We all have that friend, don’t we? Male or female, we all know them…they count carbs, fat grams, calories in and calories burned, they do crossfit, high interval training or swear yoga is the answer to the world’s problems; they eat low carb, then high fat, stick rigidly to twelve hundred calories per day and spend three months of the year drinking only green juice.
I’m not running them down, I know and love them too, but let’s be honest, there’s only so much we really want to hear about the perfect diet and workout. If you’re anything like me, you’ve tried a lot of those diets and workouts too. I’ve spent a month juicing and been just about ready to rip my own arm off by the end of week three just to have something to chew. The slimming pills, detox teas and magic supplements, yep I’ve tried those too. Where did it all leave me? Lacking in energy and motivation, believing that nothing works. Many of you probably know that feeling.
What now? All too often we find ourselves with a body we are not in love with, without the time or money to spend hours each week in an expensive gym, not liking the number we see on the scale, feeling uncomfortable in our clothes and let’s be honest, in love with the idea of a quick fix.
So what’s the answer? Exactly what is the magic cure for the health/weight loss/fitness problem we’re having right now? Excuses. No, not making them – getting rid of them! We have a hundred excuses for not having the body we want or doing what we need to do (trust me, I could write a book of the excuses I’ve used over the years), a lot of them are valid and really do provide obstacles, but if we’re honest with ourselves we’ll admit most of them started as excuses and have, over time, become bad habits.
Now that we know the answer to the world’s health problems, what do we need the column for? Well, here’s the thing: we are less active than we’ve ever been, we eat more processed foods than we ever have and we’re busier than we’ve ever been, and simply knowing we need to move more and make better choices and less excuses doesn’t actually make the change. Knowing we need to make a change is the easy part; actually making it is a little more difficult. We are all different; men, women, children, old and young; we have busy jobs, homes to run, families to take care of, budgets to live on and there are days we just don’t have the time to get to a gym (and let’s not kid ourselves, not many of us are lining up to take a jog in 40° heat). We’re looking for support, for someone to tell us what and when to eat and to give us the answers we’re looking for; we do what our friend is doing and get demotivated when it doesn’t work; we don’t listen to our bodies anymore, instead we read a magazine or an internet ad promising us an easy fix and we reach for it, and on the cycle goes.
Here we’re going to change that and break the cycle. We are going to get rid of the excuses and make ourselves a priority. We’ll explore some different ideas and theories and find out what works for us as individuals. We’ll share some great life hacks that will make meal prep and healthy eating easier and a lot more fun and we’ll change mindsets to help get ourselves headed towards our goals (whatever they may be), and we’ll be doing it all in a simple, manageable way with humour and positivity.
Looking forward to seeing you next time.
Emma Clement-Wriede
Health Coach & Nutritional Therapist
Contact Emma at emma@nostresswellness.org