Yesterday morning it rained in the city. Half the class shows up and that’s not uncommon. When it rains I wonder what they do.  Are they staying home to put together the umbrella? Getting their rubber boots ready to combat the terrible rainy mess? Are they staying indoors because they’re made out of sugar and would melt in the rain? I’m not really sure, but it’s a phenomenon I’ve watched for a while now and I’m thinking it’s time to talk about making excuses.

The fact is that if you let your excuses get in the way on your way to your goal, your goals will take longer to reach. If you sign up for a workout program, put your money down and then sabotage yourself along the way because sometimes your goal loses its initial importance, then it will take you all the longer to get to your goal.

Naturally, our motivation changes. Some days we are super amped up to eat extra clean, put in that extra 20% of effort during squat thrusts and drink 3 liters of water and other days the moment a cookie walks by your desk you eat the whole bag. Sometimes you just don’t feel the urgency that initially made you decide you needed change.

We are usually most motivated when we are uncomfortable. When the pants are tight, the belly hangs over the jeans as we sit down or when we huff and puff walking up the subway stairs. Right then and there you regret the 3rd glass of wine you had, the fries you had to have with your burger, and that you turned over in bed that morning instead of getting to class. Those are the things you want to remember when the alarm clock rings at 5am in the morning, begging you to roll out of bed.

Our motivation sometimes dwindles after we have put in some extra effort, have been consistently working out for a while, and have been eating clean for a while. We sometimes feel we need to ‘reward’ ourselves by giving ourselves a day or two of rest, allowing that cheat meal to turn into three, and we may even decide to go back to our old habits because -after all – we’ve almost reached our goal and have been ‘so good’.

The reality is, that if you want something, you can’t let excuses get in the way. You need to stay consistent in your actions. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard all excuses there are. I’m pretty sure I’ve used them all myself at some point in my life. However, none of them made me feel better. Not for a second. They accumulated and turned into self hatred and that perpetuated the cycle. If you want something, you have to make it happen. Nobody’s going to do it for you. If you want your body to look amazing in a bathing suit or naked, you know what you have to do because the alternative isn’t so pretty. Let’s make it happen, rain or shine, tired or lazy. I honestly don’t care how you feel, whether you’re motivated or not or what has gotten in the way. The only thing that matters is how you feel once your workout is over, how great your energy is after you ate a great clean breakfast and how accomplished you feel when you’ve dropped  yet another clothing size.

Here’s what you may want to try this week: Whenever you notice that you’re trying to avoid taking positive actions (sleeping in instead of working out, reaching for sugar instead of protein and veggies, telling yourself you ‘deserve’ a glass of wine when you don’t need it), come up with an answer that’s better than your excuse. For example, you might say: “I’m too tired to get up. I really should get another hour of sleep. I need it. I’m tired. yawn…”, come up with a good answer to that excuse, such as “I’m going to get up, kick ass for an hour and then feel amazing, have great energy, will eat better all day and I’m one hour closer to my goal body. Sleeping in won’t make me feel any better.”

Are you on board? Let’s do it.

Every workout, every meal, every good night of sleep and every positive action will move you closer to your goal. Let’s make sure you have more positive actions than excuses this week!