Why is it hard to start living a healthy lifestyle? 3 excuses that prevent you from doing it

Any change for us is a stress that we need to overcome in order to start living differently. But not everyone manages to get out of their comfort zone. As a rule, we start doing something only when the body is already literally screaming for help. We switch to a proper diet when we can not fit into our favorite jeans, or enroll in the gym when it becomes difficult to climb the stairs.

We recommend that you don’t run yourself down to this, and start doing something useful now. We have collected three popular excuses that prevent us from moving forward, and ways to combat them.

Roman Fedosov

psychologist, business coach, entrepreneur

How to set stunning goals and move towards them?

3 excuses that prevent you from starting to lead a healthy lifestyle

I don’t have time

There’s never enough time, it’s important to allocate it properly. For starters, you can revise your life schedule, eliminate unimportant activities (like watching soap operas) and replace them with healthier habits – proper nutrition, exercise.

I’ll start on Monday

I will start exercising or eating right on Monday or the first of next month. Translated into ordinary language – never.

A healthy lifestyle is hard to start for many reasons. These reasons are all on different psychological levels of the individual, and they are the same reasons that get in the way and serve as excuses for continuing an unhealthy lifestyle. Here are the main ones:

Environment. When everyone around you is leading an unhealthy lifestyle – it is very difficult to stick to your chosen path. Your friends or family members, for example, drink, and you want to. Or “everyone smokes” on a break, and you also go to smoke, because otherwise there will be no opportunity to rest (who does not smoke, he works) and to fit into the team.

Habits. Habit is second nature. Stress – alcohol. Holidays – alcohol. This kind of scenario becomes a beaten path in the brain that is hard to get off of later.

Choosing who I am. Am I a healthy person or not? Do I love myself or not? Do I enjoy being in a sober, healthy frame of mind or am I eating my traumas and problems at work with dumplings? It’s usually a matter of strategy and having a variety of options for resolving problems. All of these things get in the way of us achieving that goal of living a healthy lifestyle. But they can all be resolved.

Where do you look for the motivation to finally get started?

Psychologist, entrepreneur

Everyone will have their own reason. Someone will see a second chin in a photo, and another will start to feel shortness of breath when walking. Someone will get an outside opinion when you’re angry and want to prove that you’re the best. Sometimes not so good tests can push you to a healthier lifestyle.

The lazy state is reinforced by psychological aspects as well. For example, in order to make an action a habit, new neural chains must be built in the brain. The more often we repeat something, the easier it is for us to do it. If you’ve been waking up at 12:00 a.m. for five years in a row, you’ll find it harder to start running in the morning.

And we’re also constantly driven by our emotions, meaning our sense of self and internal evaluation is directly related to how we feel. It’s hard to start when we often berate ourselves, criticize ourselves, call ourselves names, think we’re not good enough for something. This causes our mood to sour and we don’t want to do anything at all. By giving in to these emotions, we distance ourselves from the values that are important to us: being healthy, beautiful and feeling good.

That’s why it’s worth starting with a positive attitude and working through negative beliefs: be sure to record them in a thought journal. And instead of criticizing yourself, learn to support yourself.

Another good exercise is visualization. Visualize as often as possible that you have already achieved your goals. Create in your imagination a picture of your ideal future so that you have a smile on your face and improve your mood.

Exercise and healthy food give much more benefits than just a pretty reflection in the mirror. It is an energy boost, emotional release, a surge of endorphins, new acquaintances, strength and motivation for accomplishments. Therefore, the phrase “I like myself as it is” is a bit wrong. It is necessary to lead a proper lifestyle first of all for health. Physical activity, clean diet and absence of bad habits have never harmed anyone.