Hissy Fit - January 2016

I have weighed as high as 223 pounds. Thankfully, I don’t anymore. Being overweight for most of my life, childhood included, I became the master of excuses. Once I got real with myself, I was finally able to defeat the false reality waging war in my head, and ultimately, lose the weight.

Since losing weight, I have heard it all. People who tend to be overweight seem to now feel guilty when talking to me as to why they are still over weight. It’s almost like I have betrayed them in some way by finally getting a handle on my health. I have no judgment of others. Getting into the mental state to lose weight is probably one of the hardest, most unexplained mysteries on earth.

As an adult, for 19 years I struggled with the daily diet fail. Finally, it clicked and I lost 67 pounds. I have no clue who, or what made it click in, I’m just thankful it did.

It was all about my health and wellbeing because I was in the early stages of type-2 diabetes and I still had a chance to turn it around with diet and exercise.

Granted, it took me three years to wrap my head around the gravity of that diagnosis. Finally, after the hundredth conversation with my doctor, months later, I decided to just do it.
I want to share with you some common excuses that not only I used for many years, but hear all the time from others. Maybe when you read them, it will dawn on you how silly they are and help you cut through the bull to a healthier you:

1) I don’t eat that much. If you weigh a lot, chances are you eat a lot. Losing weight is pure science. If you consume less calories in a day than you burn, your body will begin to use its stored energy, a.k.a. fat. When it uses stored fat, you lose weight. Seems ironic that fat is actually energy because the more fat you have the less energy you have. So unfair. There are two fixes to the “I don’t eat that much” excuse: 1. You probably are eating way more than you think and possibly consuming a boatload of extra calories in the types of foods and drinks you are choosing. Keep a food log for one day—a regular food day. Then calculate your calories for the day…Surprise! That’s an eye-opener, huh? 2. Your metabolism is super low and even when you eat a little your body isn’t functioning at a level to burn it. See your doctor, start exercising and cut out fast food immediately. That’s the only way to rev up your generator and start burning fat.

2) I don’t have time to cook. Cooking at home is the best way to control what you are eating and how much you are eating. If you think you don’t have time to cook, ask yourself if you have time to be sick and tired. Heart disease, diabetes, increased risks of cancer are all associated with being overweight and all take lots of time for doctor visits, hospital stays, long term treatments, sick days and general downtime of not feeling good. Every single person has time to do exactly what she WANTS to do. It’s your choice.

3) I don’t like to cook. So you like being overweight? Do what it takes to take care of yourself whether you like it or not. Like everything in life, what you get out of something is equivalent to what you put in. Your results are at the mercy of your effort. Believe me, you are worth the effort!

4) I hate exercise. I can’t tell you how many times I said this. Then I started exercising. I changed my mind. Exercise made me feel great, gave me more energy, increased my strength, made me look better and made my mind sharper. There are solid rewards in exercise. The key is to pick something you enjoy in an environment you enjoy. That makes for double the pleasure! Warning: You have to override your brain. In the beginning it will tell you not to do it and come up with every excuse in the book to keep you from lacing up those sneaks and getting out there. I don’t know why; it just does. But, once you start, you’ll be glad you did.

5) I can’t lose weight. I was 100 percent convinced of this. I had tried every diet and failed miserably. My conclusion was, “My body won’t lose weight.” I was wrong. My body wouldn’t lose weight in three days of dieting and then going back to old habits. The secret to success in dieting is time. On day one, you have to string together 24 hours of eating and drinking the right things. On day two, you have to do that again, only now you have day one on your side. When you can string several days together, you will start seeing tiny results. Tiny results are HUGE! They are the beginning of something awesome and you have to get through tiny results to get to BIG rewards. After you string those days together, next comes stringing a few weeks together and then a few months. That’s what I did and the BIG reward was 67 pounds down, no more diabetes, no more plus size and lots more energy. I NEVER thought I could do it.

If you are considering losing weight, I beg you to start today. I promise that those days, weeks and months you string together are going to come and go regardless of your eating habits. The choice is yours as to whether you want to be the same at the end of a few months or lighter, healthier and vivacious at the end of a few months. Start. Start today. Start now! It doesn’t matter if you ate a donut this morning. Honor yourself. This is your year. Look at you…you’re on your way!