I’m not even sure I should post this – I could get flamed for it, but what the hell –
I must be a total bitch, because I find myself eye-rolling a lot – I just don’t understand how people can be so lame sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I am far from perfect and I have bitched and moaned and been offered some whine with that cheese to boot. I have given LOADS of excuses to people, myself, over the last 5 years but I have seen through my wicked ways and urge any of you excuse makers to do the same.
Reasons why you will not be successful (so, go ahead, give up now):
You say I “can’t” “don’t” or you simply “refuse” to do something. I’ll give you an example:
“I refuse to eat raw vegetables. They do nothing for my palate.”
Oh really? I’m a real foodie, but I will eat things because my body needs them and they are good for me. I’ll take a bag of crisps any day over cucumber slices, but the latter is much better for me and it’s not always about my palate. Lame excuse.
“I can’t exercise to workout DVDs. My living room is too small/ I live in an apartment/ I have no time/ I’ll wake the cat up / my Husband doesn’t want me rearranging the furniture.”
Look, I live in a shoebox. Literally. My apartment is 90 m sq. So don’t tell me that it’s not possible. I’ve done it. Have I nearly tripped over the couch or coffee table, yes, but the time after that I moved the furniture further away. And don’t get me started on having no time. *I* have no time. I work a full time job and travel 20 hours a week just to get to and from that job. And you can believe that I have gotten my arse outside at 4.30am to jog or gotten myself on the elliptical or worked out when my husband was making dinner or before I’ve had dinner and warmed up my sandwiches because that’s all I could manage to make for myself. OK, I don’t have kids, and I understand that kids take time away from a person. But seriously? Please don’t be telling ME that you have no time. And if you really have a husband/partner that doesn’t want you to rearrange furniture, it better because you are a danger to yourself and shoudn’t be doing that on your own, otherwise, you may want to discuss him/her supporting you a bit more.
“I don’t have the money to go on a weight loss program.”
OK. I’m broke too. Maybe you can re-do your budget. Bet you could eat out less per month, or spend less money on the crap that helped you become fat. Or how about good old calories in vs. calories out? You don’t need money to go on a weight loss program. There are so many resources out there, where there is a will there is a way.
“I’ll never be able to do it anyway/ I’ve always been overweight, why bother?”
Why bother? Umm, how about for your health? Are you feeling good right now, being overweight? Are you happy? How’s it working out for you so far? You feel comfortable in your own skin? Confident? If you have already given up on yourself, without even trying, yes, why bother?
“I’m not seeing any result yet and I’ve been working out all week!”
All week? Seriously? Do you really think that you are going to wake up, a week after you started and be suddenly svelte and fitting into the jeans you wore in high school again? You didn’t gain weight overnight, I’m sure, why would you lose it overnight? Please don’t tell me that you are going to give up because the scale hasn’t budged after one week!
“I was good all week! I mean, OK I went out and drank too much on Friday night and had pizza at 3am, but I just don’t understand why the scale didn’t show a loss this week!”
Be honest. Were you “good” all week? Did you plan and stay within your calories, or your program the WHOLE WEEK and do you really EXPECT to show a loss if you’ve had a lot of alcohol and junk food on top of that? What? You didn’t actually log your food/intake, you are just going off what you remember you had? Um, no. It doesn’t work that way. 9 times out of 10 there is a very blatant reason why you didn’t lose weight, and I’m guessing it’s because you weren’t as “good” as you are letting on. If you log and track and limit junk and alcohol, eat all your fruits and veg, have more calories expended than what you actually consumed and you still don’t lose after several weeks of doing this, then I suggest you see your doctor for a medical condition that may be holding you back.
“I’m no good at sports/running/working out” “I’m embarrassed to go to the gym, everyone will see that I’m fat!”
Would you just TRY? And if you recently tried, then TRY again. TRY until you find something that you like, that you are good at. And by the way, you don’t have to be perfect, or a total athlete. You don’t have to be fast either. Just try until you find something that suits you. And guess what – people already notice that you are fat. But if you are a fat person in the gym, working that arse off and trying, people respect that. And if they don’t, they are not worth the energy to even say “Screw them!”
“I just have no motivation. I’m surrounded by sweets all day” “someone made cookies, my favourite, how am I supposed to refuse?” “But I’m so depressed, and ice cream makes me feel better!”
The easiest way to combat this way of thinking is this: you can HAVE sweets and cookies and ice cream all you want. Whenever you want. So why do you have to have it EVERY time it’s on offer? If I did that I would be the size of a house by now. I have a colleague who fills our sweet jar every Monday. And it’s filled with my favourites. I work somewhere where I am not only surrounded by cakes and cookies and tasty things, it’s what we SELL in our shop. And yeah, when I feel like crap I want to eat chocoloate and peanut butter, but at the end of the day it really doesn’t make me feel better; does that ice cream REALLY make you feel good? Why not actually just PLAN for the things you like, to have them occasionally and without guilt or excuses?
I know, especially with the holidays coming up, that losing weight is not easy sometimes. But on the whole, it is. Just make the decision, make the commitment, and then do it. Stop making excuses. Don’t hide away from the gym or “diet” in secret. Ask for support. Do the things that you know are right. Don’t refuse something just because it isn’t always an orgasmic eating experience. Broccoli is boring I admit, but sometimes you have to eat for fuel and not for pleasure. Plan things in advance as much as possible and exercise to keep a balance if not to help you actually lose weight. It really isn’t THAT hard when you look at it in the long-term. If being fat isn’t working out for you then just stop making excuses and do something about it.