I’m notorious for making excuses. Aren’t most of us though? Excuses are one of the reasons so many people either give up or fail at the gym. They keep making up reasons why they eat like shit or don’t go to the gym.

Why’d you eat pop tarts for breakfast instead of eggs? Oh I had no time.

Why didn’t you go to the gym? Oh I woke up too late, there’s no time, I had to work, etc etc etc.

Why do we always make excuses? Why are we always trying to reason why we don’t do this or don’t do that?

I wish I knew.

I do that though. Take today for instance. I had my alarms set to wake up at 4:30a so I could go to the gym this morning. What did I do? Turned them all off and went back to sleep. So what is my excuse now? Oh I don’t have time later.

Stop making excuses. Stop sabotaging yourself and don’t be lazy.

One excuse I always here is, “I’m too old.” Who says you’re too old? Who told you that you’re too old to workout? You’re not. No matter how old you are, maintaining a healthy lifestyle will benefit you in the long run. If you’re overweight/obese losing those pounds can literally add years to your life. How? Your eliminating stress on your joints and your heart. Yes, that extra weight is stressing out your heart. Not to mention loosing the extra weight can help to eliminate existing conditions. Diabetes? Yeah, changing your lifestyle can help that. Sleep apnea? Yup,exercising can also help that. Is it a cure all? No. Obviously you still need to see your doctor for routine check ups. If you are obese, you should consult your physician before starting any workout routine. (I’m not a medical expert. Always consult your physician. No, exercising will not eliminate all health problems but it can greatly improve the quality of your life.)

Another excuse is, “I don’t know where to start”

Well the answer is simple. You start at the beginning. Seems simple enough, right? I mean you always start at the beginning. But what if you don’t know where that beginning is? Then you start at your computer.

That’s right. Your computer. Do research. There are plenty of blogs, articles, journals, and experts willing to share their knowledge. So go and learn from them. Get a journal and write down a routine. Download MyFitnessPal and talk with others going through the same thing as you. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Stop making excuses.

“I gained too much, I can never lose this.”

Bullshit.

There are literally hundreds if not thousands of stories of people loosing 100, 400, 600 lbs and living their lives after. It won’t be easy. It’ll be hard and your body won’t want to do it, but you can do it. Why count yourself out before you even get started?

I’m at a 78 lb weight loss currently. I still battle with myself. I still think, “Holy crap, I have a long way to go yet. Why bother?”

What helps me? Setting Smaller Goals to get to my big goal. I have XXX amount of weight to lose. XXX looks like a LOT of weight I have to lose. So I set weekly and monthly goals for myself because XX looks a lot better than XXX. Having these smaller goals makes it more attainable. When I hit those smaller goals it’s a big motivation for me. In my mind I’M DOING IT! I’m setting goals for myself and I’m reaching them!

“I’m too busy”

This is a big one that a lot of us will always have to deal with. I’m too busy. Simple fact of the matter is…life is always busy. No matter how hard we try life is always going to be busy. Suzy and Bobby will always need to be taken to dance or soccer. Shopping will always need done. Doctor appointments will always need to be scheduled and we always have to go to work. Or clean the house. Or do homework.

We are perpetually busy.

That’s why you must FIND the time.

Does that mean you have to wake up an hour early? Then wake up an hour early and get in that jog. Go to bed an hour later? Okay. Go and do an hour of weight lifting. Can only go at 3 am? Find a 24 hour gym and get your butt there!

That’s another fact about life. We are always making sacrifices. For one thing or another, we sacrifice.

“I don’t what to eat”

This is bullshit.

You know what to eat. You know what not to eat. If you don’t, Google it.

I was this person though. I was ignorant to the fact that so much of the stuff I ate was processed and filled with man-made shit that I did not need in my body. MSG, GMO’s, and a list of ingredients longer than my resume. The food tasted like crud and I felt like crud.

So I did some Googling, I talked to husband, and I figured out what foods I should be eating more of and what I needed to eliminate. I found out ways to sweeten my tea without using sugar and how to make oatmeal not taste like cardboard. I figured out which calories were good and which were bad.

I’m still learning. It’s an ongoing process on figuring out the right diet for you, even then, you’ll still have to rework it every now and then depending on your workout.

One way that I also learned what I should be eating, or at least portion control was incorporating more veggies into my meals. I would fill half of my lunch and dinner plate with non-starch vegetables. Lots of leafy and green. Carrots. Squash. Zucchini. I took the time to learn how to prepare new vegetables and how to make things I hate, like cooked broccoli, less disgusting. (Cooked broccoli smells like a fart. Seriously, it smells so gross. Ew.)

And one of the tops ones,

“Exercise isn’t fun for me”

It’s not fun for me either. At least it wasn’t. I HATED working out. I drug myself through it and did my best. There were so many times I just wanted to stop and go home. A few times I did. But I kept going back and going back. I got into a groove and discovered that I was growing to like the workouts. They weren’t so bad.

You have to find your groove. You have to find what YOU do like. You hate running but love to dance? Take up a dance class. Do Zomba. You hate cardio but like kickboxing? Do kickboxing.

You have to find what you like. You have to figure out what makes it worth going to the gym, or outside. You shouldn’t dread having to do a workout. It should be something you look forward to. It should be something you love. There are so many different things you can do. There are so many things that you can find that will make it fun.

So stop making excuses.

Don’t quit, DO IT!