What's Your Excuse for Not Dropping the Pounds?

There are countless excuses that can stop you from losing weight and getting fit. We rationalize our excuses so that they seem to make sense. But you need to take them apart to realize how flimsy they really are.

Here’s a look at the five most common excuses. How many do you use?

“This is going to take forever.”

This excuse is often used by people who have a fair amount of weight to lose. Losing 1-2 pounds per week seems like such a long road if you’ve got 30, 50, or 100 pounds to lose. You don’t want to wait months and months to get to your goal – you want to get there now! But refusing to get started just because it will take time to reach your goal? Does that really make sense? Project your thoughts into the future for a moment, and imagine yourself one year from now. Do you want to still weigh the same as you do now, or would you like to have reached your weight loss goal? If you do get started right away, will you be happy that you did several months from now? Even if it seems like losing weight will take too long, get started and every day that time span will shorten a little bit more.

“My family isn’t trying to lose weight.”

Losing weight can be hard if the rest of your family is still eating regular meals. You want them eat healthier meals too, but you doubt they’ll be willing to do it. So, you keep holding off on your own healthy eating plan. Not good!

See: Get the Whole Family Involved With Healthy Eating Habits

Here’s a good compromise. Cook your own healthful meals, and still prepare some of your family’s favorites – but also include a few new recipes that are nutritious and delicious. Eat your own low-calorie meals, but if you feel very deprived not eating the family favorites, eat just a small spoonful. As time goes on, you can keep trying more healthful recipes and then gradually get your family eating better. They probably won’t care whether it’s healthy or not; they just want it to taste good!

“It’s too difficult/too much effort”

Is weight loss really all that hard? Sure, some effort is required, but effort is required to stay overweight, too. You’ve still got to prepare and eat meal; you’ll just prepare and eat meals that are better for you. Exercise is required, so that does qualify as being hard – at least at first. But when you consider how difficult it is to feel bloated, fat, and exhausted all the time, exercising for 30 minutes and feeling better the rest of the time isn’t such a bad trade-off.

See: What to Do if You Lose Your Motivation for Weight Loss

“It’ll cost me an arm and a leg.”

Eating healthy meals may seem expensive because, at first glance, the prices of fresh vegetables, fruit and other diet fare seem higher than cheap junk food. But when you really think about living an unhealthy lifestyle and how much money you spend on it, you’ll quickly realize that dieting can actually SAVE you money. You’ll be spending more on healthy foods, but you also won’t be buying a bunch of soda pop, sugary cereals, potato chips, cookies, candy, and trips to the drive-thru of your local fast food joint.

See: Top 10 Ways to Eat Healthy on a Budget

“I simple don’t have enough time.”

We’ve all probably used this excuse. But the thing is: we all have the same 24 hours in a day. We all have busy lives. But some people find plenty of time to take good care of themselves, while others don’t. When you use this excuse, what you’re really saying is, “I don’t consider healthy eating and exercise a priority. I’d rather spend my time sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating fattening take-out food.” You’re the one who chooses what to do with your 24 hours.

See: 4 Smart Ways to Fit Exercise Into Your Hectic Day

If you set your mind to it and find a solution, every excuse can easily be overcome. There’s really nothing holding you back from reaching your goal weight – except your own mind. So, throw those excuses to the curb and work towards a new you.

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