December 3, 2025 • 30 mins
Ready for a hard reset on everything you’ve been told about weight loss? Jonathan pulls no punches as he explains why you don’t fail diets—diets fail you—and how the cycle of rigidity, restriction, and unreality keeps you stuck in guilt instead of building real momentum. Rather than hand you another plan, he shows you how to take back the steering wheel and create choices that actually fit your life.
We dig into the hidden cost of dieting: the slow erosion of self-trust. If every plan collapses the moment life gets messy, the answer isn’t more control—it’s ownership. Jonathan lays out a practical, human framework to rebuild that ownership with five steps: awareness (notice without judgment), alignment (fit your plan to your reality), adjustment (small, smart choices that compound), accountability (keep promises to yourself), and adaptation (let the plan evolve as life changes). Along the way, you’ll hear why perfection shatters and choice bends, how confidence comes from consistency, and what it takes to turn “trying” into “choosing.”
You’ll leave with clear moves you can make today—like swapping one drink, taking a ten-minute walk, or eating slowly—that build momentum without the all-or-nothing trap. This is not about macros or miracle fixes; it’s about building self-trust, ending food guilt, and designing a plan you can live with on your busiest days. If you’re ready to stop outsourcing your life to rules and start creating results that stick, this conversation is your blueprint.
If this hit home, subscribe for more straight talk, share it with a friend who’s stuck in the diet loop, and leave a quick review so we can reach more people ready to choose for themselves.
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.
Grab my book Shut Up and Choose on Amazon.
Follow me on Instagram @JonathanResslerFatLoss.
Leave a review—it helps real people find real answers.
Connect directly: Jonathan.Ressler@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:02):
If you're a whiny snowflake that can't handle the
truth, is offended by the wordfuck and about 37 uses of it in
different forms, gets ass hurtwhen you hear someone speak the
absolute real and rama truth,you should leave.
Like right now.
This is Shulp and Chews.
(00:23):
The podcast where we cutthrough the shit and get real
about weight loss, life, andeverything in between, we get
into the nitty-gritty of makingsmall, smart choices that add up
to big results.
From what's on your plate andhow you approach life's
challenges, we'll explore howthe simple act of choosing
(00:43):
differently can transform yourhealth, your mindset, and your
entire freaking life.
So, if you're ready to cutthrough the bullshit and start
making some real changes, thenbuckle up and shut it up,
because we're about to chooseour way to a healthier, happier
life.
This is Shut Up and Choose.
(01:04):
Let's do this.
Now your host, JonathanRussler.
Jonathan Ressler | Transfo (01:13):
Hey, welcome back to Shut Up and
Choose, the podcast that cutsand noise, nonsense, and all
that bullshit that the internetand the Instagram gurus are
throwing you away, telling you,eat this, don't eat that, follow
this exercise plan, do they'reall full of shit.
You know it, I know it, you maynot want to admit it, but today
I'm going to tell you moreabout it.
So if you think about it, a fewweeks ago I told you my story
(01:36):
and a lot more.
Or at least I told you my storytwo years into this thing.
But today I want to tell youthe how part.
You've tried keto, paleo,intermittent fasting, weight
watchers, macros, juicecleanses, detox tea, 75 heart,
and a few plans with names thathonestly sound more like cults
and nutrition programs.
You spent months measuring andcounting and cutting and
(01:58):
tracking, Richard, and for what?
To end up right back where youstarted, Googling best diet to
start on Monday.
Now here's the thing (02:05):
you never actually tried the one plan
built by the only person wholives in your body, and that's
you.
That's the part nobody reallytalks about because if you
trusted yourself, half the dietindustry would go broke
overnight.
You're not lazy, you're justloyal.
You followed every set of rulesthat promised freedom.
(02:26):
You've done everything thequote unquote experts told you
to do.
Carbs are evil, fat is evil,breakfast is mandatory,
breakfast is optional.
Eat six times a day, eat once aday.
Don't eat after dark, don't eatfruit, eat fruit only.
You've been obedient, you'vebeen disciplined, devoted, and
honestly, at the end you'reprobably just exhausted.
But dieting isn't devotion,it's dependence.
(02:48):
It trains you to outsource yourinstincts to somebody with a
ring light and affiliate link.
It replaces choice withcompliance and convinces you
that control means followingorders.
And I know this, you know how Iknow?
Because I did it too.
For years, I treated every newdiet like a religion.
I memorized the commandments.
Thou shalt not eat carbs, thoushalt drink two gallons of
(03:11):
water, thou shalt log everycrumb.
I'd follow the plan perfectlyfor a few weeks, and then life
would happen.
Stress, travels, birthdays,cravings.
And when I couldn't keep up, Ididn't blame the plan, I blame
myself.
And that's how the systemworks.
It sells you guilt asmotivation.
Every time you fall off, youfeel broken.
(03:32):
You were just following someoneelse's blueprint for a life
that isn't yours.
The day everything changed forme wasn't the day that I started
losing weight.
It was the day that I stoppedgiving my choices away.
I realized that no influencer,app, or meal plan knows my life,
my stress, my schedule, mycravings, my chaos.
(03:54):
They don't know what it feelslike at 9 p.m.
after a 12-hour day.
They don't know how theemotional weight that shows up
long after the physical kind.
So I stopped dieting andstarted choosing.
And it turns out choosing isn'tabout perfection, it's about
power.
It's not about good or badfoods, it's about ownership.
(04:15):
When I started making choicesthat actually fit my life, my
body finally listened.
And that's what today's episodeis about.
It's not about food, it's notabout calories, but it is about
freedom.
Because freedom isn't found inanother plan.
It's found in permission.
Permission to trust yourselfagain, to eat without guilt, and
(04:36):
to stop asking for permission.
So if you're tired of startingover, tired of waiting for
Monday, or tired of followingsomeone else's rules for your
own body, you're in the rightplace today.
This is the moment you take itback.
The decisions, the directions,the fucking steering wheel.
You don't need another diet.
You don't need another downloador a checklist or a cleanse.
(04:57):
You just need one honestdecision to believe that you
already know what to do and thatyour next choice, not your next
plan, is what changeseverything.
Because the truth is simple.
If you've tried every diet likeI did, you've trusted everyone
but yourself.
And it's time to try somethingradical.
Your own choices.
So here's the part the dietindustry will never admit.
(05:20):
You don't fail diets.
Diets fail you.
And they're designed to failyou.
The whole system is built on arevolving door.
Pull you in, hype you up, burnyou out, and then sell you the
new version six months later.
That's not an accident.
That's their business model.
So let's break it down.
Every diet, no matter how shinyor trendy or science-backed, is
(05:45):
built on three things rigidity,restriction, and unreality.
So the first thing is rigidity.
