Shut Up And Choose
Welcome to the Shut Up and Choose podcast, where we cut through the noise of fad diets, quick fixes, shots, pills, and even the gym. Hosted by Jonathan Ressler, who shares his personal journey of losing 140+ pounds, this podcast dives into the hard truth: being fat is a choice, and just like that, you can choose to lose the weight. If you’re tired of gimmicks, quick-fix scams, and endless excuses, it’s time to make smart, sustainable choices and take control of your health. Tune in for no-nonsense advice, real talk, and the motivation you need to Shut Up and Choose!
Shut Up And Choose
Live Life, Love Food, Lose Weight: Why Joy Beats Dieting for Sustainable Results
What if you could love every bite of food you eat and still lose weight? Discover how changing your relationship with food and yourself can lead to natural, sustainable weight loss in this episode of Shut Up and Choose. Join Jonathan Ressler as he shares his transformative philosophy of "Live Life, Love Food, and Lose Weight." Jonathan opens up about his own journey from the frustration of restrictive diets to embracing life fully, finding joy in everyday activities, and building a guilt-free love for food. Hear how making small, smart choices and remaining consistent can turn weight loss into a byproduct of a balanced lifestyle rather than an all-consuming objective.
In this episode, dive deep into why traditional diets often fail and how living a balanced and joyful life can change the game. Explore the essential elements of setting REAL goals that align with your values and find out why having a meaningful "why" keeps you motivated. Jonathan discusses how tiny, sustainable changes—like adding more veggies to your plate or gradually boosting physical activity—can result in long-term success. Learn the importance of progress over perfection and the power of self-compassion. With practical tips on starting small, finding enjoyment in daily activities, and navigating setbacks with self-love, this episode is your roadmap to a healthier, happier life through mindful and delightful choices.
Get my video course Live Life- Love Food - Lose Weight Get it Here
If you're a whiny snowflake that can't handle the truth, is offended by the word fuck and about 37 uses of it in different forms gets ass hurt. When you hear someone speak the absolute, real and raw truth, you should leave Like right now. This is Shut Up and Choose, the podcast where we cut through the shit and get real about weight loss, life and everything in between. We get into the nitty gritty of making small, smart choices that add up to big results. From what's on your plate to how you approach life's challenges. We'll explore how the simple act of choosing differently can transform your health, your mindset and your entire freaking life. So if you're ready to cut through the bullshit and start making some real changes, then buckle up and shut up, because we're about to choose our way to a healthier, happier life. This is Shut Up and Choose. Let's do this Now. Your host, jonathan Ressler.
Speaker 2:Hey, welcome back to Shut Up and Choose, the podcast that cuts to the noise of the fad diets, quick fixes and all those unrealistic weight loss promises. I'm your host, jonathan Ressler, and I'm here to share the brutally honest truth about what it takes to achieve sustainable weight loss. As you know, I lost over 140 pounds without any fad diets, any crazy exercise regimes, and I figured out that it all comes down to making small, smart choices and embracing a balanced lifestyle. So here we are, in the last week of summer and it's heading to the fall season. Well, I'm sure it's still hot as hell wherever you are, but we're heading into the fall and we're heading into football, which is really exciting. And I started really thinking about everything that I've accomplished over the last year and a half and I wanted to try to wrap it all up and really put some I guess, more of a philosophy to it, for lack of a better term. And what I came up with I really thought about, like, how did I get all this done, how did I do this and what changed in my life? And I came up with this thing that I'm now calling live life, love food and lose weight, and I really think it's a philosophy that will change your relationship with weight loss and food, and it certainly changed mine. I figured out that weight loss isn't just about losing weight, it's about transforming your relationship with food, and that sounds crazy. I know that weight loss isn't just about losing weight, but of course it is. But I changed my relationship with food, with my body and, ultimately, with myself.
Speaker 2:So I've always struggled with dieting and you know that cycle. You start with enthusiasm, which I always did. This time I'm going to do it for sure. Then I follow a bunch of strict rules, lose some weight because, like I always say, diets work. Then, like clockwork, the weight starts to creep back on and then, before you know it, you put all the weight back on. It's frustrating, it's disheartening and it every time I did I said, oh my god, I'm never going to reach that goal, because my goal was a number on the scale. And I think that's where the philosophy of live life, love food and lose weight really comes into play, because that's not a fad diet or a quick fix or a set of restrictive rules or some crazy workout regimen. It's really a lifestyle approach that emphasizes enjoying life, which I do, and it emphasizes loving food because I think you have to and then naturally achieving a healthier weight.
