#163: Stop your EXCUSES, Stop holding yourself back

Excuses are like roadblocks, everyone's got them and they all hinder progress! Your life will not change until you learn how to finally free yourself from your excuses.

Success is simple - you can either make excuses or you can create the life you want. There are no other options.

In this episode, I am going to teach you how to stop making all the excuses that are holding you back from taking the actions that you need to create the life you want.

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Transcript

#163: Stop your EXCUSES, Stop holding yourself back

So I have been a personal trainer for probably over 14 or so years and over that time I have heard big amount of excuses. So I've had probably every excuse you could think of I've heard as to why you can't exercise, why you couldn't do something, any of those things. Now, I'm not backing out these excuses.

We are not having a go at anybody for making an excuse. But I want to bring to your attention some of the excuses today that I've heard over the years. And I'm sure, um, you may have probably used some of those excuses before. And do you know what? I even use those excuses. The thing is, is, but I want you to understand maybe where that's coming from.

And for us to start to identify, like, why are we always making these excuses? Because these excuses are the things that are keeping you stuck. They are keeping you in the same position that you are in. And if you look back on to where you were this time last year, have, have you got any further towards anything that you wanted to achieve?

So, have you got any further or are you in exactly the same spot, um, telling yourself excuses as to why you can't get there. And I know a few people that are in that position and I hoping, you know, really bring it to your attention about how, and we can be responsible for your own actions and we can look at these excuses and we can, you know, we can catch ourselves and then pull ourselves out of it so that we don't just keep telling ourselves the same story.

Now, I. I catch myself more often now doing it, but I was like in a loop of where I was, you know, I was telling myself lots of excuses as to why I couldn't. I wanted to be, um, you know, and it's all about thinking about our [00:02:00] brain, our going back to our, how our brains are wired. So probably the first, my first real realization was that I kept telling myself I was really, really busy.

So I was telling myself I was too busy to be able to do, uh, to launch like a new project. I was too busy to do that, but it was something I really, really wanted to do. But I realized what I was doing is I was, I was keeping myself busy, and I was giving myself that excuse of being busy, um, and that I didn't have enough time, I was giving myself that excuse because it meant that I didn't have to actually launch it.

Because if I did launch it and it didn't work, then what would that have meant about me? And I didn't, I didn't want to, I didn't realise I was doing this, but I didn't want to, uh, do that I guess, and maybe it would fail, and maybe it not be successful. Like I thought it would. So, so I caught myself, I caught myself doing that and then I was like, I can't, I think, I think I was thinking about it and, um, you know, and I realized, I was like, you're saying you're busy all the time, but you've watched a whole season of some episode or some show on Netflix.

And I was like, that's 20 hours or something. So you've, you've had 20 hours to do that, but you haven't had the time, you're saying you're too busy. So that's what I caught myself doing, and that's when I realised that, that I was trying to keep myself safe. Now the thing that, um, I want to remind everybody is, this, this is not, this is not a time for you to have a go at yourself, or any of those things.

It's a time to recognise that this is what you're doing, and it's okay, it's human nature. And we are wired, our brains are wired. to keep us safe. Okay, and what is safe to our brain is what is familiar. And what is familiar isn't necessarily the best thing for us. It is just what our brain knows. So if you are somebody that is, you know, you always tend to maybe go towards the negative.

If you are somebody if you tend to always go that way, then um, your brain is going to think that's normal. So when we're trying to be more positive. You, uh, you will probably, uh, let's say you're trying, you're always negative, you're trying to be more positive, you know, nine times out of ten, you're going to lean towards the more negative side, but you can rewire your brain.

It just takes time. And we, but the first step in anything is recognition. So at the moment, my son is highly anxious. My son always tends to lead to the side of worry, so he tends to worry. So we have, um, I have a little saying with him to say, you know, brain, you know, thank your brain, um, for that thought, but I'm okay.

