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"Top 10 excuses for falling
off the diet/fitness wagon"
- and answers for them
by Lauren Muney
 According
to a survey conducted by the online diet website
EDiets.com,
here are the top reasons why dieters give up the fight. I found this
list in a professional fitness journal, and I devised my own answers
to the excuses. I hope they help.
1._"I_just_can't_resist_my_favorite_foods..."_
2._"I_have_a_hectic_social_life,_espec_eating_and_drinking..."
3._"I_have_no_time_to_diet_or_plan_meals..."
4._"I_don't_get_support_from_family_and_friends..."
5._"I_need_a_someone_to_ensure_that_I_don't_slip_up..."
6._"Confused:_which_of_the_diets_really_works?"
7._"I_travel_so_frequently..."
8._"Dieting_is_too_restrictive..."
9._"It's_too_expensive_to_diet/exercise..."_
10._"I'm_too_impatient_for
results to_diet..."
1.
"I just can't resist my favorite foods".
There is no reason why you should
completely "resist" favorite foods, unless of course
you are allergic to them, which makes your body unable to process
those foods completely. However, you cannot get any results by indulging
unceasingly into foods which harm you, like high-sugar and high trans-fat
foods.
 You
can easily "treat" yourself with favorites by making a small
portion, and learning 'moderation' when it comes to specialty foods.
You can also learn how to create dishes which are similar to your
favorite foods but are more healthful. You just need a coach
or guide to help you discover how to do this.
I have clients who have told me, "I
can't have just one cookie; I have to have the whole sleeve".
This is not simply enjoying 'a sweet' - this may be compulsivity of
some kind. If your problems are that you truly, psychologically
"cannot" resist these foods, you may need to discuss your
thoughts about eating with a professional counselor.
However, this type of complexity is
not typical. As humans, especially Westerners who are able to purchase
just about anything we want, we aren't used to trying to understand
our cravings and to use proven techniques to quiet those techniques.
Most techniques are simply assessing the situation and making
choices about that bag of cookies, and learning happens
to those cookies once they are in your system, how you feel afterwards,
and other results of your choice.
It takes a little bit more time than
reaching for the bag of cookies, but it's well worth it in
the long run - your health, your scale, and your family will thank
you.
Read the basic
article on food to help you understand how truly easy it is to
begin a better, no-frenzy eating plan. No diet - not ever again.
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2. "I have a hectic social life, with many activities involving
food and drink."
 Hmm.
So what you are saying is that your social life takes precedence
over your health - and possibly might lead to your death
by alcohol, diseased-states, and/or obesity? Wow. Then, by all means,
stay in the same patterns and keep the same body (and life) you had
-- the one for which you are seeking help on a diet/health website.
Good luck with that. Tell me how that goes.
Sorry, folks... I
am being sarcastic here for a reason - your friends will understand
if you reach for a carrot instead of a bacon-ball, and nursing 1 glass
of wine for an hour instead of having 4 or 5 glasses will not cause
them to leave you. However, if you are EVER in a situation where your
"friends" ridicule you for not eating junk food or
drinking, you need to rethink what your friendship is about. Friends
should be supportive about your health, your health goals and your
life.
If your friends leave you because
you are not getting drunk (and fat) with them, are they really your
true friends?
Are you interested in creating
a new life which is healthy? Perhaps you may choose to
forgo a drinking party for a biking event, and invite your
friends - or, on a trip to the beach, everyone go hiking for an hour
on the sunny sand instead of lying down (it's still sunny when you
walk on the beach). These changes are small but meaningful to your
fitness, feeling better, defying age!
It is actually quite easy
to make small changes which can improve your whole life...unless,
of course, you have to reconsider your social circles and find friends
who have your health and wellness as a main priority.
As an example, I had a client who
used to eat very bad food, drank himself stupid every day, smoked,
and used to take drugs. He had friends doing the same things, and
they considered him cool. He had a life going nowhere, bad health,
and wasn't in good health; but he felt good "socially".
One day he finally 'woke up' and decided to slowly change. Long story
short, his friends were confused. While he got healthier, he stopped
drinking, smoking, and started eating better food - they became angry
and disappointed in him. Eventually, he felt more comfortable with
new friends who had better conversation, better activities,
and respected him - outside of the bottle.
. . . just food for thought. Ha.
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3. "I have no time to diet or plan meals."
What you are saying is that fast-food
or junk food is a more timely solution? Does an early grave
give you more time? (Just kidding - a little.)
 Sure,
planning to eat better takes a bit more time than fast food. But I
am an example of someone who HATES to cook, and if I can make a meal
in 10 minutes (or less -- usually 5 minutes) that's my meal. Fresh
meals take virtually no time to cook - especially if they are raw
vegetables, fresh meat, or whole grains.
Ultimately, if you choose a fast-food
life over healthy food, your body (and your health) will show it -
by deteriorating. "No
diet" is the best diet.
