0:02

If you're a whiny snowflake that can't

0:04

handle the truth , is offended by

0:06

the word fuck and about 37 uses

0:08

of it in different forms gets ass

0:11

hurt . When you hear someone speak the absolute

0:13

, real and raw truth , you

0:16

should leave Like

0:18

right now . This

0:21

is Shut Up and Choose , the

0:23

podcast where we cut through the shit

0:26

and get real about weight loss

0:28

, life and everything in between

0:30

. We get into the nitty gritty of making

0:32

small , smart choices that

0:35

add up to big results . From

0:38

what's on your plate to how you approach

0:40

life's challenges . We'll explore

0:42

how the simple act of choosing differently

0:44

can transform your health , your

0:46

mindset and your entire freaking

0:48

life . So if you're ready

0:51

to cut through the bullshit and start making

0:53

some real changes , then buckle

0:55

up and shut up , because

0:57

we're about to choose our way to

0:59

a healthier , happier life . This

1:03

is Shut Up and Choose . Let's

1:05

do this Now . Your host

1:08

, Jonathan Ressler . Hey

1:14

everybody , welcome back to Shut Up and Choose

1:16

. I'm Jonathan Ressler , your host , and

1:18

today I have a pretty cool topic

1:20

. So here's the deal . Right

1:23

, I've been messing around with AI

1:25

due to a friend of mine , Pete , thank

1:27

you for getting me more involved and really looking

1:29

at AI less , as I was

1:31

definitely one of the people who believe that you know the

1:34

AI is going to take over the world . It's going to be the fucking

1:36

terminator world . We're all hiding underneath

1:38

shit as the robots come to get us , but I

1:41

kind of learned that maybe that isn't necessarily

1:44

true . Pete , , thank you for

1:47

opening my eyes . So I'm messing around

1:49

with AI , right , and I started to think

1:52

, okay , let me see what AI knows . So I

1:54

chatbot a in ChatGPT

1:56

, which is simple to do . I'm an idiot and I was able

1:59

to do it and I uploaded my book

2:01

and I put in some information about myself

2:03

and then I said everything that I say from here

2:05

, or everything that I ask , rather , from here on , you

2:07

know , using my tone , or

2:09

give it back to me in my tone and based

2:11

on my book and whatever . So I said you know

2:14

, one of the commands I gave it was why

2:17

should I listen to Jonathan Ressler and

2:22

it gave me this thing that I really kind of groove on . So I'm going to actually read it to you , because

2:24

I think it's so fucking cool that this came out of

2:26

an AI . Okay , so Jonathan

2:28

Ressler's incredible journey to losing over 130

2:31

pounds in a year is a testament

2:33

to the power of determination and small choices

2:35

. Without resorting to fad diet

2:37

shots , pills , surgery or even setting

2:39

foot in a gym , J jonathan cracked

2:42

a code on sustainable weight loss . He

2:44

achieved this amazing transformation while

2:46

enjoying the foods he loved . His secret

2:48

it all came down to making small , smart

2:51

choices every day . Let Jonathan's

2:53

story inspire you to believe that you can too

2:55

, and that you can achieve your goals with the right

2:57

mindset and a commitment to positive

3:00

, lasting changes . I was like , damn

3:02

, that's pretty fucking cool , right , I

3:04

kind of like that , I'm not gonna lie . So

3:06

then I started thinking I'm like , well , okay

3:08

, if it can do that , let me

3:10

start asking it some questions . And one

3:12

of the things I said is what questions

3:15

would you ask Jonathan Ressler

3:17

in an interview ? And it gave

3:19

me a list of 12 questions that are pretty fucking

3:21

cool . So I'm gonna answer

3:24

those 12 questions here . It's like I'm interviewing

3:26

with a robot , but I'm really . I guess I'm I'm

3:28

interviewing , I'm interviewing with you guys , I'm telling

3:30

you kind of what I think and how I

3:32

would answer these questions . So I'm , I'm pretty excited

3:35

about this . This is a what I would

3:37

high-tech a episode . It's

3:39

really fucking cool . So

3:41

here we go .

