So What’s Your Excuse?

We all got ’em. Excuses are what makes procrastination possible. Could you imagine a world void of excuses? We’d all be thin millionaires by now, never letting anything get in our way as we strive everyday to make ourselves better, more prosperous and totally fit. What a world that would be. No more “I need this serving of bacon fried in butter, covered in syrup served over french toast topped with nutella because I don’t have time to make my own healthy breakfast because I don’t know how to cook without setting the kitchen on fire” excuse. (What? You’ve never used that one before?) My new excuse is a pretty good one I have to say, but definitely has a ‘For a Limited Time Only’ warranty attached to it. It’s the good old, “I’m 8 months pregnant” excuse. This one can work for justabout anything, so I use it wisely… and often 🙂 It gets me out of making dinner, cleaning the bathroom, doing the laundry… a whole litany of household matters. Plus it’s a good one for opting out of a 30 minute cardio workout. (Yes, even I’m guilty of skipping the occasional workout due to laziness… because I’m 8 months pregnant… and I’m more tired than a rooster in a hen-house. See how well it works?)

Alright, so we know we all got ’em and we sure as hell use ’em. My goal for today though is to try to get into the mind’s of all the women out there who really, truly want to get in shape, but for one reason or another, can never seem to get their rear in gear! I’m not talking about the avid exerciser who skips the occasional workout here and there.. life happens and as some say, “We make plans and God laughs.” We never know what’s going to pop up from day-to-day so even the most persistent schedule maker, like my dear best friend who makes To-do Lists just for the pure enjoyment and immense satisfaction she gets from scratching things off her list as she gets them done, doesn’t always pan out, I get that. (And she’s a total avid exerciser, she makes me look like Humpty Dumpty… but hey, I’m 8 months pregnant.)

Moving along. So what I’m trying to get to the core of is why women who really, reaaaallllly want to lose weight, seem to never get the ball rollin’. Is it kids? A full-time job? A serious lack of motivation? Unsupportive friends/hubby? Some internal messaging system in your brain that makes you fear physical exertion? What is it?

Giving me some indication as to why you looooooath exercise will allow my Catholic Italian/Irish guilt to subside just a little (because helping others is supposed to make us all feel better about ourselves—soooo it that considered to be a selfless act or a selfish one? Just another religious conundrum!), so long as I can provide you with enough proof that your excuse… is exactly that. An excuse.

Whenever I’m looking for an answer, I always turn to my pal Google. Its my ‘when in doubt’ resource that says to me today that there are 10 common reasons people don’t exercise. Since 10 is a rather large number, and I’m sure there are actually hundreds of reasons why, I’m breaking it down to 5.

I’ve listed them below and I ask you (read: beg/implore/whatever will get you to respond), to please read these over and respond if any of these relate to you. (Just a little comment there at the end, right there, in the Leave a comment section will suffice.) My hope is to help many of you who have the desire to exercise but ultimately end up avoiding it, find out exactly why that is and to dissect that reasoning and show you how you can overcome such excuses. (Think of this as scientific research for the betterment of society… it sounds way more official that way.)

(And so you’re aware, I did have little comments next to each of these reasons but I decided to make this a judgement-free zone, so I deleted them. Honestly, no one needs to hear me rant on about how each of these reasons are not insurmountable, should not influence you and should not keep you in weight loss purgatory. I’ll save those comments for when and if (I really hope if), people respond to my query. Here we go!

Top 5 Reasons for Not Exercising

5.   You really hate to exercise. I mean reaaaalllllly! It makes your skin crawl!

4.   You’re frustrated because those short stints when you actually gave exercise a shot, you didn’t the seeinstant results you were expecting (like the ones they get on The Biggest Loser).

3.   You don’t know how to exercise.

2.  You have kids therefore you have NO TIME. They mess up all your plans all the time and they’ve penetrated your mind way beyond repair that it’s a wonder you make it out of the house fully clothed.

1.  You have no motivation. No support system. No peanut gallery cheering you on.

And there you have it. If any, or all, of these reasons have at one time or another played a role in your lack of acquiring at least 5 hours of fitness a week (I know, I just wrote 5 hours. Where did that come from? Who’s got the time for that? If you’re thinking that, then you’ll be referring to that excuse in the comments section below!)

So please take the time to let me know which one of these reasons best describes you, or maybe you have one not mentioned above and would like to share, then please do. I’ll then report back on the results with helpful tips on how you can overcome your dependency on excuses! (That is, if you have the time to respond 😉 )