The No More Excuses Diet (54 page)

Maybe waking up an hour earlier is tough. Perhaps incorporating more protein into your meals is not easy. Oftentimes, things don’t go as planned; children get sick and all of a sudden avoiding your favorite dessert or a cold can of beer can be difficult. However, if you can meet these challenges by adapting your solutions, substituting your favorite meals, and staying focused on your long-term goals, you can win this No More Excuses game.

Keep in mind that your program can be changed at any time. If you notice you clock in only 3 miles a week, thereby failing your 10-mile weekly goal, change that goal to 5 miles until you master that distance. Adapt and adjust according to your challenge. Change, whether good or bad, is hard for anyone to deal with, but the faster you adapt to these changes, the sooner you can see your
success.

Losing weight is not only a science but also a math equation. If your goal is to lose 50 pounds, focus on losing 10 pounds five times. If your goal is to run a 5K race, run an extra 2 kilometers every couple weeks until you meet your goal. That is, whenever you set a long-term goal, it is helpful to break down the steps to achieve it, setting a series of intermediate goals. So what is the very first step that will lead you toward the next step? Keep your eye on the achievable prize. If you focus on what you can do, versus what you can’t yet do, then you open yourself up to the possibility of achieving that grander goal.

Let’s consider another example. At his heaviest, Eli Sapharti weighed nearly 300 pounds. Every day he smoked two packs of cigarettes and drank two liters of soda. In 2008, he had high blood pressure, aching joints, severe anxiety, panic attacks, and constant fatigue. In addition to his physical symptoms, emotionally he was drained and in the process of ending his eighteen-year-long marriage.

One day, he received a wake-up call when a salesclerk told him he was “really good-looking for an overweight guy.” That comment and the obese reflection that stared back at him in the mirror made him realize that he did, in fact, look much older than his 38 years. Unlike the quick fixes and fad diets he had unsuccessfully tried in the past, Eli decided to escape his downward spiral and seek long-term results by taking each day one step at a time.

By celebrating his small victories he lost more than 100 pounds, stopped smoking, and replaced his fizzy-drink intake with water. Today, Eli runs, weight-trains, and follows a healthy diet of lean protein, whole grains, vegetables, and other foods in moderation. He is now 180 pounds with 10 percent body fat. He even found love again and is set to marry later this year.

It’s easy to perform tasks when you are motivated and inspired, whether it’s being on a strict diet, vowing yourself in marriage, or working for a corporation. What really measures your level of commitment is putting in an effort when you have no desire. What do you do when you’re on your third day of eating unhealthy and have already missed a week of workouts? How do you do when the scale hasn’t budged and you have even gained weight? How do you react when your spouse puts you down or your boss adds more work to your already stress-filled job? What do you do when the last thing you want to do is put on your athletic shoes and work out?

You go work out. You work out even though every fiber of your being is saying “No, don’t do it.” You do it. You get it done. Even if it’s just 20 minutes, you do something progressive that’s for you, for your health, and for your self-confidence. Think about those small victories and count your action plan backward, realizing that the small decision to follow through today is what will lead you to the next big victory. Disciplining your mind and forcing it to perform actions it doesn’t want to perform is power gained. The ability to zero in on your long-term mission and
focus on getting a task done, despite your desire not to, will deepen your resolve and destiny will be determined by you.

When someone goes on a diet, the first thing that person thinks about is all the things he or she can’t do. He can’t eat the normal, unhealthy foods he enjoys. She can’t sit and watch endless TV. But there can be No More Excuses! Nobody likes restrictions; after all, limitations usually make people want to break them. So don’t think about limitations.

Don’t think about the foods you can’t eat or the things you can’t do because you have committed yourself to working out that evening. Think instead about all the foods you can choose from. Think about all the things you can do once you build your strength and endurance. Think about being confident, feeling beautiful, and knowing that you are living an intentional life. You aren’t restricted, limited, or constrained—you are consciously choosing the harder route because you desire a bigger reward.

Freedom is the ability to choose your actions and not be limited by food addictions, peer pressure, or an uncomfortable physique. Every day you must remind yourself that this new journey is not something you have to do, it’s something you want to do. It’s your
choice.

It’s much easier to live an involuntary life, during which you wake at the same time, drive the same route, eat the same foods, watch the same shows, and get stressed, depressed, and distressed over life’s uncontrollable events. You can either continue what you’ve always been doing and get what you’ve been getting, or you can change your routine and achieve a different result. When you live a mediocre existence, you aren’t trying—you’re not striving, you’re just surviving. You’re getting by, getting through, and getting old in the process.

If you desire something greater for yourself, then you have to stop the routine. You have to wake up! You have to get uncomfortable because the only way to grow is to become challenged. Once the thought of greatness enters your mind, though, be prepared for a shock. You will discover your favorite coffee drink takes up the majority of your allotted daily calories. You will uncover supposed friends who are unsupportive of your efforts. You will realize pieces of yourself that are weak, fragile, and easily tempted.

