December 10, 2025 • 26 mins
Ever notice how the calendar gets credit for changes your choices never made? We pull apart the January myth and show why momentum—not a date—creates real, lasting weight loss for people with jobs, families, and zero interest in living at the gym. December doesn’t doom you; it reveals you. Parties, travel, stress, and a kitchen full of “just because it’s there” snacks are not traps set by fate. They’re moments to practice ownership.
We break down the predictable loop that derails the month: skipping meals, blood sugar swings, late-night raids, and the guilt-promise cycle that leaves you starting the year from negative fifty. Then we give you a simple, repeatable system built for real life: one anchor meal that keeps you steady, one environmental tweak that removes friction, and one nighttime boundary that protects your progress. Ten focused days of choosing beats a month of dieting drama—expect calmer energy, quieter cravings, and confidence that actually sticks.
If you want clarity fast, try the free Choice Weight Analysis to see exactly where your momentum leaks. Grab weekly tips that translate chaotic days into practical decisions you can use on the spot. And for a deeper shift, our book Shut Up And Choose maps the psychological traps, social cues, and daily choices that shape your results without forcing you into a lifestyle you don’t want. Ready to walk into January already in motion? Hit play, pick your one choice for today, and tell us how you’ll protect your night. Subscribe, share with someone who needs a push, and leave a review to help more people choose better—starting now.
Stop Dieting. Start Choosing.
I’m Jonathan Ressler, Transformation Guide and author of Shut Up and Choose. I lost 140 pounds and built a movement the diet industry hopes you never find. No starvation. No obsession. No gym marathons. Real transformation starts when you stop outsourcing discipline and start leading yourself.
The truth is simple: weight loss isn’t about willpower—it’s about integrity. Every time you keep a promise to yourself, you rebuild confidence. Every smart choice strengthens self-trust. That’s the foundation of lasting change. My mission is to help busy, high-performing people take back control of their health, energy, and mindset—without diets, shots, or shame.
Each episode of the Shut Up and Choose Podcast cuts through the noise with real talk, proven strategies, and small, smart steps that actually last. No gimmicks. No hype. Just truth that works in real life.
Get free weekly tips at JonathanRessler.com/weekly-tips.
Click here for my Choice-Weight Analysis
Grab my book Shut Up and Choose on Amazon.
Follow me on Instagram @JonathanResslerFatLoss.
Leave a review—it helps ...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Annoucer (00:01):
You're listening to Shut Up and Choose.
The no bullshit, no excusespodcast for people who swear
they want to lose weight, butkeep choosing everything that
stops them.
And before we continue, ifyou're gonna bitch and moan and
egg like a fucking pussy theentire time, skip this one.
(00:24):
Listen by Jonathan Wrestler.
This dude dropped 140 poundswith no shots, no diamonds, no
pills, and not one singlefucking membership slide at the
gym.
Just real promises that fitreal life.
If you're tired of gaming,you're tired of the bullshit,
(00:46):
and ready for somebody tofinally call you out and tell
you the truth, you are in theright place.
This show punches all of themright in its fat face.
Jonathan Ressler Transforma (01:11):
Now drink water, don't drink water.
(01:36):
All the crazy stuff.
They really have no clue whatthey're talking about.
They're just trying to sell yousome kind of product.
So, two things today.
First is I hope you listened tomy new opening intro.
I was pretty excited.
I was going to roll it out forthe new year, but I was so
excited about it, I rolled itout early, and today is the
first day it's on there.
So that's number one.
Number two is today I'mactually announcing something
(01:59):
really powerful.
It's called the choice weightanalysis, something that I
built, and it takes you underfive minutes and gives you a
clear look at the choicesdriving your weight.
So no dieting rules, nononsense.
You get a score, the patternsthat are holding you back, and
the first steps to fix them.
If you want to know why you'restuck and what to do next, start
(02:20):
there.
You can find it on my website,jonathanressler.com, in case you
don't know, and just look forthe button that says choice
weight analysis.
So here we are in December, andI figured let's talk about the
end of the year.
So December shows up andsuddenly everybody becomes a
strategist, right?
People start announcing theirbig January plans like they're
(02:42):
launching a company.
They talk about how everythingwill change once the calendar
flips.
They act like January comeswith some kind of magical
upgrades.
Meanwhile, they're in thekitchen inhaling cookies and
convincing themselves that itdoesn't count because it's
December.
But here's the truth (02:57):
nothing special happens on January 1st.
Your metabolism doesn't reset,your cravings don't disappear,
your schedule doesn't suddenlycooperate.
Anything that changes is thepile of excuses you built over
the last four weeks.
December exposes who wantsresults and who wants a
storyline.
(03:18):
And the storyline this month isalways the same.
They're gonna wait for theperfect start, the clean break,
that blank slate.
And in reality, they're justavoiding responsibility.
The holiday season becomes amonth-long performance of I'll
fix it next year.
People pretend they're beingthoughtful and intentional when
they're choosing the path thatjust has the least resistance.
(03:40):
Diets make it easy.
Diets give people rules theynever plan to follow.
And diets basically removeresponsibility and offer a
ready-made excuse when thingsfall apart.
That's why people love them.
Diets let them feel productivewithout doing anything that
leads to real change.
Stop dieting and start choosingexists for this exact moment.
(04:03):
Choosing forces you to behonest about how you eat and how
you live right now.
Not after the party is over,not after the decorations come
down, not once life calms down.
Choosing demands action insideof the chaos because that's
where your real life happens.
If you choose well duringDecember, everything after
(04:25):
December becomes simpler.
If you wait for calm, you'llnever start.
And let me spell out who Ispeak to here.
I work with people who want tolose weight to get healthy,
people who want their bloodpressure to go down, people who
want energy again, people whowant to feel better in the life
they already live.
These are people with jobs,families, and responsibilities.
(04:47):
They don't want rip dabs.
They don't want to spend hoursin the gym.
They want control.