3:42

So the first question is what inspired

3:45

you to write Shut Up and Choose ? Well

3:47

, obviously you guys know that I went on this incredible

3:50

journey of losing over 130 pounds . That's

3:52

over 135 pounds , but anyway , I

3:54

mean , I was at that weight

3:56

. I couldn't move , I couldn't walk , I couldn't do anything

3:59

and I couldn't bear the thought

4:01

of doing another diet , even the ones

4:03

that I love , like paleo and all that . You

4:05

know , I love juicing , I love paleo

4:07

, I love Atkins , I love them all . But the thought of

4:09

actually doing that again and depriving myself

4:11

of all those things just kind

4:14

of I don't know . I just couldn't do it

4:16

, you know . And I came to the realization that

4:18

traditional diets are all smoke

4:20

and mirrors . So I wanted to write a book

4:22

that obviously chronicled my journey , but cut

4:24

through the bullshit and kind of tell

4:26

it like it is , because at the end of the day , you

4:28

know it's , it's

4:33

all about what you do . People need this kind of real and practical advice , not some empty

4:36

fucking promise , some bullshit meal plan that you know everybody's different

4:38

. So for me , shut up and choose

4:40

is all about taking personal responsibility

4:42

and making those small , smart choices

4:44

that actually work . I mean , come on , I started

4:47

at 411 pounds and lost over 135

4:50

pounds without any of those gimmicky

4:52

bullshit diets , without the gym , without anything

4:54

. And again I want to say I'm not saying exercise

4:56

doesn't help , but if you're at the place where you

4:59

can exercise , you can do this thing . I

5:01

mean , look , if I can do it , honestly

5:03

, I think anybody can , okay

5:05

. So the second question is what's the biggest

5:07

mistake that people make when trying to lose

5:09

weight ? Well , you know what ? I

5:12

think it's . Basically everybody

5:14

goes for the quick fixes and the fad diets

5:16

. I did it for 59 years , so

5:25

you know I came to the realization that if losing weight

5:27

was as easy as popping a pill or drinking some magic shake or eating some

5:29

pre-formatted food , we'd all be fucking models . And I have people

5:31

that are close to me that are taking the magic drugs

5:34

and they get annoyed when I say that the magic

5:36

drugs don't work . So I want to be clear the

5:38

magic drugs do work . They definitely

5:40

work . But if you don't learn

5:43

to eat , don't learn how to kind

5:45

of maintain that or sustain

5:47

that , it's not going to work long term unless you

5:49

stay on the drug for the rest of your life . So , yes , they do

5:51

work and some people can use them for a

5:53

kickstart , but if you don't learn how

5:55

to eat properly while doing those

5:57

, they're just another diet . So

5:59

the gimmicks , like I said , are unsustainable

6:02

and they lead to failure

6:04

, right ? I mean they do Every diet . Ultimately

6:06

, if you're listening to this and if you know people that have been on

6:09

a diet , they succeed , they lose

6:11

weight and then they fail . So

6:14

real time I'm sorry

6:16

, real change takes time and effort . You

6:18

know . There's just no way around it . And

6:20

, believe me , you know I've tried every fad

6:23

diet under the sun , from Atkins to

6:25

keto to paleo , to

6:27

South Beach to Golo , to I

6:29

mean every , every diet you can think of

6:31

. I've been on and I've been successful

6:34

, I've lost weight on those diets , but they

6:36

all end the same

6:38

way and that's failure

6:40

. So , in my opinion , the biggest mistake

6:42

is looking for a quick fix and

6:44

not taking personal responsibility

6:47

for whatever you put in your mouth , all

6:49

right . So the third question is how important

6:51

is mindfulness in your approach to weight

6:53

loss ? Well , obviously , you know , for me , mindfulness

6:56

is huge . Being present , it's what it's about

6:58

. Right , I was eating , shoveling

7:01

food into my face without thinking , mean

7:03

, you know , just eating non-stop

7:05

, not thinking about it , and that is honestly the

7:07

fast track to failure , the fast track to

7:09

being fat . Mindful

7:11

eating means that you're really paying attention

7:14

to what you're eating and how it makes you feel

7:16

. And yeah , when you're eating mindlessly , you know

7:18

it feels good , I think you

7:20

know . But . But mindful eating means

7:22

that you're really present , you know you're , you're

7:24

thinking about what goes into your mouth and

7:27

you're savoring each bite . And I never really got into

7:29

the savoring each bite thing , but I was making

7:31

conscious choices rather

7:33

than eating out of habit or emotion

7:36

. Like I really thought every time I opened my mouth is

7:38

this what I really want ? Is this what I really

7:40

