for breakfast you
have some eggs, avocado, maybesome whole wheat toast.
(16:56):
For lunch you have some grilledchicken, quinoa and, as you
know, I recently decided I likequinoa and some other veggies.
For your snack, you have Greekyogurt and maybe some almonds,
some other kind of nuts, and fordinner you have salmon.
Vicky made me delicious salmonthe other night with some
roasted sweet potatoes andgreens.
That meal, that meal plan forthe day and I fucking hate meal
(17:17):
plans but those meals for theday, they're high in protein,
they're high in fiber andthey're loaded with healthy fats
, which means you stay full forhours so you don't need to snack
every 30 minutes.
Your blood sugar stays stableso you don't crash, you don't
have any crazy hunger and yourenergy stays high because you
actually feel good enough to dowhat you need to do.
(17:38):
So those are the same calories.
Both of those are 1,500-caloriemeals, but they have completely
different results.
This is another thing that Ifind very interesting.
If you ever wonder why it'simpossible to eat just one chip
or one cookie, that's not anaccident.
Processed foods are literallyengineered to make you overeat.
Junk food is designed formaximum craveability.
(18:00):
Why is that?
Because A well, they're high insugar, salt and unhealthy fats.
There's little to no fiber orprotein that's going to fill you
up and it hits the brain'sreward system like a fucking
drug.
Man Lays ran a whole potato chipcampaign.
You can't just eat one.
You can't.
You can't eat one chip.
You can't eat six French fries,you just can't.
(18:21):
They're designed to make youwant to eat more.
So you just you can't.
They're designed to make youwant to eat more, so you don't
stop when you're full, you stopwhen you're stuffed.
So like, look at 200 caloriesof potato chips, you could eat
an entire fucking bag before youfeel even remotely full,
whereas if you eat two of thesame 200 calories of chicken
breast, you're full after oneserving.
And I'm not saying chickenbreast is an equivalent, is a
(18:49):
great substitute for chips, butit's still 200 calories of chips
or 200 calories of chickenbreast.
That's why willpower alonecan't save.
That's why I always saywillpower is fucking bullshit.
If your diet is built on fooddesigned to make you overeat,
you're fighting a losing battle.
And when you eat those things,when you eat mostly sugar and
refined carbs, your blood sugaris going to spike, followed by
that crash that makes you feeleven hungrier than before.
That's why just eat less fails.
(19:10):
When you're starving all thetime, you're way more likely to
binge.
So high-protein, fiber-richmeals keep your blood sugar
stable, which keeps your hungerand your cravings in check.
So, like I said before, a bowlof Captain Crunch might be 300
calories, but you're starving anhour later.
But a bowl of oatmeal with somenuts and berries or some kind
(19:32):
of fruit in it you stay full forhours.
So I would say, instead ofassessing how many calories you
eat, focus on what you're eating.
So again, eat that protein.
It builds muscles and keeps youfull.
You know what that is chicken,fish, beef, greek yogurt, all
(19:52):
that stuff, fiber, that slowdigestion.
It's hard to digest thoseovernight oats every morning.
For me, hard meaning my bodyhas to work harder so it digests
it more slowly and it keeps myhunger in check.
But it's not just overnight.
So that's vegetables and fruitand whole grains.
And then also you have to eatsome healthy fats, because that
helps you with your hormonebalance.
So those are things likeavocados and nuts, olive oil,
fatty fish, like that salmon Italked about.
Just by choosing the foods thatkeep you full and satisfied,
(20:15):
you naturally eat fewer calorieswithout feeling like you're
starving.
Because, at the end of the day,the best weight loss plan isn't
just one you can stick to, it'sone that makes you feel good
while you're doing it.
One of the worst parts about eatless, move more advice is that
it makes weight loss seem like apersonal failure.
If someone struggles withlosing weight, the message
(20:38):
becomes well, you're just nottrying hard enough or you just
need more discipline.