Diets love rules because rulessell certainty.
No carbs after six.
Only eat in an eight-hourwindow.
Never combine fruit withprotein.
Give me a fucking break.
You know what that reallymeans?
(06:05):
Don't think, just obey.
Rules feel comfortable becausethey remove risk.
You don't have to decide what'sright for you.
The plan does it for you.
But that comfort comes with acost, and that's your freedom.
When you hand over yourdecisions, you lose your
instincts.
And the second life doesn't fitthe plan, dinner runs late,
you're traveling, you grabsomething fast, you feel like a
(06:27):
failure.
But the truth is, you didn'tfail.
You just bumped into real life.
The plan failed because itwasn't built for reality, it was
built for control.
Diet love control.
But life doesn't give a shitabout control.
Life laughs at your macros.
So the second part is thisrestriction.
Restriction makes you feelpowerful at first.
(06:49):
You feel clean or on track ordisciplined, but it's fake
power.
Power built on deprivation, notdirection.
When you cut out entire foodgroups, you don't eliminate
cravings, you amplify them.
You're not fixing the problem,you're just pressing mute until
the whole thing fuckingexplodes.
And when it does, and when youcheat, you when you binge, when
(07:12):
you eat something off plan, yougo into a spiral.
You tell yourself you're weak.
You tell yourself you blew it,you promise to start over
Monday, and boom, the cycleresets.
The guilt isn't accidental,it's the product because guilt
keeps you buying.
Every failure sends you backfor another plan, another
(07:33):
system, or anotheraccountability program.
But here's the real truth.
You were never supposed tosucceed in the first place.
If you did, what would happen?
They'd lose you as a customer.
And then, of course, the thirdpart is the unreality.
You believe that if you justtried harder, you could be good.
You see the shredded influenceron Instagram eating boiled
(07:55):
chicken and kale, and you think,okay, I'll do that now.
But you're not a 27-year-oldwho lives in a gym and gets paid
to meal prep.
You're a 49, 50, 60-year-oldparent with deadlines and kids
and stress and a calendar thatdoesn't give a shit about your
macros.
That plan doesn't work for you.
Not because you're lazy, butbecause it was never written for
(08:15):
your life.
And yet you keep trying tosqueeze yourself into somebody
else's story, believing that youcould just be better, it would
finally click.
But it's not about beingbetter.
It's about being real.
Because pretending that yourlife looks like a fitness model
isn't discipline, it's delusion.
Every time a diet fails, ittakes a piece of you with it,
(08:36):
not just physically, butemotionally.
Each failure erodes yourself-trust just a little bit
more.
You start to believe you can'tbe trusted around food, that
you're weak, or that you needstructure.
I got to a point where Ihonestly told myself that I
couldn't be trusted to make goodfood choices.
You actually start to believethat you're the problem, but
you're not.
(08:56):
You're just stuck in a loop ofborrowed systems that were never
meant to fit.
And the longer you stay in thatloop, the more you forget that
you ever even knew how to choosebecause every diet trains you
to distrust yourself a littlemore, a little deeper, until you
forget that you were bornknowing exactly what to do and
how to listen to your body.
You weren't born countingcalories, you weren't born
(09:20):
fearing bread.
You learned all that throughrepetition and honestly through
marketing and through the shamethat's the skies of structure.
You've been trained to tradeintuition for instruction.
And the shittiest part is thatyou actually think it's normal.
I know I did.
But it's not normal to beafraid of food.
It's not normal to see everymeal as a math problem.
(09:42):
The whole macro thing blows mymind.
And it's not normal to measureyour worth by your weight.
That's not health, that'sconditioning.
And it's time to unlearn it.
Because diets don't just failyour body, they fail your
humanity.
They disconnect you from joy,from spontaneity, from
confidence, and of course, mostimportantly, from trust.
(10:05):
They make you think that livinga balanced life is weakness.
They turn something as simpleas eating into a lifelong
battle.
But it doesn't have to be thatway.
The truth is, you don't needmore rules.
You need reality.
You need a plan that bends withyour life instead of breaking
you when life happens.
And that starts with one simpleshift.
(10:28):
Stop following other people'srules and start writing your
own.
Because if every diet you haveever tried has failed, maybe
it's time to admit the obvious.
They weren't built for you.
You're not failing the plan.
The plan is failing you.
And the moment you finallyunderstand that, that's when you
stop taking the blame and starttaking back the choice.
(10:50):
And that's when everythingchanges.
That's where freedom begins.
And that's where you start tobuild the only plan that will
ever last.
And that is your own.
Let's not bullshit each other.
It's easy to roll your eyes tothe latest diet trend and still
secretly wonder if maybe this isgonna be the one.
(11:10):
Maybe this one will work.
Maybe the problem wasn't theplan.
Maybe it was you.
Maybe you just didn't stick toit.
Maybe you weren't disciplinedenough.
That's what every failed dietwhispers in your ear.
But here's the truth (11:21):
you don't keep following new diets
because you're weak.
You keep following becausethey're comforting.
Control feels safer thanresponsibility.
We live in a world that lovescertainty.
We want someone to tell us whatto eat, when to eat, how to
eat, and what to feel abouteating it.
We want structure becausestructure feels safe, and diets
(11:42):
know that.
They sell you safety,pre-packaged, branded, and
priced at a couple hundred bucksa month.
But here's the thing (11:49):
thinking is scary.
Choice is scary.
Responsibility is terrifying.
If you decide for yourself, yourisk being wrong.
But if you follow a plan and itfails, you can say, well, that
wasn't my fault.
That's the comfort of control.
It gives you an out.
You don't have to faceyourself, you just have to
follow orders.
(12:10):
And the diet world honestly hasweaponized that comfort.
Trust the plan, trust theprocess, don't think just
follow.
Those phrases sound empowering,but they're manipulation.
Every expert, coach, or guruwho tells you they have the
answer isn't building yourconfidence.
They're stealing it.
They sell dependency disguisedas discipline.
(12:31):
They make you believe that ifyou do exactly what they say,
everything will finally click.
And when it doesn't, they tellyou to buy the upgraded version.
I live that cycle over and overagain.
I've told you I am theself-proclaimed master of yo-yo
dieting.
I've been on over a hundreddiets in my life.
And every time I failed, Iconvinced myself I needed a
(12:53):
stricter plan or a tougher coachor more extreme rule set.
I was chasing structure like itwas salvation.
But it wasn't salvation.
It was sedation.
It kept me quiet, compliant,and obedient.
And it felt good until itdidn't.
So I guess we need to talkabout the difference between
(13:13):
discipline and dependence.
We call it discipline, but thetruth is it's really dependence.
Discipline is when you make therules.
Dependence is when someone elsedoes.
