What's your excuse???

Every day seems busier lately. We are short handed at work. Trying to get someone hired, but it means more work for me and therefore more stress. I had a board meeting last night until 10:45pm so there was no time to do work catch up then. I sit here now with a butt load of work in front of me, but I'm determined to post today.

The week is going well as far as diet and exercise. I got up again yesterday and rode my stationery bike. After I did some stretching. Then I did 2 sets of arm weights-bicep curls, triceps, butterflys, chest presses, shoulder presses. I used my 8# weight because that's the biggest one I have. I'd like to get a set of those adjustable hand weights I see with the discs. Anyone have those?

I knew I'd have no time at lunch for the gym, but I thought maybe if I finished early in the office I could make it before my board (bored) meeting. Of course I was deluding myself, but I did pack my gym bag. I try to keep one in my car ready to go all the time. That way if I have an unexpected hour to hustle over there I can. Yeah. It doesn't happen very much but I don't need to give myself any excuses.  I have an easy enough time trying to talk myself out of the gym as it is. 

Yesterday I ate 1256 calories. I packed snacks to eat and lunch. I wanted to have a healthy snack before heading to the meeting because I never know what food they'll have. Turns out they had grilled asapargus. YUMMY. I love that. Aside from the nasty urine smell of course. They also had some barbecue brisket and smoked sausage. I ate a very little of that because I didn't want the calories.

On a side note.......did you know that only 22% of people are able to detect the odor in the urine of people who have eaten asparagus. Apparently there is a recessive gene that allows you to smell the odor. Apparently everyone's urine smells that way but only 22% of people can SMELL it.  I'm one of them. See.  I am special.

Anyhoo........

Today just plain sucked. I did get up and ride my bike.  I enjoyed my morning workout today, but I didn't have time to do any weights or such, just a little stretching.  Kids were in a mood this morning. Bickering. Irritable. Whiny. Distracted. That's probably because my little one came down at like 2:50am saying she had a nightmare about a rat running around the house and chasing her. SCARY.  I let her hop in our bed for a bit. About 10-15min later, here came the other girl saying she was lonely and had a nightmare. Isn't it convienent then that they share a room?  Sent them upstairs and told them to climb in bed together and go back to sleep. They always end up in bigger sister's bed. It's a twin bed, but they are still small enough to both fit.

 SO yeah. I was tired today after only 5 and 1/2 hours of sleep, and that was interrupted. Sigh......That didn't help the mess of my day. Some days as an FP just are harder. I had a patient walk in with a insect sting to the neck having an allergic reaction right at noon. In the midst of that emergency we find out that the epinephrine we had was expired. Great. Gave it anyway since that's all we had. Luckily the patient was fine, but it killed my lunch since we had 3 interviews to do at lunch. After that more patients. THEN we had to call an ambulance for another patient. I had several doctors calling me which interrupts my day. On top of that it was like drug rep carrousel in my office.

A lot of doctors don't see drug reps anymore. I do because it gets my patients free medication. It's controversial in the medical community. A lot of people argue that it influences us to prescribe certain drugs. BUT my reports from the insurance companies show that my use of generics way out performs my peers so I feel like I am managing that...............but I digress.

Point is a lot of drug reps and phone calls means a lot of interruptions. At the end of the day I still had today's work to finish AND yesterday's. Fabulous. Good news is that Thursday is our late TKD day. My class doesn't start until 6:30pm. I stayed at work and managed to at least catch up some of it. I prefer to go to the noon class so we aren't so late getting the kids home, but I missed that class as you can see from the above discussion.

BUT the point I'm trying to make in all this rambling is this: it's always easier to go the path of least resistance. It would have been so easy for me to say to myself, "Look you already did 30 minutes of cardio.  You can miss this class."  I was tired and stressed, but I have made a commitment to do a certain level of exercise. Every week. I've also set a goal to get my black belt someday. I won't reach my goals with that or my health by taking the easy way out. There's nothing easy about what I'm trying to do. Not the black belt and not losing weight and keeping it off. It's hard. It takes commitment and consistency.

Over the last 2 months I've let that idea that this is life or death slip my mind. I can either get this weight off or risk dying. Plain and simple. It's not about how I look. My dress size. The scale. It's not about people telling me how great I look. It's not even about me being a good example for my patients or family. It's about the fact that being this fat can kill me. I know this more than anyone. I see it everyday. I'm not doing that. So.......I can either use one of the millions of things I've used over the years to get in my way OR I can live.  It's not really a choice now is it?

