No Excuses Opening

0:02

You're listening to Shut Up and Choose, the no bullshit, no excuses podcast for people who swear they wanna lose weight but keep choosing everything that stops them. And before we continue, if you're gonna bitch and moan and act like a fucking pussy the entire time, skip this one Hosted by Jonathan Ressler. This dude dropped 140 pounds with no shots, no diets, no pills, and not one single fucking membership swipe at the gym. Just real choices that fit real life. If you're tired of gimmicks, tired of the bullshit, and ready for somebody to finally call you out and tell you the truth, you are in the right place. Cravings, stress eating, late-night sabotage, travel traps, holiday chaos, this show punches all of that right in its fat face. Stop dieting, start choosing. This is Shut Up and Choose. Now, here's Jonathan.

Summer Ends And You Relax

1:19

Welcome back to Shut Up and Choose, the podcast that cuts through the noise and the nonsense and all the bullshit that the Instagram influencers, the TikTok twits, and all that AI bullshit is throwing your way. I'm here to tell you the truth about weight loss, about life, and I'm gonna hit you with the hard truth right now. Oh, well, September just hit. The beach is over. The summer body urgency is gone. So what are you doing right now? You're giving yourself permission to let yourself go. You're thinking, "Well, beach season's over. I can relax now. I'll get my shit together next summer." You already planned the next crash diet, already picking out the program that you're gonna buy next May, already telling yourself that you have 11 months to figure it out. Well, let me tell you, you're wrong. You're making the biggest mistake of the year. Here's what's actually happening. You're about to waste the next, I don't know, nine to 11 months, 'cause you're gonna coast through the fall, gain weight at Thanksgiving, get even fatter at Christmas, make a New Year's resolution that you'll quit by February if you're really hanging in there strong, and by May, you'll be heavier than you are right now. Then you'll panic. You'll do a crash diet, you'll look like shit at the beach. You'll feel like shit, and then you'll gain it all back. Then you'll tell yourself next summer it'll all be different. But it won't be, because next summer is just this summer again. But nobody's telling you that right now. Everybody's telling you the opposite. Take a break. You earned it. Relax. You got time. That's the lie that keeps people stuck forever. The urgency, that was never the answer. Let me tell you what actually happened this summer. You felt pressure to look good for the beach, so you panicked. You bought a program, or you started restricting, or did some- something extreme. You lost 10 to 15 pounds in a few weeks. You looked okay for the beach, and you felt good for a, for a minute or two. Then it ended. The urgency evaporated, and so did your choice, and you gained it back in two months. That's not success. That's a cycle. Pressure creates desperation. Desperation creates extreme measures. Extreme measures create short-term results and long-term failure. And you think the urgency was motivating you. It wasn't. It was trapping you in a pattern that you can't escape.

The Deadline Creates The Cycle

3:35

September is when real change actually starts. But right now, in September, the urgency is gone. The pressure's off. Nobody's watching. There's no big photos coming. There's no deadline. And you think that's permission to, cut back or give up, but it's actually permission to choose for real. The beach body panic was never about choosing. It was about reacting. You were running away from shame. You were trying to hit a number before the deadline. You weren't actually making a commitment to yourself. But September? September's quiet. September's when you can choose because you actually want to, not because you're desperate, not because you're fucking panicking, not because you have to, because you decide to. That's a completely different choice. The people who look good next summer aren't the ones who are gonna panic in May. They're the ones who start in September, right now, when no one's watching, when there's no deadline, when the only reason to make a choice is because they actually decided to. They make one choice in September, then they do it again in October, and then again in November. By January, they're rock solid. By May, they're unstoppable. By summer, they're not starting. They're continuing. They're not trying. They're just existing as someone who chose months ago. I always say your weight and your body is a receipt of your choices. It just shows up later. That's the entire difference, and it starts right now. Everyone else is giving up. Everyone is thinking about next summer. They're thinking how they'll get into it next May. Everyone else is wasting the next nine to 11 months. But you don't have to be everything else. You can start right now when it matters, when the choice is real, when the quiet gives you permission to actually build something that lasts.