And you confuse obedience withprogress.
Here's how you know thedifference.
If your plan falls apart thesecond your real life shows up,
it's not discipline, it'sdependence.
(13:33):
If you panic when you don'thave your meal prep or your app,
that's not structure.
That's a cage.
Diets are cages that make youthank your captor.
And we're so conditioned tobelieve that suffering equals
success that we wear the cagelike a badge of honor.
I'm being good, I'm I'msticking to it, I'm on track.
(13:54):
Being good according to wholanguage doesn't come from
freedom, it comes from fear.
And the truth is that mostpeople don't fail diets because
they can't follow the rules.
They fail because they'reterrified of a life without
them.
Freedom sounds beautiful intheory, but it's uncomfortable
as shit in practice becausefreedom means you're in charge
(14:16):
now.
And if you're in charge,there's no one left to blame.
No coach, no program, nooff-plan day.
Just you and your decision.
And that level ofaccountability, that's raw.
That's real.
But when I finally stoppeddieting, I didn't feel powerful.
I felt lost.
I'd spent years outsourcingevery decision about food and
health and body image.
And suddenly there was no onetelling me what to do.
(14:39):
And honestly, it wasterrifying.
But underneath that fear wassomething that I hadn't felt in
years.
And that was possibility.
Because when you're followingsomeone else's rules, you only
ever get their results.
When you start making your own,the potential is limitless.
So breaking up with diets islike leaving a toxic
(14:59):
relationship.
At first, you kind of miss it.
You miss the structure, thecertainty, the sense of purpose.
You even miss the guilt becauseat least the guilt felt
familiar.
You start to wonder, what if Igo back?
What if this time it works?
But it won't.
Because it never did.
You're not meant to live in aworld of calorie penalties and
food moralities.
(15:19):
You're not meant to fear yournext meal.
You're meant to live, to eat,to enjoy, and to choose.
The first few weeks after youstop dieting, you'll feel on
anchored.
You'll second guess everything.
But that's how freedom feels atfirst.
Uncomfortable, uncertain, butyou'll definitely feel alive.
And that's the moment wherereal change starts.
(15:41):
Not when you find another plan,but when you start writing your
own.
And you need to go fromcontrol, which is what a diet
is, to choice.
Diets offer control, butcontrol is fragile.
It breaks the second life getsmessy.
Choice, on the other hand, isresilient.
When you live through choice,you can adapt, bend, and still
(16:03):
move forward.
When you live through control,you shatter every time something
doesn't go as planned.
Control says, I have to beperfect.
Choice says, I just have tokeep going.
And that's the differencebetween living in fear and
living in freedom.
You've been trained to believethat control equals strength.
But real strength comes fromownership.
(16:24):
When you stop waiting forsomeone else's permission to
live, eat, and to basically befucking human, that's when you
finally start becomingunstoppable.
So stop chasing control.
Start building choice.
Because the moment you takeobedience for ownership, you
don't just change your diet, youchange your life.
And once you taste that kind offreedom, you'll never go back
(16:47):
to another plan again.
So, all right, so let's take alittle shift here and let's get
real.
If you've made it this far, youalready know the problem isn't
food, it's ownership.
You spent years following otherpeople's rules, but you never
learned how to make your own.
So let's change that right nowbecause a real plan, the one
that actually works, isn'twritten on a PDF or printed on
(17:08):
some meal plan.
A real plan isn't written, it'slived.
So the first thing you need tohave is awareness.
Okay, so stop counting andstart noticing what you're
doing.
You don't need another trackingapp, you need awareness.
Awareness is the foundation ofevery transformation.
It's not about control, it'sabout clarity.
(17:30):
Don't start with what youshould eat.
Start with what you actuallyeat.
Not to judge it, but tounderstand it.
So ask yourself (17:37):
when do I eat?
Why do I eat?
What triggers my choices?
It's not about good and bad,it's about honest or dishonest.
When I first started payingattention, I mean, really paying
attention, I realized I wasn'tovereating because I was hungry.
Well, I always kind of knewthat, but I was overeating
because I was overwhelmed.
(17:57):
I wasn't reaching for food, Iwas actually reaching for
relief.
And once I saw that, I couldfinally start changing it.
So awareness gives you powerbecause you can't change what
you won't face.
The second part is alignment.
You have to build the plan thatactually fits your life.
Your plan should fit your life,not the other way around.
(18:21):
If you work 10-hour days andhave three kids, you don't need
a diet that requires three hoursof prep and 18 fucking
Tupperware containers.
You need a plan that works inreal life, your life.
That means your plan mightinclude a drive-thru sometimes.
It might include pizza onFriday night.
It might include snacks at yourkids' games.
(18:42):
And guess what?
That's not failure, that'salignment.
Alignment means buildingsomething you can actually live
with, something sustainable,something that's flexible, and
honestly, something that'shuman.
If it doesn't fit your scheduleand your stress and your season
of life, it's not a plan.
That's a fantasy.
(19:02):
And the diet industry sellsfantasies.
You're here to build reality.
The next step is adjustment,and those are the small, smart
choices that I talk about allthe time.
This is where stop dieting,start choosing really comes to
life.
Most people fail because theytry to change everything at
once.
(19:22):
They burn out, they crash, andthen they blame their willpower.
But it's not willpower, it'sstrategy.
The secret is to make small,smart choices over and over
because small choices compound,they create momentum.
You don't need to overhaul yourentire diet.
You just need to choose onething today that moves you
(19:43):
closer to who you want to be.
So drink water instead of soda.
I say that all the time.
Take a 10-minute walk insteadof scrolling on your phone.
Eat slowly instead of inhalingyour food in a meeting.
I suffer with that.
I suffered with that for a longtime.
Eat slowly.
That's how real change happens.
Not in a week, but over alifetime.
The first small smart choice Imade was really a simple one.
(20:06):
I stopped and thought aboutwhat I was about to eat every
time I opened my mouth.
That was it.
I didn't track macros.
I didn't swear off carbs.
I just stopped eatingmindlessly.
And that one decision changedeverything because it made me
aware.
It made me present.
(20:27):
And it made me accountable.
You don't need massive effort,you need meaningful direction.
Now the next step, and this isaccountability.
Basically, I'm telling you tokeep the promises you make to
yourself.
You want confidence?
Keep promises to yourself.
Every time you do what you saidyou would do, even the smallest
(20:48):
thing, you build trust.
And trust is everything.
Most people think confidencecomes from results, but it
doesn't.
It comes from consistency.
The scale doesn't make youconfident.
Keeping your word does.
Every I didn't moment, everytiny win rewires your brain to
believe you again.
And when you start believingyourself, you stop needing
(21:09):
someone else's approval to keepgoing.
So start small.
Keep your promise to yourselfand then repeat it.
