As Ive said many times, I hear every excuse in the book from people that dont exercise. I dont have the time. I dont like the gym I belong to. Who wants to watch tan muscle heads flex their muscles in front of the mirror for two hours? Blah, blah, blah. Whats my response to all of these excuses? Well, theres an easy weight loss alternative. Read on. Recently, a weight-loss client of mine came for his first appointment and sure enough the excuses followed him right into my office. But I put him in his place alright. I told him how it was. Heres what I said: Well John, I dont want you to go to the gym; Forget about it; Gyms are useless; I dont like the gym either. Puzzled, he looked at me and said, are you being serious. My response was, John, you have your very own gym right at your doorstep. There are no muscle heads there, there is no equipment that can break and you dont have to drive 15 minutes to get there. Its called the street. He was speechless.

Well folks, thats all there is to it. If you are overweight and you dont like your gym, you dont like fake-baked muscle heads, or your treadmill is broken, then put on your sneakers and head out the front door. Theres certainly no shortage of paved roadways in our country. What do you have to say about that? Can you still come up with any worthwhile excuses? I dont want to hear that its too cold out. Thats what hats and gloves are for. I dont want to hear that its too hot and humid; I was out there this morning in this heat and so were other people. Easy weight loss is righht at your doorstep. Dont get me started.

Excuses are nothing more than defense mechanisms. They are our minds way of protecting us from doing the things that we dont find very pleasurable. A kid who doesnt do his homework is a good example. Why do you think he avoids it? Because he doesnt like it, so he keeps putting it off.

Eventually the repercussions follow when he gets his report card, and trust me the excuses are not far behind. The same holds true for you. You dont really like to exercise, but you pay the price in the long run when your doctor gives you a poor bill of health or your favorite jeans no longer fit. But somehow you still come up with excuses.

Now what about the kid who does do his homework and is rewarded with good grades? Bingo. He continues this pattern, does well in school, starts to crave success and eventually gets into the college of his choice. Excuses just arent part of his repertoire. And the same will hold true for you once you get on track with exercise. When you sit down, acknowledge the excuses youre making and put them in perspective, then you will see the light. What I want you to do right now is write down every excuse you make for not taking care of your body and your health; for not exercising. STOP reading for a moment and start writing.

Well, what did you come up with? Whatever it is, I dont want to hear it. You heard me. There are plenty of people out there who have far less time then you do, cant afford a gym membership, dont own a treadmill, have worse aches and pains than you do but somehow manage to squeeze in a 30 minute jog or walk every day. Thats because their health is important to them, how they look and feel is important to them. And guess what, you have every ability that they have. We all have the ability to create easy weight loss for ourselves.

Now that you are fully aware that there is a well-paved street right out your front door and cant possibly have an excuse for that, dont you think its time to squeeze in some good old-fashioned, fat burning cardiovascular exercise? I want you to look at your list and think long and hard about what Im saying. If something doesnt click in your brain when youre done, then make sure you have good health insurance because youre going to need it.