If you really want to loseweight, you just stop eating so
much and go to the gym more.
That's complete and utterbullshit.
Weight loss is not just aboutwillpower, it's about habits,
it's definitely about mindset,it's about food choices and it's
(21:01):
about environment.
If someone is constantlystruggling with their weight,
it's not because they're lazy,it's because they've been set up
to fail with terrible advice.
So you know I like to shit onwillpower because I don't think
you need willpower to succeed.
Let me tell you why willpower,in my mind, does not work.
Willpower is like a batteryright, it runs out If you think
(21:21):
about it.
You wake up determined to eathealthy by noon like I would be
stressed at work and I'm cravingsome junk food by the nighttime
.
By the time I got home fromwork, I was exhausted and
suddenly that bag of chips wascalling my name.
Did I suddenly become weak orlazy?
No, I just ran out of willpower.
So there's actually beenstudies that show that willpower
(21:45):
is a limited resource.
It gets drained throughout theday as you deal with stress and
decision makings and temptation,and that's why relying on
willpower alone is a recipe forfailure, a recipe for disaster.
People don't fail because theylack willpower.
They fail because they don'thave a system that sets them up
for success.
(22:05):
So real weight loss is not justabout trying harder.
It's about if someone isconstantly failing, it's usually
because of one of these factors.
There could be a couple offactors.
One is you're constantlysurrounded by junk food.
I always had junk food aroundme.
My house was full of chips andcookies and ice cream and
eventually I would always givein.
And it wasn't because I wasweak, it was because I'm fucking
(22:27):
human.
If the stuff's there, it tastesgood, I'm going to eat it.
The second reason that you mayfail, and that I certainly
failed, was I was followingdiets that were unsustainable,
cutting out all carbs orslashing calories too low.
That's not willpower, that'sjust a fucking bad plan.
Another reason I fail is that Inever had an easy go-to system
(22:49):
for meals.
If every meal feels like whenI'm making the meal, it's a
fucking battle.
I eventually grab the easiestand, honestly, usually the worst
option.
And the last thing maybe not thelast thing, but a big one for
me, and I still kind of see itthis way, to be perfectly honest
.
But a big one for me and Istill kind of see it this way,
to be perfectly honest.
But I see exercise aspunishment.
(23:09):
If I force myself into workoutsthat I hate, which I've done a
hundred times, I just can'tstick to it, period.
There's no other way to saythat Exercise is punishment for
me.
Or let me rephrase it Going tothe gym is punishment.
I do like to exercise, I dolike to go out and walk, but
going to the gym is just fuckingpunishment for me.
And the last thing that reallyhelped me was I never had a
(23:31):
routine that made good choicesautomatically.
I never thought about my food.
I never put the right food inmy house.
I never thought about okay, ifI'm out, what am I going to eat?
So if healthy eating andexercise require constant effort
, that's not going to last.
But if you set yourself up,that's how this sustainable
thing works.
Like I said, I've been doing itfor coming up on two years.
(23:51):
So it's not about discipline,it's about systems.
So instead of trying to whiteknuckle through every meal
during weight loss, you need toset yourself up a system that
makes healthy choices automatic.
So, like I was talking aboutbefore, I mean create an
environment that makes successeasier.
If junk food isn't in the house, you won't eat it.
Or if you do eat it, you'regoing to have to do some work to
(24:12):
get out there.
So that's number one Make yourdecisions ahead of time.
Again, I'm not a meal planner,but if you get onto a routine
where you know every day you'regoing to do this at this time,
it makes it a lot easier.
I eat the same high-proteinbreakfast pretty much every
single day.
I eat overnight oats and itjust works for me.
(24:33):
It takes the decision and thechoice and all the thought out
of it.
So you know for you it's takinga walk after dinner or even if
it's lifting weights a few timesa week.
The more automatic your stuffis, the better it is for weight
loss.
And of course I talked aboutthis before If you struggle with
eating at night, don't keepthat shit in the house.