That's the formula forself-trust.
And self-trust is a secretweapon every diet stole from
you.
Step five is adaptation.
This is a big one.
Gotta let it evolve.
Your life is going to change,and so should your plan.
(21:32):
The problem with diets is theyfreeze you in time.
They assume your life isstatic, that you'll always have
the same schedule, the samestress, all the same shit going
on.
But life moves and your planhas to move with it.
There will be times when youcrush it and times where
survival is the win.
There'll be days where choosingwater instead of wine feels
(21:52):
like heroic, for lack of abetter word.
That's okay.
That's real.
Adaptation means givingyourself permission to adjust
without quitting.
If your plan can't evolve, it'snot sustainable.
It's a setup.
The goal isn't perfection, it'sprogression.
And the most powerful part ofadaptation, it kills the all or
(22:16):
nothing mindset.
Because once you accept thatlife changes and that you can
too, you stop starting over.
You just keep going.
So let me tell you a littlestory about that.
So I once coached a guy who'dbeen dieting for 20 years.
We connected because I hadhonestly been dieting for
probably 40, 50 years.
But he could tell you thecaloric count of every food on
(22:37):
earth, but he couldn't tell youthe last time he enjoyed a meal
without guilt.
So I gave him one simpleassignment.
Just one, one simpleassignment.
I said, stop counting.
Instead, every night, I wantyou to write down one choice
that you made during the daythat you're proud of.
Three months later, he didn'tjust lose 25 pounds.
(22:57):
He lost the anxiety that hadbeen running his life.
Because for the first time, hewasn't following rules, he was
following himself.
And that's what this is allabout.
When you start building yourown plan, everything changes.
You stop asking, can I eatthis?
And start asking, do I wantthis?
You stop saying, Oh, I blew it,and start saying, I made a
(23:19):
choice, big fucking deal.
You stop trying to be perfectand start trying to be
consistent because you realizefreedom isn't found in control,
it's found in ownership.
And that's what building yourown plan really is: ownership.
Ownership of your health, yourhabits, your time, and your
life.
The truth is, you don't needanother plan.
(23:40):
You just need to start buildingone you'll actually live.
Because the only plan that everworks is the one built by the
only person who knows what yourlife really looks like.
You.
So I get it, it's kind ofscary, and I get the freedom
scares you, but it's the onlyway forward.
And let me tell you the thingthat people don't want to talk
(24:02):
about.
Most people don't stay stuckbecause they can't change.
They stay stuck because they'reafraid of what happens if they
do.
Diets might suck, they fuckingsuck, but they're safe.
They tell you what to eat, whento eat, what to avoid, and when
to feel guilty.
They give you rules, and rulesare comforting.
I mean, freedom, freedom isscary, it's terrifying because
(24:22):
freedom means you have todecide.
And if you decide, you couldmess it up.
That's why most people cling todiets long after they stop
working.
They'd rather live inside acage they understand than step
into a world that areresponsible for every choice.
Choosing means you're in chargenow.
It means you can't hide behindthe plan or the program.
You can't blame the coach orthe macros or the meal prep
(24:44):
company.
There's no one to answer toexcept yourself.
And that kind of accountabilityfeels like exposure because
deep down, choice makes you facethe truth.
Every bite, every excuse, everyskipped workout, those aren't
mistakes, they're decisions.
And that's hard to swallow.
But that's also where the powerbegins.
Think of decision making like amuscle.
(25:06):
The more you use it, thestronger it gets.
But if you spent years lettingdiets make decisions for you,
the muscle's kind of atrophied,it's gotten soft.
So when you finally try tochoose for yourself, it feels
awkward a little bit.
It feels heavy.
You'll second guess everything.
You'll wonder, am I doing thisright?
Should I go back to what Iknow?
That's normal.
That's the process of buildingback strength.
(25:28):
The first few times you chooseinstead of follow, it won't feel
empowering.
I promise you.
It'll feel scary as shitbecause freedom doesn't feel
like confidence at first.
It feels like chaos, but giveit time.
Every honest decision you make,every moment you trust your own
judgment instead of someoneelse's plan, builds the muscle
back.
(25:49):
Soon, choice becomes instinctagain.
And when it does, you realizesomething incredible.
You were never broken.
You were just out of practice.
So I want to talk for a secondalso about choosing versus
trying.
Trying is effort withoutownership.
Choosing, when you try, you'realready preparing to fail.
When you choose, you'recommitting to whatever comes
(26:10):
next.
Trying says, I'll see whathappens.
Choosing says, I'll make ithappen.
And that's the entiredifference between dieting and
deciding.
Diets ask you to try theirplan.
Choosing asks you to trust yourown.
And that's why my mantra isalways there.
Stop dieting, start choosing.
It's not about perfection, it'sabout power.
(26:33):
It's about saying, I'm donewaiting for permission, I'm done
letting strangers run my life,and I'm done mistaking obedience
for progress.
Freedom, it's not easy.
It's uncomfortable, it'sinconvenient, and honestly, it
can be kind of lonely.
People will tell you you're allwrong.
But it's the only path thatleads to peace.
Because when you chooseyourself, really choose, you
(26:55):
stop living in reaction andstart living in creation.
You stop asking, can I, andstart asking, do I want to?
You stop punishing yourself forbeing human and start building
a life that fits humanity intoit.
That's what real transformationlooks like.
Not compliance, not perfection,choice.
So if you're listening rightnow and thinking, I'm scared to
(27:18):
let go of the structure, that'sokay.
You're supposed to be.
It's not fear of failure you'refeeling, it's the weight of
freedom landing on yourshoulders.
But own it, carry it, make ityours because it is yours.
Because the moment you chooseyourself, everything changes.
You stop dieting, you startdeciding.
You stop following and youstart leading.
And that's really where yourpower lives.
(27:41):
So here we are.
You spent a lifetime followingother people's plans, counting,
cutting, waiting, hoping.
And now you know the truth.
Every diet you've ever triedwas borrowed.
The only one that lasts is theone you build yourself.
You don't need another reset.
You don't need another Monday.
You need right fucking now.
(28:04):
Because the longer you wait tochoose, the longer someone else
profits from your hesitation.
Choice is your birthright.
It's not earned, it'sreclaimed.
And when you take it back, youstop dieting and start living.
So if this episode hit home foryou, if you're ready to stop
following and finally build aplan that fits your life, here's
(28:24):
what to do next.
Go to my website,jonathanwrestle.com and sign up
for my free weekly tips.
They take less than one minuteto read, and there's no sales
pitch, no marketing, bullshit,just solid practical advice that
helps you make small, smartchoices that actually work.
And if you want to go deeper,grab my Amazon best-selling
book, Shut Up and Choose.
