No Excuses

I am so excited about this season of The Biggest Loser. Their theme for the year is No Excuses. I can already tell that it'll get a little obnoxious to hear the trainers, contestants, and host repeat the phrase every five minutes, but I love the idea behind it.

Isn't that one of the biggest obstacles for living a better, healthier life? It's so easy to make excuses.

For not working out: Too busy, too tired, out of shape, don't belong to a gym, can't afford to go to a gym, injured myself, don't want to get sweaty and then have to take a shower, just ate a cookie.

For not eating healthy: Can't afford to buy healthier foods, don't have time to cook, too tired to go to the grocery store, don't know how to cook, don't know what food is healthy and what isn't, I just eat whatever's easiest, I don't like the taste of healthy food.

It's easy to make excuses. It's much harder to stop the excuses, get up, work out, and then cook a healthy, homemade meal. But harder is better. (That's what she said.)

So I'm thrilled that this season's Biggest Loser is highlighting common excuses and showing the world that there is no excuse for poor health. And they've timed it perfectly for the new year! (Coincidence? Yeah, right.)

Let's stop making excuses and start making positive, effective changes in our lives. We can all improve in some way - that's the point of this blog. Each of us can live a better life, whether it means health and fitness goals, work goals, or other personal goals. But it all starts with proactively creating change.

My excuse today was that I'm sick. I have a bad cough, and I could have easily skipped the workout without feeling too guilty. But, even though I'm not ready for an intense cardio workout, I knew I could still complete some strength training without upsetting my lungs too much.

I also did about 100 crunches in a variety of positions and my daily 10 minutes of stretching, one of my 2012 goals. Coincidentally, my former massage therapist and fellow health nut, Chris Hallford, posted a great set of videos about stretching. Chris runs a health-focused website called Hallford Health, and it is a fantastic resource for all your health needs. If your excuse is being too sore or if you, like me, want to increase your stretching ability, check out his videos!