They want health, and they wanttheir life back.
For them, choosing matters morethan anything because their
life will never hand them theperfect conditions.
Momentum comes from the choicesyou make today, not promises
you make for next month.
When you choose now, you walkinto January already in motion.
(05:11):
You feel lighter, clearer, andyou feel like you're in control.
While everyone else is in asugar fog trying to remember
what day it is, you're alreadyahead because you refuse to wait
for the calendar to fix you.
If you want to change, if youreally want change, you start in
the mess.
You start in this stressfultime, this stressful month.
(05:33):
You start when every excuse issitting right in front of you.
That's where the real resultsbegin.
December is not an obstacle,it's not a test.
And if you're serious aboutyour health and your life, you
take control now, not later.
So let's talk about how you doDecember.
Not people, not everyone, you.
Because December exposes yourhabits louder than any other
(05:57):
month, and you know exactly whatI mean.
You walk into that first officeparty telling yourself you're
going to be in control.
You swear you'll only grab alittle.
Then you see the food table andyour brain just shuts off.
You pile a huge plate like youhaven't eaten in three weeks and
call it a treat.
Then you blame the party andyou pretend that the food made
the decisions for you.
(06:17):
You walk out acting like it wasa rare exception.
You know that's not true.
You have five more partieslined up, and every single one
of them, there'll be a treatwaiting for you like it's a
once-in-a-lifetime situation.
Then the travel hits.
You act like airports existoutside the laws of decision
making.
You skip breakfast because youwant to be good, and then you
(06:39):
show up for your flight,starving, and grab the first
thing that you see.
You land even hungrier andconvince yourself that it's
impossible to choose well on theroad.
You behave like travel removesyour intelligence.
It doesn't.
It removes your excuses.
It shows you how fast you handover control when you get tired.
And then stress, that's next.
(07:00):
And December has plenty ofstress with work deadlines and
family shit and money pressure,schedule all over the place.
You turn every stress into apermission slip.
You reach out for food becauseyou had a long day.
You're gonna graze late atnight because you're irritated.
You snack in the car becauseyou're overwhelmed.
Sure, you call it comfort, butit's not comfort, it's
(07:21):
avoidance.
You use stress as the reason tostop choosing.
Then you tell yourself, hey,it's only temporary.
And then we have the leftovers,the cookie, the cake, the
random tins of candy, all thatcrap that you get in December.
All of it sits in your kitchenlike a trap you set for
yourself.
You tell me food is callingyour name.
(07:42):
You keep it on the county, youwalk by it nine times a day and
you eat it just because it'sthere.
Then you tell yourself you hadno choice, but you did.
You chose to turn your houseinto a dessert buffet.
You chose to pretend proximityis destiny, and you eat at night
and then swear to clean it upin the morning.
You know what?
You never do.
(08:02):
And by mid-December, yourroutine is predictable.
You wake up motivated, youpromise yourself today's gonna
be different, you skip the mealsto make up for yesterday, you
run through the day on fumes,and then the nighttime hits, and
you're hungry, you'reirritated, tired, and completely
unprepared.
You eat fast and you eat morethan you want because your body
is desperate.
(08:23):
You go to bed annoyed anddefeated, and you tell yourself
the same lie over and overagain.
Tomorrow.
You'll start again tomorrow.
You repeat this cycle for theentire month.
You think you're makingisolated exceptions.
You think that you're beingflexible, and you think that
each night stands alone, butyou're not being flexible.
You're training yourself tosurrender every time life gets
(08:46):
busy.
You're building habits thatfollow you into the new year.
You call it the holiday season,I call it the four-week crash
course on inconsistency.
And let me be clear withoutrepeating what I said earlier.
The people I speak to are notliving for the gym or chasing
abs.
They're real people with realstress.
(09:07):
They're the ones who want tofeel healthy, steady, and in
control of life they alreadyhave.
December shows you exactly howeasy it is for them to forget
they still have choices whenlife gets chaotic.
Their struggle is not a lack ofeffort.
Their struggle is believingchaos removes responsibility.
Guess what?
It doesn't.
(09:27):
And listen closely here.
You're not struggling becauseDecember is hard.
You're struggling because youkeep pretending December removes
your responsibility.
You treat food like it haspower, you treat events like
they control you, and you treatstress like it owns your
choices.
And again, it doesn't.
This is what start tomorrowthinking looks like when you
(09:48):
zoom in.
It's not dramatic, it's notcomplicated.
It's a series of tiny momentswhere you hand control over to
whatever's basically easiest.
You skip breakfast, you avoidplanning, you say yes to
everything in front of you, thenyou pretend the month did this
to you.
The month didn't do anything atall.
You did.
And here's the part you need tohear.
(10:09):
You're not making exceptions,you're building habits, you're
rehearsing the exact behaviorthat keeps you stuck every year.
You rehearse surrender, yourehearse inconsistency, and of
course you rehearse the guiltfollowed by all those empty
promises.
Then you walk into Januaryconfused about why nothing
(10:29):
changes.
But I want you to see Decemberfor what it is.
It's a mirror.
It shows you how you behavewhen life gets busy, it shows
you how quickly you toss yourstandards when the season feels
special, and it shows you howmuch you rely on the fantasy of
tomorrow instead of the realityof today.
This is why stop dieting, startchoosing matters.
(10:52):
Choosing cuts through all ofthis bullshit.
Choosing stops the performanceand it forces you to take
ownership in the exact momentyour excuses get loud.
Choosing says you can walk intoan office party and make one
strong decision.
Choosing says travel doesn'terase your judgment, and it says
stress doesn't get to run yourlife.
(11:14):
Choosing says leftovers are notthe boss you are.
So when you choose, youinterrupt the loop.
You stop waiting for the cleanslate, you stop giving December
the power to derail your entireyear.
And here's the secret when youchoose well in December, you
walk into the new year with amomentum everyone else wishes
(11:36):
they had.