need ? Am I really hungry ? Am I hungry or am I thirsty

7:42

? I mean I really thought and as I really hungry , am I hungry or am I thirsty

7:44

? I mean I really thought . And , as I said in my last

7:46

episode of the podcast , it's not , it doesn't take

7:48

a lot of time , it's there's , they become natural

7:50

. You know thoughts in your head like hey , you know

7:52

what , I really don't need this , and I think that

7:54

helped me stop

7:57

overeating and it really

7:59

kind of encouraged a healthier relationship

8:01

with food , like when I , if you put

8:03

you know a quarter pound of something

8:06

in front of me , I'd eat it . If you put three

8:08

pounds in front of me , I'd eat that too . So

8:10

you know it was totally mindless

8:13

, and mindful eating just means thinking

8:15

about what you put . It's simple . I

8:17

mean it's hard actually , but once

8:19

you start doing it it's really easy and

8:21

it's certainly simple . You know what I mean . You don't have

8:23

to be a rocket scientist to know what you're eating and

8:26

to know good from bad . That's

8:28

a bunch of shit , you know . You don't need

8:30

someone to tell you oh no , don't eat that . You can eat whatever the

8:32

fuck you want . But what

8:35

mindful eating does for you , it

8:37

you know . You know what to eat

8:39

and you know when to eat and you know how much

8:42

to eat . I just chose to ignore

8:44

it for most of my life . But when you're eating

8:46

mindfully , you're really kind of

8:48

in touch with what's going in your mouth and

8:50

you make those choices

8:52

based on the fact that you know that

8:54

eating four is definitely

8:57

worse than eating one . So I

8:59

think the most important part , you

9:01

know , in mindful eating is being present . You

9:04

have to be aware when you're eating , and

9:06

that's hard to do initially , but after

9:08

you do it , you know , I don't know

9:10

. Three days , four days , you start to think and when you see

9:12

the progress , of course you know , you're like whoa , hey

9:14

, this shit really works . The

9:16

next question is can you share a simple , sustainable

9:19

change that someone can start with ? So the

9:21

first thing I thought of is I lived in North

9:23

Carolina for a while and I

9:25

used to drink this stuff called sweet tea , which is

9:27

basically sugar a lot of sugar and

9:30

a little bit of tea . I mean , it's truly it's

9:32

like liquid candy and it does

9:34

nothing but add fat

9:36

to your fat ass , to your waistline . So I

9:38

would say like the first thing you could do is stop

9:41

drinking that . You know whatever it

9:43

is . You're drinking soda or you

9:45

know fake juices and all

9:47

that shit that's out there . Everything that's called diet

9:49

is bullshit . If you can stop drinking

9:52

that shitty stuff and start drinking water

9:54

, or even sparkling water , or even

9:57

unsweetened tea or coffee , that's going

9:59

to save you so many calories and we all

10:01

know that you need to burn more

10:03

calories than you consume . That's one way

10:05

I'll bet you cut . If you're a soda drinker

10:08

, I'll bet you can cut 500

10:10

calories out of your diet in a day just

10:12

by cutting out the

10:14

soda and swapping out with water . So that's

10:16

an easy one that you can do without

10:19

a lot of effort and very simple . But

10:21

having said that , if you're not a soda

10:24

drinker or sugary drink drinker or whatever , I

10:27

think the best thing you can do this you

10:30

know the simple , sustainable changes . Try

10:32

to make five good food

10:35

decisions every day or in the

10:37

first couple of days . Really really

10:39

be present when you eat and say do I really

10:42

want this , do I really need this , or am I just

10:44

eating it because I'm used to eating it ? So

10:47

definitely make five good , small

10:49

, smart decisions every

10:51

day for the next couple days and

10:54

I think you'll find that you actually

10:56

get yourself on the road in spite of yourself

10:58

. And , of course , be present . Don't have

11:00

any distractions when you're eating . Try to really be

11:02

there . You know what I mean . Like don't watch TV . Don

11:06

Be present

11:08

and think about what you're eating and I promise you

11:10

that will be a great jumpstart to

11:13

your weight loss journey . All

11:16

right , this next question I almost didn't

11:18

include , but I'm including it

11:20

because it asked the question , so I'm

11:22

going to answer it . The question is what

11:24

role does exercise play in your philosophy

11:26

? Well , you know that exercise played

11:28

absolutely zero role

11:31

in my philosophy . Okay , I

11:33

was honestly , you know , and maybe this is an

11:35

excuse , you know . Okay , I was honestly , I would , you

11:38

know , and maybe this is an excuse , you know . As I say it , I'm thinking Jesus , I'm just making an