(28:44):
It's not a diet book, it's amanual for taking your life
back.
It's a story of how I lost over140 pounds and gained something
much more important.
That's ownership of my life.
Because that's what this is allabout.
Not losing weight, but losinglimits.
Not following rules, butreclaiming responsibility.
So stop waiting for your nextplan.
(29:06):
Stop apologizing for the lastone.
You've tried every diet andyou've trusted everyone but
yourself.
Now it's time to try somethingradical.
Your own choices.
So if you're ready to go, and Iknow you are, the next thing
you need to do is shut up andchoose.
Announcer (29:25):
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'lllet you in on a little secret no
fucking gem.
And guess what?
(29:47):
You can do it too.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
We had a fucking blast.
If you did, make sure to like,rate, and review.
We'll be back soon.
But in the meantime, findJonathan on Instagram.
At Jonathan Wrestler BocaRatan.
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 hurtwhen you hear someone speak the
absolute real and rama truth,you should leave.
Like right now.
This is Shulp and Chews.
(00:23):
The podcast where we cutthrough the shit and get real
about weight loss, life, andeverything in between, we get
into the nitty-gritty of makingsmall, smart choices that add up
to big results.
From what's on your plate andhow you approach life's
challenges, we'll explore howthe simple act of choosing
(00:43):
differently can transform yourhealth, your mindset, and your
entire freaking life.
So, if you're ready to cutthrough the bullshit and start
making some real changes, thenbuckle up and shut it up,
because we're about to chooseour way to a healthier, happier
life.
This is Shut Up and Choose.
(01:04):
Let's do this.
Now your host, JonathanRussler.
Jonathan Ressler | Transfo (01:13):
Hey, welcome back to Shut Up and
Choose, the podcast that cutsand noise, nonsense, and all
that bullshit that the internetand the Instagram gurus are
throwing you away, telling you,eat this, don't eat that, follow
this exercise plan, do they'reall full of shit.
You know it, I know it, you maynot want to admit it, but today
I'm going to tell you moreabout it.
So if you think about it, a fewweeks ago I told you my story
(01:36):
and a lot more.
Or at least I told you my storytwo years into this thing.
But today I want to tell youthe how part.
You've tried keto, paleo,intermittent fasting, weight
watchers, macros, juicecleanses, detox tea, 75 heart,
and a few plans with names thathonestly sound more like cults
and nutrition programs.
You spent months measuring andcounting and cutting and
(01:58):
tracking, Richard, and for what?
To end up right back where youstarted, Googling best diet to
start on Monday.
Now here's the thing (02:05):
you never actually tried the one plan
built by the only person wholives in your body, and that's
you.
That's the part nobody reallytalks about because if you
trusted yourself, half the dietindustry would go broke
overnight.
You're not lazy, you're justloyal.
You followed every set of rulesthat promised freedom.
(02:26):
You've done everything thequote unquote experts told you
to do.
Carbs are evil, fat is evil,breakfast is mandatory,
breakfast is optional.
Eat six times a day, eat once aday.
Don't eat after dark, don't eatfruit, eat fruit only.
You've been obedient, you'vebeen disciplined, devoted, and
honestly, at the end you'reprobably just exhausted.
But dieting isn't devotion,it's dependence.
(02:48):
It trains you to outsource yourinstincts to somebody with a
ring light and affiliate link.
It replaces choice withcompliance and convinces you
that control means followingorders.
And I know this, you know how Iknow?
Because I did it too.
For years, I treated every newdiet like a religion.
I memorized the commandments.
Thou shalt not eat carbs, thoushalt drink two gallons of
(03:11):
water, thou shalt log everycrumb.
I'd follow the plan perfectlyfor a few weeks, and then life
would happen.
Stress, travels, birthdays,cravings.
And when I couldn't keep up, Ididn't blame the plan, I blame
myself.
And that's how the systemworks.
It sells you guilt asmotivation.
Every time you fall off, youfeel broken.
(03:32):
You were just following someoneelse's blueprint for a life
that isn't yours.
The day everything changed forme wasn't the day that I started
losing weight.
It was the day that I stoppedgiving my choices away.
I realized that no influencer,app, or meal plan knows my life,
my stress, my schedule, mycravings, my chaos.
(03:54):
They don't know what it feelslike at 9 p.m.
after a 12-hour day.
They don't know how theemotional weight that shows up
long after the physical kind.
So I stopped dieting andstarted choosing.
And it turns out choosing isn'tabout perfection, it's about
power.
It's not about good or badfoods, it's about ownership.
(04:15):
When I started making choicesthat actually fit my life, my
body finally listened.
And that's what today's episodeis about.
It's not about food, it's notabout calories, but it is about
freedom.
Because freedom isn't found inanother plan.
It's found in permission.
Permission to trust yourselfagain, to eat without guilt, and
(04:36):
to stop asking for permission.
So if you're tired of startingover, tired of waiting for
Monday, or tired of followingsomeone else's rules for your
own body, you're in the rightplace today.
This is the moment you take itback.
The decisions, the directions,the fucking steering wheel.
You don't need another diet.
You don't need another downloador a checklist or a cleanse.
(04:57):
You just need one honestdecision to believe that you
already know what to do and thatyour next choice, not your next
plan, is what changeseverything.
Because the truth is simple.
If you've tried every diet likeI did, you've trusted everyone
but yourself.
And it's time to try somethingradical.
Your own choices.
So here's the part the dietindustry will never admit.
(05:20):
You don't fail diets.
Diets fail you.
And they're designed to failyou.
The whole system is built on arevolving door.
Pull you in, hype you up, burnyou out, and then sell you the
new version six months later.
That's not an accident.
That's their business model.
So let's break it down.
Every diet, no matter how shinyor trendy or science-backed, is
(05:45):
built on three things rigidity,restriction, and unreality.
So the first thing is rigidity.
Diets love rules because rulessell certainty.
No carbs after six.
Only eat in an eight-hourwindow.
Never combine fruit withprotein.
Give me a fucking break.
You know what that reallymeans?
(06:05):
Don't think, just obey.
Rules feel comfortable becausethey remove risk.
You don't have to decide what'sright for you.
The plan does it for you.
But that comfort comes with acost, and that's your freedom.
When you hand over yourdecisions, you lose your
instincts.
And the second life doesn't fitthe plan, dinner runs late,
you're traveling, you grabsomething fast, you feel like a
(06:27):
failure.
But the truth is, you didn'tfail.
You just bumped into real life.
The plan failed because itwasn't built for reality, it was
built for control.
Diet love control.
But life doesn't give a shitabout control.
Life laughs at your macros.
So the second part is thisrestriction.
Restriction makes you feelpowerful at first.
(06:49):
You feel clean or on track ordisciplined, but it's fake
power.