You know, so, so that's what he'll say to himself when he starts worrying about things that are out of his control. At the moment, he's worrying about [00:05:00] his sister, you know, and he keeps saying to her it's not his responsibility. But, you know, so I'll say to him, what are we going to do? We're going to thank our brain.

So if they say, thank you brain, um, yeah, this is not my responsibility. I'm kind of, you know, she's safe. I don't need to worry about this. So, so it can, your brain can be rewired to think differently. So if you are somebody that is, you've been making lots of excuses, but maybe you've been making this, just like me, making these excuses and you didn't realize you were doing them.

And that's, that's exactly what I was doing. It was like such an aha moment. Because, because these excuses were keeping me safe. It was like, I was comfortable with why I couldn't do it. I was like, yeah, I am too busy. I'm not going to add any more as my plate. But I actually had, I had the time. I was keeping myself busy, floundering around.

Doing things that probably could have been done in half of the time. You know, and, and I've made big, big changes since then, but the first change that I needed to make was recognizing, recognizing that that's, that's what I was doing. So what we want to start to do is to think about, are you making excuses for why you're not, uh, reaching your health and wellness goal?

And, you know, I, I hear these things from people and I used to always question. That's, you know, like, like I would, uh, psychologists and, you know, like this, like, is it that they can't achieve it or is it that they just, you know, but the truth is when you believe in yourself, you can do anything and, and I'm sure you've heard me say this when you think, yeah, yeah, whatever Renee, I'll try it and I just don't, but we've got to, you've got to dig deeper and you've got to do the work and you have to dig deeper and really work out what is going on down there.

You know, what is really going on underneath the surface. Yes. Because if you don't truly believe in yourself, if you don't truly believe you're going to achieve it, then you're not going to get there, because as soon as you hit a road bump, then you're going to be like, yep, see, told you it wasn't going to work.

But, we've got to, we've got to really start to understand, What what we're thinking and that's what I want you to when you hear hear yourself make an excuse for something I want you to just start to question. Why this is probably one of the biggest learnings that I've had over the last Couple of years.

I really started to question myself. Why another learning I had another excuse I've made was I was wanting to go out And have more time with my girlfriends But I kept saying that I couldn't leave the kids. Now I could leave the kids. They were, they were fine. My husband was home. All of those things. But I was making excuses that I couldn't do it.

That I couldn't go out because I actually, deep down, actually didn't want to leave them. And that was a problem that I had. And I had to work, I had to realize that. Realize what I was doing. So one time my friend had asked us to go out for lunch. And I said, oh no, no, I can't go. Uh, Charlie was, was younger then.

And I was like, no, no, I can't go, I can't leave. Um, I can't leave Charlie, you know, with Lee. And I totally could. But I was telling myself this excuse. And she's like, oh, it's, you know, like, can you not? And I was like, no, I can't, I can't leave him with her. And um, and I thought, and then I thought about it after and I was like, what am I doing?

Because Lee couldn't look after her, so I started to recognise, I recognised that I was making this excuse and it wasn't true. And then I, then I started asking myself why, you know, so I started asking myself why, and I started to look and dig a bit deeper. And, you know, it's, it's sometimes just being with your thoughts and working it out, and I had to dig deeper as to why I was making that excuse.

And when I did, when I dug a bit deeper, I've worked out that, you know, I just didn't feel safe. I didn't feel comfortable to leave my kids, to have them out of my sight. And that's an issue that I have, that's something that I have dealt with. But I didn't feel safe to leave them out of my sight, even though they were safe.

And when I spoke to my husband about it, he said, Oh, are you finally going to trust me and leave me with your kids? And, um, leave me without kids. Sorry. And I did, I, I, you know, I did, I went out to the lunch and one of the else, but that was a really good turn point because I realized I was making all these excuses as to why we couldn't, why I couldn't do things, but, but in the end, but I was actually unhappy.

I was unhappy because I wasn't having that social side and it was all because that I had this anxiety, this stress about leaving my kids. And then if I wasn't with them, something would happen to them. And that was. That was something that I've created that, you know, so, so that was, that was some of my learnings.