11:40

excuse here . But the reality was I was so fat I could barely walk . I

11:42

mean , I could walk 100 feet and I'd be wiped

11:44

out , I'd be tired . I mean , now that I think could have

11:46

, I walked a few exercises , no-transcript

12:13

, just some quiet time . Or if I'm walking with someone , it's just

12:15

sometime when I don't answer my phone , I don't

12:17

do anything , I just kind of , you

12:19

know I'm present

12:22

. You know I'm present with the

12:31

person I'm with or I'm present

12:33

with myself . And this year now I'm averaging

12:36

over 7,000 steps a day

12:38

. So it's a huge difference . So I'm

12:40

not saying exercise doesn't work

12:42

, it does . I mean , an exercise is definitely important

12:45

, there's no question about it . But

12:47

what I am saying is if you're so big

12:49

that you can't exercise . It's

12:51

okay , because the reality is

12:53

what

12:56

you eat is probably 80% , maybe 90%

12:59

of the battle . I mean , for me it was 100% of the battle

13:01

, right ? I lost 135 pounds and

13:03

didn't exercise . You know so , obviously

13:06

you know that the

13:08

what goes in is probably

13:10

more important than the amount of exercise . But I mean , whether

13:12

you're walking or dancing or

13:14

swimming , riding your bike , whatever , whatever kind

13:16

of gets you moving , that's the best exercise

13:19

if you can do it . And just for the record

13:21

, I still hate the fucking gym , but

13:23

now I'm finding ways to kind of

13:25

get more active , all right

13:27

. Question six how do you stay motivated

13:30

during the tough times ? Well , I

13:32

mean , I guess what I do is I focus on my

13:34

goal , which was A , to be alive . That's

13:36

obviously that's still a goal . But my longer

13:39

term goal , or my you know more relevant

13:41

goal now , is to be healthy . I want to be healthier

13:43

every single day . As long as

13:45

I'm a little bit healthier than I was yesterday , I feel

13:47

like I'm progressing and I

13:49

you know it is easy to get discouraged

13:51

when you're on a weight loss journey . I mean

13:54

, no one knows it more than me , or maybe you do , but

13:56

it's easy to get discouraged , right , but

14:03

that's when you kind of really have to dig in deep and and really push through

14:05

. And it's definitely good to have someone who's support to you and have a supportive

14:07

group around you and help you celebrate those

14:09

. You know , hey , you lost two pounds yesterday . That's great

14:11

. You know , stay

14:18

the course . As you know , I didn't . I kept it quiet because I had done that and failed

14:20

so many times . I was hedging my bet , you know . I mean , I really was . I was like

14:22

, hey , I'm not going to let anybody know because I'm

14:24

probably going to fail In the end . I'm probably going to fail , but

14:27

the reality is you're doing this for yourself

14:29

, not for anybody else , so you

14:31

don't need to tell anybody or everybody

14:33

. And when you're doing this method

14:36

, the way I ate , which was basically eating whatever the

14:38

fuck you want , whenever you want no one

14:40

even has to know , right , because you can eat

14:42

all those things that everybody else is eating . But instead of

14:44

eating three slices of pizza , eat

14:46

one slice . Or if everyone's getting pizza

14:48

, maybe you get some I don't know grilled chicken

14:50

, whatever

14:57

, I mean , there's no meal plan . But the bottom line is that you can definitely do this

14:59

thing and you can definitely stay motivated . Look , I did it with atrial fibrillation , poor

15:02

kidney function , high blood pressure , high

15:04

cholesterol , uncontrolled

15:06

gout and a laundry list of other things

15:08

. So if I can do it , you know

15:10

I guess I'm asking everybody what's

15:12

your excuse ? I mean , you can do this too . This is

15:14

not hard , and you just

15:16

kind of have to again keep that

15:19

long-term goal , which is not

15:21

a number , don't get fixated on a number

15:23

. I want to weigh this , no , it's . I want

15:25

to be healthier every single

15:27

day . I mean , to me that's a great goal

15:30

and is a goal that everybody certainly could

15:32

use . All right , the next question

15:34

is what's your take on cheat meals

15:36

? Well , you know my take on cheat meals . I

15:39

hate that term . I think that term sucks because

15:41

you can't cheat , because you're allowed to eat

15:43

whatever you want . In doing

15:45

that , in not being

15:48

able to cheat right because there is no cheating , it

15:50

also says that you can't fail

15:53

right

15:56

. When you talk about a cheat meal , it basically implies that you're doing something wrong

