October 14
It’s not just bull****. On the one hand, I may have no intention of following through on some plan and the reason I give myself is purely permission not to. On the other hand, behind every legitimate excuse may be something that really does need to be solved.
Case in point: A client of mine found herself excusing never exercising after having her third child because her three year old and the newborn needed her attention and there was never a free minute. Before you suggest evenings – another cog in the works – her husband worked nights. She didn’t feel that she could take a newborn to the child care at a health club. All reasonable concerns, right? I didn’t really feel qualified to provide solutions because after all, I don’t even have kids, so no matter what seemingly on target suggestion I might make, truth is, I have no idea how it is to be in that position.
Having come to me with lots of extra weight and gestational diabetes with this third pregnancy, she was highly motivated to solve this, and solve it in a way that she could stick with. Ultimately, she bought a treadmill which she put in the kids playroom. She put the newborn in a car seat (jumping on and off the treadmill as needed), plopped the three year old in front of a video, and began her day very early with a 5 mile walk before the older child was even up. She actually continued this through a fourth pregnancy. I am not sure I would have had that kind of dedication. She is now (10 years later) at her goal weight and the thinnest she has been since before her first child. Seems her commitment to find solutions to her very legitimate challenges has paid off.