Power built on deprivation, notdirection.
When you cut out entire foodgroups, you don't eliminate
cravings, you amplify them.
You're not fixing the problem,you're just pressing mute until
the whole thing fuckingexplodes.
And when it does, and when youcheat, you when you binge, when
(07:12):
you eat something off plan, yougo into a spiral.
You tell yourself you're weak.
You tell yourself you blew it,you promise to start over
Monday, and boom, the cycleresets.
The guilt isn't accidental,it's the product because guilt
keeps you buying.
Every failure sends you backfor another plan, another
(07:33):
system, or anotheraccountability program.
But here's the real truth.
You were never supposed tosucceed in the first place.
If you did, what would happen?
They'd lose you as a customer.
And then, of course, the thirdpart is the unreality.
You believe that if you justtried harder, you could be good.
You see the shredded influenceron Instagram eating boiled
(07:55):
chicken and kale, and you think,okay, I'll do that now.
But you're not a 27-year-oldwho lives in a gym and gets paid
to meal prep.
You're a 49, 50, 60-year-oldparent with deadlines and kids
and stress and a calendar thatdoesn't give a shit about your
macros.
That plan doesn't work for you.
Not because you're lazy, butbecause it was never written for
(08:15):
your life.
And yet you keep trying tosqueeze yourself into somebody
else's story, believing that youcould just be better, it would
finally click.
But it's not about beingbetter.
It's about being real.
Because pretending that yourlife looks like a fitness model
isn't discipline, it's delusion.
Every time a diet fails, ittakes a piece of you with it,
(08:36):
not just physically, butemotionally.
Each failure erodes yourself-trust just a little bit
more.
You start to believe you can'tbe trusted around food, that
you're weak, or that you needstructure.
I got to a point where Ihonestly told myself that I
couldn't be trusted to make goodfood choices.
You actually start to believethat you're the problem, but
you're not.
(08:56):
You're just stuck in a loop ofborrowed systems that were never
meant to fit.
And the longer you stay in thatloop, the more you forget that
you ever even knew how to choosebecause every diet trains you
to distrust yourself a littlemore, a little deeper, until you
forget that you were bornknowing exactly what to do and
how to listen to your body.
You weren't born countingcalories, you weren't born
(09:20):
fearing bread.
You learned all that throughrepetition and honestly through
marketing and through the shamethat's the skies of structure.
You've been trained to tradeintuition for instruction.
And the shittiest part is thatyou actually think it's normal.
I know I did.
But it's not normal to beafraid of food.
It's not normal to see everymeal as a math problem.
(09:42):
The whole macro thing blows mymind.
And it's not normal to measureyour worth by your weight.
That's not health, that'sconditioning.
And it's time to unlearn it.
Because diets don't just failyour body, they fail your
humanity.
They disconnect you from joy,from spontaneity, from
confidence, and of course, mostimportantly, from trust.
(10:05):
They make you think that livinga balanced life is weakness.
They turn something as simpleas eating into a lifelong
battle.
But it doesn't have to be thatway.
The truth is, you don't needmore rules.
You need reality.
You need a plan that bends withyour life instead of breaking
you when life happens.
And that starts with one simpleshift.
(10:28):
Stop following other people'srules and start writing your
own.
Because if every diet you haveever tried has failed, maybe
it's time to admit the obvious.
They weren't built for you.
You're not failing the plan.
The plan is failing you.
And the moment you finallyunderstand that, that's when you
stop taking the blame and starttaking back the choice.
(10:50):
And that's when everythingchanges.
That's where freedom begins.
And that's where you start tobuild the only plan that will
ever last.
And that is your own.
Let's not bullshit each other.
It's easy to roll your eyes tothe latest diet trend and still
secretly wonder if maybe this isgonna be the one.
(11:10):
Maybe this one will work.
Maybe the problem wasn't theplan.
Maybe it was you.
Maybe you just didn't stick toit.
Maybe you weren't disciplinedenough.
That's what every failed dietwhispers in your ear.
But here's the truth (11:21):
you don't keep following new diets
because you're weak.
You keep following becausethey're comforting.
Control feels safer thanresponsibility.
We live in a world that lovescertainty.
We want someone to tell us whatto eat, when to eat, how to
eat, and what to feel abouteating it.
We want structure becausestructure feels safe, and diets
(11:42):
know that.
They sell you safety,pre-packaged, branded, and
priced at a couple hundred bucksa month.
But here's the thing (11:49):
thinking is scary.
Choice is scary.
Responsibility is terrifying.
If you decide for yourself, yourisk being wrong.
But if you follow a plan and itfails, you can say, well, that
wasn't my fault.
That's the comfort of control.
It gives you an out.
You don't have to faceyourself, you just have to
follow orders.
(12:10):
And the diet world honestly hasweaponized that comfort.
Trust the plan, trust theprocess, don't think just
follow.
Those phrases sound empowering,but they're manipulation.
Every expert, coach, or guruwho tells you they have the
answer isn't building yourconfidence.
They're stealing it.
They sell dependency disguisedas discipline.
(12:31):
They make you believe that ifyou do exactly what they say,
everything will finally click.
And when it doesn't, they tellyou to buy the upgraded version.
I live that cycle over and overagain.
I've told you I am theself-proclaimed master of yo-yo
dieting.
I've been on over a hundreddiets in my life.
And every time I failed, Iconvinced myself I needed a
(12:53):
stricter plan or a tougher coachor more extreme rule set.
I was chasing structure like itwas salvation.
But it wasn't salvation.
It was sedation.
It kept me quiet, compliant,and obedient.
And it felt good until itdidn't.
So I guess we need to talkabout the difference between
(13:13):
discipline and dependence.
We call it discipline, but thetruth is it's really dependence.
Discipline is when you make therules.
Dependence is when someone elsedoes.
And you confuse obedience withprogress.
Here's how you know thedifference.
If your plan falls apart thesecond your real life shows up,
it's not discipline, it'sdependence.
(13:33):
If you panic when you don'thave your meal prep or your app,
that's not structure.
That's a cage.
Diets are cages that make youthank your captor.
And we're so conditioned tobelieve that suffering equals
success that we wear the cagelike a badge of honor.
I'm being good, I'm I'msticking to it, I'm on track.
(13:54):
Being good according to wholanguage doesn't come from
freedom, it comes from fear.
And the truth is that mostpeople don't fail diets because
they can't follow the rules.
They fail because they'reterrified of a life without
them.
Freedom sounds beautiful intheory, but it's uncomfortable
as shit in practice becausefreedom means you're in charge
(14:16):
now.
And if you're in charge,there's no one left to blame.
No coach, no program, nooff-plan day.
Just you and your decision.
And that level ofaccountability, that's raw.
