The Lies We Tell Ourselves

LIES. LIES. LIES. TRUTH BOMB ALERT!

There are things we tell ourselves to justify our decisions around food and exercise:

“I will start on Monday.”

“I’ll eat this box of cookies because I worked out today.”

“I had five glasses of wine this weekend because I did well all week.”

“I don’t need to work out today because I pushed myself hard yesterday.”

“I am 100% on track with healthy eating so I won’t log my food today and just enjoy myself.”

“I deserve this!”

“I don’t have time to work out now. Maybe I’ll try a program in the summer.”

“Meal prep takes too much time away from my kids”

These are just a few examples; I’m sure you’re familiar with the ones you tell yourself. They boil down to a formula: “If I do this then I don’t need to do that.” Or “If I didn’t do that, I need to do this.” We barter and trade one action for another, believing that our behaviours will all equal out in the end. But our expectations stay the same - those outcomes we want when it comes to fitting into that tight black dress, looking smoking in that bikini or god forbid when jumping on the scale. We think “Why isn’t this happening for me?”

We tell ourselves lies because not doing so feels too hard. Who wants to hold themselves accountable? Of course we want to blame something (or someone) other than ourselves: our program, our trainer, our spouse (for always bringing chips home), the scale. We avoid looking internally at our own behaviours because we are too focussed on controlling the outcomes. This just perpetuates the vicious cycle of excuses and lack of progress.

I believe we all have good intentions, and it is damn hard work to look inwards sometimes and ask ourselves tough questions like “Am I lying to myself AGAIN?!”

Telling yourself excuses doesn’t make you stronger, better or more dedicated. Instead t

y keep you standing still: unmoved, unchanged.

This doesn’t mean that we aren’t actually dedicated, or that we want change. We like to think we are genuine and honest people, but when it comes to us - our needs and goals - we can be as un-genuine and dishonest as we need to just to survive the daily grind of our to-do lists, our busyness, our importance.

But your to-do list, busyness and importance are all excuses holding you back from reaching your maximum potential.

Quit bartering with your life.

No more excuses.

Own your lies, acknowledge them, and change will happen.