15:58

, right , and I don't believe that you can eat anything that's wrong . You can eat things

16:01

that may not be what a traditional

16:03

weight coach or , you know , or nutritionist

16:05

or whatever , says are quote unquote good foods

16:07

. But if you just eat

16:09

what you want to eat and focus on balance

16:12

, that's more powerful , that's more

16:14

sustainable . I mean , if you want to eat a burger , eat a fucking

16:16

burger . Who cares , you know ? I mean I would say

16:18

, don't make it an everyday thing , but you know

16:21

there's no such thing as a cheat meal . If you want to eat

16:23

dessert , eat dessert . Just make

16:25

the next choice a better one . I

16:34

mean , I went out with a buddy of mine the other night and we went out and he ordered three desserts

16:36

, three delicious desserts . I had a spoonful of each one of them and that was enough , whereas before and

16:38

, by the way , he didn't like two of them . Prior

16:41

to that , I definitely would have ate those two

16:43

desserts and probably a

16:45

little bit more . But you know what ? I

16:47

enjoyed the taste of the food and I felt

16:50

no guilt and I just had a little bit

16:52

. It was , you know , again

16:54

, when I tasted that food . I mean , it was loaded

16:57

with sugar . But for me it was about

16:59

making a choice that aligned with my goals

17:01

, which was , you know , to

17:03

be healthier . It wasn't about punishing myself and saying

17:05

I can't have that . No , I can have anything

17:08

I want , anytime I want , because

17:10

that's what this is all about . I

17:12

just have to have balance . So , going

17:15

just to sum it up , the term cheat meal

17:17

is fucking bullshit . It's shit

17:19

that's made up by the diet industry . There's no

17:21

such thing as a cheat meal . There's just meals

17:23

that are better and meals that are not as good

17:26

, but every meal is the right meal

17:28

if that's what you're eating . Next

17:30

question is how can someone develop a positive

17:32

mindset about their weight loss journey ? Well

17:34

, I think this is an important one , and

17:37

I think it's you know . I can sum it up in

17:39

one sentence Focus on progress

17:42

, not perfection . Okay

17:44

, let me repeat that Focus on progress

17:46

, not perfection . That is

17:48

my big issue with traditional diets . I

17:50

mean , you have a meal plan that's structured

17:52

that you have to follow , or you know you have a meal plan that's structured that you have to follow , or you know you

17:54

cut this out of your diet or that out of your diet , or eat this

17:56

at this time or that time , and if you

17:58

don't do it , then you kind of you

18:00

know you're not perfect , you failed , you cheated , whatever

18:02

the word is . I mean you pick the word , but

18:05

no one can eat like that . Not

18:08

for the long term , not sustainably , not

18:10

for the rest of your life . So focus

18:12

on your progress , not perfection

18:14

. It's okay to make a choice that a

18:16

nutritionist would say , well , you shouldn't eat . That that's okay

18:19

. So celebrate , like those small

18:21

wins right , and don't beat yourself up

18:23

if you eat something that you've been

18:25

programmed to believe is bad

18:28

. You know that's not a setback . I

18:30

mean , this whole thing is not about being

18:32

perfect , which is why it was so easy

18:35

for me . It's just about being

18:37

a little bit better than you were yesterday

18:39

. I mean , I told you five minutes ago I ate three

18:42

. You know , I tasted three desserts

18:44

. I mean , any nutritionist would say , oh , you

18:46

can't . You know that's so much sugar . Yeah , no

18:48

, it wasn't the best . A better choice

18:50

would have been to eat none of it . But fuck

18:53

that . I want to live , I want to have , you know , a

18:55

happy life . I want to live a normal life . So , yeah

18:57

, I'm going to eat some shit every now and then , and

18:59

that's fine , as long

19:01

as you stay positive and

19:04

keep your eye on the prize , which is basically

19:06

to be healthier today than

19:08

you were yesterday . Okay , I mean , it's

19:11

that simple . I mean you're not going to be perfect

19:13

. If you're looking for perfection , you're

19:15

going to fail . So the most

19:17

important thing in

19:19

this you know kind of how to get in the right mindset

19:21

is focus on your progress

19:24

, not perfection , and

19:29

forgive yourself . If you eat something that the traditional diet industry

19:32

says is bad , that's okay . You got to feed your soul . And remember , you got

19:34

yourself into this mess . You made yourself fat

19:36

, overweight , obese , whatever it is you are . I

19:45

mean , I take full responsibility for weighing 411 pounds . No one held

19:47

me down and shoved food down my throat . I did it and when I got out of the hospital , I went