That's real.
But when I finally stoppeddieting, I didn't feel powerful.
I felt lost.
I'd spent years outsourcingevery decision about food and
health and body image.
And suddenly there was no onetelling me what to do.
(14:39):
And honestly, it wasterrifying.
But underneath that fear wassomething that I hadn't felt in
years.
And that was possibility.
Because when you're followingsomeone else's rules, you only
ever get their results.
When you start making your own,the potential is limitless.
So breaking up with diets islike leaving a toxic
(14:59):
relationship.
At first, you kind of miss it.
You miss the structure, thecertainty, the sense of purpose.
You even miss the guilt becauseat least the guilt felt
familiar.
You start to wonder, what if Igo back?
What if this time it works?
But it won't.
Because it never did.
You're not meant to live in aworld of calorie penalties and
food moralities.
(15:19):
You're not meant to fear yournext meal.
You're meant to live, to eat,to enjoy, and to choose.
The first few weeks after youstop dieting, you'll feel on
anchored.
You'll second guess everything.
But that's how freedom feels atfirst.
Uncomfortable, uncertain, butyou'll definitely feel alive.
And that's the moment wherereal change starts.
(15:41):
Not when you find another plan,but when you start writing your
own.
And you need to go fromcontrol, which is what a diet
is, to choice.
Diets offer control, butcontrol is fragile.
It breaks the second life getsmessy.
Choice, on the other hand, isresilient.
When you live through choice,you can adapt, bend, and still
(16:03):
move forward.
When you live through control,you shatter every time something
doesn't go as planned.
Control says, I have to beperfect.
Choice says, I just have tokeep going.
And that's the differencebetween living in fear and
living in freedom.
You've been trained to believethat control equals strength.
But real strength comes fromownership.
(16:24):
When you stop waiting forsomeone else's permission to
live, eat, and to basically befucking human, that's when you
finally start becomingunstoppable.
So stop chasing control.
Start building choice.
Because the moment you takeobedience for ownership, you
don't just change your diet, youchange your life.
And once you taste that kind offreedom, you'll never go back
(16:47):
to another plan again.
So, all right, so let's take alittle shift here and let's get
real.
If you've made it this far, youalready know the problem isn't
food, it's ownership.
You spent years following otherpeople's rules, but you never
learned how to make your own.
So let's change that right nowbecause a real plan, the one
that actually works, isn'twritten on a PDF or printed on
(17:08):
some meal plan.
A real plan isn't written, it'slived.
So the first thing you need tohave is awareness.
Okay, so stop counting andstart noticing what you're
doing.
You don't need another trackingapp, you need awareness.
Awareness is the foundation ofevery transformation.
It's not about control, it'sabout clarity.
(17:30):
Don't start with what youshould eat.
Start with what you actuallyeat.
Not to judge it, but tounderstand it.
So ask yourself (17:37):
when do I eat?
Why do I eat?
What triggers my choices?
It's not about good and bad,it's about honest or dishonest.
When I first started payingattention, I mean, really paying
attention, I realized I wasn'tovereating because I was hungry.
Well, I always kind of knewthat, but I was overeating
because I was overwhelmed.
(17:57):
I wasn't reaching for food, Iwas actually reaching for
relief.
And once I saw that, I couldfinally start changing it.
So awareness gives you powerbecause you can't change what
you won't face.
The second part is alignment.
You have to build the plan thatactually fits your life.
Your plan should fit your life,not the other way around.
(18:21):
If you work 10-hour days andhave three kids, you don't need
a diet that requires three hoursof prep and 18 fucking
Tupperware containers.
You need a plan that works inreal life, your life.
That means your plan mightinclude a drive-thru sometimes.
It might include pizza onFriday night.
It might include snacks at yourkids' games.
(18:42):
And guess what?
That's not failure, that'salignment.
Alignment means buildingsomething you can actually live
with, something sustainable,something that's flexible, and
honestly, something that'shuman.
If it doesn't fit your scheduleand your stress and your season
of life, it's not a plan.
That's a fantasy.
(19:02):
And the diet industry sellsfantasies.
You're here to build reality.
The next step is adjustment,and those are the small, smart
choices that I talk about allthe time.
This is where stop dieting,start choosing really comes to
life.
Most people fail because theytry to change everything at
once.
(19:22):
They burn out, they crash, andthen they blame their willpower.
But it's not willpower, it'sstrategy.
The secret is to make small,smart choices over and over
because small choices compound,they create momentum.
You don't need to overhaul yourentire diet.
You just need to choose onething today that moves you
(19:43):
closer to who you want to be.
So drink water instead of soda.
I say that all the time.
Take a 10-minute walk insteadof scrolling on your phone.
Eat slowly instead of inhalingyour food in a meeting.
I suffer with that.
I suffered with that for a longtime.
Eat slowly.
That's how real change happens.
Not in a week, but over alifetime.
The first small smart choice Imade was really a simple one.
(20:06):
I stopped and thought aboutwhat I was about to eat every
time I opened my mouth.
That was it.
I didn't track macros.
I didn't swear off carbs.
I just stopped eatingmindlessly.
And that one decision changedeverything because it made me
aware.
It made me present.
(20:27):
And it made me accountable.
You don't need massive effort,you need meaningful direction.
Now the next step, and this isaccountability.
Basically, I'm telling you tokeep the promises you make to
yourself.
You want confidence?
Keep promises to yourself.
Every time you do what you saidyou would do, even the smallest
(20:48):
thing, you build trust.
And trust is everything.
Most people think confidencecomes from results, but it
doesn't.
It comes from consistency.
The scale doesn't make youconfident.
Keeping your word does.
Every I didn't moment, everytiny win rewires your brain to
believe you again.
And when you start believingyourself, you stop needing
(21:09):
someone else's approval to keepgoing.
So start small.
Keep your promise to yourselfand then repeat it.
That's the formula forself-trust.
And self-trust is a secretweapon every diet stole from
you.
Step five is adaptation.
This is a big one.
Gotta let it evolve.
Your life is going to change,and so should your plan.
(21:32):
The problem with diets is theyfreeze you in time.
They assume your life isstatic, that you'll always have
the same schedule, the samestress, all the same shit going
on.
But life moves and your planhas to move with it.
There will be times when youcrush it and times where
survival is the win.
There'll be days where choosingwater instead of wine feels
(21:52):
like heroic, for lack of abetter word.
That's okay.
That's real.
Adaptation means givingyourself permission to adjust
without quitting.
If your plan can't evolve, it'snot sustainable.
It's a setup.
The goal isn't perfection, it'sprogression.
And the most powerful part ofadaptation, it kills the all or
(22:16):
nothing mindset.
Because once you accept thatlife changes and that you can
too, you stop starting over.