And then from that, I've been able to recognize now a lot more when I'm making those excuses. I'm allowed, I'm able to pick up on them. I'm able to pick up on them and go, Oh, what am I doing this for? Why am I saying this? Because the excuse of saying I couldn't go out because I had to watch the kids. My husband was there to watch the kids.

He could have. And when I spoke to him about it. So I recognized what they were doing. He, he said, Oh, are you finally going to trust me? You know, so it was actually something that had caused a wedge between us two, because, because we didn't go out just us two. And, um, you know, I wouldn't leave him with the kids.

So it was a real eye opener for me that I realized that I was doing this. And it was not only affecting me, it was affecting my husband. It was also affecting my kids. So it was, it was a really big thing. So, so what is your excuse? What is the excuses that, and the stories that you were telling yourself in your head?

Because what we want to do is we want to get to the bottom of it. We want to get to the bottom of it. We want to start the new year with a clear head, with a fresh mindset, and you want to start recognizing if you're doing, if you were doing these things. This is not something that you're going to go, snap, and it just changes.

Because you will, you will hear this, and then you will start recognizing more when you are doing these things. That's exactly what happened to me. And now I recognize it. I, I, you know, I think about it. I try to work out what's going on. You know, and, and then I can take different action. And it's so good.

It's so good once you start to realize this. So I'm going to go through some kind of, uh, kind of, uh, 10 or so common excuses that I have heard over the years and how we can fight back on them. All right. Firstly, before we go into 10 of these excuses, we're going to look at the theory of cause and effect.

So there is the concept of cause and effect suggests that for any causes, there is a specific effect. or result that occurs. So those who choose to live in the effect side of things, um, they are generally telling you that life is happening to them. So they might tend to complain a lot about how unfortunate they are or how people do things to them.

And it's not their fault. Um, they feel like they don't have control over any situations. You know, everything obviously isn't their fault. Everything's happened to them. You know, this was out of my control. I couldn't do this. Um, they have kind of no control over things or people they might tend to blame their coworkers, their family, global warming, the economy, everything else is, it's everyone else's fault.

And then those who tend to live in the cause side of the equation, they act as if they're responsible for all the outcomes in their life. And these people, they tend to take responsibility for the results that they get in their life. And if something isn't going the way that they want to, then they can take action to change the outcome.

Um, so some examples of people that live in the cause side could be people like Oprah Winfrey, Anthony Robbins, Richard Branson, Nelson Mandela, you know, and they are people that tend to live in the cause side of the equation. Each of these people, they choose a path which they're responsible, which, which means that they're responsible for their actions.

But they'll take a path, and this person will choose this path of it's everyone else's fault. Uh, where the person in the effect, the person in the cause, will take the path where they're saying that everything, uh, they have responsibility for. When people tend to not succeed in something, they'll justify themselves as to why they didn't make it.

And again, this is what I'm saying. This is human nature and I've done this to myself. We all do this. But I want you to start questioning why and asking, why do you think this? What are you doing? You know, and really dig deep and be honest with yourself. When you can start to be honest with yourself, that's when your results are going to happen.

So, you know, I didn't, I set out to lose 5 kilos and it didn't happen. Why didn't that happen? Oh, it didn't happen because my kids were sick, you know, but well, if we're really honest, are your kids putting food in your mouth? No. You know, so, so take responsibility and, and start to think about where you are responsible for things and how you can change that.

They, you know, we trust, we justify as reasons as to why we didn't achieve things. And it's really important to start to recognize, like, are we making excuses or is this actually the truth? as to what's going on. So that can be a hard thing to determine. But I think when you're looking at something, so let's lose the original goal of wanting to lose five kilos.

We had set, you know, the, uh, we'd set this goal out to lose five kilos and it got to, we'd set a goal of 10 weeks to do so. It got to the end of 10 weeks and nothing had changed. So, and we had. This array of excuses as to why we couldn't, as to why we didn't choose it, our kids were sick, our, you know, this happened at my, uh, my work, uh, was, got really busy.