That's it.
Or if you're the young I'malmost 61 now If you're for
(24:59):
younger people, if you're likemindlessly scrolling through
food delivery apps, just deletethem off your fucking phone.
I mean, it's that simple.
If you're always ordering.
My son told me the other daythat he came home.
Now, granted, he might havebeen mildly intoxicated, but he
came home and ordered $75 worthof Chinese food, I think.
He said he had roast pork, lomein, some fried rice, eight egg
(25:21):
rolls and seven spring rolls.
Now, granted, he fell asleepbefore that was delivered.
It was sitting outside his doorthe next morning and he didn't
eat it.
But I mean, if you have thosefood apps and getting food
delivered is so easy, deletethat shit off your phone.
And then, of course, findsomething that you actually
enjoy.
Find exercise you enjoy.
For me, it was walking.
I'm going to try to do a littlebit more.
(25:42):
Don't force yourself intoworkouts that you hate.
Find, I'm going to try to do alittle bit more.
Don't force yourself intoworkouts that you hate.
Find something that youactually want to do.
And the last reason, or maybethe second to last reason, that
eat less, move more is sofucking bad, is that it's so
vague.
I mean, it's meaningless.
What does eat less even mean?
Eat less than what?
By how much?
Less food overall?
(26:04):
Is that what I should do?
Or just fewer calories?
Should I stop eating carbs?
Should I walk 10 minutes a day?
Or should I train for amarathon?
Does vacuuming the house?
Does that count as moving more?
What if I'm already active andI'm not losing weight?
Advice is like telling someonestruggling financially to just
spend less and make more money.
(26:24):
Yes, tactically that's true,but it's completely useless if
you don't know how to do it.
So it's just crazy vague advice.
It just leaves so much room forinterpretation.
Some people take eat less tothe extreme, cutting their
calories and starving themselves.
Others might make these tiny,insignificant changes, like
(26:44):
skipping a single snack, andthey both wonder why they're not
losing weight.
It obviously creates confusionIf one person hears eat less and
cuts out all the carbs, anotherone thinks move more means you
have to start running five milesa day.
Neither one of those approachesis necessarily right and
neither is sustainable long term.
And lastly, it fails to provideany kind of actionable steps.
(27:08):
If someone's overeating, theyneed to know what to change and
how to do it in a way that'sactually sustainable.
I didn't know what to do andhow to do it until I stopped and
sat down and read and thoughtabout it.
If someone is inactive, theyneed guidance on what kind of
movement actually matters themost.
So you got to get specific andyou got to make small changes
(27:32):
that work.
So if you want to eat less,here's a couple of things you
can try Simple, easy stuff.
Swap out one processed snack aday for a whole food alternative
.
So, for example, get rid ofthose chips with a handful of
almonds or some Greek yogurt.
I would definitely tell you,and I've told you this many
times eat more protein.
Put protein in every singlemeal, because it keeps you full
longer and it prevents thecravings.
(27:53):
This is a trick that I taughtmyself, or maybe I read it, I
don't know but use a smallerplate for meals.
Our brain tells us that weshould eat what's on the plate.
Well, if your plate is smaller,that gives you portion control
without necessarily countingcalories.
It's easy.
One thing that I always try todo is drink a glass of water
before every meal, because itmakes you a little bit more full
(28:14):
, but it helps you with yourfullness cues and it helps you
to overeat, to stop overeatingrather, and definitely slow down
while you're eating.
This is something that Istruggle with on a daily basis.
I don't know, maybe it's justthe way I was raised, with two
brothers and my father, mymother was never really part of
that issue, but if you didn'teat fast, you didn't eat.
We ate like animals.
(28:43):
I struggle with that everysingle day, trying to eat slower
.
And the last piece to thispuzzle why this is the shitty
eat less, move more is theshittiest advice on the planet
is that it completely overlooksthe importance of mindset.
