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Last updated on February 27th, 2018 at 09:57 am
Summer came here out of nowhere 2 weeks ago. Just 16 days ago I was STILL wearing my winter jacket and boots.
And then all of a sudden summer came. Summertime…living is truly eeeeeaasy.
Except with this surprising start of the summer, I found myself walking around not only with a complexion paler than that of a dead man, legs hairier than those of a werewolf, but also with a belly fatter than that of a sumo wrestler.
Is it just me, or am I getting more and more attractive with every word I write?
I wasn’t completely unaware of the fact that I’ve been gaining weight lately.
I’ve been trying for months to lose that fat belly and the double chin I’ve been breeding during the last 8 months. Yet nothing really worked.
It’s not because I don’t know what to do to lose weight, I think we’re all pretty clear on that.
You eat healthier, more nutrient-dense foods, fewer calories and exercise more often.
In reality, I do exercise a lot, but then I also go eat a cake, because…well, post-workout snack.
And how am I not going to eat that cake after I’ve done exercise at 6 in the morning, it’s dark and cold outside and I have to work for the rest of the day? I feel like I deserve some reward, alright? Nothing else is good in my life, RIGHT NOW, I need something to make me happy!
Yes, these are the very thoughts that go through my head while I’m holding a knife ready to cut a cake into million pieces.
And they say self-discipline is a limited resource…
I don’t know if that’s true, but I know that these are 12 common excuses we all make when trying to make a change. Especially a change in our health and diet.
So take a look, and stop sabotaging your own progress and happiness.
Excuse #1
This could be an ice cream, a pizza, a burger, a cake, bread, coffee – pretty much anything you should be staying away from when you’re trying to lose weight or clean up your diet.
We all know how that goes. It’s almost never the last one.
Once you get that last one, tomorrow you’ll have another last one.
It all leads to that: instead of having a last one …., we’re eating as if it was our last day on Earth.
And it not only stops us from losing weight, instead it makes us put more weight on.
Stop announcing to the world. Just have a real last one for yourself.
Excuse #2
This one works for everything. For work, diet, sports, a new habit or skill that you’d like to develop.
The thing is somehow that magical tomorrow never really comes.
The only solution for this particular excuse is to do, whatever you have to do, that is important to you, right now. Right away.
Go exercising right now, make a smoothie right now and importantly: do it again tomorrow.
Otherwise you will probably go crazy, feeling guilty about not doing it and still not doing it.
Surprise yourself!
Don’t take that cookie!
Excuse #3:
I have this_____in my fridge, and I have to eat it now, before it goes bad
I am now pretty free of this one, as I really don’t buy anything bad anymore.
But I can relate to it so much. It is very much like “I will start tomorrow” and the blank could be: tiramisu, cheese, pastries, ice cream, just anything bad.
The weird thing is, I know I would always choose to eat the crap in my fridge first, while the vegetables I bought last week are not in their freshest state either.
I don’t care if the broccoli is almost brown, the preservative loaded tiramisu is going bad in 2 days, I’m eating that first!
It’s important to clean out the fridge when you start a diet, don’t take too long though.
And don’t buy small things that might sabotage you. In fact, you can actually give that bad food to someone else, who’s not changing their life yet.
Excuse #4
These are getting better and better, aren’t they? I had forgotten about this one.
It’s true we shouldn’t be losing a lot of weight fast, but it’s definitely different for different people.
If you have to lose 20 kg, of course, you’ll be losing more weight in one week than someone who needs to lose only 3kg.
The minute we see a small progress, we decide we’ve mastered this and need to celebrate it with something very processed, very cheesy, creamy or sweet.
But that’s not the way to celebrate.
If you need to reward yourself: do something fun, something you always wanted to do; or buy yourself a small gift, that is not made out of food.
Excuse #5
I’m too _____, I’ll exercise later
You can say tired, full, busy, sad, mad…pretty much anything. Except for the real reason, which is almost always: LAZY.
We all hear that voice that tells us
“You don’t have to ____ today”
Here the blank is a verb: exercise, finish your work, drink a smoothie, eat a salad…
And yes, it’s kinda creepy we all hear voices, but let’s not dig into that mess.
We know we’re all weird. And that weird voice that’s pretending to be your friend, a protective mechanism you might call it – is actually just an evil voice.