So, so are you, is this excuses or is this actually reasons why you didn't, why you didn't lose the five kilos? So I want you to think about, are there reasons why we didn't do it? Or are they, are they just excuses? circumstances, they are more likely excuses, you know, like I said before, your kids aren't forcing, they may be sick, but there are options that you can do that are going to keep supporting your goal.

Uh, you know, yes, your work may be busy and it may be stressful, but again, there is options in there that you have that you can still have working towards your goal. And what I, what I feel is people, we've been making these Uh, building these reasons up, and we keep telling ourselves this story. Oh, I can't do this because, because this with my kids, or I can't, you know, we're giving ourselves these reasons as to why we can't, and it's stopping you from even starting.

It's making it okay, you're justifying it to yourself as to why you can't start. Now, these excuses that we're going to, we're going to determine about if it's an excuse or a reason, and we're going to want to start to do something about it. So what are you going to do if you're going to look back as to what your original goal was?

So what was your original goal? So the original goal of the example that we're talking about here was about losing 5 kilos. So going back to that original goal, we are then going to, um, you know, we are going to need to break it down into actionable steps. And what are the things, and this is something that we do as part of our programs, is what are those actionable steps?

That you need to be taking to get you towards your goal. And when you, when we do a program, we sit and we work this out with you. So when you sit down and we work out these actionable steps, they're not checking with you. Do you think you can do this? Do you, uh, does this suit with your lifestyle? We work them out because we're getting to these excuses, uh, before, or your roadblocks, before you start.

And, um, you know, when we've got to take these steps, and let's say, um, On your, you know, your way to, uh, to losing your five kilos would be to, um, to walk every morning for 30 minutes, to, um, track your food, to eat a certain amount of calories per day, to make sure we're getting eight hours of sleep, and, um, to have one fun activity a week.

So that's your four action steps, very generalised, I know, four quick action steps. to getting your goal. Now, you haven't done two of them. So instead of giving you that step closer to your goal, it's taking you a step further back away from your goal. And, uh, that's things that's in your control that you can take charge of.

It's working out why. So why, why we've got these action steps that are very achievable, they are things that, you know, that, that you can do, we've talked about it, we've worked out that computer with your life, I want you to ask yourself why. Why do you, you know, why did you not get up early? to, to walk. Uh, you know, again, what's the excuses you're telling yourself?

Are you telling yourself I'm too, I'm too tired. I had a late night with the kids, you know, but, but instead of getting you towards that step closer towards your goal, you're taking that step backwards. So, so, you know, what are these excuses helping you? No, it's getting you further away from that goal. You know, in order to achieve your weight loss goal, uh, you know, we have to make changes.

And it's those changes that people, once you start to make them, they'll become your lifelong habits and you'll go, I'm so glad I did this. You just have to start and get over the hump of doing it. Um, I've had people that, um, you know, that, that they, uh, lots of mums, they, you know, struggle to feel like they can exercise because they have children.

So they feel like. I don't have enough time. I can't do it around my kids, you know, but there's, there's always a way, you know, I, for, for here I have classes that are child friendly, you know, I just had a mum in this morning that because her husband works away, she chooses to get in a sit up so she can come work it on her own.

There is, there is always a way. It's just you need to break it down and work out what are the excuses that you're telling yourself and why are excuses. You know, most, most of the time, a lot of the time, it's all about keeping you safe and keeping you safe and keeping you from, from not attempting that thing or of the fear of failing, of the fear of it not working.

Yeah. That's, that's, that's a lot of the time for the excuses. We've got these feelings of our brain wants to keep us safe and what is familiar is safe. So being uncomfortable, um, you know, being, um, in discomfort is not being safe. But safe isn't necessarily the best thing for you at times. So when we are Um, when we are giving ourselves these excuses as to why we can't do things, we are going to question what are we, why are we doing this and what are the excuses that we are telling ourselves.