One of the biggest reasonspeople can't lose weight and I
couldn't lose weight and I wentup and down and I was a yo-yo
dieter.
It had nothing to do with foodor exercise, it was all about my
(29:04):
mindset.
Most people don't strugglebecause they lack knowledge.
We all know what it takes tolose weight.
We all know eating a caloriedeficit.
We all know that Captain Crunchis not as good for you as
overnight oats.
And most people don't strugglebecause they lack willpower.
I might have lacked willpower,I don't know, but a lot of
people don't and that's not whythey struggle.
(29:24):
And most people don't strugglebecause they've already lost the
battle in their own head,because they even start.
If you believe that weight lossis about suffering and
restriction and punishment,you're not going to stick with
it.
Most people look at weight lossand say, all right, I have to
starve myself to lose weight, orI have to exercise every single
day or I'm failing, or if I eatone big meal, I've ruined
(29:45):
everything.
I was the king of that.
I'd be on some diet and I'd bestrict, strict, strict, strict,
strict.
And then, as soon as I atesomething bad or went off the
plan, I ruined everything.
Bad or went off the plan, Iruined everything.
And last, here's a big one foreveryone If the scale doesn't go
down fast enough, I'm failing.
That negative all or nothingapproach is why so many people
fail and quit.
The second they slip up.
I know I do.
(30:05):
Well, I shouldn't say itbecause, like I said, I'm paleo.
I was really strict paleo, thenI was somewhat paleo, then I
was kind of paleo.
If you slip up, no big fuckingdeal.
So you have to get your headthinking right and you have to
get into a weight loss and a fatloss mentality if that's what
you want to do.
So if you think the weight lossis temporary, I can assure you
you're going to gain the weightback.
(30:27):
So, anybody, if you're lookingat your diet as a short-term
diet, you're always going to goback to your old habits once you
reach your goal, guilty ascharged, I would say, okay, I
got to lose 50, 60 pounds,whatever, 100, whatever it was.
I would lose the weight, but Iwould always put the weight back
on because, hey, I reached mygoal.
It was just a short-term thing.
Successful weight loss is notabout what you can do for a few
(30:48):
months.
It's about what you can doforever.
I've learned how to eat thisway forever and, like I've told
you many times, I go up a fewpounds, I go down a few pounds,
I'm kind of maintaining myweight, but I'm coming up on two
years.
I've passed the I can do thisstate Now it's a habit for me.
And second thing is, if youthink about weight loss as
suffering, you're going to quitwhen it gets hard.
That was the biggest thing Ilearned.
(31:12):
When I told myself I had to cutout all the carbs and never eat
a jelly donut and work out forhours, I always eventually gave
up.
I always said I want to go backto eating those things that I
love.
So people who lose weight andkeep it off this is what I
learned find a way to enjoy theprocess instead of making it
torture, and the way for me thatI learned to enjoy the process
(31:35):
is I never aim for perfection.
I always said I can eat thosejelly donuts anytime I want.
I'm just not going to eat themright now, but I can eat them
tomorrow.
So if you're aiming forperfection, when you fuck up
you're going to quit.
But here's what I want to tellyou.
Nobody eats perfectly every day.
Nobody sticks to their plan100% of the time and if you
think one bad meal means thatyou ruined everything, you're
(31:57):
going to give up when you don'tneed to.
People who succeed, people likeme because in my mind I'm a
success man.
I lost 140 pounds and I'mkeeping it off.
The people who succeed like mewe're just consistent.
I eat plenty of bad shit.
I eat plenty of stuff thateverybody would say is, oh, you
can't eat that Bullshit.
(32:18):
I'm teaching myself, like Isaid last week, to eat like a
normal person.
So, instead of looking at thisand approaching this thing, the
mindset here is don't look at itas a short-term diet.
Shift your mindset to thinkingit's long-term success you're
going after.
Accept the fact that it's notgoing to be perfect.
Weight loss is not linear.
