EXCUSES, EXCUSES. EVERYONE IS FULL OF EXCUSES.
Every day on social media, grocery stores, streets and the school run, I hear people make excuses for not exercising or eating healthy food. I want to stop these people, inject myself into their conversations and explain why their excuses are wrong. They’ve missed the big picture, twisting the argument into an unrecognisable state. I can no longer hold it in, I must expose these excuses as nothing more than total rubbish.
The top three excuses for not getting fit: TIME, MONEY, KNOWLEDGE.
In this four-part blog series, I will address every excuse and share solutions to resolve them.
EXCUSE 1: TIME
Time is the one commodity you can never get back. You can’t stop the clock, hit rewind or squeeze more out of minute. We’re all time poor, which feels even worse because we are also impatient—an unfortunate side-affect of our always connected, always live, Amazon Prime culture. We rush to meetings, to school runs, to errands, through conversations. We rush so much that when we finally sit down and take a breath, our body sinks so deeply into the sofa as if that very act causes immediate paralysis.
With this backdrop, it’s easy to tell yourself that you don’t have time to exercise and you don’t have time to cook. Even as you tuck into whatever delivery cuisine you’ve opted for that night, you tell yourself that it’s been a busy week, you’re stressed, it’s just a cheat day. But you tell yourself that every day. Imagine those minutes of excuses every day, piled on top of each other. Imagine how tall those bricks would be. Now imagine all that effort avoiding change was instead placed on making healthy choices, choices that become so ingrained in you they’re effortless.
You can always find time. Always. Planning makes it easy.
SOLUTION: Plan ahead
You plan holidays, you plan afterschool clubs, you plan entertainment, why can’t you plan your meals too? If you know what you’re having for dinner and you have healthy snacks ready, you save tremendous time and erase the risk of falling into bad food out of desperation.
Plan your exercise too. If all you have is 20 minutes, you can still change your body and improve your health. 20 minutes is enough time for a short run, sofa squats with sofa dips, bear crawls with press ups, or just walking. No equipment is needed and you can do these exercises while watching your favourite programme.
People always ask what’s my secret for living fit. For me, it’s down to planning. I’m a busy mum and run two companies so I don’t have time to waste. I plan every meal and my workouts in advance. That way there aren’t surprises and I’m not left starving, in a desperate carb raid. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter to see me in action and my favourite meals that are easy, healthy and mouth-wateringly good.
Excuse #1: Gone.
“I plan every workout and meal at the start of my week. That way there are no surprises and no excuses.”
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