Now, here are some of the common, uh, excuses that I've heard over the years. Um, I'll start tomorrow. is one, uh, on Monday or maybe next week, uh, or I'll start, I've got this event on, I'll wait till the event and then I'll start then after this birthday party. The thing is, there will always be something that comes in your way.

Tomorrow will never come. Um, there will always be a hurdle, there will always be a struggle, there will be always be something to stop you from starting. The thing that, to remember that tomorrow will never come. The thing is, just start now. Start now and just start achieving. And when you can work at how you can achieve What you set out to do around the hurdles is how you'll be able to sustain it forever.

And trust me, you will do it. You can do it. You will do it. It's the thing is that when we make a mistake, which is a lot of times what people's biggest fear is, when we make a mistake, the mistakes are meant to happen. They're going to happen. They're inevitable. The thing that we need to learn is how quickly do you get back up?

How quickly do you get back up and keep moving forward? Because every time I make a mistake, I cheer, because I know that's getting me a step closer. That's going to be a step closer to where I want to go. A second excuse is, um, I'm, um, I'm too hungry. People feel like they can't be, do a diet, even though I hate that word.

They can't do that because they're always hungry. The thing is that if maybe what you've done in the past. Has always been too restrictive. I believe in counting your macros. When you count your macros, uh, it is, it's giving you a balance between the protein fats and carbs. And when you are eating that nice balanced meal, you actually realize that, you know, you actually realize that you are full.

Most people, um, that I come across are under eating a protein and they, um, They're not getting that right balance of nutrients and you know that when you're saying you're too hungry, you get too hungry and that's why you can't do it. I'd like to question how you've done it before in the past and maybe what you've done in the past.

The way that I was always taught, brought up, or I remember hearing, I was very lucky not to, I didn't really hear my mum dieting a lot growing up. But the things she did hear was. Was always eating less, anti low fat calories, and you know, that's, it's really not the way. So I question, um, you know, I question, you know, when we're saying I'm too hungry, are you actually doing it right?

Because when you're getting that balance, you should. But are we saying that you always get too hungry because you don't want to try? Because we don't want to start with that fear of failing. Or that, of, or being just dis, uh, uncomfortable. Being in that discomfort. Is that, is that the fear? But you know, and um, another excuse you might hear is that one bite won't hurt.

So yes, one bite often won't hurt, but generally one bite often turns into two, and then a full serving, and then maybe an extra, then feeling guilty, then feeling like you've sucked up, or you've done wrong on your plan, you haven't done the right thing. So instead of that one bite, Um, it turns into a whole day or a whole week or a whole weekend and then it sets you on that trail to say, well, then I'll start again on Monday, you know, so that one bite actually, you know, leads to a lot more other things.

So that one bite that you feel might not hurt actually, you know, leads you to eating an extra thousand calories, you know, I also really believe in. That's whatever the first meal that you eat for the day, that's the food that you will crave the rest of the day. So if we're having this one bite of something, you know, you might then be setting off different cravings for the day.

Uh, another excuse I hear often is, I deserve a break. So we will tell ourselves that we deserve a break and that's why we should have those extra glasses of wine or, you know, but I want you to question. I'm not telling you not to drink wine. I think that we all that any diet or any plan needs to have a balance of the foods and the things that you enjoy.

But I want to ask you that when we feel like we need to, we deserve a break and that we should have that extra wine or so what's the knockoff effect? And is that still getting supporting your goal? And of course you deserve a break after hard days of work or having a stressful day managing the kids. Um, but your break that you get instead of leaning towards food, which is tends to be people's comfort.

What about channeling it somewhere else, channeling that to a nice walk on the beach, um, you know, going for a massage. Going, doing some exercise, doing a meditation, watching a movie. So you, yes, you deserve a break, but you can channel it in another way. Instead of eating, um, high calorie food or beverage that is only going to make you feel better for a few seconds.