Urgency Steals Your Ability To Choose

5:15

So let's talk about why I think that's the move. Let me show you exactly what's happening and why the summer body panic is actually destroying your ability to choose That deadline, the deadline of the summer body, that's choosing for you. Think about what you've been doing all summer. Not what you told people you were doing, what you were actually doing. You wanted to look good for the beach, so you felt pressure. That pressure created urgency, and urgency took your power to choose away. Instead of making a choice, you let the deadline decide for you. The beach is in six weeks, that's the deadline, so I have to restrict now. The calendar decided. You didn't choose water. The desperation chose water because you had no time to waste. You didn't choose to stop eating when you were full. The urgency chose because you needed results fast. You didn't choose consistency. The deadline chose extreme measures because you were panicking. That's not choosing, that's reacting. The calendar was doing the choosing for you. And for a few weeks, that actually works. The deadline pressure creates urgency, and urgency creates extreme action. The extreme action actually creates results, and you hit your goal. You go to the beach, you feel okay for a minute. Then what happens? The deadline passes. The calendar stops deciding for you, and you have nothing left because you never actually chose anything. You never built the muscle of choosing consistency. You just let the deadline force you to act, and once the deadline was gone, you had no framework for making choices anymore. When you stop choosing, you start reacting. Here's what you need to understand. Urgency doesn't motivate you. Urgency prevents you from choosing. When the deadline is close, you're not making deliberate choices. You're reacting to pressure. You're running away from shame. You're trying to hit a number before time runs out. That's not choosing. That's panic. And panic looks like action, but it's not the kind of action that makes lasting change. Panic creates extreme measures, extreme restriction, extreme workouts, extreme whatever it takes. But you can't sustain panic. Panic, it's a state, and it definitely burns out. But choosing, real choosing, is different. Real choosing is, "I respect myself, so I'm gonna make this choice consistently." It's not about a deadline, it's about commitment. But urgency prevents commitment. Urgency says, "You don't have time for commitment. You have six weeks. Do something extreme." So you do something extreme. You get results. You feel like you figured it out, but you never actually chose. You just panicked This is the part that should make you angry at yourself. You're using the deadline as an excuse. I have to do this diet because the beach is coming. That's you letting the calendar choose for you. You don't have to do anything. You could choose consistency. You could choose to make the same choices you're about to make, but start now in January before the deadline. You could build momentum. You could choose from commitment instead of desperation. But you're not gonna do that. You're gonna wait until May when you'll panic again. You're gonna let the deadline force you. You're gonna tell yourself, "I had no choice. The beach was coming." No, you had a choice. You chose to wait. You chose to procrastinate. You chose to let the deadline do the work instead of you doing it yourself. And the reason you made the choice? Because choosing is hard, because waiting for urgency to force you is easier than choosing consistently without external pressure. Urgency lets you off the hook, and it gives you permission to be desperate instead of intentional. Urgency lets you blame the calendar instead of taking responsibility Once that deadline passes, you have no choice mechanism. Here's why the pattern repeats every single summer. You built your entire change mechanism on a deadline, and deadlines end. For six weeks, you had a reason to make choices: the beach, the photo, the deadline. That external pressure was your only mechanism. You had no internal choice mechanism, so the beach trip happens. You feel good for the moment, then Monday comes. The trip's over. The deadline's passed. There's no reason to make that choice anymore, so you don't. You go back to eating normally, back to not choosing, back to autopilot, and you gain all the weight back, not because the diet was bad, because you never actually chose. You just reacted to a deadline, and once the deadline was gone, there was nothing left. That's the trap. You built change on a deadline instead of building it on choice, and deadlines are temporary. Choice is permanent. Now it's September. You think, "Yeah, I got 11 months or whatever, 10 months, nine months, whatever. That's plenty of time, right?" But here's what you're actually saying: "I'm choosing to wait. I'm choosing to procrastinate. I'm choosing to let next summer be the deadline that forces me instead of choosing now." You're not giving yourself time. You're giving yourself permission to not choose, and you know what's gonna happen. You'll coast through fall. You'll think about it in October, but, but not actually choose anything. You'll feel guilty in January, but you'll quit by February. By May, you'll panic. By June, you'll crash diet. And by August, you'll be disappointed. But you're okay with that because you're not actually choosing any of it. You're just letting the calendar choose for you. This is what should scare the shit out of you because you're trapped in a pattern where you never have to choose. The deadline does. You react, you get results, the deadline ends. You stop. You gain it back. The deadline comes back. You react, repeat, and every single time you tell yourself, "Next time it's gonna be different." You know how many times I said, "Next time it's gonna be different," or, "This time it's gonna be different"? But it won't because the mechanism is the same: deadline, panic, action, relief, failure, procrastination, and then deadline again. You train yourself to only make choices when you're desperate. You've trained yourself to only act when there's a deadline. You've trained yourself that choosing requires urgency, so urgency is the only thing that gets you to do anything. And urgency is temporary, so your choices are temporary, so your results are temporary. That's the problem. The problem isn't that you don't know how to change. The problem is that you've made yourself dependent on deadlines to force you to choose. The problem isn't that you can't lose weight. I know I said a million times, "Oh, I can't lose weight." The problem is that you're outsourcing your choice to a calendar date instead of owning it yourself. The problem sure as shit isn't that you're weak. The problem is that you've never actually built the muscle of choosing without external pressure You've only practiced reacting to deadlines. As long as you keep letting deadlines do your choosing for you, you'll never actually build the real thing, the ability to choose because you decided to. Not because you have to, because you decided to. That's the problem. That's why September matters. That's why right now is your actual best opportunity.