Here's a few of things I've used to justify NOT exercising:
I'm too fat. People will look at me. I might hurt myself. I don't have time. I'm too tired. Exercise is just not my thing. I'll never be skinny anyway. I have too much to do. I should be spending time with my family. I just need some alone time for me.

It's too hot. It's too cold. It's too windy. I can't find my shoes. I forgot my shoes. I need new shoes. My friend said she'd go with me and then backed out. If only I had an "accountability partner".  I'll lose a little weight first, then it will be easier and I can really focus on exercise.(huh?) It's too late at night. It's too early. I'm not sure what to do. I don't know HOW to do it. I don't have a gym membership. I have a gym membership but I'm too embarrassed to go.

My work out clothes are too tight. My work out clothes are too loose. My workout clothes aren't fashionable enough. My workout clothes are too nice and I might get them too sweaty. (No, really I actually had this thought once)

  I'm sick. I'm getting sick. I MIGHT get sick. I might get hurt. My back/ neck/knee/ankle/leg/elbow/3rd finger/ left big toe hurts. I have a migraine. I MIGHT get a migraine. It's too noisy in the gym. It's too crowded at the gym. There's not enough people there then and the trainers will all be looking at me.  I'll have to take the kids to the childcare center and I'm already a working Mom, so I should spend more time with my kids. I should be spending time with my husband/pet/mom/cousin/neighbor. 

My closet is a mess. Laundry. Dishes. Kids homework. My homework. I deserve a break. I've lost so much weight and am achieving my goals so I deserve a day off. (pretty twisted one, right?)  I'll start on Monday. I'll start on the weekend. I'll start after the holiday/birthday/kid's birthday/trip/summer break/spring break/cruise/vacation/doctor's appointment. I'm pregnant. I'm not pregnant. I'm depressed. I'm just in too good of a mood. I'm too hungry and I won't have time to workout AND eat (WTF?).

I'm on my feet all day at work and I never sit down so I'm REALLY active. I "ran late" at work. (yeah because I was blogging about my terrific healthy lifestyle) My reader is just SOOO full. I haven't read or commented on many blogs lately so I should catch that up.

I've got my period. I'll be getting my period soon. I'm bloated. I'm dehydrated.  I don't want to have to change clothes and shower again. I forgot clean underwear/socks/my makeup/shampoo/pony tail holder/gym membership card.  I might be over training. I might get big muscles. I might not be building enough muscles anyway. EVERYONE needs a rest day.

I'll do it later. I'll catch up on my workouts over the weekend. I overslept. I didn't sleep enough. I forgot to track my food anyway today(how this relates to me working out, I don't know) I just can't face another workout. I screwed up my training schedule so I might as well wait until tomorrow and get back on track.  I'm really hungry. I just ate. I forgot my water bottle and I have no money. (of course I have credit cards)

My cell phone battery is really low so I can't listen to my music. I don't have my headphones. My headphones are broken. I never have time to make me a good playlist for working out. I forgot the book I was reading when working out.  I just want time to read my book.

I have diarrhea. I'm constipated. I have a rash. I might get a rash. I need gas (for the car, silly).  I have a flat tire.(OK so that one should probably be acceptable). I really wanted to DRIVE THROUGH the car wash (while sitting on my butt of course).

I don't want to make my husband feel guilty since he's NOT working out. (seriously!?!)  I don't want my BFF to be jealous if I work out MORE than her. (good lord) My BFF is so much BETTER at working out that me. I'll never be an athlete anyway.  Once I start I'll have to keep going or I won't STAY in shape (most twisted one EVER!!)

I SWEAR!  If I'd spent half the amount of time working out as I have spent finding reasons why I couldn't or shouldn't work out, I'd be at my goal weight by now.

Learn to recognize an excuse when you "hear" yourself make one. Spend more time thinking of ways to make getting in a workout easier and removing obstacles. Spend a little time planning workouts into your schedule and then treat it like you would a business meeting or doctor's appointment. That time should be committed  to exercise and if anyone or anything tries to interfere with it, make sure it's important enough that you'd cancel a meeting with your boss/lawyer/doctor/dentist.  Because it's THAT important. Because YOU are THAT important.

And that's why I went to class tonight, even being tired and stressed out. I want to live. I'm important. I only get one life to live. I want ALL of it I can get.

So did you recognize any of those excuses? What excuses have you been using to avoid workouts lately?