Choose Health, Not Excuses

How often have you heard, “I don’t have enough time,” “I hate exercising,” and “I’m just going to die anyway”? With excuse manufacturers in mind, I wrote The Every Excuse in the Book Book: How to Benefit from Exercising, by Overcoming Your Excuses. It contains 120 clever excuses for not exercising and even craftier tools to overcome those reasons. Although the book is exercise based, the same excuses apply for not eating healthy and not visiting the doctor, for example.

Excuses motivates even the most stubborn of sedentary individuals. Since it is packed with scientifically-based information about exercise and the body in general, you will deem it an important resource that uncovers many myths, including the best time of day to exercise, whether or not to eat before exercising, and guidelines for pregnancy.

Read Excuses from cover to cover first, enjoying the comical illustrations, then use it as a reference later when you can’t remember why “It’s too cold out” is an invalid excuse. Below is an excerpt from “I like me just the way I am”:

"It is important to love yourself no matter what, but you do not have to like how you look or feel. Do you like feeling sluggish, growing out of clothes, being exhausted after walking a flight of stairs, and being at risk for several obesity-related diseases like diabetes? Even if you feel fine, you do not know how much better you can feel until you start exercising. You might realize that you lacked energy and really were not happy with how you looked. You may feel fine now, but if you are obese and you do not exercise consistently, you may as well plan for having a lifestyle related problem like heart disease. The odds are against you."

People make excuses because they do not want to face the reality of their condition, age, or present health status. When we were younger we didn’t have to make an effort to exercise or to be at a healthy weight. (This was true for most of us, but is a very different case for children these days.) Once we overcome denial and the realization that we don’t go out to play anymore, we can regain control of our health.

Genetics play a big role in our body shape and health status and so do we. For example, your genes may code for type 2 diabetes, but it is up to you whether or not you will lose your vision and the feeling in your feet. In this case, eliminating excuses may lead to eliminating medication. Taking drugs rather than exercising is not the easy way out; it is the lazy way out. Medications are expensive and often have side effects, which may require additional prescriptions; whereas exercise can help control a condition, prevent other diseases, and ensure independence. Many diagnoses are not a death sentence, but a sedentary lifestyle is.