Excuses We Use to Eat Crap

Excuses We Use to Justify Eating Crap We Know We Shouldn’t Eat

Picture this:  You’re kicking butt and taking names at the gym.  Someone offers you birthday cake, you say no, and kinda feel like Wonder Woman for your accomplishment.  You’ve lost weight, your butt looks cute in your jeans and the world is filled with sunshine and rainbows.

Then you eat a cookie.  Or, you know, 17 but whatever.  Wasn’t your entire goal for starting a shiny new diet to lose weight in the first place?  What gives?

Well, we are complicated creatures, we human beings.  I’ve cheated on many a diet for many a reason.  Here are some of my most common reasons to fall off the clean eating bandwagon:

1. Rebellion.  “You can’t tell me what I can or can’t eat, so there!”
2. Peer pressure/fear of missing out on fun.  Everyone is drinking cocktails at the party, so maybe I should too?
3. Etiquette.  My mom just made her world famous brownies.  It would be rude to not eat at least one, right?
4. Boredom. If I have to eat one more salad I will bang my head against the wall.
5. Fear of Hunger/Cravings.  I Want Sugar, Salt and Fat.  And pizza…When I am to eating high calorie foods all day long and then see a meal plan filled with chicken, brown rice and kale salad, I have a panic attack that I will be hungry.
6. Lack of preparation.  I had to work late and didn’t pack my food so I ate six candy bars from the vending machine.
7. It’s Hard.
8. My family eats junk food around me.
9. No time!  I barely have time to comb my hair some days.
10. I had a really bad day and want to comfort myself with food.
11. My old injury is acting up again.
12. But I’m a MOM!!!!

The above are fairly common reasons, also known as excuses, which tend to derail our best efforts to stay on the healthy lifestyle track.  Now, I am a rational person, so before you start defending your very valid excuses (there’s a little truth in every excuse, honestly) I’d like to offer up my own life story to demonstrate the difference between a valid reason to get a little off track versus a total bullshit excuse.

Valid Reason.  Last year my mom was going through chemo.  I took her home and suddenly she got very sick, very fast with a high fever and I had to rush her to the hospital.  I had no food with me and didn’t know how long I would be there, so I had to cancel my training sessions for the week.  I texted my trainer, Robin, and he said to take care of my mom, make the best food choices I could at the hospital cafeteria and don’t worry about the gym right now.  Verdict? Valid Reason.  (My mom got better, by the way.)

Excuse.  Later that same month I went to the eye doctor and had those dilation drops in my eyes which made me look like a possessed cartoon character, so I didn’t want to go to the gym to do my cardio.  I have a treadmill in my garage.  But it was cold.  And I didn’t feel like it.  So I skipped it.  When Robin asked me if I got my cardio done and I told him about the dilated eye saga he said, “Get your ass on that treadmill!”  Verdict? Excuse.

So, I get it.  And I know you get it too.  You know when you’re full of bullshit and when there is a legitimate emergency situation.

Now that that’s out of the way, here’s your challenge for today:  Look at the above list and note the excuse(s) that you commonly use to hold yourself back from your ultimate healthiest self.  You might even have a completely new and exotic excuse; write that down too.

Ask yourself if it is truly a valid reason or a total BS excuse.  If it is an excuse, think of some ways that you can handle that situation differently, other than caving and eating crap that you know is bad for you or skipping the gym even though you know that you feel better after working out.

Still stuck on how to conquer these obstacles?  Fear not!  Each day for the next two weeks I’ll be posting quick little tips I use with my clients to address a different common obstacle/excuse in little bite-sized morsels so you won’t be overwhelmed.  Be sure to check back in.

Hope that helps!

P.S. – If you’re serious about getting healthy, but need help getting started, try my S.L.I. Method for only 79!  It gives you the tools you need to live a healthy lifestyle.  Go to my main website to order now.

If you want something more customized, send me an email at sheslosingit.net@gmail.com and I will be your online trainer for $125/mo.

Lisa 🙂

Lisa Traugott is a Mom’s Choice Award winning writer, fitness blogger, wife and mom of two….and Original Cast Member of AMERICAN GRIT, starring John Cena, on FOX!!!

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