The Proof Is Your Pattern

12:01

But let me show you the evidence that this is exactly what's happening, and it's, it's undeniable. Just look at your own patterns. Think about your actual history, not the story you tell about it, the real data. How many summers have you done this? Panicked, dieted, lost weight, gone to the beach, felt good for a minute, and gained it all back by October? One time? All right, that's an experiment. Two times? That's a pattern. Three times? That's proof. Most of you listening have done this five, 10, 15 times, and every single time you tell yourself it'll be different next time, but it's not. The pattern repeats exactly the same way. That's proof that the mechanism isn't working. That's proof that you're not actually choosing, and that you're just reacting to deadlines. Because if you were actually choosing, the pattern would change. The results would be different. You'd eventually learn and adapt, but you don't. You just repeat the same cycle: panic, diet, results, failure, procrastination, panic. Year after year, same story. That's not bad luck. That's proof that you're dependent on the deadline to force you to act, and without the deadline, you can't act. And the weight, it always comes back. And look at the actual evidence. Look at how much weight comes back. You lose fifteen pounds in six weeks for the beach. You feel great. You took photos. You felt like you finally figured it out. Then it's September. By November, you're up ten pounds. By January, you're up eighteen pounds. By summer, you're heavier than you were last year. That's not a fluctuation. That's proof that you never actually made a choice. You just reacted to a deadline. If you'd actually chosen, if you really built new habits, really changed your behavior, really shifted how you operate, the weight would just stay off. You might gain a few pounds if you went on vacation or had a stressful period, but you wouldn't gain back more than you lost, plus a lot extra. But you do, every single time, because the choice never happened. You just panicked temporarily. The weight coming back faster every year, that's proof. It's not proof that you're broken. It's proof that you're not actually choosing And here, this is the most damning proof. Try to make a choice right now without a deadline. Can you? Can you commit to drinking water consistently for the next four months for no reason other than you chose to? No deadline, no beach, no photo, just consistency. Most of you can't because you've never built that muscle. You've only acted when there was urgency. The deadline does the choosing for you. Without it, you don't know what to do. You don't have a reason. You don't have pressure, so you don't choose. That's the proof that you're dependent on urgency. That's proof that your entire change mechanism is built on external pressure instead of internal choice, and that's why it never lasts, because external pressure is temporary, but choosing is permanent.