You just keep going.
So let me tell you a littlestory about that.
So I once coached a guy who'dbeen dieting for 20 years.
We connected because I hadhonestly been dieting for
probably 40, 50 years.
But he could tell you thecaloric count of every food on
(22:37):
earth, but he couldn't tell youthe last time he enjoyed a meal
without guilt.
So I gave him one simpleassignment.
Just one, one simpleassignment.
I said, stop counting.
Instead, every night, I wantyou to write down one choice
that you made during the daythat you're proud of.
Three months later, he didn'tjust lose 25 pounds.
(22:57):
He lost the anxiety that hadbeen running his life.
Because for the first time, hewasn't following rules, he was
following himself.
And that's what this is allabout.
When you start building yourown plan, everything changes.
You stop asking, can I eatthis?
And start asking, do I wantthis?
You stop saying, Oh, I blew it,and start saying, I made a
(23:19):
choice, big fucking deal.
You stop trying to be perfectand start trying to be
consistent because you realizefreedom isn't found in control,
it's found in ownership.
And that's what building yourown plan really is: ownership.
Ownership of your health, yourhabits, your time, and your
life.
The truth is, you don't needanother plan.
(23:40):
You just need to start buildingone you'll actually live.
Because the only plan that everworks is the one built by the
only person who knows what yourlife really looks like.
You.
So I get it, it's kind ofscary, and I get the freedom
scares you, but it's the onlyway forward.
And let me tell you the thingthat people don't want to talk
(24:02):
about.
Most people don't stay stuckbecause they can't change.
They stay stuck because they'reafraid of what happens if they
do.
Diets might suck, they fuckingsuck, but they're safe.
They tell you what to eat, whento eat, what to avoid, and when
to feel guilty.
They give you rules, and rulesare comforting.
I mean, freedom, freedom isscary, it's terrifying because
(24:22):
freedom means you have todecide.
And if you decide, you couldmess it up.
That's why most people cling todiets long after they stop
working.
They'd rather live inside acage they understand than step
into a world that areresponsible for every choice.
Choosing means you're in chargenow.
It means you can't hide behindthe plan or the program.
You can't blame the coach orthe macros or the meal prep
(24:44):
company.
There's no one to answer toexcept yourself.
And that kind of accountabilityfeels like exposure because
deep down, choice makes you facethe truth.
Every bite, every excuse, everyskipped workout, those aren't
mistakes, they're decisions.
And that's hard to swallow.
But that's also where the powerbegins.
Think of decision making like amuscle.
(25:06):
The more you use it, thestronger it gets.
But if you spent years lettingdiets make decisions for you,
the muscle's kind of atrophied,it's gotten soft.
So when you finally try tochoose for yourself, it feels
awkward a little bit.
It feels heavy.
You'll second guess everything.
You'll wonder, am I doing thisright?
Should I go back to what Iknow?
That's normal.
That's the process of buildingback strength.
(25:28):
The first few times you chooseinstead of follow, it won't feel
empowering.
I promise you.
It'll feel scary as shitbecause freedom doesn't feel
like confidence at first.
It feels like chaos, but giveit time.
Every honest decision you make,every moment you trust your own
judgment instead of someoneelse's plan, builds the muscle
back.
(25:49):
Soon, choice becomes instinctagain.
And when it does, you realizesomething incredible.
You were never broken.
You were just out of practice.
So I want to talk for a secondalso about choosing versus
trying.
Trying is effort withoutownership.
Choosing, when you try, you'realready preparing to fail.
When you choose, you'recommitting to whatever comes
(26:10):
next.
Trying says, I'll see whathappens.
Choosing says, I'll make ithappen.
And that's the entiredifference between dieting and
deciding.
Diets ask you to try theirplan.
Choosing asks you to trust yourown.
And that's why my mantra isalways there.
Stop dieting, start choosing.
It's not about perfection, it'sabout power.
(26:33):
It's about saying, I'm donewaiting for permission, I'm done
letting strangers run my life,and I'm done mistaking obedience
for progress.
Freedom, it's not easy.
It's uncomfortable, it'sinconvenient, and honestly, it
can be kind of lonely.
People will tell you you're allwrong.
But it's the only path thatleads to peace.
Because when you chooseyourself, really choose, you
(26:55):
stop living in reaction andstart living in creation.
You stop asking, can I, andstart asking, do I want to?
You stop punishing yourself forbeing human and start building
a life that fits humanity intoit.
That's what real transformationlooks like.
Not compliance, not perfection,choice.
So if you're listening rightnow and thinking, I'm scared to
(27:18):
let go of the structure, that'sokay.
You're supposed to be.
It's not fear of failure you'refeeling, it's the weight of
freedom landing on yourshoulders.
But own it, carry it, make ityours because it is yours.
Because the moment you chooseyourself, everything changes.
You stop dieting, you startdeciding.
You stop following and youstart leading.
And that's really where yourpower lives.
(27:41):
So here we are.
You spent a lifetime followingother people's plans, counting,
cutting, waiting, hoping.
And now you know the truth.
Every diet you've ever triedwas borrowed.
The only one that lasts is theone you build yourself.
You don't need another reset.
You don't need another Monday.
You need right fucking now.
(28:04):
Because the longer you wait tochoose, the longer someone else
profits from your hesitation.
Choice is your birthright.
It's not earned, it'sreclaimed.
And when you take it back, youstop dieting and start living.
So if this episode hit home foryou, if you're ready to stop
following and finally build aplan that fits your life, here's
(28:24):
what to do next.
Go to my website,jonathanwrestle.com and sign up
for my free weekly tips.
They take less than one minuteto read, and there's no sales
pitch, no marketing, bullshit,just solid practical advice that
helps you make small, smartchoices that actually work.
And if you want to go deeper,grab my Amazon best-selling
book, Shut Up and Choose.
(28:44):
It's not a diet book, it's amanual for taking your life
back.
It's a story of how I lost over140 pounds and gained something
much more important.
That's ownership of my life.
Because that's what this is allabout.
Not losing weight, but losinglimits.
Not following rules, butreclaiming responsibility.
So stop waiting for your nextplan.
(29:06):
Stop apologizing for the lastone.
You've tried every diet andyou've trusted everyone but
yourself.
Now it's time to try somethingradical.
Your own choices.
So if you're ready to go, and Iknow you are, the next thing
you need to do is shut up andchoose.
Announcer (29:25):
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'lllet you in on a little secret no
fucking gem.
And guess what?
(29:47):
You can do it too.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
We had a fucking blast.
If you did, make sure to like,rate, and review.
We'll be back soon.
But in the meantime, findJonathan on Instagram.
At Jonathan Wrestler BocaRatan.
Until next time, shut up andchoose.
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