The Leaner You Podcast with Daniel Rosenthal and Santo Chiappetta

A lot of smart, capable people don’t have an information problem.

They know the basics, they just can’t follow through.

In this episode, we break down why “I know what to do, I just don’t do it” usually isn’t about discipline, motivation, or willpower. It’s about running a plan that collapses the moment real life shows up.

We cover the four common “acceptable stories” people tell themselves, the four real reasons action breaks down, and why turning a plan problem into an identity problem shuts you down fast.

Then we use the Casio vs mechanical watch analogy to make it simple:

Your plan shouldn’t be delicate, high-maintenance, and hard to restart.

It should be low-maintenance, easy to return to, and built for busy lives.

Timestamps
00:00 Why “I know what to do, I just don’t do it” is so common
01:29 The 4 common stories people use to explain inaction
02:31 Story #1: “I lack discipline” (and why it’s usually not true)
06:01 Story #2: “I’m not motivated” (why plans that need motivation fail)
08:03 Story #3: “I’m inconsistent” (your environment is winning)
11:18 Story #4: “I’m too busy” (busy is a stress test, not the cause)
15:50 Why these stories protect identity, and why that keeps you stuck
17:50 Weekly check-ins: how to pivot instead of restarting
20:11 Theme #1: The plan doesn’t fit real life
25:20 Cognitive load, decision fatigue, and why your plan should reduce mental load
26:10 Theme #2: Perfectionism and fragile plans (the “reset Monday” loop)
31:23 What to do instead: “What’s one thing I can do today?”
33:02 Theme #3: Experience and emotion (your brain protecting you)
38:07 Theme #4: Identity and self-talk (don’t make it personal)
40:05 Don’t turn a plan problem into an identity problem
44:32 The Casio vs mechanical watch analogy for weight loss plans
49:54 The Casio approach: make it easier to keep going
52:32 If you want the full sustainable framework: listen to Episode 50
53:03 The 3 takeaways to apply this week
54:00 Compassion, effort, and staying in the game

If, after listening, you’d like help applying this to your own situation, you can book a short, no-obligation exploratory call with Daniel here:
⁠rosentrain.com/exploratory-call⁠⁠

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Follow Santo on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/santo.chiappetta/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This podcast provides general fitness and nutrition information only. It is not medical advice. Consult a qualified professional before making changes to your exercise or nutrition routine. Full disclaimer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.rosentrain.com/disclaimer

Staying informed right now is difficult.

For a lot of people, it’s increasing stress, disrupting sleep, and making healthy habits harder to stick to.

In this episode, we talk about how to stay informed without burning yourself out, and why protecting your mental and physical health matters even more during stressful, uncertain times.

This is not about ignoring what’s happening.

It's about protecting your mental and physical health so that you can be a more effective person, which means being more present with your family, having more focus at work, and developing a greater sense of control and stability despite current events.

We cover:
Why late-night scrolling often leads to more stress, not clarity

How stress and exhaustion hijack your ability to think clearly

Why falling off track is understandable, but staying off track isn’t helpful

Practical ways to stay consistent with health habits when life feels overwhelming

Underrated ways to spend money that actually improve quality of life and reduce stress

This episode is especially relevant if you’ve felt anxious, distracted, or off track lately and want a calmer, more sustainable way to take care of yourself.

Chapters:
00:00 - Late-night scrolling and stress eating
01:19 - Distraction, control, and regulation
03:20 - Staying informed without checking out
05:23 - Falling off track without guilt
06:35 - Strength, sleep, and effectiveness
07:40 - Why your state matters
08:58 - The grocery store analogy
10:35 - Buying back time to reduce stress
17:24 - Doing the thing vs buying the thing
25:42 - Apps that improve quality of life
37:20 - Community, contrast therapy, and connection
40:21 - Sensory deprivation and reducing stimulus
48:12 - Auditing your environment and commitments

If, after listening, you’d like help applying this to your own situation, you can book a short, no-obligation exploratory call with Daniel here:
rosentrain.com/exploratory-call⁠

Follow Daniel on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/rosentrain/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow Santo on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/santo.chiappetta/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This podcast provides general fitness and nutrition information only. It is not medical advice. Consult a qualified professional before making changes to your exercise or nutrition routine. Full disclaimer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.rosentrain.com/disclaimer

This is episode 50, and we wanted to do something different.

