Overcome creating excuses for losing weight

For many people trying to lose weight, making excuses not to exercise or modify their eating habits is often their greatest obstruction to weight loss success.

If making excuses is one of your barriers to successful long term weight loss, adopting some of the tips in this article will help you on your way to becoming the healthier and happier person you know you can be.

Why people make excuses

The most common reasons that we make excuses not to do things, like exercise regularly to lose weight, include:

Making excuses is easy.

We have our priorities wrong.
We are busy and have limited time available each day.
We don't know how to start what we said we would.
We believe tomorrow will always come.
We lack commitment and integrity.
We can always find more pleasurable things to do.
We like instant gratification and are generally impatient.
We don't really believe that the benefits of action outweigh the costs.
We have a negative attitude.
We prefer to play the role of a victim of circumstance.
We are happy to live in a state of denial.

The most common weight loss avoidance excuses
Here's a list of the most common excuses we know of that people use to avoid exercising or eating healthier:

I don't have time.
I have too many other priorities (work, kids, housework, etc).
Nobody wants to help me.
I don't get any support at home.
I'm injured.
I don't feel good.
I'm too out of shape.
I'm too upset.
I do enough exercise at work.
I'm too tired.
My problem is hormonal.
It's too hot, too cold, or it's raining outside.
Exercise is boring.
I'm too heavy.
I can't afford a personal trainer.
I can't afford fitness equipment.
I can't afford to eat healthy.
Exercise is really hard.
I don't know where to start.
I don't know anything about nutrition.
I'm too old.
I might fail.
I'll start tomorrow.
I hate exercise.
I can't get motivated.

How to overcome these excuses

If any of these popular excuses are stopping you from achieving your ideal weight and becoming happier and healthier we have some good news for you - they can all be overcome. Here's how:

Having many other priorities.

Change your priorities and let everyone around you know what they are.
Remember how important to lose weight to become a healthy and happy person.
Keep a photo of yourself or how you want to be close at hand to remind you of your priorities.
Simplify your life, maybe you're trying to do too much.

No time.

Look at what you are actually spending your time on and eliminate unnecessary or unimportant things from your schedule.
Reassess your priorities - your health should be high among them.
Read a book on time management and follow time management philosophies.
Look for opportunities to combine things, like spending time with the kids and walking or exercising while watching TV.
Keep a daily schedule to plan your day.
Simply get up earlier or stay up later.
Remember exercising for even 15 minutes a day is better than nothing.
Planning meals is the key to healthy eating for the time challenged among us.

I don't get enough support at home.

Support is great, but you can succeed without it if you have to.
You'll find those around you become more supportive if they know you're serious and see firsthand the effort you're putting in.
Start implementing your goal, and support will appear when they see your commitment and desired results.

Nobody to help me.

Join a gym.
Contact a local personal trainer.
Make an appointment with a dietitian.
Visit your local weight loss specialist.
Educate yourself by reading articles on exercise and healthy diets.
Join the weight loss forum, it's free and you'll meet plenty of other people online with the same weight loss challenges and goals as you.
Don't confuse help with doing all the work for you - at the end of the day what you do will determine whether you succeed or not.

I'm injured.

Almost everybody over 30 has some form of injury or ailment to deal with; the key is to find ways of working around them.
Find something you can do, if you can't run, walk, if you can't walk, swim, if you can't swim, cycle, or dance, or roller blade, or play tennis.
Get advice or help from your local GP, physiotherapist, osteopath, chiropractor, or personal trainer.
Injuries aren't an excuse to eat poorly so don't try to manage your injury frustrations with unhealthy food.

I'm too out of shape.

This is the reason you should exercise, not the reason you shouldn't.
Start with simple exercise at a relatively low intensity such as slow walking.
Remember to talk to your doctor before starting any exercise program.

I'm too upset.

Exercise and healthier eating are great ways to help you cope with the many stresses of life.
Try taking your frustrations out on a punching bag and I promise you'll feel better and burn valuable calories.

Conclusion

No matter who you are or what your conditions you can lose weight if you change some of your lifestyle habits.

For many people trying to lose weight, making excuses not to exercise or modify their eating habits is often their greatest barrier to weight loss success.

If making excuses is one of your barriers to successful long term weight loss we hope the information provided above will help you overcome this detrimental habit and help you on your way to becoming a happier, healthier you.

Overcome creating excuses for losing weight