Speaker 2:So I think, before we get into the real specifics of it, let me break down what live life, love food and lose weight means To me. The first thing is you have to live life right. You can't be on this restrictive diet. This is all about embracing your life in every form. So finding joy in everything you do, even though you're fat, and building relationships everything you do even though you're fat, and building relationships, which I wasn't doing I was before. I was hiding, but building relationships and doing the things that you love, and not letting weight loss become the center of your universe. For me, when I was on a diet, that was what it always was. It was everything that I was doing was about the weight loss and in this last journey, in this mindful eating journey, it wasn't the center of my universe. I was living, I wanted to live and I was living fully and I wasn't putting my life on hold until I reached a certain number on the scale. It was about living my life while I was changing my relationship with food.
Speaker 2:The second thing is the love food part. Well, I realized that food is not the enemy. In fact, for me it was one of the most, one of the greatest pleasures of my life, and I think what happened was that philosophy and I don't know that I thought about it like literally but that philosophy helped me to develop a healthy and joyful relationship with food, where I savored my meal, I was really thinking about what I was eating, I was eating whatever I wanted and, most importantly, I ditched all that guilt that was associated with eating. And then, of course, the third part, which is losing weight. Of course, that was really important, but I found that when I focused on living my life and loving the food that I was eating and knowing that I could eat whatever I wanted, the weight loss just became a natural byproduct. So, instead of obsessing over calories and scales and diets and workout regimens, cutting this out and doing that and figuring out these macros, this kind of live life, love food philosophy helps you lose the weight in a sustainable, healthy way by making these small, smart and consistent changes that I could really maintain over the long haul.
Speaker 2:And that really is the problem with traditional diets. To appreciate this live life, love food, lose weight philosophy, it's important to understand why traditional dieting fails, and I know I've talked about this before, but I think it's really important in this episode. So, as you know, traditional diets typically involve strict rules or some kind of food restriction or cutting a food group out or whatever. It's basically an all or nothing mindset. And, as we've said before, diets are designed for short-term success and they definitely focus on quick weight loss rather than long-term health, and that's a really important distinction. They focus on quick weight loss rather than long-term health, and that's a really important distinction. They focus on quick weight loss rather than long-term health.
Speaker 2:And this is why I think that's a flawed method, because when you deprive yourself of stuff, that leads to cravings right, if I told myself I couldn't have donuts, I want donuts more. So when you restrict yourself from certain foods or a whole food group for that matter, you're going to crave them. It's just natural. It's going to happen. And what happens when you do that? When you deprive yourself, sooner or later you're going to binge eat, you're going to feel guilty, and then you're just going to be on that cycle of dieting and weight gain and dieting and weight gain and these diets are temporary fixes. You know that we and weight gain and these diets are temporary fixes. You know that. We all know that they're not sustainable in the long term. You can't cut carbs out of your diet for the rest of your life. You can't only eat hamburgers for the rest of your life. It's just not sustainable. So, while you lose the weight initially, as soon as you go back to your old way of eating, the weight comes right back on and it comes usually with a lot more weight.
Speaker 2:Definitely, dieting definitely causes anxiety, right, and stress. It creates this negative relationship with food. You're worried about what you're eating or you're counting calories or you're fearing certain foods and all that shit leads to stress and even eating disorders. And whenever people think about eating disorders they think about something like anorexia. But I think I had an eating disorder. It was just in the other way. I just ate too much and too frequently. I did all that.
Speaker 2:And really the Last part of that why diets don't work is you really put your life on hold when you're dieting. Right, you figure, all right, I'm not going to have a good life until I've lost the weight, and that can result in so many bad things missed opportunities, just a total lack of fulfillment. That's just a crazy philosophy to say I'm going to put my life on hold until I lose the weight. So the live life, love food, lose weight philosophy is the opposite of those. It's the antidote to those things. It's about creating a balanced, enjoyable lifestyle that really sets you up and supports long-term health and well-being.