It is easier if you worked with a
coach to help find the extra moments in
your schedule for shopping and preparation. If you can pre-prepare
meals days in advance and freeze them, you have an incredible solution
to your time issues. Perhaps you can divide-up meal duties in your
family: one person cleans up while another one prepares.
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4.
"I don't get the support I need from family and friends."
First answer: it's your
life, so if you don't take action for yourself, you'll never
become healthy, energetic or fit. You can get support from online
sources, in-person support groups, fitness magazines, or inspirational
books, such as Fit Over 40.
But realize that although you don't get support from them, you also
don't have to accept their "non-support".
When confronted by obstacles, create
solution strategies, for example:
- If they eat cookies in front of
you, leave the room;
- if they bake cakes, just ask that
they put the cake out of sight.
- You may have to buy different food
than your non-supportive family (if they buy junk food and you buy
healthy food),
You'll have to envision your
goal of health, fitness, and vitality at the end of that
long road.
 Second
answer: if you do begin on your own, your family and friends
might see your incredible progress and decide to join with
you. Not only does it make the journey easier for all, but you can
support each other. But SOMEONE has to take the first step. Just
decide what is good FOR YOU and begin it now.
Third answer: I understand
firsthand what it's like not to have support, even to be
ridiculed for your fitness efforts! STAY WITH IT... and, if you
want motivation, remember that the only people who don't support your
fitness efforts are the one who are NOT fit themselves! They are jealous
and/or confused as to why you would "change" the familiar
habits they were so used to you having. Instead of getting angry,
invite them to try something with you: a new recipe, a walk. They
might join you in your quest, and it might become their quest also!
Fourth answer: if your friends
"dump" you because you are trying to get healthy, consider
this: are they REALLY your friends?
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5. "I need a personal trainer or nutritionist to ensure that I
don't slip up."
Actually, if you RELY on a
trainer or nutritionist, you will begin to feel like you can
only have success with that professional; therefore,
your brain tells you that if you don't have that professional
with you, you cannot do the work or make the changes or be successful.
Nothing could be farther from the truth!
 It's
true that you may need a trainer to teach you the proper form of exercises
and to keep pushing you in those moments when you feel yourself falter
and lose energy. This is great for the beginning of a fitness lifestyle.
Plus, knowing that you have this extra "accountability"
for that exercise-time might make you take it more seriously.
However, what about those moments
when the trainer can't make the appointment? What if you run out of
money?
The
better plan is to be EDUCATED by a trainer or nutritionist on
the proper forms of eating and training, and to teach you how to
incorporate these elements into your life. . .then take this education
in your own life. Unfortunately, most trainers or nutritionists
are not trained themselves in working with a client's existing lifestyle
and creating time-management solutions.
If you are short on money, there
are many ways of solving the exercise dilemma which involves little
to no money. All it takes is a willingness to have a better body,
health, and LIFE.
A fitness and
lifestyle coach helps you learn about training, eating, and lifestyle
management, all while taking into account your needs, goals, and the
general psychology of behavioral change. The coach can stick with
you as long as it takes so you make these nutritional and exercises
changes stick.
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6. "I am confused as to which of the diets out there really works."
 How
understandable! There are certainly so many "diets" out
there, all pushed on you with promised that this will solve your weight
problems forever. The sad part is, most diets out there exist only
to make money. Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and many others SELL
you food; other programs rely on fads and not real nutrition and real
techniques.
Some of these diets even leave you
nutritionally-deficient OR you gain the weight back when you can't
stay on the plan.
The
better way is to be educated about your body and how food
works within your body. When you are educated and knowledgeable,
you can easily discern fact from fiction. A lifestyle
coach helps you understand all these things.
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7. "It's impossible to follow a structured diet because I travel
so frequently."
Travel does take pre-planning
-- but, truly, is the planning any more different than packing
correctly for your trips? No, it's not. As you have to understand
what kind of toiletries to take, you learn how to select the
correct restaurants and pre-plan how to eat.
No
diet should EVER be very structured unless you are an extreme
bodybuilder, a person with specific food difficulties (like allergies),
or ill. If you take any medications, you know that you need to count
your medications for the trip, and plan ahead for that. This is the
same with travel-eating. You have to be educated
on what food does in your body and you will automatically try to make
the proper choices.
Read the article
on my travel experiences and some
solutions.
Of course, you are surrounded by McDonald's
and Taco Bells while a healthy sit-down restaurant might be further
away. But think about it: you only have one body; your body
is being asked to travel a lot. It's it more sound-thinking to feed
it properly?
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8. "Dieting is too restrictive; I can't deal with so few choices."
(I'm about to get sarcastic here,
so brace yourself ...)
So, you think that nutritionists should
suggest the "All-Oreo Diet"? Or the "Scotch-and-Water
Diet"? They would be some really fun choices of diets!!
Of
course you will have to make eating-choices
when you are eating for health (!), but they don't have to be restrictive.
In fact, when you get rolling, your body will actually CHANGE what
it wants to eat, and it will rebel when you give it bad food!
There is really not a "restrictive"
diet unless you are looking to be unhealthily lean (or a bodybuilder).