How The Fitness Industry Sells Deadlines

14:53

And let me tell you, the fitness industry exists because you need deadlines. Think about why the fitness industry is built the way it is. Why do diet programs have time limits? Why do fitness challenges last thirty days or sixty days or ninety days? Because they're creating deadlines. They're creating urgency. They're replacing your choice with external pressure. They know you can't choose without urgency, so they sell you urgency. They sell you the program with a deadline. They tell you, "Transform in ninety days," instead of, "Make a choice and sustain it forever." If you could actually choose without a deadline, you wouldn't need them. You wouldn't need to buy programs. You wouldn't need thirty-day challenges. You'd just choose and do it. But the fact you keep buying the programs and keep following the deadlines, keep signing up for the challenges is proof that you can't choose without external pressure. The industry exists because you've proven to them you need urgency. And guess what? They profit off it. The anxiety proves that you're not choosing. Here's just another piece of evidence. How do you feel about that deadline? When the beach trip is approaching, you don't feel determined. You feel anxious. You feel panicked. You feel desperate. That's not the feeling of someone who's making deliberate choices. That's the feeling of someone who's trapped, someone who's reacting, someone who's running out of time. If you were actually choosing, you'd feel calm, you'd feel like you're on a path, and you'd feel like everything you were doing is intentional. But you don't. You feel desperate, and desperate is a state of not choosing. Desperate is panic. Desperate is reacting. The fact that you feel anxious and panicked about the deadline is proof that you're not actually choosing. You're just being forced by the calendar And okay, here's the final proof. Every cycle you need a new deadline to get started. The beach passes, you need a new deadline. Maybe it's a vacation in the winter, or maybe it's I'll look good for New Year's. Maybe it's I need to look good for the wedding. You can't just choose to maintain. You always choose a new external trigger, a new deadline, a new reason. That's proof that you're not choosing. That's proof that you're dependent on external pressure to force you to act. If you were actually choosing, you wouldn't need a new deadline every time. You'd keep choosing. The choice would be continuous, but it's not. You need pressure. You need urgency. You need a deadline to force you. That dependency is the proof. And let's look at the actual evidence. Look at what you've done. Look at what you've gained back. Look at how you feel without deadlines. Look at how you keep buying programs with time limits. Look at how you need new emergencies every time. All of that, all of it is proof, proof that you're not choosing, proof that you're dependent on urgency, and proof that the mechanism is, is broken. And the reason it's broken is because it's not actually a mechanism. It's just panic. Panic plus a deadline looks like change for a few weeks, and then it ends. That's the proof. The evidence is everywhere, in your body, in your bank account, in your mental state, in your dependency on the next deadline. All of it proves the same thing. You're not choosing. You're reacting to urgency, and urgency is temporary. So what happens? Your results are temporary, so your change is temporary, so you keep ending up right back where you started. That's not failure. That's just proof the mechanism has never actually been about choice. It's been about running away from deadlines, and that's why September is your actual opportunity. That's why the quiet is perfect, because for the first time, you can actually choose without the deadline forcing you, without any urgency pressuring you, just you and your actual choice Okay, so here's what you need to do, and I'm gonna tell you why this actually works when nothing else has.

Pick One Small Choice Now

18:36

The deadline is gone. September's quiet. Nobody's watching. No one gives a shit what you look like. No-- You can put on your hoodie. There's no beach trip coming. There's no photo op. There's no reason to panic, and that's exactly why you need to start now. Because like I've said, urgency is a trap, and you've proven it. Every single time you've let urgency choose for you, you've gotten temporary results followed by failure. The pattern repeats, the cycle continues. But choosing, choosing actually works because choosing is real. Choosing is permanent, and choosing builds something that lasts. So here's what you do. You make a choice right now, not because the deadline is forcing you, not because you're desperate, because you decide to. Pick one thing, one small choice. Water instead of soda. Stop eating when you're full. Consistency instead of extremes. Pick one and then decide, this is what I choose. Not for six weeks until the beach, not for ninety days until the challenge ends. Just because I choose to. That's the move. That's where it starts. This quiet time, this is your superpower. Everybody else is giving up right now. Everyone else is thinking about next summer or the next deadline. Everyone else is coasting. And you think that's a disadvantage, but it's not. It's actually a superpower because while everyone else is quiet, while everyone else is procrastinating, while everyone else is telling themselves they'll start next summer, you're choosing, you're building, you're stacking. Nobody's watching. That means there's no pressure. That means you can choose for real. Not for performance or comparison or for an audience, just for yourself. That's the most powerful position you can be in because your choice is genuine, because your commitment is real, because you're not running away from anything, you're running toward yourself, and that changes everything Let me show you the math on this because the math is undeniable.