Speaker 2:All right, so the first step in this three-part process is you've got to live your life, your life, and you got to live your life fully, right, and you have to do it without letting the weight or food control your happiness. And so here's how I incorporated that, or here's how you can incorporate it, into your daily life. So the first thing is you got to prioritize your happiness, right. If you're not happy, you're not going to do anything. So happiness isn't something that happens once you reach your goal weight. It's something that you need to work on every day. You need to be happy and be joyful and really know that you can get this done. So you have to be happy regardless of where you are on this journey. So look for things that make you happy. They could be small things. It could be spending time with your husband, your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your kids, whoever Pursue your hobbies and even again, it wasn't for me, but maybe take a walk in nature. So make those things a priority in your life so you feel happy.
Speaker 2:And number two is you can't, like I said a couple minutes ago, you can't put your life on hold. My life was on hold because I was like, oh, I can't do anything until I lose this weight. And then I said things will be good when I finally lose the weight. But I found myself avoiding social events or definitely not wanting to see friends. So that mindset is really bad for you. It prevents you from enjoying your life. You only get so much time. So instead, embrace, like where you are, and start living now. Now, I'm not saying be fat and happy, but be fat and happy knowing that you're not going to be this fat tomorrow. Right, every day you're going to get a little bit, lose a little bit more weight and be a little bit healthier and get a little bit closer to your real goal. And that journey to health is part of life. It's not something that you have to achieve before you start living. Right, that's part of life.
Speaker 2:The next thing, which, again, I never thought I'd say but if you can do it right now, definitely get started on physical things that you enjoy. Exercise, as I've learned over the last few months, is not punishment. It should be like almost like a celebration of the things that your body can do. I told you I'm amazed at how much more I could barely walk when I started, but how much more I can walk now and how I can walk further every single day. So, for you, find that activity. It doesn't mean that you have to go to the gym and do these crazy workouts. Unless that's what you love, then by all means you should. But find something that you love to do. I don't know if it's dancing or swimming or yoga, whatever it is that you do. Whatever it is that you can find some joy in that movement, do that so it becomes part of your life and it's not really a chore.
Speaker 2:And then the next thing which is really important, is really important for me, was being mindful right, not just mindful about what you're eating, but mindful about everything that's going on in your life. Of course it starts with what you're eating, thinking before you put anything in everything and everything in your mouth, but it's about really being aware of your surroundings and knowing what's going on around you. Of course it's a powerful tool for weight loss, because it helps you get more in tune with your body's hunger cues and fullness cues, and it just makes it easier to eat in a way that supports your overall health. But, again, when you're just aware of what's going on around you at all times, it just makes your life better and it leads you to a healthier and more balanced lifestyle. So the second part of that three-part process is love food. Right, I want you to love food without guilt, without any fear, no restrictions. And here's how you can do that right.
Speaker 2:Number one, first and foremost, is reject that diet culture. Okay, diet culture teaches us to be in fear of food or label it as good or bad, to feel guilty about eating certain things. Diet culture is all about don't, don't, don't. I think it's time to reject that fucking mindset, because food isn't your enemy, it's nourishment, it's pleasure. There's no question, food is pleasure and it's a fundamental part of life. Right, you can't live without eating, so it's something you're going to do. So, instead of focusing on all that negative stuff and what you can't eat, focus on the stuff that you enjoy and how that food makes you feel. And that brings me to two.
Speaker 2:Number two, which is to practice what I guess is called intuitive eating, and that's just about listening to your body and trusting its signals. I never listened to my body because I was never aware when I was eating. I was always doing something else or eating so fast that I couldn't really pay attention to what I was eating. So I mean you eat when you're hungry and you stop when you're satisfied, and you have to choose foods that satisfy both your hunger and your taste buds. You can't eat if you don't like quinoa and kale, which I don't don't eat that you got to eat stuff that you like and that helps you to build a really healthy and balanced relationship with food, free from all the rules and restrictions that these typical diets put you on. You know what to eat, you know how to eat, you know when to eat. You know all that, and I talk about mindful eating.
Speaker 2:It's easy, and it was very easy for me, to rush through all my meals without really tasting them or enjoying them. It's easy and it was very easy for me to rush through all my meals without really tasting them or enjoying them. It was just something that I did. I was going to eat, it's was present and I slowed down and I really thought about everything that I was eating in it and really thought about the flavors and the way it smelled it. Really it changed. It changed the way I ate it. It made me enjoy my food more, but it also helped me by slowing down. It helped me to really get in tune with my body signals and I found out that I would eat to the point of I was so full. It was grotesque, that's all I can say.
