Jonathan’s Story
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Jonathan Ressler
Hey, welcome back to Shut Up and Choose, the podcast that cuts through the noise and the nonsense and all that garbage the diet industry and internet gurus and Instagram jerk-offs are throwing your way, telling you just do this and you’ll lose weight, just do that and you’ll shed the pounds like magic. And the truth is they’re all full of shit. They’re all trying to sell you something and it’s a bunch of garbage.
I lost over 140 pounds making small, smart choices, and I thought today I would share exactly what that means. Making small, smart choices. Because I get emails and questions all the time like, “What do you mean by small, smart choices?” To me it seemed obvious, but maybe to you it’s not.
And I thought this was an appropriate time to do it because last week, April 24th, was my 61st birthday. And wow, that sounds old. I don’t know when the hell that happened. I still think I’m 30 in my head, but I guess I’m 61.
And the reason that’s important, the reason why I’m doing this today, is because I started my weight loss journey on my 59th birthday, on April 24th, 2023. And now I’m over 140 pounds down, feeling the best I’ve felt in, God, I don’t know, 20 or 30 years. Living my best life. Doing all the things I wanted to do.
And I really have all of that because of making these small, smart choices.
The big changes didn’t happen when I changed everything, which is what I did on all the old diets. They happened when I didn’t.
The truth is we all crave the dramatic transformation. The instant fix. The overnight success story. The viral before-and-after pictures that make everyone on Facebook and Instagram gasp and say, “Oh my God, what’s your secret?”
But here’s the real truth. The unfiltered truth. Big results come from small, smart, consistent choices. Not massive overhauls. Not extreme restriction. Not trendy diets with crazy names or the latest fad.
It comes from making small, smart choices.
When I started my weight loss journey, I wasn’t looking for a quick fix because I was exhausted by it. I’d done keto. Intermittent fasting. Clean eating. Points. Nutrisystem. You name it, I did it.
I’ve been on over 100 diets. And every time I went on a diet, I’d lose weight. Different amounts on different diets. But eventually I failed. I gained it all back. And I felt like a failure again.
When I finally stopped chasing shortcuts and focused on one better choice, one small, smart choice at a time, things really shifted. And I mean really shifted.
In just one year, I lost over 125 pounds.
That first year, I didn’t do any fad diet. I didn’t take any expensive shots. You know what I’m talking about. There are so many of them. No magic pills. And not a single second spent in the gym.
I’ve changed that now. Not that I go to the gym, but I do exercise. But that first year, I didn’t go to the gym for one second.
Most importantly, I didn’t starve myself. I didn’t cut out the foods I loved. I didn’t spend hours meal prepping or counting every calorie like some kind of math major with a fancy app.
I just committed to making small, smart choices. And I did it consistently.
Was it sexy? No. Was it hard sometimes? Sure. I always say weight loss is easy, but there were days it was hard. I made mistakes.
Was it sustainable? Hell yes.
Here I am two years later, and I don’t feel like I’m ever on a diet. I’m just doing what I do. I’m just making small, smart choices.
And I believe that’s why it worked.
Here’s what happened when I stopped trying to be perfect and started showing up with small, consistent, smart choices day after day, even when no one was watching. That’s where the transformation happened. And it can happen for you too.
The first thing I did was stop quitting.
Every time I messed up, I gave myself grace. If I ate something off plan, like pizza on a Friday night, that used to be game over. One meal turned into a full-blown weekend binge.
I’d say, “Fuck it. I already messed up. I’ll start again on Monday.” And Monday never fixed anything. I was restarting the same cycle of guilt, restriction, and self-sabotage.
When I started making small, smart choices, I treated each choice as its own event. One donut didn’t cancel my progress. I stopped turning one mistake into a freefall.
I moved on immediately. Not tomorrow. Not next week. The next meal.
That shift changed everything.
I killed the all-or-nothing mindset. I’m not a robot. You’re not a robot. We’re human beings.
By refusing to quit every time I messed up, I built resilience. Consistency isn’t perfection. It’s coming back again and again.
My self-talk changed too.
My inner voice used to be a full-time bully. Every mistake turned into “Why can’t you stick to anything?” That voice didn’t help me improve. It helped me quit.
I stopped being an asshole to myself. Instead of “What’s wrong with you?” I asked, “What triggered this and what can I do differently next time?”
I shifted from perfection to progress. From punishment to problem solving.
You can’t hate yourself into a healthier version of you. Trust me. I tried.
I also learned that hunger is not a requirement for weight loss.
For years I thought suffering meant I was doing it right. I skipped meals. I starved. And then I binged.
When I gave myself permission to eat real meals with protein, fiber, and fats, everything changed. My cravings dropped. My brain calmed down.
Undereating was the enemy, not eating.
Another thing that changed was starting over became obsolete.
I stopped treating the journey like a video game reset. One bad choice didn’t end anything. I just kept going.
The scale also lost its power.
I stopped letting a number control my mood. I focused on non-scale victories. Energy. Confidence. Bouncing back.
Motivation got replaced by desire.
Motivation is unreliable. Desire sticks.
I stopped waiting to feel ready. I showed up anyway.
I also embraced being good enough.
Perfection was keeping me stuck. Consistency got me results.
I lowered the pressure. Not the goal.
I respected my body before it was “fixed.” You don’t get the body you want by hating the body you have.
I also found joy in the journey.
Weight loss stopped being punishment and became empowerment.
I didn’t lose over 140 pounds by starving myself or killing myself in the gym. I lost it by making small, smart choices consistently.
This journey isn’t about rushing back to normal. If normal made you miserable, why go back?
Sustainable weight loss is changing the wiring, not flipping a switch.
If I did it, you can too.
You know where you’re fucking up. Accountability creates results.
If you want to learn more, my book Shut Up and Choose is on Amazon. It’s an Amazon bestseller.
I also have a video course, the Effortless Weight Loss Academy, at learnshutupandchoose.com.
This is mental. Not physical.
I’m going to go outside now and enjoy my 61st year.
The only advice left is this.
Shut up and choose.