This month is not workingagainst you.
Your excuses are.
And the second you see it,everything changes.
Stop dieting, start choosing.
That's it.
And start choosing in Decemberbecause this month tells the
truth about your habits, and youget to decide what story you
carry into January.
(11:57):
So let's talk about the priceyou pay for delaying your
choices.
Not the imaginary price you sayyou'll deal with in January,
the real one, the one your bodyfeels before this month even
ends.
When you keep putting offdecisions, your energy tanks,
and you know the feeling.
You wake up tired because yourroutine has been shit.
You drag through the afternoon,your brain feels foggy, tell
(12:19):
yourself you need caffeine whenthe truth is you need
consistency.
Your body can't run well whenyour eating pattern looks like a
roller coaster.
Skipping meals all day andovereating at night destroys
your energy.
You're not broken, you'reunderfueled and overwhelmed.
Then the cravings hit hard,they hit loud, they're
(12:39):
predictable as hell.
Holiday food is not magical.
Your lack of structure createdthe perfect storm.
You under eat all day and thenexpect willpower to save you at
night.
Your blood sugar is all overthe map, and your body is
desperate.
Cravings thrive in thatenvironment.
You set the trap, then actsurprised when it goes snap.
(12:59):
And here's where the real lifetruth matters.
You're not someone living forthe gym.
You're not someone schedulingyour life around macros and
workouts.
You're someone trying to stayhealthy inside of a busy life.
That means your choices mattereven more.
When your schedule's packed,you can't afford a month of
delayed decisions.
Your body feels it immediately.
(13:21):
That pattern doesn't just stayin December, it follows you into
January, and that's why you hitthe new year feeling heavier,
slower, and frustrated.
You thought January would feelfresh.
Guess what?
It doesn't.
It feels like recovery.
You're not starting atransformation, you're digging
yourself out of a hole, builtone delayed decision at a time.
(13:42):
One avoided choice in Decemberdoesn't stay one, it becomes a
chain reaction.
You skip breakfast, then youfeel tired, then you grab some
junk at lunch, then you feelguilty, then you binge at night,
then you wake up determined andyou start skipping meals again.
The loop repeats for fourweeks.
By January, you're not startingat zero, you're starting from
(14:06):
negative 50.
And that cost isn't onlyphysical.
Every time you promise yourselfyou're going to start again
tomorrow, you damage yourconfidence.
You teach yourself that yourown word is unreliable.
You create a version ofyourself who hesitates.
When January shows up, youwonder why you feel like shit
and unmotivated.
(14:26):
You spent a month practicingdoubt.
January becomes easier themoment you stop relying on
January.
If you start choosing now, youwalk into the new year with
momentum instead of regret.
You feel lighter because youtook control and you feel
clearer because your choicesmatched your goals.
You definitely feel capablebecause you prove to yourself
(14:48):
that you can handle the chaoswithout waiting for the perfect
moment.
Here's a simple system you canuse right now so you see
progress before the year ends.
Keep it clean, keep it honest,okay?
Make one eating choice each daythat keeps you steady.
Not perfect, steady.
Choose a meal that gives youenergy instead of chaos.
(15:09):
Make one movement choice thatgets your body working.
Ten minutes is enough.
You don't need a gym, you don'tneed some crazy challenge, you
need consistency.
Then make one nighttime choicethat protects your progress.
Decide what you will not doafter dinner.
No grazing, no wandering intothe pantry.
(15:29):
Just set one boundary thatkeeps your day intact.
Track those choices for 10days.
Watch what happens.
You'll see more progress in 10days of choosing than you've
ever seen in a whole month ofdieting.
You'll feel more in control in10 days than you felt all year.
This is the cost of delayedchoices, and this is the power
(15:52):
of choosing right now.
Stop pretending the calendarwill save you.
Take control before the yearends, and you'll walk into
January stronger than you'veever been because you finally
stopped waiting and startedchoosing.
So let's talk specificallyabout how you fix December.
You don't fix it with a diet orwith a plan someone printed off
(16:14):
the internet.
You don't fix it with acolor-coded chart that collapses
the second someone bringscookies into the office.
You fix December with choosing.
One decision at a time.
You need a system you can usetoday because waiting for the
calendar to rescue you has neverworked for you.
You know that.
Let's not bullshit each other.
You've seen it, you've livedit.
(16:34):
So let's cut the shit and getinto it.
So here are the three steps: the real steps. (16:36):
undefined
Steps you can repeat everysingle day without stress.
Steps that work in real lifebecause that's who you are.
That's where you live.
You're someone trying to loseweight to get healthy, not
someone trying to live in thegym.
So here's step one.
It's just one immediate choicethat stops the slide.
For me, that choice wasbreakfast.
(16:57):
It was my anchor.
I ate overnight oats everymorning because it kept me
steady.
It wasn't trendy, it wasn'texciting, it wasn't Instagram
worthy.
It just worked.
It kept me full, it kept mecalm, and it stopped the midday
crash that used to destroy me.
And this was a major upgradefrom where I started.
My old breakfasts weredisasters.
(17:19):
Two everything bagel stackedwith tailor ham and cheese, you
know, that kind dripping withgrease and salt, pepper, ketchup
if I was feeling fancy.
If I wasn't inhaling that, Iwas eating a couple of blueberry
muffins the size of a smallplanet with a couple donuts on
the side.
Then I wondered why I felt likeshit by lunch.
Choosing overnight oats wasn'tperfection, but it was
(17:43):
stability.
It was one decision I didn'thave to negotiate.
It was automatic.
That one choice killed mycravings.
It shut down my late nightsnacking, and it kept my entire
day from falling apart.
You need your version of that.
One food choice you can relyon.
It doesn't have to be perfect,doesn't have to be rigid, just
reliable.
Something keeps your healthfront and center inside the life
(18:06):
that you're already living.
Step two, make oneenvironmental change that sets
you up instead of tripping youup.