Stacking Choices Until It Is Automatic

20:28

You start in September, you make one choice. You repeat it every day in September. By October, it's totally automatic. Your brain is updated what normal is. The choice, it's no longer a choice, it's just how you operate. Then you add another choice in October. You're already solid in the first one, now you're stacking the second. By November, you're operating with two automatic choices. You add another in November. By December, three choices are automatic. You're a different person, not because you panicked, because you chose consistently. January comes, you're not making a New Year's resolution that you'll quit by February. You're continuing what you've already built. You're adding a fourth choice. By February, you've got four months of consistent choices. You're not trying anymore. You're just existing as someone who chooses. March, April, May, June, by the time summer comes around, you've been choosing for nine months. Nine months of stacking, nine months of compounding. You're not panicking in May because you're already done. You're not desperate in June because you're already built. You're not trying in July 'cause it's just who you are now. That's the actual difference. That's what four months of choosing without a deadline creates. So when summer comes, you're not starting, you're just living. That's the part that actually matters. By next summer, you won't be thinking about the beach. You'll just be living. The people who look good every summer aren't the ones who panic in May. They're the ones who started in September. The ones who chose quietly while everybody else was coasting. The ones who built consistency before the pressure arrived. When the beach trip comes next summer, you're not worried, you're not panicking, you're not doing any extreme diet. You're just continuing what you've been doing for nine months. Someone asks you, "How do you stay so consistent?" And you'll realize the answer: Because I chose. Not because it was easy, not because I was desperate, because I decided, and then I kept deciding. That's the whole secret. That's what people see when they see someone who's naturally healthy. They didn't get there by panicking. They got there by choosing when nobody was watching. And by September, now that we're in September, you can be that person. So here's what changes. Once you build the muscle of choosing without urgency, you don't need urgency anymore. Right now, you're still dependent on deadlines. You need the beach to force you. You need the wedding this year. You need the photo to panic you into action. But if you start choosing right now, if you build consistency without external pressure, you become independent of urgency. You don't need the deadline or the panic, and you don't need the desperation. You just choose, because choosing is how you operate now, because choosing is just who you are. And when summer comes, and there's pressure, and people are panicking, and the fitness industry is gonna sell you another crash diet, you're just living. You're not part of the cycle anymore. You're free. That freedom, that's power. That's what actually winning looks like And look, I'll, I'll be honest, if you don't start now, I know exactly what's gonna happen. You're gonna coast through fall, you're gonna eat normally through the holidays, you're gonna gain 15 pounds by January, you're gonna feel guilty, you're gonna make a resolution, you're gonna try for two weeks, and you're gonna quit. Then it's May, and you're panicking and you're desperate. You're gonna buy a program. You do that crash diet. You lose 12 pounds. You feel good. You go to the beach. You gain it all back by October. Then it repeats again. Same cycle, same pattern, same failure. And next September, you're heavier, and the cycle is tighter, and the panic is worse, and the shame is deeper. That's what waiting does. That's what letting the deadline choose for you creates. Or you can choose now. You can be different. You can be the person who started in September when no one was watching, the person who built something real, the person who doesn't panic in May because they already figured it out. The people who keep weight off aren't special. They don't have better genetics. They don't have more willpower. They don't have a secret. They just chose when the pressure was off. They chose in the quiet without a deadline, and they kept choosing day after day, month after month. By the time the external pressure arrived, they were already solid. They were already different. They weren't vulnerable to the next trend or the next program or even the next deadline. They were just living, and that can be you starting right now in September when the beach is gone, when the urgency is quiet, and when nobody's watching. Pick one choice. Do it for 30 days until it's automatic, then add another. Stack it and keep going. By January, I guarantee you'll be unstoppable. By summer, you'll be unshakable. By next September, you'll be someone who just naturally maintains because that's just how you operate. So stop waiting for urgency to force you. Stop letting the deadline choose. Stop being dependent on panic. Start now. Choose now. Build now. Stack now. September is your actual opportunity. Not next summer, not January, right fucking now. Because four months of choosing without urgency is worth more than four years of panic followed by failure. That's not theory. That's math. That's compounding. That's how winners actually build. So choose today, one small decision, and make it again tomorrow and the day after that. That's it. That's the entire answer, and that's the only one That actually works. So here's where we are. You know that urgency has been choosing for you. You know that deadlines are temporary. You know that panic creates results that disappear the moment your deadline passes. And you know September is different. September's quiet. It's when you can actually choose because the deadline is gone. But knowing that and doing it are completely different things. You gonna walk away understanding everything I just said, and then May comes next year, and you'll panic again. Because panic is easier than choosing. Because urgency is easier than commitment. You already know this about yourself because you've lived it for probably, possibly decades. You've done it multiple times. So let me give you the framework for choosing