Don’t feel frustrated by this process. While complacency seemingly feels like the easier route, living an unfulfilled, unhealthy, and unrealized life is much harder. You are much greater than this moment. Ten years from now, you will regret not completing this challenge.

Maria Romey lost 40 pounds in four months after she saw an unflattering picture of herself in a bridesmaid’s gown at her friend’s wedding. She knew her weight was creeping up, and while her mother made small jabs about her growing size, she didn’t care. She was enjoying carefree dinners with friends, drinks with coworkers, and late-night pizzas with her long-term boyfriend. She was comfortable with her lifestyle and complacent about her physical goals—that is, of course, until she saw that picture.

She began taking dance classes and learned how to strength-train.
She slowly altered her diet and created supportive friendships. Looking back, she realized that she didn’t have an excuse for being overweight. Her “excuse” was that she didn’t care about living a healthy lifestyle. She was comfortable with her routine and didn’t desire to change because most friends enabled her unhealthy habits. It wasn’t until she became critical of her body in that bridesmaid’s dress that she felt truly uncomfortable and sought to create change.

You will risk a lot in this No More Excuses journey. You will reorganize and prioritize your life. You will apply more effort toward realizing your dreams, and in the process, you will exert more energy in planning healthy meals and making time for exercise. You may lose peers who saw you as the eating-out buddy, the drinking comrade, or the partying pal. You will sacrifice your time, your resources, and your friendships at some point, but know that it won’t be forever.

There is an end to your current destination, so if you feel overwhelmed by the sacrifices, know that once you reach your resolution, your program will
change.
You will always strive, but your striving will get easier. It will shift in different directions. Don’t feel defeated by the moment; realize that this sacrifice occurs for a positive long-term effect. When you find purpose in your pain, you will feel better about those seemingly hard choices you make today.

The first step you take in this No More Excuses journey is to examine your
perception. What do you see? What kind of success do you want? Who do you want to become? How long do you want to live? You must
perceive
your success as realizable in order to start believing in it. Once you start believing in yourself and your abilities, this journey will unveil opportunities to make it happen.

You absolutely cannot achieve something if you do not see it and believe it first. If you’re feeling doubtful or insecure, then develop that “mental muscle” now. Your mind will fluctuate; sometimes you’ll feel defeated, other times you’ll feel accomplished; sometimes you’ll feel tired, other times you’ll feel energetic. Regardless of what peak or valley you’re hitting on this journey, you have to always believe in your strength and ability to conquer. Achievement begins and ends with the mind.

I met Alma Gutiérrez at a park during one of my No Excuse Mom meet-ups. She was a nanny of two young boys, and I asked her to join us. Initially she declined, later admitting that she was uncomfortable, insecure, and didn’t feel “fit” enough to exercise with us. She soon became a regular attendee, though, writing down her food intake and running daily. This was a big step for her self-esteem because she was always the heavier daughter among her six sisters. For most of her life Alma believed she was genetically inclined to be heavy. When she started believing in her ability to change her physique, though, she began achieving incredible results, losing 30 pounds in just three months.

How much effort can you make to live this life? Can you hold your plank a little longer? Can you lift a little more? If you perceive all exertion on a scale of 1 to 10, then when you’re near the top—at level 9—try to do 3 percent more. That is, can you do three more push-ups, run 3 minutes longer, or do three extra burpees? That little effort—that small percentage added to what you perceive as your top ability—makes you stronger. Three minutes is a commercial break. It’s a stoplight! It’s a short moment in time when you challenged yourself and invested in a long-term vision.

If you live each day properly challenging yourself so that you’re not overexerting your efforts but incrementally adding that 3 percent
ability, you can grow without undue strain. In any race, the difference between first and second place is a small percentage; so, too, is the extra effort to be made in pushing beyond a weight-loss plateau. Push yourself, challenge yourself, and amaze yourself by reaching a perceived level of 9 and then going beyond what you believed your body could do.

Have you ever won a contest, participated in a race, taken a vacation, or attended an event, only to feel a little let down at the end? It’s common to feel a small bout of depression after a big accomplishment, because all of your mental and physical efforts were used to prepare for that accomplishment and then it’s over. While it was engaging, challenging, and frustrating, it was a
focused effort that created a desired result, which was rewarding.

When you focus on your strengths, you become at “
flow” with your life. Flow is when you are immersed in an activity and your engagement eliminates the time spent. While you are challenged, the effort makes you happy, an observation developed by positive psychologist
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Like playing a board game, working out, or cooking meals, the efforts involved when you are active (versus passive, like watching TV) make you feel both lost in and engaged with the process. For instance, you often hear that happiness is in the travel, not in the destination.

Whether you realize it or not now, the discipline, dedication, desire, faith, focus, and effort you put into staying on course make you mentally, physically, and spiritually better. You will uncover your strengths, recognize your weaknesses, work toward realizing your goals, and keep your eye on your prize. The ability to master your mind will unlock endless future goals beyond your current endeavors. The strive to attain self-mastery is making you stronger, happier, and wiser.

PART 4

S
peculate

C
elebrate

O
perate

R
ejuvenate

E
valuate