Are you making New Year's excuses?

February 9, 9:40 AMNutrition ExaminerCarol Bardelli

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"Excuses are lies we tell ourselves to avoid dealing with unpleasant truths. But as long as we buy into those excuses, we can never move past them." - Steve Pavlina

We create our own reality for the most part. Sure, there are circumstances we can’t control, disability, illness, injuries, personal setbacks, work and family problems, husbands who eat ice cream in front of us every night. But how we react and what we choose to do when faced with challenges creates our successes or failures.

How many times have we come to a fork in the road and had to make a hard decision? (And sometimes that fork has cake on it!) Problems and temptations are universal. Nobody has a perfect life. What we chose to do (treat ourselves to a high calorie treat or take a relaxing walk,) and how we chose to think (“I’m so fat who cares” or “I can make a positive change today”) when dealing with life’s bumps and bruises makes all the difference.

Will we take the path to the land of fat and unfit, or will we chose to make a change or sacrifice something that’s unhealthy? Everyday we makes dozens of choices about what to eat and whether to be active. We face our personal demons and the excuses they whisper in our ears. And then we act. We sit on the couch and watch The Biggest Loser with a big bag of chips. Or we set up the Gazelle, or treadmill, elliptical, trampoline, or bike, in front or the television and work out while we watch.

You can’t afford a piece of used exercise equipment, let alone a new shiny one, you say. That’s an excuse. Create your “no excuses” lifestyle and dance along to Dancing With The Stars. Nobody’s watching so don’t worry about what you look like or that you can’t do any of the moves. No floor space? March in place, do isometrics, its still exercise.

And when you’re done breaking a sweat, take a relaxing soak and treat yourself to a bowl of fresh berries, or a reduced calorie hot cocoa. They are both cheaper than a box of Twinkies and healthy choices.