It’s like a lazy “friend”, who doesn’t want to do anything, but doesn’t like to be alone.
That’s why he’s asking you to hang out with him just where you are – comfortable.
So choose your friends carefully and tell that weirdo to shut up.
Excuse #6
This is the hardest one for me. Keeping self-discipline while you’re traveling.
Traveling can be pretty exhausting and there are not many healthy options around.
But this is still not really an excuse to eat a lot or badly.
After all you’re not traveling by foot.
Either prepare a healthy snack at home or buy one that isn’t that bad for you.
There are always healthy options if you look for them.
Excuse #7
Emoji from EmojiOne.
First of all, you can exercise daily. If you don’t feel good – don’t, but if you feel ok, then there is really no excuse for not exercising.
You just need to take it easy.
So if you did HIIT yesterday, you can do yoga or Pilates or some other low impact exercise today.
It’s important to move your body daily.
The best thing you can to for better immune function is 20-30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise daily.
It can be jogging, elliptical or simply walking at a faster pace – whatever feels moderate to you.
What’s important: do it daily.
To help you with this check out these posts:
7-Day Complete Beginner Workout Plan
7 Morning Yoga Videos for Every Day of the Week
Fun One-Week Workout Plan To Lose Weight
Excuse #8
When we’re busy we often like to ignore everything else in our lives just to focus on the one thing we’re doing right now. However, here’s a little reminder for next time you think this to yourself.
So if you’re too busy right now, try and find time to be healthy. As hard as it is, start now.
Because after you finish X then Y will come your way. This is life.
If it means you have to wake up 10 minutes earlier to exercise or prepare a healthy snack – you can do it.
If it means you have to skip something that is not really important and instead prepare healthy dinner, do some exercises or sleep, then do that.
Take care of yourself NOW.
One year from now you might not even remember the project that is keeping you busy now, but if you start taking care of yourself now you will enjoy the benefits for years to come.
Excuse #9
This is by far the most stupid excuse.
Exercise does not have to take 1 hour, it can take even 5 minutes, if you’re very short on time.
In fact it doesn’t even have to take you any time at all: you can just walk wherever you’re going and do it at a faster pace.
Also take the stairs instead of the elevator and just stand up when every now and then if you’re sitting all day long.
Related:
8 Fat-Burning Workouts That Take 7 Min or Less
Lose Weight With A Desk Job: How To Lose Weight When You’re Sitting All Day Long
Excuse #10
I exercised, so eating this _______ is totally fine.
Fill in the blank again.
Could be something very naughty.
Like crap for example.
Working out shouldn’t be an excuse for eating something that is bad for you.
You don’t do something good for yourself, just to reward yourself with crap, right?
Instead, reward your body and your brain with whole foods, real nutrients and maybe with another fun activity that has nothing to do with food.
Excuse #11
Don’t we all know this one? This one happens when you already made some progress but are still kinda at the beginning.
Maybe one week into eating clean.
Here’s what happens:
You come across an ice cream shop and your instant thought is: “I will get an ice cream.”
Then you remember you shouldn’t do that right now, because you’re not where you want to be yet.
After all you have tried eating half clean and half crap for a while before and that didn’t work.
But still…is an ice cream going to do that much harm?
Simply put: Yes. Yes it will.
Because it will lead to another ice cream tomorrow and the next day and then probably to you not exercising the next days…
At the beginning when you start practicing self-discipline it’s super important to practice it every time, because it’s not that strong during the first weeks.
The next weeks it will get easier and easier to say no to things once you develop the habit. Eventually, getting an ice cream and not breaking your good habits will become easier.
But don’t do it in the beginning.
Excuse #12
Another excuse that I constantly make and that definitely keeps me from losing the jiggly belly is that I eat a lot of something that is usually healthy, but unfortunately calorie-dense.
Like these for example.
I really get obsessed with those. It’s important to set limits with these foods, since they can be also quite addictive.
Because they’re healthier we suppose we can eat more of them and not put on weight.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t eat any – you can have those daily, they’re healthy – just don’t eat all of them at once.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Alright, so this was fun. For me, recognizing that I’m making these excuses or a variation of them constantly (the only thing I’ve never failed to be consistent at) helps me make healthier choices more often.
So these might also help you, if you also find yourself saying things like this often.
If not, what kind of excuses do you make when you try to achieve something that’s not as easy as you thought?