All human beings make excuses when we don’t really want to do something. Excuses are an effective way to rationalise not doing something in your own mind, even when nobody else is buying it.
If you’ve been struggling to lose weight, you might be the victim of your own excuses desperately trying to keep you away from the gym or the health food store. Whether it’s a lack of time, money, motivation or something else, there are countless reasons that people come up with to avoid putting in the effort to help themselves.
Making excuses not to exercise or adopt healthier eating habits is one of the main factors that prevent people from reaching their weight loss goals. Let’s look at the most common excuses and some tips to overcome them.
Lack of time
This excuse is one of the lamest, as you don’t need to spend much extra time replacing unhealthy food for healthy ones. Whether it’s because of work commitments or taking care of children, people will often argue that they simply don’t have the time to dedicate to losing weight.
To overcome this excuse:
- Look at the things you are spending your time on and eliminate unimportant things to make room for exercise or meal prep
- Read some resources about better time management and use their strategies
- Create a schedule or keep a diary
- Try and combine activities. For example, you could turn taking the kids to school into an opportunity to do some cardio exercise on the way back.
- Even small bouts of exercise (under 15 minutes) is still better than doing nothing
- Plan meals ahead of time so you waste less time thinking about what you want to cook
Too many competing priorities
Similar to a lack of time, people often like to say that other things in their life take a higher priority than weight loss.
- Your health should always be a high priority, so re-arrange your commitments to make it close to #1
- Let others around you know that weight loss is a new priority for you and they can expect you to commit to it
- Remind yourself of your weight loss goals and how important they are to you
- Simplify your life, you might simply have too much going on all at once
Don’t have anyone to help you
This is another common excuse, as some people feel like weight loss is too daunting of a task to try and tackle on their own. While there’s nothing wrong with going to others for help, in fact it’s encouraged, you don’t NEED anyone but yourself to lose weight.
- Contact a personal trainer to help you
- Team up with a friend of family member that wants to lose weight too
- Speak with a dietician or even your local GP for advice
- Educate yourself by doing online research into weight loss strategies
You have an injury or pre-existing condition
This is the most forgivable excuse as many injuries and medical conditions can make it more difficult to lose weight. While you may see this as a handicap, weight loss is not a contest and you should still try to do it at your own pace.
David Smith was born and raised in Calgary Alberta and loves to share his passion for health and fitness with others. Apart from running his own podcast, which uploads weekly shows that covers current health trends, he spends his time canoeing and backpacking. David recently spent a summer working at the CFIA as a health supplement reviewer. In regards to academics, David studied kinesiology at Guelph University.