Competition Goal

Friday, July 23, 2010

"It's a Holiday" = The Ultimate Excuse

Someone said to me the other day that we picked a bad time to “diet” because of the holidays.

“Seriously”, she said, “This month we have the 4th and then there is the 24th and then Labor day! That’s a lot of BBQ’s and beer to give up!”

Let’s just get it all out there people.

Here are a list of the US Holidays:

Jan – New Years Day & Martin Luther King Day
Feb – Jen’s Birthday, Valentine’s Day & Presidents Day
March - Saint Patrick's Day (oh the green beer!!!)
April – Easter
May – Mothers Day & Memorial Day
June – Fathers Day & My sisters Birthday, Karilynn’s Birthday
July – Independence Day, My mom’s Birthday, Jades Birthday and Pioneer Days (24th)
Sept – Labor Day & My Dad Birthday
Oct – Columbus Day & Halloween
Nov – My birthday, Jack’s Birthday, Veterans Day & Thanksgiving
December – Christmas Eve, My Grandma’s Birthday, Christmas Day & New Years Eve

I stuck some birthday’s in there just to illustrate a point… Everyone knows you can’t “diet” when someone is celebrating a birthday right?!?!? Let me ask you this… how many of you don’t know AT LEAST ONE PERSON who is celebrating this month? I bet if you thought about it, between work, friends and family, you could find at least 1 person each month to celebrate with.

Thus, providing us all with at least 1 day to skip the “diet” and eat cake.

Based on this calendar and the IDEA that holidays prevent us from “dieting”, it looks like the only month that I can “diet” is August because the rest of them are chuck full of good holiday, BBQ & Birthday fun!

COME ON PEOPLE!!! LET’S GET REAL!!!

First of all why are you “dieting” in the first place???
It's like Karilynn said, “Stop dieting and start living”!

As long as you are looking for an excuse to eat like crap and make poor choices you’ll find one! I hate to break it to you all but those holidays and even those birthdays are JUST ONE DAY. So even if you do choose to partake of some good old B B Q fun on the holiday LEAVE IT AT THAT!!! If you worked hard and ate GREAT (not just ok or pretty good, GREAT) six days of the week and ate like total CRAP-OLA one day a week you’d still see results!
It’s SOOOOO easy to get caught up in all of the excuses we give ourselves to make bad choices. It’s so easy to think that you’ll put it off till just after this holiday or that, till tomorrow or Monday. But after every holiday there is someone’s birthday; Tomorrow never comes and Monday you’ll just find another excuse.
(Trust me people I'm preaching to myself here)

Making change starts RIGHT NOW! The next choice you make can be a better one than the last. Don’t beat yourself up for choosing to eat at your family BBQ. Stop telling yourself that because you ate the potato salad you jacked up your “diet” and now you may as well kick back a six pack of beer.
Have potato salad just don’t eat enough for 3 people…
Have a beer but you don’t need a 6 pack.
YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

I CAN DO THIS!!!

We just have to choose to!

6 comments:

Michelle said...

I totally agree. You csan do this. I've come up with all kinds of excuses and holidays are complicated with family gatherings and meals. So I am going to have to remember to put in an extra workout on those days.

Samantha Thomas said...

"Excuses" that is why diets fail. The diet industry thrives on the fact that people make excuses and have to keep coming back. This is a live style change. It's an every day challenge. One day at a time!
Great blog Mindy!

Oh and by the way at the party this Friday I'm loading up on veggies and fruits! ofcourse there will be some other choices like beer bread and such but it's up to you to eat in moderation and I'll be right there with you!

Moi said...

Awesome. What a great attitude. You are fabulous.

Karilynn said...

LOVE THIS!! (As usual!) The choices we make throughout life define us. SO WHO ARE YOU?!!? I don't even do cake and ice cream for my birthday anymore! ;) I don't want to eat it.. so why bother?

youcandoit said...

So first I thought, another Holiday in July? You were not the only one who posted that extra Holiday in July. I thought...do these people live in Canada? Then I read your post..."Pioneer Days". WOW, we don't celebrate Pioneer Days in Texas. So would one say, "Happy Pioneering Day?" Just found that interesting.

And yes, I agree with you, "making changes starts now!". Great post!

Ellura said...

great post - way to put things into perspective! You are very motivating - thanks!

oh yeah, August isn't birthday free - my birthday is in there!!!!! haha