Procrastinators read this!
I have a question for you and I want you to be completely honest with your answer:
Have you ever said you'd start a new fitness or nutrition routine but then as it got closer... you found some really good-sounding reasons NOT to start?
I call these "rational-LIES-ations".
I’ll share some of the ones I’ve said...
“I need to wait until this big project at work is done before I start so I can give it my full focus.”
“Oh, I’ll do it after my trip” (before the trip even started)
Or the most common… “I’m just gonna wait to start fresh on Monday”
But in order to win, you have to begin.
One more question…
How much weight do you think you would have lost this last year because you wanted to “plan” what you’re going to do instead of just doing it?
I could speak for most people and just say it’s a lot….
There is a funny thing about time…it passes anyway no matter what your plans are.
How many times have you achieved something that you had been putting off and when you finally got it done, you said to yourself, “Wow, I wish I had done this a long time ago!” This happens with cleaning out the garage, painting the house, finally getting that D.I.Y home improvement project done, but what about when we do this with our health?
The problem when we procrastinate working on our health, is that unlike that garage or the paint on the house, procrastinating on our health is causing serious damage that may or may not be reversible once we start working on it.
It is really damn hard to lose 60 pounds verses 10 pounds. It takes longer, not only because it’s just more weight, but because of the metabolic damage done from gaining that much weight. Don’t get me wrong, we help a lot of “skinny fat” people as well. Most of these people are guilty of trashing their metabolism in a little bit different way, usually through extreme, long-term calorie restriction and malnutrition.
It’s crazy that America has the highest level so metabolic sickness in the world, yet we have the most abundant availability of healthy food.
But we are Americans. We pride ourselves on being chronically stressed out, busy, frantic, short on time, short on energy, and short on sleep. We have endless drive-throughs and packaged foods and we can even pay drivers to go pick up our fast food drive-through for us and drop it off at hour homes (because it is just too exhausting to get in the car and drive there ourselves). We are a nation of convenience, quick, fast, and hurry up. The number one reason cited by people when asked why they don’t work out or eat healthy is TIME. I have no time to eat healthily. I have no time to move my body.
So time passes. And each second that ticks by, each poor nutrition choice, each day sedentary adds up. And one day, if we are lucky, we look down and realize we can’t see our own feet anymore. I say if we are lucky because many have their “ah-ha” moment when having their first heart attack or being told by a doctor that we have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and/or type 2 diabetes. Some people just slowly but surely just get sicker and fatter. It is a small change. 10 pounds this year. 20 pounds the next with some unexplained symptoms. 15 pounds the next and now we are on 2 medications. 20 pounds the next year and now we are on 5 medications. On and on and on down the slippery slope to a shorter lifespan comprised of lots of time in the doctor’s offices, hospitals, and in pain and suffering.
I bet if you add up all that time an overweight and chronically sick person spends on their doctor’s appointments, medical procedures, and just not being able to leave the couch or the bed that day adds up to WAY MORE TIME than they would have spent preparing healthy meals and moving their bodies with a little exercise.
That is the hard truth.
I had a person tell me the other day that sometimes people are not ready to hear certain truths about their health. I am 100% aware of this. But you know what? If I kept silent, and only said this stuff when people asked my opinion about it, I would reach almost no one. If I speak the truth and offend 99 people out of 100, but that one person NEEDED TO HEAR IT and that was the spark that lit a fire under their ass and got them to start TODAY on improving their health, then offending the 99 people because they were not ready to hear the truth is worth it.
If you are already on your health and fitness journey and are cruising, hi-five! Pat on the back. Salute. We are not talking to you. We are talking to the 84% of the Americans who are RIGHT NOW doing NOTHING about their health.
If you have uttered the sentence “I don’t have time” in response to the question of doing what you need to do to get healthy, this is for you.
I can assure you, and I have no evidence for this, but I can assure you that no person ever in the history of time on this earth has ever been suffering chronic health conditions and facing an early death and said to themselves “Well, I am so glad that I put off those health goals, this is awesome!” I am sure many of you are rolling your eyes and saying, “Ok, that is a little sensational, come on.” Sure it is, but because we, as humans, have the complete inability to actually come to terms with our grim futures, we are very good at avoiding those thoughts. We have to keep this stuff front and center and keep shouting at people as they walk further and further down the path of sickness, “You are slowly killing yourself! Come back! Turn around! Why do you keep walking? Start now! Turn around now! Don’t wait!”
Time is ticking.
Start now.
There may be no tomorrow. And if there is, great. But that means you are also one more big step away from health. Each day that ticks by is a day you get further away from your health and further down the path of suffering.
Choose now. No more excuses.