So December turns yourenvironment into a sugar
obstacle course.
Leftovers, gifts, snacks, breakroom chaos.
You pretend you can't resist.
The truth is you've arrangedyour space to make resistance
(18:29):
impossible.
The food isn't hunting you.
You put it right where you'dwalk into it ten times a day.
So you make one environmentalchange.
Just one.
Clear the counters so yourkitchen stops looking like a
dessert museum.
Pack something predictable forwork so you stop scavenging and
freeze half the leftovers sothey stop stalking you at night.
(18:49):
When I was losing weight, Istopped keeping my triggers in
plain sight.
Not because I was giving themup forever, because I never gave
them up, but because Irespected my health enough to
remove the friction while Ibuilt some momentum.
You need the same approach.
This is what real people dowhen they want real results.
Step three, one nighttime rulethat keeps you from blowing up
(19:12):
the entire day.
Nights are where a lot of thisshit falls apart.
This is where you negotiatewith yourself.
You lose the negotiation, thenyou promise tomorrow will be
different.
You need a rule, a simple one,a rule that protects your
progress.
My rule was no added sugarafter dinner.
That was it.
If it had added sugar, I didn'ttouch it at night.
I wasn't starving myself.
(19:33):
I wasn't closing the kitchen.
I ate fruit, apples, berries,grapes, real food.
It kept me satisfied.
It kept me sane.
That one rule saved methousands of calories and even
more frustration.
This is exactly how choosingworks.
You don't have to overhaul yourlife.
You don't.
You choose one thing at a time.
(19:55):
You choose breakfast so the daydoesn't collapse.
You choose one environmentaltweak so you can stop.
Ambushing yourself.
You choose one nighttimeboundary so your day doesn't end
in chaos.
Tie all three of thosetogether, and you have a system
built for December and waybeyond.
It's not a fantasy aversion ofDecember where life is calm.
The real December.
Office parties, travel, stress,leftover, kids, schedules,
(20:18):
deadlines, all of it.
People who choose now walk intoJanuary already in control.
They don't spend the first twoweeks undoing the damage.
They don't feel miserable, andthey sure as hell don't feel
behind.
They walk into the new yearwith momentum because they
didn't surrender the month thateveryone else uses it as an
excuse.
Stop pretending the calendarwill fix anything.
(20:40):
It won't.
Choose now.
Choose today.
Choose before the year ends.
And watch how different yourJanuary feels when you start
leading your choices instead ofhiding behind them.
So to wrap it all up, here'sthe truth you need to hear.
Without the sugar coatingeveryone else gives you, January
(21:00):
fixes no one.
People act like January is amagical portal while discipline
appears and old habitsevaporate.
Guess what?
It doesn't work like that.
January is a date.
Your patterns don't rebootbecause the ball dropped.
Your cravings don't resetbecause you bought a new
planner.
Your consistency doesn'timprove because you feel
(21:21):
emotional for 10 seconds.
Momentum is what changes you.
Momentum is what carries you,and it's what gets you the
results you can maintain in reallife with real
responsibilities.
And momentum only comes fromthe choices you make now, not
next week, not when the calendarsays it's time.
Now you get to walk into thenew year already in control, or
(21:44):
you can drag yourself acrossthat line feeling heavy,
frustrated, and feeling likeshit because you spent December
practicing inconsistency.
That's the truth.
No diet or challenge changesthat reality.
This is exactly why I builtthat thing that I was telling
you about before.
The choice weight analysistakes under five minutes.
By the way, it's 100% free.
(22:05):
It gives you a clear score andexposes the patterns you repeat
that keep you stuck.
If you want a fast way tounderstand where where your
momentum disappears, run it andtake a look at your results.
It's blunt, it's useful, and itshows you the choices that move
you forward and the ones thatpull you off track.
Start there if you want someclarity instead of waiting for
(22:26):
some date on a calendar.
This is also why I created myfree weekly tips.
They're not some inspirationalfluff, they're not recycled diet
quotes.
I mean, these are tips thatshow you how to navigate real
life with real stress and stillstay in control.
They show you what you can doin exact moments that you
usually slide.
They break down your patternsin plain language.
(22:49):
They give you choices you canuse today.
People tell me the weekly tipskeep them stable without
pressure.
They help them stop theemotional spiraling that leads
to nighttime eating, and theyhelp them stay steady when the
work explodes.
They also help them make onestrong decision instead of
throwing the whole day away.
You can also get those on mywebsite, jonathanwrestler.com.
(23:12):
And again, they're free.
And then there's my book, ShutUp and Choose.
It's not a diet book, it's aguide to building real change in
the real world.
It shows you how to takecontrol without feeling
punished.
When people read it, they tellme the same thing over and over
again.
They finally understand whydieting failed them.
(23:32):
They see how simple choiceschange their life without
forcing them into a lifestylethey didn't want.
It also makes a pretty solidholiday gift for someone who
needs a little kick in the ass.
The book walks you through thepsychological traps, the
emotional triggers, the socialpatterns, and the daily
decisions that shape your weightand your confidence.
It gives you steps that fityour actual life.
(23:54):
You don't have to memorize anyfucking rules.
You don't have to have anyperfect days.
It's the same system I use tolose 140 pounds and keep it off.
And it's the same system peopleuse every day with results they
can maintain.
You can get that on Amazon.
The book is called Shut Up andChoose.
Amazon bestseller, prettyexciting.
Literally, thousands of peoplehave bought the book, and I get
(24:17):
emails all the time of peopletelling me how it's changed
their life.
So over the past years, I'vealso been helping people
one-on-one.
And I've helped more than 300people who've used my approach
to lose over 13,000 poundscollectively.
Of course, no one lost thatmuch individually.
That would be an impressiveguy.
But anyway, none of them wenton a diet.
None of them needed shots orpills.
(24:39):
They didn't starve, they didn'tavoid their life.
They learned how to choose.
They created results thatlasted because the system
matched the reality of theirworld.