And again, it's then that knock off effect of what happens to that. So let's use a glass, a couple glasses of wine. So a couple glasses of wine, one glass might lead to two, which then might lead to a bottle. Then that leads to us not sleeping very well. which has a knockoff effect. It also leads to you maybe being more, um, concerned or more concentrated around the wine instead of maybe spending time with your kids or, you know, and then, then the next day, what's the knockoff effect from that.

So feeling like you deserve a break. Of course you deserve a break. Of course you deserve some time for yourself, but let's see if you can channel it in a different way. Trust me, you will feel better for it. Um, the next excuse I hear often is, um, well, I've already blown it for today. So I've already blown it for today.

It doesn't matter. I hear this one a lot now, and it's, it is a mindset thing. Never have blown it for today. Now, I want you to look at the bigger picture. One meal out of, if we eat three meals a week, it's 21 meals. One out of 21 is nothing. One out of, um, you know, 42, two weeks is nothing. It is, it is one out of nothing, but what I see often is people go, well, I've already blown it.

So they turn that one meal into a weekend, or they turn that one meal into, well, I've stuffed, I've already broken my plan. I've stuffed it up. Um, you know, we, I'll wait until next Monday. If that's a Tuesday, then it's however many meals from Tuesday to the next Monday. So it's just one meal. So you haven't, you haven't, um, already blown it for today.

It's just one thing. It is never too soon to get back on track and keep working towards your goal. And it's really important to always remind yourself of what it is that you actually want to achieve. Another one people, I hear people saying is healthy food is too expensive. So they say that it's too expensive to eat healthy, but, um, it doesn't need to be.

I don't think healthy food is too expensive at all. Um, you know, when you are making stuff from scratch, when you are buying stuff in bulk, it can actually be cheaper for you. Um, I have a really good way that I manage. Our food, and I know there's rising food costs and all those other things, but I feel like I can do our food really well on a budget.

And, uh, you know, it is, uh, I, you know, like I'll go and buy veggies and then in bulk, I'll freeze stuff. I buy, you know, I buy all that stuff. I make everything from scratch, so I'm not buying. store bought, uh, sauces or, you know, any of those things. I make everything like that from scratch and actually it's, I actually find it cheaper.

I find it cheaper than, you know, pre made, um, pre cut salads or any of those things. I, I actually, I actually find it cheaper. So I would, if, if this is the excuse that you were saying, I would really, uh, question, question that. Uh, I don't have time to cook to another excuse. I don't have time to cook, so there is always ways and shortcuts that you can to have healthy meals that are aligning with your goals that you don't have spent hours cooking.

If you enjoy cooking, then that's fine. Um, but you know, it takes it. It doesn't take very long to to prepare things. You know, that's prepare things that are healthy, aligned with your goal. Um, I, I've even got it down to, to, you know, only a few, a few minutes, you know, like you, you can, uh, and you can cook meals and make, make stuff in bulk and freeze it and then just defrost it.

And I always cook things up in bulk. So I'm happy to eat the same thing every day. So what I, um, what I, I'm happy to eat the same thing for lunch every day. So I'm only cooking once. You know, I'm only cooking once and eating that same thing every day. Uh, next excuse would be diets don't work for me. The truth is that diets really don't work for anybody.

You're asking, you are restricting your food, you know, or for Yeah, it's not something that, diets is not something that you can live with for a long term, for a long term. The thing that will work for you is making lifestyle changes. So I always ask everybody, whenever we join a program, whenever you have goals set up, is there something that you can stick to forever?

If you can't stick to it forever, you're not going to do it. Understanding that when we make these lifestyle changes, the um, Um, the weight loss may be, that may be slower, but the reason it's slower is because it will stay off and you're sticking to it for your life. If you think about anything you've done in the past, if you've done anything that has been too restrictive, it has been too restrictive, you may have lost weight.

