I talked to Anne, the owner of Hampton Hill Athletic Club (my gym), when I was in there for my television interview last week about New Year signups. She said she talks to so many people who just don’t want to make the commitment to join the gym, not because of the gym, but because they’re waiting. They’re not quite ready to start changing their life.
“Maybe next week,” they say. “Maybe Monday, after my brother’s birthday party this weekend.” Or, “maybe next semester, as this semester is really tough.”
I can relate to Anne — I hear the same thing. I get e-mails from desperate folks that tell a life story, that he or she is scared, they need to lose 100 pounds, 150 pounds, etc., but they have an office party this weekend and will start first thing Monday. I would give you a snippet of an e-mail I received probably a year ago if I could find it (but alas the search function has failed me), but I remember it being from a college student who really needed to lose 150+ pounds, but thought she couldn’t right now because of her busy schedule.
She promised to come back in four months and start her journey. I really hope she did, but the reality is that she probably didn’t. She’s probably waiting on something else.
I know some times are harder than others, but no time is better than today. As in, right now. It doesn’t matter if you’ve already eaten 5,000 calories today before reading this, your decisions and actions starting this second (not next Thursday) can literally change your life. If you’re going to a BBQ this weekend, so what? Eat some BBQ, have some beer if that’s your thing — it’s one meal on one day — don’t let it stop you from beginning your journey. If you have a tough schedule or are traveling a lot and don’t think you’ll be able to focus on counting and burning calories as you should, just start anyway and even if you slip, you’ll be that much more ahead of the game when you get back into a routine.
Stop waiting for a perfect time to lose weight. If every day you keep telling yourself you’ll start losing weight tomorrow, tomorrow is going to last a very long time.