If you're ready for that levelof transformation, connect with
me.
I help people who want to loseweight to get healthy and live
better.
People who want control andenergy and stability in real
(24:59):
life.
You don't have to figure it outalone, unless, of course, you
insist on it.
So here's your decision point.
You can start the new year fromzero again, or you can start it
already in motion.
You can wait for January tosave you, or you can build
momentum right fucking now.
It's your call.
January doesn't fix anyone, Ipromise, but momentum does.
(25:22):
Run the choice weight analysis,get the free tips, read the
book, reach out when you'reready to transform your life.
Now, do the only one thing thatalways works, and you know what
that is.
It's the shut up and choose.
Annoucer (25:47):
If today's episode slapped you with some truth,
good.
That means it worked, andyou've dropped the pussy
attitude.
Make sure to like, rate, andreview, and connect with
Jonathan on Instagram atJonathanResslerFatLoss, on
YouTube at Jonathan Ressler andonline at JonathanRessler.com.
(26:08):
No gimmicks, no gimmicks, noexcuses, no bullshit.
Just smarter choices, startingthe second you hit stop on this
episode.
Shut up and choose.
Now go make a better fuckingchoice.
You're listening to Shut Up and Choose.
The no bullshit, no excusespodcast for people who swear
they want to lose weight, butkeep choosing everything that
stops them.
And before we continue, ifyou're gonna bitch and moan and
egg like a fucking pussy theentire time, skip this one.
(00:24):
Listen by Jonathan Wrestler.
This dude dropped 140 poundswith no shots, no diamonds, no
pills, and not one singlefucking membership slide at the
gym.
Just real promises that fitreal life.
If you're tired of gaming,you're tired of the bullshit,
(00:46):
and ready for somebody tofinally call you out and tell
you the truth, you are in theright place.
This show punches all of themright in its fat face.
Jonathan Ressler Transforma (01:11):
Now drink water, don't drink water.
(01:36):
All the crazy stuff.
They really have no clue whatthey're talking about.
They're just trying to sell yousome kind of product.
So, two things today.
First is I hope you listened tomy new opening intro.
I was pretty excited.
I was going to roll it out forthe new year, but I was so
excited about it, I rolled itout early, and today is the
first day it's on there.
So that's number one.
Number two is today I'mactually announcing something
(01:59):
really powerful.
It's called the choice weightanalysis, something that I
built, and it takes you underfive minutes and gives you a
clear look at the choicesdriving your weight.
So no dieting rules, nononsense.
You get a score, the patternsthat are holding you back, and
the first steps to fix them.
If you want to know why you'restuck and what to do next, start
(02:20):
there.
You can find it on my website,jonathanressler.com, in case you
don't know, and just look forthe button that says choice
weight analysis.
So here we are in December, andI figured let's talk about the
end of the year.
So December shows up andsuddenly everybody becomes a
strategist, right?
People start announcing theirbig January plans like they're
(02:42):
launching a company.
They talk about how everythingwill change once the calendar
flips.
They act like January comeswith some kind of magical
upgrades.
Meanwhile, they're in thekitchen inhaling cookies and
convincing themselves that itdoesn't count because it's
December.
But here's the truth (02:57):
nothing special happens on January 1st.
Your metabolism doesn't reset,your cravings don't disappear,
your schedule doesn't suddenlycooperate.
Anything that changes is thepile of excuses you built over
the last four weeks.
December exposes who wantsresults and who wants a
storyline.
(03:18):
And the storyline this month isalways the same.
They're gonna wait for theperfect start, the clean break,
that blank slate.
And in reality, they're justavoiding responsibility.
The holiday season becomes amonth-long performance of I'll
fix it next year.
People pretend they're beingthoughtful and intentional when
they're choosing the path thatjust has the least resistance.
(03:40):
Diets make it easy.
Diets give people rules theynever plan to follow.
And diets basically removeresponsibility and offer a
ready-made excuse when thingsfall apart.
That's why people love them.
Diets let them feel productivewithout doing anything that
leads to real change.
Stop dieting and start choosingexists for this exact moment.
(04:03):
Choosing forces you to behonest about how you eat and how
you live right now.
Not after the party is over,not after the decorations come
down, not once life calms down.
Choosing demands action insideof the chaos because that's
where your real life happens.
If you choose well duringDecember, everything after
(04:25):
December becomes simpler.
If you wait for calm, you'llnever start.
And let me spell out who Ispeak to here.
I work with people who want tolose weight to get healthy,
people who want their bloodpressure to go down, people who
want energy again, people whowant to feel better in the life
they already live.
These are people with jobs,families, and responsibilities.
(04:47):
They don't want rip dabs.
They don't want to spend hoursin the gym.
They want control.
They want health, and they wanttheir life back.
For them, choosing matters morethan anything because their
life will never hand them theperfect conditions.
Momentum comes from the choicesyou make today, not promises
you make for next month.
When you choose now, you walkinto January already in motion.
(05:11):
You feel lighter, clearer, andyou feel like you're in control.
While everyone else is in asugar fog trying to remember
what day it is, you're alreadyahead because you refuse to wait
for the calendar to fix you.
If you want to change, if youreally want change, you start in
the mess.
You start in this stressfultime, this stressful month.
(05:33):
You start when every excuse issitting right in front of you.
That's where the real resultsbegin.
December is not an obstacle,it's not a test.
And if you're serious aboutyour health and your life, you
take control now, not later.
So let's talk about how you doDecember.
Not people, not everyone, you.
Because December exposes yourhabits louder than any other
(05:57):
month, and you know exactly whatI mean.
You walk into that first officeparty telling yourself you're
going to be in control.
You swear you'll only grab alittle.
Then you see the food table andyour brain just shuts off.
You pile a huge plate like youhaven't eaten in three weeks and
call it a treat.
Then you blame the party andyou pretend that the food made
the decisions for you.
