As I've said many times, I hear every excuse in the book from people that don't exercise. ?I don't have the time.? ?I don't like the gym I belong to.? ?Who wants to watch tan muscle heads flex their muscles in front of the mirror for two hours? Blah, blah, blah. What's my response to all of these excuses? Well, there's an easy weight loss alternative. Read on. Recently, a weight-loss client of mine came for his first appointment and sure enough the excuses followed him right into my office. But I put him in his place alright. I told him how it was. Here's what I said: ?Well John, I don't want you to go to the gym; Forget about it; Gyms are useless; I don't like the gym either.? Puzzled, he looked at me and said, ?are you being serious.? My response was, ?John, you have your very own gym right at your doorstep. There are no muscle heads there, there is no equipment that can break and you don't have to drive 15 minutes to get there. It's called the street.? He was speechless.
Well folks, that's all there is to it. If you are overweight and you don't like your gym, you don't like fake-baked muscle heads, or your treadmill is broken, then put on your sneakers and head out the front door. There's certainly no shortage of paved roadways in our country. What do you have to say about that? Can you still come up with any worthwhile excuses? I don't want to hear that it's too cold out. That's what hats and gloves are for. I don't want to hear that it's too hot and humid; I was out there this morning in this heat and so were other people. Easy weight loss is righht at your doorstep. Don't get me started.
Excuses are nothing more than defense mechanisms. They are our minds way of protecting us from doing the things that we don't find very pleasurable. A kid who doesn't do his homework is a good example. Why do you think he avoids it? Because he doesn't like it, so he keeps putting it off.
Eventually the repercussions follow when he gets his report card, and trust me the excuses are not far behind. The same holds true for you. You don't really like to exercise, but you pay the price in the long run when your doctor gives you a poor bill of health or your favorite jeans no longer fit. But somehow you still come up with excuses.
Now what about the kid who does do his homework and is rewarded with good grades? Bingo. He continues this pattern, does well in school, starts to crave success and eventually gets into the college of his choice. Excuses just aren't part of his repertoire. And the same will hold true for you once you get on track with exercise. When you sit down, acknowledge the excuses you're making and put them in perspective, then you will see the light. What I want you to do right now is write down every excuse you make for not taking care of your body and your health; for not exercising. STOP reading for a moment and start writing.
Well, what did you come up with? Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it. You heard me. There are plenty of people out there who have far less time then you do, can't afford a gym membership, don't own a treadmill, have worse aches and pains than you do but somehow manage to squeeze in a 30 minute jog or walk every day. That's because their health is important to them, how they look and feel is important to them. And guess what, you have every ability that they have. We all have the ability to create easy weight loss for ourselves.
Now that you are fully aware that there is a well-paved street right out your front door and can't possibly have an excuse for that, don't you think it's time to squeeze in some good old-fashioned, fat burning cardiovascular exercise? I want you to look at your list and think long and hard about what I'm saying. If something doesn't click in your brain when you're done, then make sure you have good health insurance because you're going to need it.
Dr. Tom Kersting is the author of FAT PROOF: Power Programming Your Bodies Weight Loss Computer (Harbor Press, coming in January 2006). For a limited time, Dr. Tom is giving away free copies of his popular "Power Programming" weight-loss CD as a promotion for his book. Go to http://www.fatproof.net/newsletter.htm