19:49

home and I started doing it again until I had a wake-up

19:51

call . So I got myself

19:53

into the mess . You got yourself into this

19:55

mess . So it's on you to

19:58

get yourself out , and I'm living , breathing

20:00

, walking proof that you can do

20:02

it . I mean it really is

20:04

not complicated in any way . It's

20:06

simple because you

20:08

can't fail . You can

20:10

make some bad choices . I mean , like

20:12

I've said a hundred times , right , I don't know anybody

20:15

that hasn't made some bad choices in their life . So remember

20:17

, you got yourself into it and

20:19

you can get yourself out of it by making

20:21

simple choices . The next

20:24

question is what do you think about the diet

20:26

industry as a whole . Well , if you've listened

20:28

to me , you know what I think the diet is . The reason it's a fucking

20:31

joke , right ? It's all about making

20:33

money and I believe it's

20:35

not about helping people . It's a business

20:38

and the business is built on failure

20:40

. Sure , you'll have some short-term

20:43

success , but in the end , after

20:45

you're done doing that diet

20:47

, you're going to fail

20:49

. I mean , it's what the industry is about

20:51

going

20:54

to fail . I mean , it's just , it's what the industry is about . It's there . It's designed totally for temporary

20:56

fixes that they know fail in the long run , because that's

20:59

how they keep getting your money . So that's why

21:01

I'm so into this , you know . I

21:03

think it's a very realistic approach to

21:05

being focused on , you know , for me , sustainable

21:08

change . I mean I'm not doing any yo-yo dieting

21:10

. I mean I'm not saying that my weight

21:12

doesn't fluctuate . It does , you know . I mean some

21:14

days I weigh a couple pounds more , some days I weigh a couple pounds

21:17

less . But I'm not going up 50 pounds

21:19

and going down 50 pounds , and up 50 pounds and down

21:21

50 pounds . It's consistent

21:24

. And you know I built these healthy

21:26

habits . I mean all

21:29

I can say is look at Oprah stepping down from Weight

21:31

Watchers because she's using one of the weight

21:33

loss drugs . I mean , she was , you know , telling everybody

21:36

Weight Watchers the greatest thing in the world , and then she switched

21:38

to weight loss drugs . I promise you a few years

21:40

from now , she'll be off the weight loss drugs when

21:42

she or although the truth is she probably

21:44

has enough money to stay on them for the rest of her life . But

21:47

if she gets off them , she's

21:49

going to find that she's in the same exact

21:51

place , which is an

21:53

unsustainable weight

21:56

loss journey . Okay , because

21:58

that you know

22:00

, every diet is built for short-term

22:02

success and long-term failure

22:05

. So , to sum it up , I think the diet

22:07

industry is a bunch of fucking scumbags

22:09

that stole a lot of my money and probably have

22:11

stolen a lot of yours too . Okay

22:13

, next question is can you give us an example

22:15

of a healthy snack you enjoy ? Shit

22:17

, I don't know . I mean something that I like

22:20

is I'll have some Greek yogurt , you

22:22

know , sugarless , you know . Or

22:24

it says made without extra sugar or something

22:26

. I think there's sugar in all yogurt , but I mean , you know

22:28

, the least sugar I'm going to have is some Greek

22:31

yogurt with a handful of berries

22:33

, or you know some kind of fruit in

22:35

it . I mean , it's actually really good

22:37

. It's satisfying

22:40

and the truth is , you know , I didn't

22:42

know this when I started eating , but it's packed with protein

22:44

and it's got a ton of healthy fats , it's

22:46

good for your gut health and it

22:48

is filling . I mean , I actually really have

22:50

learned to like Greek yogurt Other , but

22:57

the Greek yogurt is an easy one because you can go and get it anywhere

23:00

. You don't need any culinary skills which

23:02

I completely lack and

23:04

it's not like some fucking tasteless

23:06

diet food . You know Diet food

23:09

is bad for you . Diet food tastes

23:11

like shit , but you're

23:13

eating it because , hey , it's diet , so you

23:15

know it's better than nothing . No

23:17

, you can eat real food , like eat real vegetables

23:20

and eat real fruit

23:22

. I mean , I eat a lot of fruit . I put fruit

23:25

in everything . I put fruit in my overnight oats , I

23:27

put fruit in my Greek yogurt , I mean . So

23:29

you know , real food . That's my

23:31

idea of a healthy snack , you know , and stuff

23:33

that's packed with protein , hopefully , because

23:35

protein helps you stay full longer

23:38

and also , as we learned in

23:40

a previous podcast , that when you eat protein

23:42

, it takes your body more

23:44

work to digest

23:46

it , so you actually burn more calories . Pretty