(06:17):
You walk out acting like it wasa rare exception.
You know that's not true.
You have five more partieslined up, and every single one
of them, there'll be a treatwaiting for you like it's a
once-in-a-lifetime situation.
Then the travel hits.
You act like airports existoutside the laws of decision
making.
You skip breakfast because youwant to be good, and then you
(06:39):
show up for your flight,starving, and grab the first
thing that you see.
You land even hungrier andconvince yourself that it's
impossible to choose well on theroad.
You behave like travel removesyour intelligence.
It doesn't.
It removes your excuses.
It shows you how fast you handover control when you get tired.
And then stress, that's next.
(07:00):
And December has plenty ofstress with work deadlines and
family shit and money pressure,schedule all over the place.
You turn every stress into apermission slip.
You reach out for food becauseyou had a long day.
You're gonna graze late atnight because you're irritated.
You snack in the car becauseyou're overwhelmed.
Sure, you call it comfort, butit's not comfort, it's
(07:21):
avoidance.
You use stress as the reason tostop choosing.
Then you tell yourself, hey,it's only temporary.
And then we have the leftovers,the cookie, the cake, the
random tins of candy, all thatcrap that you get in December.
All of it sits in your kitchenlike a trap you set for
yourself.
You tell me food is callingyour name.
(07:42):
You keep it on the county, youwalk by it nine times a day and
you eat it just because it'sthere.
Then you tell yourself you hadno choice, but you did.
You chose to turn your houseinto a dessert buffet.
You chose to pretend proximityis destiny, and you eat at night
and then swear to clean it upin the morning.
You know what?
You never do.
(08:02):
And by mid-December, yourroutine is predictable.
You wake up motivated, youpromise yourself today's gonna
be different, you skip the mealsto make up for yesterday, you
run through the day on fumes,and then the nighttime hits, and
you're hungry, you'reirritated, tired, and completely
unprepared.
You eat fast and you eat morethan you want because your body
is desperate.
(08:23):
You go to bed annoyed anddefeated, and you tell yourself
the same lie over and overagain.
Tomorrow.
You'll start again tomorrow.
You repeat this cycle for theentire month.
You think you're makingisolated exceptions.
You think that you're beingflexible, and you think that
each night stands alone, butyou're not being flexible.
You're training yourself tosurrender every time life gets
(08:46):
busy.
You're building habits thatfollow you into the new year.
You call it the holiday season,I call it the four-week crash
course on inconsistency.
And let me be clear withoutrepeating what I said earlier.
The people I speak to are notliving for the gym or chasing
abs.
They're real people with realstress.
(09:07):
They're the ones who want tofeel healthy, steady, and in
control of life they alreadyhave.
December shows you exactly howeasy it is for them to forget
they still have choices whenlife gets chaotic.
Their struggle is not a lack ofeffort.
Their struggle is believingchaos removes responsibility.
Guess what?
It doesn't.
(09:27):
And listen closely here.
You're not struggling becauseDecember is hard.
You're struggling because youkeep pretending December removes
your responsibility.
You treat food like it haspower, you treat events like
they control you, and you treatstress like it owns your
choices.
And again, it doesn't.
This is what start tomorrowthinking looks like when you
(09:48):
zoom in.
It's not dramatic, it's notcomplicated.
It's a series of tiny momentswhere you hand control over to
whatever's basically easiest.
You skip breakfast, you avoidplanning, you say yes to
everything in front of you, thenyou pretend the month did this
to you.
The month didn't do anything atall.
You did.
And here's the part you need tohear.
(10:09):
You're not making exceptions,you're building habits, you're
rehearsing the exact behaviorthat keeps you stuck every year.
You rehearse surrender, yourehearse inconsistency, and of
course you rehearse the guiltfollowed by all those empty
promises.
Then you walk into Januaryconfused about why nothing
(10:29):
changes.
But I want you to see Decemberfor what it is.
It's a mirror.
It shows you how you behavewhen life gets busy, it shows
you how quickly you toss yourstandards when the season feels
special, and it shows you howmuch you rely on the fantasy of
tomorrow instead of the realityof today.
This is why stop dieting, startchoosing matters.
(10:52):
Choosing cuts through all ofthis bullshit.
Choosing stops the performanceand it forces you to take
ownership in the exact momentyour excuses get loud.
Choosing says you can walk intoan office party and make one
strong decision.
Choosing says travel doesn'terase your judgment, and it says
stress doesn't get to run yourlife.
(11:14):
Choosing says leftovers are notthe boss you are.
So when you choose, youinterrupt the loop.
You stop waiting for the cleanslate, you stop giving December
the power to derail your entireyear.
And here's the secret when youchoose well in December, you
walk into the new year with amomentum everyone else wishes
(11:36):
they had.
This month is not workingagainst you.
Your excuses are.
And the second you see it,everything changes.
Stop dieting, start choosing.
That's it.
And start choosing in Decemberbecause this month tells the
truth about your habits, and youget to decide what story you
carry into January.
(11:57):
So let's talk about the priceyou pay for delaying your
choices.
Not the imaginary price you sayyou'll deal with in January,
the real one, the one your bodyfeels before this month even
ends.
When you keep putting offdecisions, your energy tanks,
and you know the feeling.
You wake up tired because yourroutine has been shit.
You drag through the afternoon,your brain feels foggy, tell
(12:19):
yourself you need caffeine whenthe truth is you need
consistency.
Your body can't run well whenyour eating pattern looks like a
roller coaster.
Skipping meals all day andovereating at night destroys
your energy.
You're not broken, you'reunderfueled and overwhelmed.
Then the cravings hit hard,they hit loud, they're
(12:39):
predictable as hell.
Holiday food is not magical.
Your lack of structure createdthe perfect storm.
You under eat all day and thenexpect willpower to save you at
night.
Your blood sugar is all overthe map, and your body is
desperate.
Cravings thrive in thatenvironment.
You set the trap, then actsurprised when it goes snap.