Instead of a narrow topic, we decided to lay out the entire framework for losing weight and keeping it off long term, in one place.

No extremes.

No perfection.

No trying to overhaul your entire life at once.

This episode is especially relevant if:
You’ve lost weight before, but it keeps coming back

You feel like you’re “doing a lot” but nothing is sticking

You’re busy, stressed, and juggling work, family, and responsibilities

You know all-or-nothing approaches don’t work for you anybmore

We walk through nutrition, training, movement, sleep, stress, and progress tracking, and how all of it actually fits into real life.

If you want weight loss that doesn’t require starting over every few months, this episode will give you the big picture.

If, after listening, you’d like help applying this to your own situation, you can book a short, no-obligation exploratory call with Daniel here:

rosentrain.com/exploratory-call

Chapters:

00:00 – Why episode 50 needed to be different
02:45 – Who this episode is for
05:50 – Why weight loss feels harder when life is busy
09:40 – Weight loss vs weight maintenance
12:45 – Why we are not blaming hormones
15:10 – Calories and how weight loss actually works
18:15 – Why calorie ranges work better than exact numbers
20:30 – Tracking food without it taking over your life
24:00 – Protein targets that make sense
29:00 – Lean proteins and practical food choices
34:30 – The 80/20 approach to eating
41:30 – Maintenance days and practicing real life
44:00 – Steps, movement, and daily activity
50:30 – Why strength training matters for fat loss
56:00 – Why “toned” bodies require muscle
1:02:30 – How often to train without burning out
1:13:30 – Building habits without doing everything at once
1:22:00 – Sleep as a fat loss tool
1:27:30 – Stress, planning, and consistency
1:41:30 – How to track progress beyond the scale
2:03:30 – What long-term success actually looks like
2:05:30 – What’s coming next

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Follow Santo on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/santo.chiappetta/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Coach mentioned: Jordan Syatt https://www.instagram.com/syattfitness

Check out episode 16 for a deep dive on strength training: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7yUgkw5zMfs6fgMAUfFlR5?si=e7fa8c64084f47af

This podcast provides general fitness and nutrition information only. It is not medical advice. Consult a qualified professional before making changes to your exercise or nutrition routine. Full disclaimer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.rosentrain.com/disclaimer

This week we kick things off with a truly painful dad joke, and then get into the real stuff.

First, we talk about why you can feel completely exhausted after strength training, and when that fatigue is normal versus when it is a sign you’re pushing too hard or not recovering well.

We cover practical recovery levers like sleep quality, stress, hydration, and fueling your training properly, plus why going super low-carb can make lifting feel brutal for a lot of people.

Then we answer: what’s the best kind of protein powder to use?

We break down whey vs whey isolate vs casein vs plant-based, when casein can be useful, what to look for on labels, and how to avoid overthinking it.

Finally, we tackle a big one: “I’ve been losing and regaining the same 10 pounds for the last three years. How do I get out of this cycle?”

We talk about why extreme approaches often backfire, how to make weight loss more sustainable, why most people have a maintenance problem (not a weight loss problem), and how shifting the goal away from the scale can help you keep results long term.

If you’ve been working hard this year and you’re not seeing the progress you want yet, book a call and we’ll see if we can help: rosentrain.com/call

Recommended Protein Powder: Legion Athletics (who sponsor Daniel, and this is an affiliate link)

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This podcast provides general fitness and nutrition information only. It is not medical advice. Consult a qualified professional before making changes to your exercise or nutrition routine. Full disclaimer: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.rosentrain.com/disclaimer

In this episode, we talk about why weight loss really did feel easier before kids.

We break down how sleep, stress, time, and responsibilities change the game once real life kicks in.

We unpack the popular advice to “just find a workout you enjoy” and where that helps vs where it quietly holds you back.

We explain how to use fun movement and still get serious results, and why strength training becomes non-negotiable if we want to stay strong, capable, and lean long term.

We walk through what actually counts as a “good” workout when we are tired, short on time, and pulled in ten directions.

We share how we think about effort vs outcome, excuses vs real constraints, and what to do when every pound we lose seems to creep back on.

Study mentioned: "Daily energy expenditure through the human life course" https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abe5017

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Follow Santo on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/santo.chiappetta/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This podcast provides general fitness and nutrition information only. It is not medical advice. Consult a qualified professional before making changes to your exercise or nutrition routine. Full disclaimer: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.rosentrain.com/disclaimer