You may have initially lost weight, but then you think you've put the weight back on. And that's what I see happens all the time. So we need to learn how to understand our food. We get rid of the thought, you know, of diets. Uh, get rid of that word, get rid of diets, and just find, make lifestyle changes that suit you.

And, um, these small changes all add up to your big result. Um, I have three more excuses. So it is too hard to eat healthy with kids around. Now this, um, I hear this one a lot and it confuses me because, you know, how, how can it be hard? I don't, I don't understand. I, I understand that, um, it can be hard if you have, uh, junk food or any house, but your kids, you have brought them up.

So they didn't know what food was until you showed them. So you showed them the things and you're now blaming them for the food that you've given them. You know, and the thing is that you can, you know, you, you, who buys the shopping, the kids don't go buy the food. Oh, your kids won't eat things. Well, well, they will change with you eventually.

I promise you. These are just excuses. These are things I had, I had, my kids through the years had, uh, you know, Cooper used to only eat plain pasta and he wouldn't eat a sauce or anything with it. And then, uh, you know, and then now he eats, you know, bolognese, he eats this, he eats that. So, so, you know. These are things that you can trade.

The other, you know, I guess side point of this is, uh, when people say to their kids that they don't want to cook separate meals. I get it. You don't want to cook separate meals. But how much do you want your goal? I cook separate meals. It doesn't bother me. Because I know that the meal that I'm eating is going to align with what I want to do.

And the goal that I want to achieve and how I want to feel. If that means I need to take that bit of extra time, then do it. You know, you're too busy. You don't have enough time to cook separate meals. Find another way because there is ways now. I'm a very busy person. I, I have, uh, I run my business. I run my household and my kids do lots of activities after school.

I have lots of things going on and I can manage it and you can manage it too, but I manage it because it's important to me. So when we're telling ourselves that it's too hard to eat healthy with kids around, you know, it's remembering that, that you are the one that's created, that you're the one that showed them to the food.

They don't know. You're the one that does the shopping. You know, or your partner does the shopping. And you know, if you've got that excuse, well my partner does all this shopping, well speak to them about it. Again, they're not shoving it down your mouth. Make that choice to not eat that food. Because it's not aligning with your goal.

It's not aligning with what you want to be. And it's getting down to, how important is this to me? How important is this to me? And if it's really important, if it's that important to you, you'll be able to stick to it. Because we're reminding ourselves of why we want to do this. Um, uh, so our last two is, let's say our friend is eating this and she's skinny so I can eat it too.

Now, you know, we, skinny is not necessarily healthy. Okay, and we don't want to compare, you're comparing apples and oranges. We are all different. So what one person is doing, what they look like, you don't know anything other than that. You don't know what they've done before. You don't know if they could have underlying health conditions.

It is just, we, um, you cannot, you don't know how much they exercise, where their stress levels are at. You just cannot compare. It's just, it's just not even worth it. It's too many different factors. So So don't look, just concentrate on you. Concentrate on you and no one else. You know what you're doing, stay in your lane, keep moving forward and stay in your lane only.

Just, just don't worry about what anyone else does. Just concentrate on you, put your attention where it's needed, your attention is needed on you, on getting your goal. Okay, the last one that I hear a lot, I don't have time to lock my food. Now, uh, this is, this is what I hear a lot. Now, I, I really, um, encourage everybody to start understanding and learning their macros.

So when you learn your macros, it's the biggest learning bit about your food. It's the biggest learning curve that you'll take. Now, we don't want to log out food. Yes, it can take as little as less than five minutes a day. Now, if I told you it was five minutes a day and you would be able to lose those five kilos that we talked about at the start, would you do it?

Of course you would. Five minutes to get to, to get this end goal. Of course you would. And this is what logging your food does. Logging your food is giving us data and information about what you want to achieve. Logging our food lets you understand what your, where, where your, where maybe things, where there's holes.

In your process, um, it gives us the, it gives us the freedom. Now, once you start logging it, it can, it can take, it, it can take hardly time. And when you log your food, as well, you know before how an excuse was about not wanting to, um, always feeling hungry? Well, when you log your food, when you've got that right balance, when you have this right balance of food which has been scientifically proven, you will, of what our body needs, you will not be hungry.