Speaker 2:You know, I always talk about this next one, which is allow yourself to indulge. Right, indulgence isn't a bad thing, it's part of a balanced diet. All those people that we all know, who can eat whatever they want and never put on an ounce, they eat all those bad things. They eat their favorite food and they eat it without guilt. So you can have that chocolate or the pizza or the ice cream, whatever you want. And when you know that you can have them whenever you want, those foods lose their power over you. And I promise you there are plenty of foods that had power over me. But when I know that I can eat them whenever I want, it just makes it easier to enjoy them in moderation, and moderation is a really key word. And then you really need to focus on quality, not quantity. I was definitely a quantity guy. If I could eat one, well hell, I'd rather eat two. So, rather than obsessing over, like, your portion size or calorie counts, focus on the food that you're eating. You know that eating whole, unprocessed food that are rich in nutrients is better for you than eating crap, right? So eating high quality food satisfies your body's nutritional needs and your taste buds, and it makes it easier to eat less overall.
Speaker 2:Step three is lose weight naturally, and this was the most I don't know, the most exciting part of my whole journey is that, to me, I was losing weight naturally and healthily and sustainably, and when I'm lit, when I was living my life and I was loving the food I was eating cause again, I ate whatever I wanted. Weight loss became just a natural by-product of that lifestyle. That's that, to me, is really important that I never felt like I was on a diet. I never was on a diet. It just happened because I was doing the other two things. So, instead of focusing on a specific number on a scale, which we've talked about a hundred times, that's a bullshit goal Set goals that are realistic.
Speaker 2:Set goals, set a real goal R-E-A-L. We've talked about that a hundred times. I'm not going to go over it again and talk about a goal that's aligned with your values. My why was so I could be alive. Well, it's easy to eat with that kind of why in mind. If I ate too much, if I kept eating the way I was eating, I was going to die. But your why could be anything from feeling more energetic to improving your fitness level, or even if it's as silly as fitting into that favorite outfit. Those goals are more meaningful and motivating than any arbitrary weight target.
Speaker 2:The second part of that, obviously, is you know, when you make these small smart choices, these small sustainable changes, it makes it easier, because these dramatic, huge lifestyle changes are hard, if not impossible, to maintain, which is why a traditional diet fails every time. So instead, focus on making those small smart choices that you can stick with for the long term. That might mean, I don't know, adding more vegetables to your meals, drinking more water, for sure, or, like me, gradually increasing your physical activity Over time. Those small smart choices, those little wins, really add up to significant results. I'm down 140 pounds. I haven't dieted for a minute in the last year and a half.
Speaker 2:I think it's also really important to embrace your journey right. Weight loss is a journey, not a race. It's not a destination. There's going to be ups and downs, there's no doubt about it. There's going to be days when you feel like shit there's no doubt about it, and that's okay. The key is to stay focused on your why and your long-term health and your well-being, rather than getting discouraged by some small, like little setback like you ate a whole pint of ice cream or a whole gallon of ice cream.
Speaker 2:Really celebrate your progress and your wins, no matter how small they are, and keep moving forward. And that what? That? What you need to do? That is, you have to embrace progress, not perfection. Perfectionism is one of the biggest obstacles to weight loss. It's why they give you a strict plan on on a traditional diet or a fad diet, because they want you to follow their plan you have to follow to perfection. So it's easy to fall into that trap of thinking you need to follow some diet and exercise plan perfectly every day to succeed, but that mindset only sets you up for failure. So again, aim for progress, not perfection. Allow yourself to be human. We're all human, right, we make mistakes. Make that mistake and learn from it. If you're in an emotional, you're having some emotional issue and you eat a pint of ice cream, okay, big deal, you ate the ice cream. Now just make the next choice, another small, smart choice, and then you have to really trust the process right.
Speaker 2:So when you're living your life and you're loving your food, the weight just comes off naturally. It might not happen as quick as it would with a crash diet. I mean, for me it did, because I had so much weight to lose. I was losing weight at an unbelievable pace, but as I got further into it, the weight loss I had 150 pounds, 160, 170, who knows. I had a lot of weight to lose, so it came off fast. But as I've gotten further and further into this thing and as I've lost more and more weight, the results definitely slow down, but they're sustainable and that's the key I keep losing weight. So trust that by focusing on your health and happiness, you're creating a lifestyle that's going to support your weight loss and support your health for the long term. So with all that in mind, let me give you a couple practical tips on how you can embrace this philosophy now that you understand it.