23:48

cool benefit . So the short answer

23:51

is Greek yogurt with some berries . I

23:54

guess that's the best I can do . Okay

23:56

, so this next one is one that

23:58

I wasn't going to answer Another one that I wasn't

24:00

going to answer because I don't believe in it , but it says

24:02

how do you handle setbacks

24:05

in your weight loss journey ? Well

24:07

, I don't think you can have a setback

24:09

. I think you can make a small bad

24:12

choice . You know , a small , not so smart choice , but

24:14

it's not a setback . But I mean , if

24:16

you're one of those people that you know that are striving

24:18

for perfection , I'd tell you knock it

24:20

the fuck off . Number are striving for perfection , I'd tell you knock it the fuck

24:22

off . Number one , but number two , if you have what you consider a setback

24:24

. I have had zero setbacks in the last 14

24:27

months , not one because I ate what I wanted to eat

24:29

, and that's not a setback . But if you're one of those people

24:31

that feel like , if you eat a piece of cake , you have a setback

24:33

, the only thing I can say is acknowledge

24:35

it , learn from it and then move the fuck on . You know

24:37

on . You know what I mean . Don't let , like a

24:39

bad day or a bad choice turn into a bad week

24:42

, because that's easy to do you know ? We

24:44

learned about the what the hell factor from

24:46

Debbie Rosen . She

24:51

told us you know that . You know you eat bread . So you go ah , what the hell ? I blew the diet

24:53

. So fuck it , I'm gonna eat and I'll start again tomorrow , I'll start next week or I'll start

24:55

after the vacation . No , if you make a small bad choice

24:57

, big fucking deal . Just make the next one

24:59

a better one . So there are . There's no in my mind . There's

25:02

no such thing as a setback . So , no

25:05

matter what you do , keep pushing forward

25:07

, no matter what . And trust me , when

25:10

I was dieting on traditional diets

25:12

, I had a shitload of setbacks

25:15

. Some of them I was able to power through

25:17

, but most of them , as you

25:19

know , evidenced by my failure on every fucking

25:21

diet . In the end , most of them , I wasn't

25:23

, it was a setback and it was a setback that ended

25:26

it for me . So again , please remember

25:28

you cannot have a setback

25:30

when you eat the way I'm suggesting you

25:32

eat and you can't have a failure . You

25:34

can have slower progress , you can have a bad

25:37

choice , but you can't fail and you

25:39

can't have a setback . So keep that at the top

25:41

of your mind and you know . Again

25:43

, shit happens , but it doesn't

25:45

define you . Okay , and

25:47

the last question of the day what's

25:50

the best piece of advice you can give to someone just

25:52

starting on their weight loss journey ? Well

25:54

, I guess the best piece of advice

25:56

I can have is start out small

25:58

, you know . Make a couple small

26:01

smart choices . Doesn't

26:03

have to be anything big . You

26:08

know , you're not going to overhaul your life overnight . I mean , it took you a long time to

26:10

get fat . It took me , you know , 59 years to get to my highest weight . So , start

26:12

out with some small smart choices and then be

26:14

consistent over time , and over time might

26:17

mean for two days , get it done for two days

26:19

, and then do the third day and the fifth

26:21

day , and the ninth day , and the second month and the fourth

26:23

month , and you'll be amazed at what happens

26:25

. So you know , kind of make one small

26:28

change at a time and build

26:30

from there . I mean one thing that I would definitely tell everybody

26:32

, which really helped me a lot , was

26:34

drink more water . Right , the more

26:36

water you drink , I

26:38

know that water kind of gets your metabolism

26:41

going and it helps you digest and

26:43

you're definitely more full when you drink water , and

26:45

there's some crazy statistics that most

26:47

of us are walking around dehydrated anyway . So drink

26:50

more water , you know , add some veggies

26:52

. I don't know , just simple stuff . I mean

26:54

the net . Net here is it took me , you

26:56

know , a year to lose 130

26:59

pounds . You know now I'm down 135 that

27:01

those five pounds took me another two months

27:03

to lose . But you know not to

27:05

be , not to use a cliche but the

27:07

reality is this is a marathon , not

27:10

a sprint , right ? It took you your whole life

27:12

to get to where you are , so

27:14

it's not going to . You're not going to fix

27:16

it overnight . You know you're not going to . You know

27:18

, all

27:22

of a sudden , you're not going to . You know , all of a sudden , you're not going to wake up tomorrow morning and be , you know , 30 pounds lighter . It doesn't work that way . But if you're a pound