(12:59):
And here's where the real lifetruth matters.
You're not someone living forthe gym.
You're not someone schedulingyour life around macros and
workouts.
You're someone trying to stayhealthy inside of a busy life.
That means your choices mattereven more.
When your schedule's packed,you can't afford a month of
delayed decisions.
Your body feels it immediately.
(13:21):
That pattern doesn't just stayin December, it follows you into
January, and that's why you hitthe new year feeling heavier,
slower, and frustrated.
You thought January would feelfresh.
Guess what?
It doesn't.
It feels like recovery.
You're not starting atransformation, you're digging
yourself out of a hole, builtone delayed decision at a time.
(13:42):
One avoided choice in Decemberdoesn't stay one, it becomes a
chain reaction.
You skip breakfast, then youfeel tired, then you grab some
junk at lunch, then you feelguilty, then you binge at night,
then you wake up determined andyou start skipping meals again.
The loop repeats for fourweeks.
By January, you're not startingat zero, you're starting from
(14:06):
negative 50.
And that cost isn't onlyphysical.
Every time you promise yourselfyou're going to start again
tomorrow, you damage yourconfidence.
You teach yourself that yourown word is unreliable.
You create a version ofyourself who hesitates.
When January shows up, youwonder why you feel like shit
and unmotivated.
(14:26):
You spent a month practicingdoubt.
January becomes easier themoment you stop relying on
January.
If you start choosing now, youwalk into the new year with
momentum instead of regret.
You feel lighter because youtook control and you feel
clearer because your choicesmatched your goals.
You definitely feel capablebecause you prove to yourself
(14:48):
that you can handle the chaoswithout waiting for the perfect
moment.
Here's a simple system you canuse right now so you see
progress before the year ends.
Keep it clean, keep it honest,okay?
Make one eating choice each daythat keeps you steady.
Not perfect, steady.
Choose a meal that gives youenergy instead of chaos.
(15:09):
Make one movement choice thatgets your body working.
Ten minutes is enough.
You don't need a gym, you don'tneed some crazy challenge, you
need consistency.
Then make one nighttime choicethat protects your progress.
Decide what you will not doafter dinner.
No grazing, no wandering intothe pantry.
(15:29):
Just set one boundary thatkeeps your day intact.
Track those choices for 10days.
Watch what happens.
You'll see more progress in 10days of choosing than you've
ever seen in a whole month ofdieting.
You'll feel more in control in10 days than you felt all year.
This is the cost of delayedchoices, and this is the power
(15:52):
of choosing right now.
Stop pretending the calendarwill save you.
Take control before the yearends, and you'll walk into
January stronger than you'veever been because you finally
stopped waiting and startedchoosing.
So let's talk specificallyabout how you fix December.
You don't fix it with a diet orwith a plan someone printed off
(16:14):
the internet.
You don't fix it with acolor-coded chart that collapses
the second someone bringscookies into the office.
You fix December with choosing.
One decision at a time.
You need a system you can usetoday because waiting for the
calendar to rescue you has neverworked for you.
You know that.
Let's not bullshit each other.
You've seen it, you've livedit.
(16:34):
So let's cut the shit and getinto it.
So here are the three steps: the real steps. (16:36):
undefined
Steps you can repeat everysingle day without stress.
Steps that work in real lifebecause that's who you are.
That's where you live.
You're someone trying to loseweight to get healthy, not
someone trying to live in thegym.
So here's step one.
It's just one immediate choicethat stops the slide.
For me, that choice wasbreakfast.
(16:57):
It was my anchor.
I ate overnight oats everymorning because it kept me
steady.
It wasn't trendy, it wasn'texciting, it wasn't Instagram
worthy.
It just worked.
It kept me full, it kept mecalm, and it stopped the midday
crash that used to destroy me.
And this was a major upgradefrom where I started.
My old breakfasts weredisasters.
(17:19):
Two everything bagel stackedwith tailor ham and cheese, you
know, that kind dripping withgrease and salt, pepper, ketchup
if I was feeling fancy.
If I wasn't inhaling that, Iwas eating a couple of blueberry
muffins the size of a smallplanet with a couple donuts on
the side.
Then I wondered why I felt likeshit by lunch.
Choosing overnight oats wasn'tperfection, but it was
(17:43):
stability.
It was one decision I didn'thave to negotiate.
It was automatic.
That one choice killed mycravings.
It shut down my late nightsnacking, and it kept my entire
day from falling apart.
You need your version of that.
One food choice you can relyon.
It doesn't have to be perfect,doesn't have to be rigid, just
reliable.
Something keeps your healthfront and center inside the life
(18:06):
that you're already living.
Step two, make oneenvironmental change that sets
you up instead of tripping youup.
So December turns yourenvironment into a sugar
obstacle course.
Leftovers, gifts, snacks, breakroom chaos.
You pretend you can't resist.
The truth is you've arrangedyour space to make resistance
(18:29):
impossible.
The food isn't hunting you.
You put it right where you'dwalk into it ten times a day.
So you make one environmentalchange.
Just one.
Clear the counters so yourkitchen stops looking like a
dessert museum.
Pack something predictable forwork so you stop scavenging and
freeze half the leftovers sothey stop stalking you at night.
(18:49):
When I was losing weight, Istopped keeping my triggers in
plain sight.
Not because I was giving themup forever, because I never gave
them up, but because Irespected my health enough to
remove the friction while Ibuilt some momentum.
You need the same approach.
This is what real people dowhen they want real results.
Step three, one nighttime rulethat keeps you from blowing up
(19:12):
the entire day.
Nights are where a lot of thisshit falls apart.
This is where you negotiatewith yourself.
You lose the negotiation, thenyou promise tomorrow will be
different.
You need a rule, a simple one,a rule that protects your
progress.
My rule was no added sugarafter dinner.
That was it.
If it had added sugar, I didn'ttouch it at night.
I wasn't starving myself.
