Prevention of Cancer: Start by Overcoming Your Excuses

You want to prevent cancer, and you promised yourself that you’d exercise “tomorrow.” But tomorrow turned into a week, and a week turned into a month. And now, six months later, you still haven’t taken your first steps on your path to fitness. Or, perhaps you started going to the gym twice a week, missed a couple workouts, and then stopped going for a whole three months. In either case, you’ve let your excuses stop you from investing in your health.
Since excuses are really just a lack of motivation, you’ll need to anticipate and counter them if you expect to maintain a high degree of motivation. Here are five common excuses people tell themselves to get out of exercising, and how you can overcome them.

Excuse: “I hate exercise, so I can’t seem to make myself do it.”
Stop dwelling on negatives! Rather than focusing on your “hatred” of exercise and your need to “make yourself” do it, turn your thinking around and focus on the positives: being cancer free, feeling great when you exercise, and how good you’ll look as you stick with it over time. Also, start small at first to avoid discomfort. Increase your program gradually in a way that’s right for you.

Excuse: “I don’t have time.”
Although this is a tempting one, deep down you know that your physical health and wellbeing are more important than most of the other things you make time for. To prevail against this excuse, it’s important that you plan your fitness schedule just as you plan your career schedule. Get up an hour early if you have to, or go to bed an hour later, or cut something else from your life. But whatever it takes, make time for the prevention of cancer.

Excuse: “I just don’t have the energy.”
Of course you don’t have energy yet! Vigor and energy come from the exercise that you’ve been neglecting. So instead of accepting your fatigue, just think about how wonderful it will be to feel young and alive again. Once you get excited about the thought of feeling energetic, you’ll be motivated to hit the gym and make it a reality.

Excuse: “I’ll start exercising after I’ve lost some weight.”
Remind yourself that exercise is actually what’s going to help you lose the weight, because it burns calories and builds your metabolism. Exercise also reduces your cravings and curbs your appetite. Plus, not exercising while losing weight can lead to losing muscle tissue, which makes it very difficult to keep the weight off.

Excuse: “I’m so out of shape that I don’t even know where to begin.”
You need to tell yourself that it’s ok not to know where to begin. Begin anywhere! Just begin now. In three months, you’ll be leaner, stronger and more energetic.

So, what’s your excuse?
The bottom line is that no matter what you’re telling yourself, no excuse in the world is legitimate when cancer is at stake. The gym is full of people who have less time than you, weigh more than you, have less energy than you, and hate exercising even more than you do. Yet, there they are, investing in their health. Which is exactly what you should be doing right now. So go make it happen!