Even those bodybuilders don't stay that lean all year round -- if
you read (for example) a women's fitness magazine, the fitness-models
might say they are "128 lbs off-season, 120 lbs in season".
That means that they do specific [restrictive] food and training during
the months they have the most photographs taken of them! However,
"off-season", they eat healthy but not crazy. They
may not have cookies every day but they may have a couple of cookies
on the weekend -- and they make plans for "cheat days"!
The best eating plan is eating
whole, unprocessed foods, in small, palm-sized portions. That's
it.
So, what is "restrictive"
to you? Is a breast of chicken, a sweet potato, and green beans
restrictive? Not restrictive to me . . . that seems rather
filling! What about a vegetable burrito in a corn tortilla with salsa?
Mmmm . . . and completely healthy and fit.
However, on a healthy nutritional
plan, there are no daily chocolate cakes, puddings, or huge plates
of pasta. If cutting out daily portions of these foods is restrictive,
okay, yes, it is being restrictive. But I can also tell you that
heroin shouldn't be done every day, and that comment is 'restrictive'
also. This means, that to do the best things for your body, you have
to make choices on things that are beneficial for your goals.
What you need is re-education
on what "restrictive" is...and how to eat good healthy food.
Read the article:
"Help! They promised
me abs!" (women over 40 article) OR "Abs
for everyone" (men and women article).
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9. "It's too expensive to diet: I can't afford the pricey food,
and joining a gym is outside of my budget."
First answer: If someone is
selling you food on their diet, run away. Fast. Although there
may some scientific fact within their descriptions, the mere mention
that they want you to eat on their pre-prepared food for
the rest of your life (to stay slim) already says that they are
creating customers, not health. You cannot stay slim and healthy
if you cannot eat "regular" food every day, easily, and
from almost any store or restaurant.
Second answer: fast food is
inexpensive for two main reasons: they use sub-quality ingredients
which are cheap, and they promote themselves to neighborhoods which
have little money and think that these fast-food places are serving
nutritious "food". Look at Taco Bell: they are usually located
in poorer areas of town. Do you really think that a 99c "meal"
has quality ingredients that will lead you to energy and health? Uh,
no. . . . yet, people will think nothing of dropping $5-7
on a McDonald's meal.
Third answer: vegetables, meats,
eggs, and "real food" (the food without a label of 'ingredients',
like veggies, fruits, meats, etc) are VERY INEXPENSIVE. I can make
3 meals out of a pound of ground beef - which costs $5. I can eat
3 salads from a $3 bag of spinach. I can eat 4 meals from a dozen
eggs costing $2. How would you like to spend $2-3 on a nutritious,
delicious meal? So it's actually cheaper to buy 'real food'
than processed food, and it's better for you in the long run . . .
you just need to be educated about food
and nutrition, not purchase commercial diets.
Fourth answer: You can save
money by doing several things: you can create a "gym" in
your home or outside your home, using your own two legs (walking),
your body (pushups, tricep dips, squats, lunges, etc), using fitness
tapes, and/or buying your own home equipment - either used
or new. You can be coached on how to buy
and use your equipment, or you can do the research yourself on the
Internet. In any case, you don't need a commercial gym unless you
want to purchase a membership. . . there are always options.
This excuse is truly an "excuse".
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10. "I'm too impatient to diet; if I don't see immediate results,
I give up."
Let me ask you this: how long does
it take to birth a baby? 9 months, right? The baby has to grow in
the mother and become fully formed. Did the baby pop out of the mother
right when the parents wanted to have a baby? No, the baby
had to take some time to 'get ready'.
Next question: did it take you
a while to learn a trade, a subject in school, or to gain experience
on your job? Of course it took time. If you were
in college, graduate school, trade school, or just on the job, you
weren't imbued with magical knowledge instantly. The process
took time, and you 'grew' (your brain became healthier and stronger)
during that training.
Please don't give up. This society
is trying to sell you on 'quick solutions' and fast results. Those
things are just not possible in many instances, like health and fitness.
Fitness and/or weight loss
takes time also, but it's "biological time". The
body has to be filled with good nutrients and start learning how to
shed (or shrink) the fat cells it doesn't need. Also, as you begin
to exercise, the body will learn how to more wisely use its metabolism
and/or speed that metabolism up.
In short, you will start feeling results
(the shape/feeling of your body will change) in about 3 weeks.
You will see results starting in 4 weeks, and after
6 weeks, you will be on a roll. Truthfully, this is NOT an "instantaneous'
process, but nothing which has real, true change IS instant!!
You need to just "know
inside" that you are on the right path. You need to
have faith or have trust in the fact that everything
is according to what your body needs to do healthfully, and that your
body WILL change accordingly.
Trust me -- I'm not the only one who
has struggled. Read about
others who have struggled as well.
Once again, read the interesting articles
on "Help! They promised
me abs!" (women over 40 article) OR "Abs
for everyone" (men and women article).
For more ideas on fitness, health, or "alternative"
methods for your lifestyle, contact Lauren
for coaching solutions! |
