iDiet

[a weight loss story]

kathrynoh at nemesis dot com dot au

::26.8.05::

Friends: A Rant

I have a few things to say about friends: first up I want to get something off my chest that has been annoying the hell out of me lately. You might have experienced it too. I tell you, the next person who tells me they don't have time to exercise is going to cop the biggest ear bashing.

Exercise or don't exercise - I don't care but I also don't want to hear your excuses. I have one friend who works but has no kids and she keeps whinging to me that she wants to exercise but she has no time because she has to do housework. She actually says this with the emphasis as if she is somehow superior to me because I don't have to do housework (I'm not lazy, I just live in a share house where no one does the housework, I mean the house duties are shared). But, screw it, I started this whole lifestyle change while I was living with my son and having to clean a two bedroom house plus cook for him and all that. It was no big deal. She has a partner who is quite the SNAG so she is cleaning half a house that is living in by two adults. If she mentions it again, I might ask her just how filthy they are cos that's a lot of housework.

Lets face it, people can run entire countries and still find time to exercise. People can amass fortunes and still exercise. People can raise a family of small kids and work and still exercise (and that's probably the hardest of all three). It's a question of priorities. Do you want to watch tv or workout? And, lets face it, you can watch Desperate Housewives just as easily while you're walking on the treadmill at the gym as you can at home. Trust me, I used to do it all the time when I didn't have tv.

Somthing else that bugs me is how people react during food discussions. For example, I was having dinner with friends last week and they were talking about the delicious, calorie laden desserts they'd made lately (yeah, one of them was the friend that didn't have time to exercise) and I told them my favourite dessert at the moment was raspberries folded through diet mousse. They groaned and rolled their eyes. I wasn't saying it to make them feel bad about their eating habits but because it is my favourite dessert. And, might I add, much better than microwaved M & Ms (gross, you may as well leave the pack on the dashboard of your car).

You know something, people talk about losing friends as they lose weight (in most cases it's just shedding useless kilos that DON'T show up on the scales anyway, who wants a friend that wants you fat). I can see that the jealous and wanting to keep the status quo is a big issue but I also think that people want friends that validate their behaviour. They want friends that say - yeah, no one has time to go to the gym, or why do you want to lose weight anyway? Have another Kit Kat.

I'd never be rude enough to suggest that my any of my friends should do what I'm doing. If they are happy with their lives then what do I care? But I sure as hell am not going to be an enabler and accept their feeble excuses.

By the way, I've never said I'm too busy to exercise. Too lazy, yes. I might have many bad qualities but I'm honest with myself.

Edited: cos I meant to add that as well as working full time I also spend a lot of time writing my novel which is a gruelling and time consuming task (plus I have to fit in much web surfing. How the hell can anyone without internet complain about having no time?)

# 10 comments * Post a Comment

I have been following your blog for about a week or so now - please feel free to drop by mine from time to time.

I am having trouble with friends also - although the majority of them are great in their support - the rest - blah!

I get the 'i don't have time' all the time - make time - get up an hour earlier, walk on the spot whilst watching tv - you're right people who run countries have time to exercise - so do we!

Yeah I live alone, but I still manage to walk a minimum of 40 minutes a day, clean my apartment, research for a doctorate, and work part time - i'm not superwoman, but you don't have to be.

I don't usually rant this much - but it's a topic i feel strongly about :)

By Anonymous, at 9:39 pm

**clap clap clap**

Bloody brilliant. I have always openly admitted that laziness helped me get my fat butt and I still have to fight my own excuses but even in my busy life I have time.

And my dessert of choice is half strawberries dipped in the nestle diet choc mousse. Got that off Paulene. Sensational :)

By Margaret, at 10:41 pm

An interview with Adam Savage from Mythbusters
My hilarious pal Steve at The Sneeze has part one of an interview with Adam Savage from the show Mythbusters on Discovery Channel that any fan of the show should check out.
Just looking around and found your blog ... it is a pretty nice one. Mine is still a work
in progress as most of my time goes towards my
href="http://forex.1st-in-earn-extra-income.com/forex-blog/">learn forex trading online related site. After all
href="http://forex.1st-in-earn-extra-income.com/forex-blog/">learn forex trading online and currency trading is my passion...lol!

By Anonymous, at 3:02 am

And there's this new diet fad: spamvertisement on your blog. :P First off, if you want to help prevent this, go to your Blogger settings, and under Comments there should be a Yes/No for allowing word verification. Set that to YES.

Anyway, about "having time." I have heard that too. My favorite way to catch them is when they say that, I'll say, "You could get up earlier." Then they'll whine and/or mumble. What are they really trying to say? They're lazy.

I know this, because I, too, have been down that road. But recently (about 6 weeks ago now) I've started bicycling to work: 5 miles each way on a rolling country road (although some days I feel like I'm climbing the Alps and not a hill). I lost seventeen pounds doing that...then started gaining some back. But it's not from fat. My pants are turning into circus tents, yet I'm gaining weight. Why?

Muscle.

And finally, to wrap things up. When I come in on the mornings that I DON'T bike, I feel like crap for hours. When I DO ride my bike in to work, I feel relaxed and mellow for the entire day (well...until something stressful happens, but I can handle it better).

So to those of you who "don't have the time"... you don't have the time to look better and feel better about yourself? You don't have the time to do something that helps you handle STRESS better? I could go on and on, but now I'm just ranting.

Anyway...thank you for the post. You made your point quite well.

By xanadian, at 3:26 am

Your Blog. It's nice . If you have a traffic issue, I'm sure you'd be interested in business lead generation . There's lots of information about business lead generation stuff.

By Anonymous, at 4:15 am

Thanks for the nice blog - do you want to make
money at home? 5 secrets...

By Anonymous, at 4:26 am

Yes I was just lazy too! Thought I had excuses, but I didn't really. Yum raspberries and choc mousse sounds nice. Who needs all that cream! Not us!

By Suzy, at 7:55 am

Isnt it funny how people react when u mention diet or healthy eating - maybe they all of a sudden feel bad they aren't careful about what they eat & try & make u feel worse? I do believe we should surround ourselves with supportive people when trying to loose weight & if people can't accept you are doing something for you, then they should gret a life! I'm in total agreeance with your rant!

By Kt, at 8:54 am

Woah, go the spam! Damn bots.

Anyway. Great post! I have absolutely been guilty of the "no time" excuse in the past. These days in the more honest mode I find myself in, I definitely know that when I don't do it, it's because I'm being lazy. I can add whatever spin to it I like, but the core truth is laziness.

And it is stupid, anyway. I feel better in myself and about myself when I exercise. But it's so easy to be lazy.

I think what you said about people wanting others to validate their behaviour is spot on. Absolutely.

By jak, at 1:58 pm

Om Malik riffs on the Google OS
Have you seen Epic 2014 ? It's a future history story, nicely done in Flash, that predicts a world where Google's grid redefines everything from computing to the news and entertainment media.

Nice job on your blog! I am book marking your site for future reference.

I have recently created a lifefitness treadmill
site/blog. It pretty much covers lifefitness treadmill related stuff.

Stop by and check it out if you have time.

By Anonymous, at 2:33 pm