(19:33):
I wasn't closing the kitchen.
I ate fruit, apples, berries,grapes, real food.
It kept me satisfied.
It kept me sane.
That one rule saved methousands of calories and even
more frustration.
This is exactly how choosingworks.
You don't have to overhaul yourlife.
You don't.
You choose one thing at a time.
(19:55):
You choose breakfast so the daydoesn't collapse.
You choose one environmentaltweak so you can stop.
Ambushing yourself.
You choose one nighttimeboundary so your day doesn't end
in chaos.
Tie all three of thosetogether, and you have a system
built for December and waybeyond.
It's not a fantasy aversion ofDecember where life is calm.
The real December.
Office parties, travel, stress,leftover, kids, schedules,
(20:18):
deadlines, all of it.
People who choose now walk intoJanuary already in control.
They don't spend the first twoweeks undoing the damage.
They don't feel miserable, andthey sure as hell don't feel
behind.
They walk into the new yearwith momentum because they
didn't surrender the month thateveryone else uses it as an
excuse.
Stop pretending the calendarwill fix anything.
(20:40):
It won't.
Choose now.
Choose today.
Choose before the year ends.
And watch how different yourJanuary feels when you start
leading your choices instead ofhiding behind them.
So to wrap it all up, here'sthe truth you need to hear.
Without the sugar coatingeveryone else gives you, January
(21:00):
fixes no one.
People act like January is amagical portal while discipline
appears and old habitsevaporate.
Guess what?
It doesn't work like that.
January is a date.
Your patterns don't rebootbecause the ball dropped.
Your cravings don't resetbecause you bought a new
planner.
Your consistency doesn'timprove because you feel
(21:21):
emotional for 10 seconds.
Momentum is what changes you.
Momentum is what carries you,and it's what gets you the
results you can maintain in reallife with real
responsibilities.
And momentum only comes fromthe choices you make now, not
next week, not when the calendarsays it's time.
Now you get to walk into thenew year already in control, or
(21:44):
you can drag yourself acrossthat line feeling heavy,
frustrated, and feeling likeshit because you spent December
practicing inconsistency.
That's the truth.
No diet or challenge changesthat reality.
This is exactly why I builtthat thing that I was telling
you about before.
The choice weight analysistakes under five minutes.
By the way, it's 100% free.
(22:05):
It gives you a clear score andexposes the patterns you repeat
that keep you stuck.
If you want a fast way tounderstand where where your
momentum disappears, run it andtake a look at your results.
It's blunt, it's useful, and itshows you the choices that move
you forward and the ones thatpull you off track.
Start there if you want someclarity instead of waiting for
(22:26):
some date on a calendar.
This is also why I created myfree weekly tips.
They're not some inspirationalfluff, they're not recycled diet
quotes.
I mean, these are tips thatshow you how to navigate real
life with real stress and stillstay in control.
They show you what you can doin exact moments that you
usually slide.
They break down your patternsin plain language.
(22:49):
They give you choices you canuse today.
People tell me the weekly tipskeep them stable without
pressure.
They help them stop theemotional spiraling that leads
to nighttime eating, and theyhelp them stay steady when the
work explodes.
They also help them make onestrong decision instead of
throwing the whole day away.
You can also get those on mywebsite, jonathanwrestler.com.
(23:12):
And again, they're free.
And then there's my book, ShutUp and Choose.
It's not a diet book, it's aguide to building real change in
the real world.
It shows you how to takecontrol without feeling
punished.
When people read it, they tellme the same thing over and over
again.
They finally understand whydieting failed them.
(23:32):
They see how simple choiceschange their life without
forcing them into a lifestylethey didn't want.
It also makes a pretty solidholiday gift for someone who
needs a little kick in the ass.
The book walks you through thepsychological traps, the
emotional triggers, the socialpatterns, and the daily
decisions that shape your weightand your confidence.
It gives you steps that fityour actual life.
(23:54):
You don't have to memorize anyfucking rules.
You don't have to have anyperfect days.
It's the same system I use tolose 140 pounds and keep it off.
And it's the same system peopleuse every day with results they
can maintain.
You can get that on Amazon.
The book is called Shut Up andChoose.
Amazon bestseller, prettyexciting.
Literally, thousands of peoplehave bought the book, and I get
(24:17):
emails all the time of peopletelling me how it's changed
their life.
So over the past years, I'vealso been helping people
one-on-one.
And I've helped more than 300people who've used my approach
to lose over 13,000 poundscollectively.
Of course, no one lost thatmuch individually.
That would be an impressiveguy.
But anyway, none of them wenton a diet.
None of them needed shots orpills.
(24:39):
They didn't starve, they didn'tavoid their life.
They learned how to choose.
They created results thatlasted because the system
matched the reality of theirworld.
If you're ready for that levelof transformation, connect with
me.
I help people who want to loseweight to get healthy and live
better.
People who want control andenergy and stability in real
(24:59):
life.
You don't have to figure it outalone, unless, of course, you
insist on it.
So here's your decision point.
You can start the new year fromzero again, or you can start it
already in motion.
You can wait for January tosave you, or you can build
momentum right fucking now.
It's your call.
January doesn't fix anyone, Ipromise, but momentum does.
(25:22):
Run the choice weight analysis,get the free tips, read the
book, reach out when you'reready to transform your life.
Now, do the only one thing thatalways works, and you know what
that is.
It's the shut up and choose.
Annoucer (25:47):
If today's episode slapped you with some truth,
good.
That means it worked, andyou've dropped the pussy
attitude.
Make sure to like, rate, andreview, and connect with
Jonathan on Instagram atJonathanResslerFatLoss, on
YouTube at Jonathan Ressler andonline at JonathanRessler.com.
(26:08):
No gimmicks, no gimmicks, noexcuses, no bullshit.
Just smarter choices, startingthe second you hit stop on this
episode.
Shut up and choose.
Now go make a better fuckingchoice.
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