Take Responsibility!!

It is an interesting trend in modern society and it seems everywhere we look, people are avoiding taking responsibility for their own actions (and sadly getting away with it). From court cases of people breaking and entering, then deciding to sue if they get injured http://tinyurl.com/7t45flh , or blaming their actions on 'being drunk' (remember that you CHOSE to drink alcohol), to blaming their parents or their friends or their environment for their own shortcomings, to saying that they are too busy or too tired or too stressed to cut body fat.

These are all EXCUSES! You ARE in control of what you do and you live with the consequences whether you like it or not. ie. You still have the same shortcomings that you blame on someone else or you still are overweight even if you blame your job.

Let me be very clear, shifting the blame DOES NOT fix your problem, it is just an attempt to blame an extrinsic circumstance (ie something out of your control) for what you are unhappy about.

Let's go through some common excuses.

Excuse: Well if I wasn't so busy I would have plenty of time to lose weight.
My response: If you really are that busy then that is perfect, it means you are too busy to go and get take away, or you are too busy to go to the vending machine to get a coke.
Solution: Set aside one or two SMALL time slots a week to prepare or organise food for the week, or invest in a weight loss program that does all the cooking for you. If you really are that busy, USE it to your advantage, not as an excuse to be unhealthy. Remember, to cut body fat, you actually have to do LESS (ie Eat LESS). I have mentioned in my first post how unnecessary and overhyped cardiovascular exercise is, so if you think that strenuous exercise is imperative to reducing body fat, you are wrong! Time to take RESPONSIBILITY and admit this is just another EXCUSE!

Excuse: It is too expensive to eat healthy!
My response: Wow, maybe you are just too uneducated about the costs of eating, and what is healthy. I, myself can get away quite easily with eating $30-40 worth of food a week. I have seen numerous other people do it as well (I lived on a university campus for 4 years, so I have seen people make it work on a low budget, time and time again). The problem is not the cost, it is your perception of the cost. I challenge you to write down all of what you eat in any given week. And compare it to what you eat in your perceived 'healthy' week, then come back and let me know. Eating healthy DOES NOT have to be expensive. Time to take RESPONSIBILITY and admit this is just another EXCUSE!

Excuse: I just don't have the motivation/I am too lazy to lose weight.
My response: Ok, so you are not motivated enough to lose weight yet you have the motivation to drive to the shop, buy take away and drive home? Investing both time and money into the process. You are too lazy to lose weight yet you are not too lazy to get up off the couch, go to the fridge and grab a beer/chocolate bar. Maybe your problem is you are not unmotivated/lazy enough. So get LAZIER, make the effort to get to the fridge too much effort. Be too unmotivated to go to the shop for a Burger and Chips. The point I am making here is that people claim to be lazy/unmotivated yet eating/getting take away TAKE EFFORT. If you really are that lazy, be even lazier. If you really are that unmotivated and unwilling to change it, get more unmotivated. Some of these techniques may seem counter intuitive, but the reality is that you can leverage such variables to make progress. EVERYTHING is just a mindset. Not to mention you were not born LAZY or unmotivated, you are CHOOSING TO BE. This is within your control. Time to take RESPONSIBILITY and admit this is just another excuse.

When all is said and done, you are always in control of your actions. Take responsibility for them.

Until next time, Jack.