No More Excuses
If you truly want to start seeing fat loss results then you really need to stop lying to yourself. Creating excuses is one of the primary roadblocks people confront even before looking at sleep, stress and food.
It’s so easy to say to kid yourself and then back it up with reaffirming beliefs and excuses. Many excuses I have heard clients say include the following:
-I had a really stressful day that’s why I ate those cookies
-I had no time to eat at lunch because I was working non-stop
-I didn’t drink any water today because I forgot
-I had a poor sleep last night because I was watching TV and on my phone
-I ate badly on the weekend because I was out with friends
-I didn’t want to have cake but it was sitting in the fridge already
While these are in fact true events that happened in their lives, it gives them no excuse to indulge in those repeated behaviors. If there was cake in the fridge it doesn’t mean you have to eat it, you can take a 2 minute break to drink 1 cup of water, you can turn the TV off at 10PM, you can choose healthier menu options when you are out with friends, etc.
The moment you stop lying to yourself and blaming something or someone else for the reason you indulged in otherwise behaviors the faster you will take ownership of the situation and begin to see results. Making excuses and lying to yourself doesn’t make you a bad person and you probably have good intentions, but repeatedly doing this avoids responsibility to take ownership of your actions.
What should you do then? What’s the solution?
Just like any behavior or action you need to practice taking ownership of your actions and decisions. Nobody put you in a situation where you were forced to eat cake. Practice being aware of where you are and what you are doing, feeling and thinking. Say to yourself the following phrase before you eat something you shouldn’t:
“I am fully aware that by eating cake I know I won’t feel good afterwards and that it will make harder for me to reach my goal”
Or you can stay on step ahead and if you are going to eat something you shouldn’t repeat the phrase:
“Why do I think I’m craving this sugar? What do I really want right now instead? A glass of water? A quick 2 minute breathing exercise? Is my energy low because I had no salt today”?
Getting to the cause of the issue is always the best solution, and thinking like this and saying these phrases will begin to transform your decision making. Practice these phrases by writing them down and putting them on the fridge door or pantry to help reinforce this habit.
Fat loss, muscle growth, becoming stronger, overcoming pain and injuries or trying to increase vitality are goals that can all be applied to this practice. Making excuses is easy and often avoids responsibility.
There will be times when you encounter situations that are reasonably justified to indulge in and have no other options such as being stuck on an airplane flight or invited over to someone's house for dinner and you don't want to be rude.
Just be aware, in the moment and focus on your goal. Control what you can and understand that trying to achieve fat loss and making excuses will only be holding you back.
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