Stop the Fitness Excuses - It’s Time to Get Healthy

I know it can be hard to get to the gym or do any sort of exercise after a long, hard day at work or caring for the kids. Your family expects you to be available at certain times, you have tons of things on your "To Do" list and you feel overwhelmed.

When you're zooming to work at the crack of dawn, then racing back home to care for your family and still make time for your loved ones and yourself-making the decision to get healthy can seem like a daunting task.

But listen, if you re-evaluate the decisions that you make each day and prioritize your schedule, you can stop making excuses and start getting healthy.

I'm not only going to share with you the most common excuses that I have heard about not being able to work out, I'm going to shatter them by giving you solutions.

Excuse #1 - I just don't have time

• Solution #1 - Go straight to the gym once you leave work. If you make a stop at home or anywhere else, you'll greatly decrease the chance that you will actually work out.
  
  
• Solution #2 - When you workout, you're giving yourself an energy boost. This energy boost will help you do more things in the same amount of time. Now you've opened up your schedule to make room for exercising.
  
  
• Solution #3 - Convince co-workers or friends to workout with you. You have no problem letting yourself off the hook, but the story is different when others are involved. You'll feel obligated.

Excuse #2 - I don't have the money to pay for a gym membership or hire a personal trainer

• Solution #1 - You really don't need to spend a lot of money, walking is free. If you have cable or "DirecTV," you can access workouts "OnDemand" and exercise in your own living room.
  
  
• Solution #2 - Use your lunch break to get outside and walk. Why not start a walking club at your job?
  
  
• Solution #3 - Subscribe to a couple of fitness magazines and follow the workouts in each issue. The workouts generally use minimal to no equipment and some of them offer video demonstrations on their website.

Excuse #3 - Exercising is boring

• Solution #1 - Exercising doesn't have to be boring, you need to find something you like to do and will stick with and just go for it.
  
  
• Solution #2 - Take different classes. Between the gyms, YMCAs and other fitness studios popping up everywhere, you should be able to find a group activity that you enjoy. Try Hip Hop, Salsa, Pilates, Hula-hoop or Yoga classes. They are all entertaining and allow you to burn calories while having fun.
  
  
• Solution #3 - Break up your exercise routing by learning how to use different equipment that you've never tried before. If you keep using the same equipment and doing the same exercise routine, you will continue to be bored and eventually stop working out all together.

Excuse #4 - I just don't want to workout

Ok, this is probably the most valid excuse. Most people don't really want to workout and usually only the fitness nuts like myself and other colleagues really enjoy it so much that if we don't do it, we feel lost. But, it needs to be an integral part of your daily/weekly routine.

Did you know that for every year that you don't strength train after you reach age 25, you could lose up to one pound of muscle?

Do you realize that your body goes through several metabolism drops as you age and if you don't exercise your metabolism could come to a screeching halt? This causes your body to store fat instead of burn excess fat and leaves you with a higher dress or pants size.

Regular exercise makes you feel better, gives you more energy, causes you to have a "can-do" attitude and makes you look and feel better in your own skin as well as your clothes.

So don't give up hope, there will always be excuses, but there are always solutions! Make a plan and stick to it, you will find that once you carve out the time for exercise, you will feel lost when you don't do it.

By Carol Dunlop