Speaker 2:So number one is definitely start small. Don't try to overhaul your entire life overnight, because that's not going to happen. It's going to lead to failure. So start with small changes that you can incorporate into your daily routine. So it might, like I said, add some extra vegetables into your meals, cut out some of the junk food that you're eating. I'm not saying cut it all out, but cut some of that taking a short walk, or and definitely think about everything you put in your mouth and figure out if that is in line. What you're about to eat is in line with your why. So as you build these small habits, you can gradually make bigger changes.
Speaker 2:The second thing is really focus on enjoyment, right. So enjoy what you're doing, whether it's food or exercise or social activities. Focus on the enjoyment of your life. Choose the foods that you love, find physical activities that you can do and that make you happy, and spend time with people who lift you up, not with people who knock you down. When you enjoy what you're doing, it's easier to stick with those things for the long term.
Speaker 2:Number three is be patient, right. Weight loss is a journey. It's not a race. It's a slow process, especially when you're doing it in a healthy and sustainable way. So be patient with yourself and trust that the results will come. Remember, the goal here isn't to just lose weight, it's to create a healthier and happier life. So it's not going to happen overnight For me. I'm still on that journey. I'm a year and a life, so it's not going to happen overnight For me. I'm still on that journey. I'm a year and a half, or something like that, into this thing and every day I'm living a better and healthier life. And number four is practice.
Speaker 2:This, I guess self-compassion, self-love, for lack of a better term. There's going to be times when you fuck up. Right, you eat something you shouldn't have eaten, you've eaten too much, you're committed to doing your daily walking and you don't walk because, whatever it is, instead of beating yourself up, let yourself know that, hey, that's okay, that's part of the journey. Right, there's going to be twists and turns on the journey. And recognize that you and everybody else makes mistakes and use those moments, those things, those bad choices, as opportunities to learn and grow. If you find, figure out that you're an emotional leader, maybe you'll recognize that cue next time and you won't do that, you won't dive into that tub of ice cream or do whatever it is you did to quiet the emotional need that you had. So those are four easy steps.
Speaker 2:I believe it's a whole new approach to weight loss. This live love I can't even say it Live life, love food and lose weight. Philosophy is more than just a weight loss strategy. It's really an approach to life. Is weight? Philosophy is more than just a weight loss strategy. It's really an approach to life, and I think that when you focus on living your life fully and loving your food and making these small, sustainable changes, you really can achieve a healthier and happier life without the stress and frustration of all the traditional dieting and the crazy workout routines and all that crazy stuff. My philosophy encourages you to enjoy the journey, to accept when you make a mistake and your imperfections, and trust that weight loss will come naturally when you're living this life that you love. So if you're tired of these crazy fad diets and basically the dieting cycle as a whole, and you're ready to live a more balanced and happier life, I say give the live life, love food, lose weight philosophy a try. It just might be the change you've been looking for. So that's really all I have to say on my philosophy for today. I'm going to break down those three phrases a little bit more in the future, but that's it for now. I know you can do this. I know I was. I don't even think I was that harsh today. I think I was really positive today.
Speaker 2:But if you know some people that need to lose some weight, if you need to lose some weight, check out my podcast. It's free, it doesn't cost a dime and you might learn something If you take one or two things from it each time you listen. That's a win. Small, smart choices, that's the win. So again, if you have bought my book, thank you. If you haven't bought my book, what the hell are you waiting for? I'm getting a ton of five-star reviews. It's going really well and I'm excited by that. I'm excited that I'm helping people and the reviews are saying that people are using it and losing weight. I get a lot of emails. Maybe next week I'll read a couple emails, but it's truthfully. I love my journey and I love that I can help people on their journey. I hope that it's helping you. If you're listening. And again, it all comes down to one thing Shut up and choose.
Speaker 1:You've been listening to Shut Up and Choose. Jonathan's passion is to share his journey of shedding 130 pounds in less than a year without any of the usual gimmicks no diets, no pills. And we'll let you in on a little secret no fucking gym. And guess what you can do it it too. We hope you enjoyed the show. We had a fucking blast. If you did, make sure to like, rate and review. We'll be back soon, but in the meantime, find jonathan on instagram at jonathan wrestler boca raton. Until next time, shut up and choose.
