Earlier this year, I started to debunk all the silly excuses people use to keep from starting their weight loss program. Hopefully, after you read it, you realized that you're only hurting yourself by stalling and that the reasons you think you can't become slim, fit, and healthy are all in your head. But if you're still clinging to one of these common excuses, let's clear them up for you right now, where I debunk four MORE excuses you should not be using!
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"But I don't have energy to exercise. I'm so tired all the time!" Okay, I can't really make fun of you for this one, because I can definitely relate. A few years ago, after I had my daughter Mia, I was feeling tired and worn-down all the time. Just getting through the day was a struggle. I couldn't even think about going to the gym, too. But as tired as I was, I was even more tired of the way I looked. And I knew that I needed to make a change anyway.
Once I started eating healthier and once I started dragging myself to the gym, I found out that my energy levels went through the roof! Even though I was doing more, I had more energy left over. That's one of the major benefits of getting healthy. Your body becomes efficient. So if you constantly find yourself dragging through your day, then that's one of the biggest reasons to start working out!
"But my friends are always going out to eat. I don't want to feel left out!" All my friends loved to party. And they were always looking for excuses to go out and celebrate with the girls. I'm not just talking about the normal stuff like birthdays–no, my friends wanted to go out every time they got a new haircut!
I laugh about it now, but at the time, it made things difficult for me. But I loved hanging out with the girls and I didn't want to cut them out of my life. The good news is that you don't have to. You can still go out, just don't have to eat the same things they're eating. Almost every restaurant has healthy options on the menu–baked, broiled or grilled instead of fried and battered. By choosing these healthy items, you can enjoy your social life without sabotaging your diet.
"But I don't want to deprive myself of my favorite foods!" You really want that killer bikini body, but the thought of giving up that fudge brownie ice cream is just too hard to think about. Well guess what? You don't have to give it up! You don't have to deprive yourself of your favorite foods in order to make a stunning transformation. In fact, eating these foods occasionally can actually help you to lose more fat. You can literally have your cake and eat it too! The trick is to schedule a cheat meal once per week.
So yes, most of the time you're going to stick to healthy whole foods, but this becomes much easier to do because you know that at the end of the week, that big bowl of delicious ice cream is waiting for you! And when you eat it, you'll boost your metabolism and actually burn more fat.
"But I'm too embarrassed to go to the gym and work out around other people." It's funny the way we think. Most of us imagine that when we walk through the gym doors, people are going to watch us to see if we make any mistakes. But the truth is nobody cares! Everyone there thinks the way you do. They're all worried about what others think of them and they're far too focused on their own workouts to even notice what you're doing. But if the thought of going to the gym is still too scary to think about, you don't have to go! You can get a great fat-blasting workout at home using body weight exercises like squats and lunges.
So there you have it! Hopefully now you can see that when it comes to getting healthy, there is no real excuse. So ditch the excuses and take that first step. Everything gets easier from there.
*This post was originally published on July 25, 2013.
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Image via iStock
