"But I don't have time to work out....."
Holy Pansy-Ass Cop-Out Batman!
I have been hearing this sooooooooo much from overweight foreigners over here in China. Makes me a little nuts to be honest to keep hearing from these big boys and girls how "lucky" I am that I "can" lose weight.... Makes me want to slap the lips off their faces! Luck had NOTHING to do with my success and it bugs me to have people downgrading my hard work to just being luck. Thats like telling a doctor he is lucky he is a high paid neurosurgeon.... Um no, the 7+ years and $$$$ of medical school did a lot more than luck.... Just like my dedication and hard work are leading to my weight loss success. Luck is for gamblers, not weight loss. So yeah.... I am "lucky" I guess because I decided 5 months ago to pull up my panties and stop being a whiney little pussy. And yes, thats what I used to be, except I was a whiney Fat pussy to be more accurate. And it all came down to a common denominator. Time.
Seems there is always enough time for work and eating, drinking, smoking, hanging out with friends, etc. But when it comes to exercise and eating properly, time flies out the window. But why? How? I am so tired of these people constantly complaining about their weight and asking me everyday "how they can change?" "what can I do?" "please help me!!!" So I try. Over and over again I try. Then I see them the next day in the shopping center with a cart load of chocolate bars, white bread, a flat of coke, potato chips, etc... Seems there is always time for fast food and 2 hour bus trips to the foreign market in town, but never enough time to do 30 minutes of walking or aerobics. Funny how that works.
It is crazy how "time" plays such a vital role in our fitness. The successful ones MAKE time for fitness, like myself. We get to a point where we are looking for excuses to go exercise. This is my scenario for sure! Yesterday was a prime example! It was 45C outside and I knew I would be pushing it if I ran home, so I planned to walk instead. Heat stroke is not cool. One thing about living in a sub-tropical seaside location in summer though, it could rain cats, dogs and elephants at the drop of a hat! It literally went from sunny and cooking when I walked out of my office on the 13th floor, to pitch black and pouring rain by the time I got out of the elevator. SERIOUS pouring rain!! The kind of rain that even with a patio umbrella you WILL get soaked to the bone if you go outside for more than 3 steps.....
GREAT! WOOHOOO!! YEAH BABY!!!!
I wrapped all my electronics and crap in a plastic bag, sealed up my backpack as good as possible, changed into my shorts and teeshirt, and started my squats/lunges and prepped for running. My coworkers gaped at me and asked me what the hell I was doing. When I told them I was running they looked at me (and likely checked as they walked by) to see if I had suffered a lighting strike or some form of head injury. Most people here will hide under any cover available till the storm is over. But not this guy! I took off into the storm, avoiding the cats dogs elephants and oragutans as much as possible. In 30 seconds I was soaked to the bone. I could not have been more wet jumping in a swimming pool. BUT!!! The temperature dropped from 45C to 29C!!! Beautiful running weather!!! It was crisp and cool and made the run just that much more enjoyable. I felt like a million bucks running down empty streets to the utter facsination and amazement of all the people trapped in doorways and under overhangs.
When I buzzed the buzzer at home, (since I had made it home in 30 minutes and would have taken 90 on the bus due to massive traffic during rain storms) my wife didnt say hello, just "OMG! Are you serious!!" I walked in looking like a wet rat but feeling like a million bucks. Not time my ass!!! I made time and it meant suffering a little discomfort, but I did it. SO today I need to wear an older pair of runners because my good ones are still soaked. So I needed to wring out all my clothes and pray my MP3 player survived the moisture (it did). So I had to suffer a little inconvenience to achieve my goal. What I want to know from all my fat buddies here is simply this: What part of that was luck? Would I have had more "time" waiting under a bus shelter for 2 hours for the rain to stop or paying big $$$ in a taxi to sit in a traffic jam for 90 minutes? Luck my ASS!!!! Its called balls and determination, not luck.
But alas, not one of these people who perpetually bug me to help them lose weight gets the big picture. I came to the stunning realization that in the past I was a pussy. Bottom line. I not only found every excuse NOT to do what needed to be done, but I actively went looking for those excuses. There is ALWAYS a reason NOT to exercise or eat right, ALWAYS, but to stop being a pussy we need to start looking past those reasons and finding reality.
"I am too busy at work to eat right, I have no choice but to eat at McDonalds" - I am sure Ronnie McDonnie loves every person who says that
"I would have to walk 2 hours a day just to get any benefit. I have no time for walking and too fat for running" - But you couldnt walk home from work those 10 blocks instead of the cab....?
"The only thing I have time for is running, so since I am too fat to run, I guess I can't do anything" - Not true, you can get fatter and unhealthier and make it even harder to succeed later, if ever....
"Aerobics are for women" - And heart attacks are for fat guys.... Think about it...
"I have no time in my day to even do 20 minutes of exercise 3X a week" - Wow, working 16 hours a day, 7 days a week must suck. Oh wait, you don't work 16 hours a day or 7 days a week.....
etc etc
I hate to say it, but I am getting so tired of hearing the whining and complaining I have honestly added several of these people to my blocked list on MSN. I REALLY do like helping people and trying to share with them what I have found worked for me. But to hear all this whining and bitching all the time becomes such a pain. I feel a little guilty because of it, but too much negativity can become a hinderance in itself. Plus, like I said, if I hear one more lazy ass tell me how "lucky" I am to be able to lose weight I may just have to show them just how fit I have become as I plant my foot in their ass.
Who would have thought helping people could be such a chore. But sadly it is becoming more and more so. I have friends who think my success has come from running, therefore, even though they are over 300 pounds, they figure it is all or nothing. If they cant run 1 hour a day why bother. Now, I point out to them all the time how for the first 3 months even walking hurt and I took my sweet time getting to a point where I could jog, let alone run daily. But again, time is of the essence, or lack thereof. Why walk and build your strength when you can try running, hurt yourself and have a REAL reason to make excuses about exercise for the next few weeks? Similarly I have reccomended this site and fitday and several others to every one of them, pointing out how the people and advice here have made a huge difference to me and educated me in ways I never dreamed a simple website or 2 could. To date not one has joined or even looked at this group, nor have they even typed fitday into their browser. I guess typing and reading take too much time.
However, they all, without exception, have time to sit on MSN and endlessly bug me to help them, to tell them the secrets, to show them how they can have the same "luck" as me...... Maybe I am doing them a favor by blocking them. I feel kinda guilty, as I said, but maybe by doing so they will get off their asses and go for a walk around the block instead of waiting for me to come on MSN.....
Does that make me a jerk for blocking them? How much negativity can one person take? When does one just have to step back and stop helping?
sirant
(my lame attempt on trying to make you feel better)