27:25

lighter , or two pounds , or three pounds , that's pretty exciting . So you

27:27

got to remain patient and

27:29

stay committed and don't think

27:32

about . You know , if you made a bad

27:34

choice , just make the next one a better choice . Because

27:36

remember and people

27:38

get pissed when I say this but you're fat

27:40

because you choose to

27:43

be fat and you chose to be fat

27:45

. And

27:48

again , maybe it wasn't conscious , maybe it was unconscious , but you're fat as a result

27:51

of the choices you made , right

27:53

, the things that you ate , the way that you move

27:56

, the things that you do . That's

27:58

what makes you fat . But the great

28:00

news is now , from

28:02

here on out , you can choose to

28:04

be healthy . It's that simple , it

28:06

really is . It's a mindset , it's a power

28:08

of you know convincing yourself

28:10

and you shouldn't have to convince yourself because you probably want

28:12

to lose weight pretty badly but it's

28:14

, you know , it's thinking I'm going to be

28:16

healthier from this point forward

28:19

. So that's all the questions

28:21

. That was pretty fucking cool . Like I got interviewed

28:23

by AI . You know , I mean

28:25

that , like I don't know , I'm kind of like

28:28

I think that's really fucking cool

28:30

. So I really I

28:32

enjoyed that . Actually , I really did . I'm

28:35

not sure how else I could use AI On

28:37

this podcast , but I'm going to try

28:39

to figure it out Because

28:43

that was really really cool and I hope I shared a lot of information . That

28:45

, um , that's useful to you because you

28:48

know , I I want to spread this message . You can

28:50

do this thing , you really can . I promise you . I

28:52

am certainly not any any superhuman

28:55

. I mean , I'm just a guy that I honestly

28:57

figured out how to do it . You know , I just figured

28:59

out that . You know it's small , smart choices

29:01

. Not that that's rocket science , because

29:03

I don't think I'm very . I don't think anything

29:06

here is revolutionary . I just think we get

29:09

so bombarded with messages of how to do things that

29:11

we forget that it's really . The power

29:13

is in your hands . The power was in my hand

29:15

for 59 years until I decided

29:18

to do it . And the power is in your hands

29:20

. I promise you you can do this

29:22

. You know it's simple

29:24

to do . It's simple choices

29:26

and you can do this . And you know if

29:29

, if you don't believe in you or your friends

29:31

don't believe in you , your kids don't believe in

29:33

you , your parents don't believe in you , I do

29:35

. I believe in you . I

29:38

know you can do this . You know , I'm

29:41

100% sure of it . You can't

29:43

fail doing it this way . So

29:46

that's the end of the podcast . If you want to learn

29:48

more about my journey and all that , this is the

29:50

shameless self-promotion section where I

29:52

say buy my book on Amazon . I

29:55

have it in paperback and ebook

29:58

. Definitely . Tell

30:01

your friends to listen to my podcast

30:03

. It's free , it doesn't cost a dime

30:05

. And you know , hopefully I'm giving out some good

30:07

information here . And the

30:10

last bit of advice I'm going to give you is until

30:12

next time , shut up and

30:14

choose .

30:16

You've been listening to Shut Up and Choose

30:19

. Jonathan's passion

30:21

is to share his journey of shedding 130

30:23

pounds in less than a year without

30:26

any of the usual gimmicks no

30:28

diets , no pills . And we'll

30:30

let you in on a little secret no

30:34

fucking gym . And

30:37

guess what ? You can do it too

30:39

. We hope you enjoyed the show

30:41

. We had a fucking blast . If

30:43

if you did , make sure to like , rate

30:45

and review . We'll be back soon

30:47

, but in the meantime , find jonathan

30:49

on instagram at jonathan

30:51

wrestler , boca raton . Until

30:54

next time , shut up

30:57

and choose and

30:59

choose .