Episode 231: You Don’t Need a New Diet — You Need to Grow a Set

Jonathan Ressler | Transformation Guide

Hey, welcome back to Shut Up and Choose, the podcast that cuts through the noise, the nonsense, and all the bullshit the internet and Instagram gurus throw at you. Eat this. Don’t eat that. Follow this plan. Do that workout. They’re all full of shit.

You know it. I know it. You might not want to admit it. Today, we’re going to talk about why.

A few weeks ago, I told you my story. Or at least part of it. Today I want to tell you the how.

You’ve tried keto, paleo, intermittent fasting, Weight Watchers, macros, juice cleanses, detox teas, 75 Hard, and a few plans that honestly sound more like cults than nutrition programs.

You spent months measuring, counting, cutting, and tracking. For what? To end up right back where you started, Googling best diet to start on Monday.

Here’s the thing no one talks about. You never tried the one plan built by the only person who actually lives in your body. You.

If people trusted themselves, half the diet industry would go broke overnight.

You’re not lazy. You’re loyal.

You followed every rule that promised freedom. Carbs are evil. Fat is evil. Breakfast is mandatory. Breakfast is optional. Eat six times a day. Eat once a day. Don’t eat after dark. Don’t eat fruit. Eat fruit only.

You’ve been obedient. Disciplined. Devoted. And now you’re exhausted.

Dieting isn’t devotion. It’s dependence.

It trains you to outsource your instincts to someone with a ring light and an affiliate link. It replaces choice with compliance and convinces you that control means following orders.

I know because I did it too.

For years, I treated every new diet like a religion. I memorized the commandments. Thou shalt not eat carbs. Thou shalt drink two gallons of water. Thou shalt log every crumb.

I followed perfectly for a few weeks. Then life showed up. Stress. Travel. Birthdays. Cravings.

And when I couldn’t keep up, I blamed myself.

That’s how the system works. It sells guilt as motivation.

You weren’t broken. You were following someone else’s blueprint for a life that wasn’t yours.

The day everything changed wasn’t the day I started losing weight. It was the day I stopped giving my choices away.

No influencer, app, or meal plan knows your life. They don’t know what 9 p.m. feels like after a 12-hour day.

So I stopped dieting and started choosing.

Choosing isn’t about perfection. It’s about power. It’s not about good or bad foods. It’s about ownership.

When I started making choices that fit my life, my body finally listened.

This episode isn’t about food or calories. It’s about freedom.

Freedom doesn’t come from another plan. It comes from permission. Permission to trust yourself again.

If you’re tired of starting over, tired of waiting for Monday, and tired of following rules that don’t work, you’re in the right place.

You don’t need another diet. You need one honest decision.

Your next choice changes everything.

You don’t fail diets. Diets fail you. By design.

The system runs on rigidity, restriction, and unreality.

Rigid rules remove thinking. Restriction creates cravings. Unreality ignores your actual life.

Life doesn’t care about your macros.

Restriction feels powerful until it explodes. Guilt keeps you buying.

You were never meant to succeed long term. Success would make you a former customer.

Diets weren’t written for your life. You weren’t lazy. The plan was unrealistic.

Every failed diet erodes self-trust.

You weren’t born fearing food. You were trained to.

Diets disconnect you from joy, confidence, and trust.

You don’t need more rules. You need reality.

Stop following borrowed systems and start building your own.

If every diet failed, maybe it’s time to stop blaming yourself.

Control feels safe. Responsibility feels scary.

Diets sell certainty. Choice requires thinking.

Control gives you an out. Choice leaves nowhere to hide.

Diets create dependence disguised as discipline.

I chased structure for decades. It wasn’t salvation. It was sedation.

Discipline is when you make the rules. Dependence is when someone else does.

If your plan collapses when life shows up, it’s not discipline.

Diets are cages that teach you to thank your captor.

Freedom feels uncomfortable at first.

When I stopped dieting, I felt lost. Then I felt possibility.

Control breaks under pressure. Choice adapts.

Control demands perfection. Choice demands continuation.

Ownership is strength.

Now let’s get real. The problem isn’t food. It’s ownership.

A real plan isn’t written. It’s lived.

Start with awareness. Not tracking. Not judgment. Awareness.

Notice when you eat. Why you eat. What triggers you.

I wasn’t overeating from hunger. I was reaching for relief.

Awareness creates power.

Next is alignment. Your plan must fit your life.

If it doesn’t fit your schedule, stress, and season, it’s fantasy.

Then adjustment. Small, smart choices repeated.

Change one thing. Then repeat.

I stopped eating mindlessly. That one choice changed everything.

Next is accountability. Keep promises to yourself.

Confidence comes from consistency, not the scale.

Then adaptation. Life changes. Your plan must change too.

Progress beats perfection.

One client stopped counting and started noting one proud choice per day. He lost weight and anxiety.

Ownership changed everything.

You don’t need another plan. You need to build one you’ll live.

Diets feel safe. Freedom feels heavy.

Choice makes you face the truth. That’s where power starts.

Choice is a muscle. It strengthens with use.

You weren’t broken. You were out of practice.

Trying prepares you to fail. Choosing commits you forward.

Stop dieting. Start choosing.

Freedom isn’t easy. It’s real.

You don’t need another reset. You need now.

The only plan that lasts is the one you build.

If this hit home, get my free weekly tips. One minute. No nonsense.

Read the book Shut Up and Choose. It’s about ownership.

Now do the one thing that always works.

Shut up and choose.