I will start my diet when the time is right!
Ah yes … when the time is right. Tell me, when IS that exactly? Is there a perfect time? Well, perhaps, sometimes, occasionally, just by chance … something happens at ‘the’ perfect time – but meanwhile, just how much time are you wasting while waiting for yours? Read through this little story and you will realise just how pointless it is to sit and wait for that ‘perfect time’. It’s a brilliant eye opener and needs to be shared (all credit to Weight Watchers who use this regularly in meetings).
In reality, if you’ve got targets to hit and/or dreams to chase then the only time to start chasing them is right now. And when it comes to weight loss goals, the only perfect time there is is right now! Own up! How many times have you decided to diet (ugh – what a ghastly word!) – but no point starting Easter week – or before your birthday – or until after the weekend? Anything there ringing true? Let’s face it – if that’s the case then you don’t really REALLY want to lose weight, do you? Because you’re waiting for some ‘perfect time’ to come along – in which case you’d best go hide in a little bubble on another planet where there is no ‘reality’ – because there are only 365 days in a year, of which 104 are weekend days and one can’t diet at weekends, can one?? That leaves 261 days to diet. But weekends start on Friday, don’t they? Well, that’s another 52 days gone. Never mind – still another 209 days to lose weight – except for your wedding anniversary (God forbid you should ‘diet’ on your anniversary!!) – or Christmas and New Year! Impossible, right? And with parties etc. etc. Christmas and New Year basically last a month – and Easter takes up another week but hey, still 170 days to lose that target of a stone/2 stone/3 stone …
Oops! Hang on! Bank holiday coming up … best wait till that’s over, then … (another 8 days lost) … and I am sooooooooooooooooooo not going to diet while I’m on holiday (besides, hols only take up four weeks out of every year – that’s not much!) … (134 days left)!
PAHAHAHAHA You think I’m going to lose any weight when it’s ‘that time of the month?’ DON’T BE RIDICULOUS!!! And in case you haven’t added that up, ‘those’ days come to roughly 84!!!
Holy crap – only 50 days left!
Ten days of birthdays (at least) – between family and friends?
And Mother’s Day.
And Father’s Day.
And another 12 days to take into account Halloween, bonfire night, barbecues etc. – eeek!
26 days left.
But I go out AT LEAST 26 nights in a year! What? You think I don’t deserve a social life? I’ll start my diet at the perfect time – when there’s nothing coming up. Oh. Oops.
Yes! Think about that for mo. You’ve just come up with 365 perfectly plausible reasons to put off that diet.
Of course, it’s a slight exaggeration but it’s not massively far from the truth, is it? There really IS an excuse for every single day of the year so if you want to lose weight, quit waiting for a perfect time. It will never happen because you’re alive and ‘life’ happens and weight loss is not about sacrificing 365 days a year. It’s about dealing with them, coping when the going gets tough, living life and enjoying it and simply being the person you want to be.
So don’t put off your weight loss journey because something’s there, around the corner, waiting to sabotage your efforts. The only person who’s going to sabotage anything is YOU. Don’t be afraid. Don’t fear falling. The greatest champions fall. The difference between success and failure is not the number of times you fall but the speed at which you pick yourself back up and carry on. Life is supposed to get in the way. Don’t hide from it or try and push it away. Embrace it, deal with it, find ways around it, challenge it, live it.
The only perfect time to start a journey is RIGHT NOW.