It's an up and down road.
(32:39):
If you look at it on a graph.
It goes up and down.
One bad meal or one missedworkout is not failure.
The only way to fail is to quit.
So you do that by focusing onconsistency over perfection.
If you can eat well 80% of thetime, that's a hell of a lot
more effective than beingperfect for a month and giving
(33:00):
up.
And then the third thing is tryto find a way to make your
weight loss enjoyable.
If you hate every second ofwhat you're doing, do you really
think you're going to fuckingstick to it?
Of course not.
Then, of course, stop seeingfood as good or bad.
Nothing is off limits For me.
When I was doing this thing, nofood was off limits.
It was about balance andportion control and making smart
(33:20):
choices most of the time.
And last but not least, andmaybe even the most important,
stop looking for the fuckingquick fix.
It doesn't exist.
Stop looking for the quick fixand start focusing on what you
can do for the rest of your life.
Now, if you don't fix yourmindset before you go and start
(33:41):
that journey, no diet or workoutplan is going to be long-term.
Weight loss should not be aboutsuffering or restriction or
perfection.
It's about making small, smartchoices consistently and finding
the plan that you can actuallylive with.
Because, like I said, thepeople who succeed aren't the
ones with the most willpower,they're the ones with the best
(34:02):
mindset.
So that's what I think abouteat less and move more.
If someone tells you to eat lessand move more, you can be
pretty sure of one of thesethree things.
One is they've never struggledwith weight loss themselves.
Number two is they have no realunderstanding of how behavior
works.
And number three, they justdon't give a shit enough to give
(34:25):
you real useful advice.
Because here's the truth Weightloss isn't just about math,
it's about mindset.
So telling someone to eat lessjust ignores the emotional and
psychological reasons thatpeople overeat.
It ignores the fact that foodcravings and hunger hormones
work against extreme calorierestriction.
It ignores the fact thatprocessed foods are engineered
(34:46):
to keep people addicted.
And in terms of the Move Moreadvice, it completely ignores
that over-exercising without theright nutrition can actually
make your weight loss actuallyharder and that physical
activity should improve thequality of life, not feel like
punishment.
And the bottom line is that eatless, move more.
That advice is not just lazy,it's fucking harmful Because it
(35:08):
makes people feel like theirfailures are their own fault and
it suggests that someone isn'tlosing weight they're just not
trying hard enough, when inreality they were just given
some really shitty advice.
So the bottom line here isweight loss isn't about starving
yourself and running on atreadmill until you hate your
fucking life.
It's about finding a way to eat, move and live that works for
(35:31):
you forever.
So forget that whole eat less,move more bullshit.
Instead, learn to eat smarter,move more consistently and build
habits that last.
That's how real, sustainableweight loss happens and that's
how you win this game for good.
So there's my thoughts on thatfucking horrible advice eat less
(35:53):
, move more.
If you want to find out how Iactually lost the weight, I kept
it off for well, not reallygoing to tell you.
I kept it off, but I was goingto tell you all about my journey
.
You can buy my book.
It's called Shut Up and Choose.
It's on Amazon.
We're an Amazon bestseller,great five-star reviews.
Again, it's called Shut Up andChoose.
You can also get, if you need alittle bit more advice.
You can get, my 20 plus videocourse.
(36:14):
It's available at well, firstof all, it's called the
Effortless Weight Loss Academy.
You can get that atlearnshutupandchoosecom.
That's learnshutupandchoosecom.
So that's it.
That's all I have to say today.
Next time someone tells you toeat less and move more, you got
two choices.
You can tell them.
The first choice is you cantell them to go fuck themselves,
which I might actually suggest,actually, you know what.
(36:37):
The second choice is betterShut up and choose.
Announcer (36:42):
You've been listening to Shut Up 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 gym.
And guess what?
(37:03):
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 atJonathanWrestlerBoccaRaton.
Until next time, shut up andchoose.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.