I often work at show where I see “tons” (pun intended) of people. They walk by and look at the background and see that we work with weight loss and changes in health and lifestyle and they will often back up. The ones that stay the furthest away are often the ones that are in the most need of making a change. What they don’t know is my history and that I realize like any good coach that you can’t take anyone where they aren’t ready to go.
All I can do is tell my story. Just one short year ago I couldn’t run a block and this weekend I will run my first of what should be many 5k’s. We are going to be blessed with the perfect weather and I will at least finish and it will be a great day. Why so great? Let me explain.
A year ago I would not have even thought it possible. A year ago I was resolved that life at my age was just going to keep going downhill from here. I had given up. So when they avoid us like the H1N1 virus I understand perfectly where they are. They are still using the same faulty reasoning I used before I felt I had no other choice but to find an answer or die.
Here are some common excuses I hear often:
“I will do it soon or I will do it after the holidays (works for many this time of year)” Translation: I am not ready to do anything about it no matter how serious I know my condition is. I have watched people that could barely walk use this when I know they are just a few months from a wheel chair.
“I am too old” This was one of my favorites. I would justify that I didn’t have it left to do the workouts and whatever it was going to take to get the weight off. I had tried everything so my metabolism must be so slow that I was going to die fat and miserable. At 54 this year I feel better than I did at 30 so this one wasn’t working well for me.
“I am big boned or I have bad genetics”. My version of this was the 70’s must have screwed up my body worse than I thought cause I could not do anything to change my weight and my health. When it gets down to it and you burn up a big boned person verses a smaller boned person the difference is about 4 lbs. And oh genetics although often used is very, very, rare.
“I don’t have time to eat right.” I have even used this one. Another version is I can afford to eat right. I found out when you use this one long enough you can make is a self fulfilling prophesy. You will have time when you are out of a job because of your obesity and then you won’t have any money to spend of food. Truth here is if you don’t spend the money to eat right and exercise, you will spend it in health care.
“I enjoy food too much and diets are too restrictive…” Add on to this that diets have never worked and you have the excuse trifecta. What it really says I don’t have the discipline to do what it takes to change my lifestyle and habits. What they don’t realize here is that this excuse make them a perfect candidate for a coach and a support system.
Check in with me again and I will write up part two of this article as we examine the excuses for not doing exercise. What I found over the years I piled up the weight. I piled up the excuses. And I added more and more damage to my health and body. When I look at the research now I realize how much life and fun I gave up to hold on to my excuses. One year’s worth of work has change my life and many others around me. Was it worth it? Yes and in fact I hurts to think how easy it was and how much sooner I could have been enjoying my life more. But what it got down to was I had to be ready. I had to be willing. I had to find someone to talk to that could tell me they could help me get past all my excuses and life a fuller more healthy life. When is your day? You know you could finish out the year strong and well on your way to a new you for next year. What do you say?
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