Book And Coaching Call To Break It

26:21

without an urgency. Go onto Amazon, grab my book, Shut Up and Choose. It's not just about weight loss, it's about the framework for how to choose when there's no deadline forcing you. You'll understand why urgency has trapped you. You'll see exactly how I moved from panic-driven eating to consistent choosing. You'll learn how to build choices that compound, how to stack 'em, how to create an identity without external pressure. The book is complete. It's the full framework. You can read it. You'll understand it. You'll have everything you need to start choosing right now and build something real by next summer. But if you're actually very serious about breaking the cycle, if you're actually ready to stop the pattern right now, then book a Choice Reset with me. It's one hour. It's a phone call. It's all it takes to go from understanding to commitment. We talk on the phone. We identify exactly why you're dependent on urgency. We expose the pattern that's kept you trapped for years, and we show you what it's costing you. Then we lock in your first choice, not theoretically, actually. You'll leave the phone call knowing exactly what you're doing starting in September. You'll leave knowing exactly what choice you're making. You'll leave knowing exactly what's gonna work, and you'll leave accountable One hour. And once you've had that conversation, once someone's held the mirror up to you and shown you the cycle, you can't ignore it anymore. You can't go back to telling yourself next summer will be different. You just have to choose. So September is here. The deadline is gone. The quiet is real. Get my book, understand the framework. Then if you're serious about actually breaking the cycle, breaking it faster, not next year, but right now, go to jonathanressler.com and book your choice reset with me. Don't wait until October. Don't wait until you feel ready. And definitely don't wait until urgency forces you again. Choose now. Make one decision today. Make it again tomorrow. Make it again the next day. By October, it's automatic. By January, you're rock fucking solid. By summer, you're unstoppable. Not because you panicked, because you chose every single day while everybody else was fucking off and coasting. So here's the reality. Here's what's gonna happen if you don't start now, and you already know. You're gonna coast. You're gonna gain weight. You're gonna panic in May. You're gonna go to crash diet. You're gonna fail. You're gonna tell yourself next year's gonna be different, but it won't. Or you can be different. You can be the person who chose in September, who built the quiet, who doesn't panic next summer because they already figured it out months ago. That person exists, and it can be you starting today, but only if you finally shut up and choose Thanks for listening to Shut Up and Choose.

Final Challenge And Wrap Up

28:58

If today's episode slapped you with some truth, good. That means it worked, and you've dropped the pussy attitude. Make sure to like, rate, and review, and connect with Jonathan on Instagram @jonathanresslerfatloss, on YouTube at Jonathan Ressler, and online at jonathanressler.com. No diets, no gimmicks, no excuses, no bullshit. Just smarter choices, starting the second you hit stop on this episode. Shut up and choose. Now, go make a better fucking choice