No More Excuses

“Eating healthy doesn’t take any more time. It’s just choosing better.”

Michael Kirkbride

For years I was under the delusion that having a healthy lifestyle was hard or it was too time consuming. Working with clients and loyal Phattie Phollowers, as one girl put it, has shown me how easy it is to make good choices. Most people make eating right and exercising hard so that they have a reason to fail. It’s never easy to admit you are choosing to be fat.

Here’s my list of common excuses for failing and then a swift kick in the you know what to send you flying back into reality. Yes, my quads are strong so that booty might be awful sore when we are done!

1. I don’t have time. The all time worst excuse in the book. We all have time to do things that are really important to us. Have you skipped a workout but had time to watch TV, play on the computer, go out for impromptu drinks with friends, make some phone calls that were just to chat, etc.?

Most of us have more time than we can handle. The problem is we don’t want to manage our time and get in all the things that will make us a productive, happy, fit person. We deliberately use time as an excuse to NOT chase our dreams and accomplish our goals. The next time you feel you don’t have time to do something, refuse to watch TV, talk on the phone, and socialize. If you still are crushed for time then I understand. If you can do any of those things then you are a bag of excuses.

2. It’s so hard to cook all this healthy stuff. Bull crap! Have you even looked at my menus that I painstakingly journal most days of the week for you? Do you see lots of homemade items. NO!!! Corinne doesn’t cook much. You can eat healthy, fit, and satsifying and rarely cook anything. Quit making it harder than it has to be. A microwave and a bowl is about all you need to eat half of what I eat.

If you like to cook, that’s awesome because you will be delighted with the goodies you come up with. For those of us who are not interested in the domestic arts, get simple! Most of my meals are just chicken breasts sprayed with olive oil, thrown on a broiler pan, cooked at 375F for 35-40 minutes, and then eaten. I open up a can of beans or some other veggie and microwave a potato. Dinner is served. My son gets butter and cheese on his potato and I season his veggies more than mine. My husband needs to lose a few pounds so he eats what I eat. Check out my journals and you’ll see that I rarely have a meal or snack that takes more than five minutes to throw together and I rarely eat anything I wouldn’t serve my family.

3. No one supports me. You are a grown up. Take responsibility for your own actions. Some of the most successful people in the world came through tougher hardships than your hubby who doesn’t give you a compliment. Boohoo. Either go out and find some support or start reading books that teach you how to rely on yourself for support. There are plenty of Weight Watcher meetings, churches, walking clubs, Moms clubs, etc., that are filled with people ready to pat you on the head and get you going in the right direction. If you still can’t find someone, then it’s time to just dig deep and quit letting excuses hold you back.

4. I have to eat out a lot in my job. Learn to custom order your foods. The internet is filled with sites that will teach you how to order healthy items in a restaurant. Most major chains list nutritional information on their website. This is a terrible excuse because it is the easiest one to control. Heck, someone else is cooking for you and cleaning it up!!!!

The thing about eating out is that you have to practice self control and be willing to own up to the fact you are going healthy. Most people cave to temptation and the people around them. Forget what other people think and decide today that your own health and longevity far outweigh the thoughts and comments of others. I sure would hate to trim off three days of my life because Suzie Q convinced me to eat wings, beer, and ice cream with her rather than a grilled chicken sandwich with a green salad. It may be fun now, but on your death bed you’ll wish you had three more days with your loved ones. Sounds dramatic, but getting control of your actions and the foods you choose to eat dictates how long you are on this earth.

Booty sore? Feel a little uncomfortable? Feel more motivated to step up today and get in the healthy lifestyle game? I hope so. This post is meant to shake you up a bit and make you feel empowered. You have no one but yourself to blame or thank for your shape. The sooner you realize that you CAN pull yourself out of this and start living differently, the sooner you will see your new shape appear.

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Daily Workout: Chest and Arms – I will work my upper bicep some today but the arms portion will primarily be triceps. I worked my bi’s a lot during back. I will also get in some Core work so my workout is circuit style without all the jumping around to allow for rest.

Superset One:
4x Flat Bench Press with DBs
4×15 Dips with feet up
4xDecline Crunches

Superset Two:
4-6x OH Rope Extensions
4-6x upper half straight bar curls
4-6x cable crunches

Superset Three:
6x rope pull downs +5 pulses to failure on sets 4-6
3x leg lifts on bench and then 3x weighted oblique twists

Cardio: Following weights 30 min. intervals on elliptical/p.m. cardio with hubby will be a 50 min. treadmill routine from my Work Your Butt Off book. Those routines typically have loads of hill work and it shapes my rump nicely.

Daily Food Journal:

B – 2 protein pancakes
S – Myoplex Lite Shake in Vanilla (picking up my bike FINALLY!)
L – Grilled chicken leftovers with asparagus and baked potato with cottage cheese
S – 2 tbsp of pbutter with 6-8 TLC crackers
S – before gym 2 workout will be watermelon
D – 2 turkey dogs (one with bun, one without bun), soy crisps, green salad
S – Fage with 1/2 scoop of protein powder