It’s day three of No Excuses Week at Fearless Fat Loss and we’re cutting out those excuses left and right.

Actually I could probably dedicate a whole month to this but I think a week will be good to get some action flowing if you’re in a motivational slump at the moment.

For myself it’s funny because my motivation to stick with a healthy routine is higher in the winter than it is in the summer and even though I’m doing good and am losing weight (3 pounds since last Monday), I’m still not feeling the highest amount of motivation – maybe it’s the weather (that could count as an excuse, eh? 😉 ).

A Common Excuse for Weight Loss Failure

So let’s move on to another excuse – I bet this is one that you’re very familiar hearing and maybe you’ve even said it yourself (I have before!):

It’s just too hard to lose weight – I don’t have enough time, I don’t know how, I can’t stay motivated, etc., it’s all too hard!

Ok, so it looks like I through a few more excuses in there on top of “it’s too hard”, but don’t all of these fall into the category of “it’s too hard”. We could add even more but I’m sure you get the idea here. 😉

A Different Look

On the surface these excuses can be very convincing and especially if you buy that you “don’t have enough time”, weight loss could definitely seem too hard to go for. But whenever you really want something, don’t you make the time?

When you want that new piece of furniture, new outfit, or new anything for your kids I bet you can find the time to go out and get it. So if you really wanted to, you could make the time for your own health and fitness, however then we come back to the excuse of “it’s all too hard”.

How about we look at this is a different way so that we can move past this excuse? Here are some questions you could ask yourself if you are using the excuse that it’s too hard to lose weight:

How hard is it to…

• walk up and down a flight of stairs?
• realize that you cannot fit into your clothes and need to buy a bigger size?
• think each day about how you want to lose weight and then criticize yourself for not taking action?
• play outside with your kids and keep up with them?
• deal with the health complications that obesity is causing you?
• worry about future health complications that may arise due to your lifestyle and overweight?
• live in an uncomfortable body that is carrying too much extra weight?
• make food your priority in life instead of making life, fun, and joy your priority?
• hold yourself back from going for certain life goals because of (fears about) your weight?
• hold yourself back from going for life goals because your weight truly is a handicap?
• look at yourself in pictures?

When you look at your overweight like this I bet it’s easier for you to see that it’s not losing the weight that is hard but staying overweight that is hard – being overweight makes your life much more difficult than it needs to be.

No Criticism Here

Please know that I didn’t list these questions as a criticism but instead as a reality check – it’s just a simple fact that excess weight and fat on the body is unhealthy, not only for your lungs, your joints, your heart, your arteries, your blood pressure, but also your inner organs. And that’s not even touching on how hard that excess weight is on your emotional, psychological, and spiritual self.

This list is meant to help you see that if you don’t make the time to care for your own self (which not only enhances your life but everyone else’s life around you) then you’re actually making your life much harder. So the question comes back to, is it truly hard to lose weight, or is harder to not lose weight?

Moving Beyond the Excuse

Once you drop that excuse and see that it’s actually easier to lose weight than not, then comes the work of figuring out what you need help with. If you aren’t sure how to eat properly because you live on a diet of processed foods (I used to do that) I’ve found that the 6-Week Body Makeover program is excellent because it teaches you how to eat more and exercise less to lose weight.

You eat real food, use portion control, and create a healthy lifestyle for yourself. It’s also a great way to get off of refined sugar and white flour because those addictive ingredients are super good at slowing down your metabolism and therefore aren’t a part of the program.

If you’re an emotional eater like I am I’d recommend you check out my 12-week series on emotional eating. I did an experiment on myself with the Shrink Yourself program and while I wasn’t sure about it in the beginning, after completing the 12 weeks I’d recommend it to anyone who is ready to get help and clear up their emotional eating patterns.

The main point of this post though, is to get you thinking about how much harder it is on you and your life to not lose weight than it is to go for it. Creating a healthy lifestyle so that you can not only lose the weight but keep it off will involve changes and effort but when you look at the flip side if you don’t do it you can see that the effort is well worth it.

What’s Your Main Excuse to Not Lose Weight and Get Fit?

I’m no stranger to using excuses and I hope that the No Excuses Week here at Fearless Fat Loss is helping you as much as it is helping me. What I’d like to know though, is what is the main excuse that you struggle with when it comes to weight loss? What holds you back from really going for it and reaching your goal?

On the other end, if you’ve already reached your weight loss and fitness goal did you ever have an excuse that caused you grief and if so, how did you drop it and move beyond it? No matter where you’re at in your process what you share in a comment could help someone else who is struggling with the same excuse, so let’s see what you’ve got to say!