You will not be hungry and then you're also, you're going to have high energy. You're going to feel good based off because you're getting that right balance of food. So logging your food is a really important, um, it's a really important task. And when you get to like, I've, um, said before I had somebody that was in the eight week challenge.

She got to the halfway mark and her food hadn't changed. She wasn't looking at food because she felt that she knew everything that she was. Eating, her weight had not changed. I asked her to log her food, she logged her food, and, um, she was able to get her 8 week goal in 5 weeks. Uh, somebody else that was eating healthy wasn't logging their food, and yes, they were eating healthy, but they were still eating 3, 000 calories a day.

So that wasn't aligning with her goals. So logging your food is giving you information about yourself. And when we have this information, when we can see, instead of guessing, we can see where there's holes, we can see what needs to be worked on. Now, we've all made one of these excuses, I guarantee. We all have, and there is nothing wrong with them.

But what I want you to recognise is start to recognise, are you doing this? Are you making excuses? And if you notice that you are, question it. Why? Why? And it's keeping you safe and the excuses are keeping you stuck. Okay? You're trying to keep yourself safe, but understand that safe, we need to be uncomfortable.

We need to be uncomfortable, we need to step out of that box in order to make a change. And, and the change, as much as it's uncomfortable at first, You're going to feel even better, more amazing and you're going to keep moving forward. So recognize when you're making these excuses, you're making these excuses because you're worried that you won't achieve your goal.

Well making excuses isn't going to get you to your goal either. Putting yourself out there and trying and, and failing, but getting yourself up and keep moving forward is going to get you where you want to be. And you know, the thing is, is that excuses. They, they're, they're not helping. They're not helping, and they're keeping you stuck.

And to be uncomfortable for a little bit of time, uh, you know, to then step to the other side. And there is a world of things, um, you know, before you to, to take, to do. Because, because you're taking this first leap and you've been that uncomfortable and you've, uh, stopped listening to your excuses. And a mom that you know always said she couldn't exercise because of her kids.

And, you know, she was too busy with her kids and she couldn't do it. And she finally started, uh, she started doing my group classes. She was doing them. And then she realized that all the excuses she was saying of why she couldn't do it, they actually, once she started doing it, she actually had, she had more time with her kids.

She had more time with her kids. She had more time to, um, She had more energy. She felt better about herself. She was calmer with her kids because she had exercised more. I had another one, again, who didn't want to prepare food. So she didn't want to prepare food because she didn't have time. She didn't want to spend the time away from her kids to prepare her food.

But once she, once she actually started doing it, she prepared the food, and she realised that by preparing her food, she actually, uh, she actually had more time during the week with her children, because the food was ready made. So, you know, these excuses, uh, you know, if you have you tried it, how have you actually tried it?

And do you know it's true? Because I guarantee you, um, it, it can be uncomfortable. It is going to be difficult. It may be difficult at first, but you know, the end result is what we are looking for and how good are you going to feel when you get that, achieve that goal. So as we are starting in the new year, as we are starting afresh, I really want you to think about what are the excuses that you are telling yourself.

How long have you been telling yourself? I obviously have focused on, uh, you know, like I guess food and actually stuff to make with them. Or, you know, like if you had a weight loss goal, but you know, I caught myself making excuses about not going out, not being social. And, you know, we, we all do it. So please don't use this as something to, Uh, attack yourself or have another go or be down on yourself.

It is normal. What we are going to do is we are going to recognize when we are doing it. We are going to ask ourselves why and we are going to see what changes we can make. Remember, I'm always here for you. Please, if you feel like this would help anyone, please make sure you share this episode because the more people that can hear this and we can stop it.

really, um, set out and kick those goals up the butt for this year and we can achieve everything that we desire. Okay. I'm going to love who's the ladies and I'll speak to you all soon.