For the past 5 years, my biggest excuse for remaining overweight has been that I have no time for exercise. This is the same excuse that I used with my husband if he was ever brave enough to bring up the fact that I had gained a “little extra weight,” my mom when she suggested that I consider doing something about those “extra rolls” or a fellow mom when we both complained about why we weren't losing those post-baby pounds. “I'm too tired,” was my standard refrain and it was absolutely true.

All the while I was complaining about not having to exercise, I was eating super unhealthy foods. Loading up on the late night junky dinners, hitting our favourite fast food spots, having the large cokes from McDonalds because gosh- it's the same price as the medium, and hitting those snickers bars hard. It got so bad that anytime my husband picked up some groceries for us, my son would insist that he pick up a candy bar because, “mama always gets one.” Thinking bad, I feel really bad for the example I was setting for my son. He'd see me pull up at the McDonald Drive Thru and he knew my order heart- a large coke please. He even knew how much it cost- $1.08!

You can lose weight without exercise, but you cannot lose weight if your nutrition counteracts your energy expenditure through exercise. -Albert Methany, Founder of SoHo Strength Lab

Sometimes I look back and I feel so sad about the time I wasted making that excuse. I can't work out because I'm too busy, too tired, too something. The reality is that diet is 80% of weight-loss. I remember meeting my nutritionist for the first time and telling her, I feel like I'm overweight because I have no time to exercise. She looked at me very matter-of-factly and said, “No, you're overweight because you have a terrible diet.”

The reality of weight-loss is that it is a lot easier to cut out 700-800 calories from your diet that to try and burn that amount in exercise. Here's a great article that discusses the science of it.

So- if your excuse is that you're too tired to exercise, give that excuse a black eye. If you're overweight and don't have the time or resources to exercise right now, focus on your diet. Cut out the processed foods, the high carb low nutrition meals, the soft drinks, the chips and all that stuff and you'll notice a huge difference. Once you start seeing the number on the scale going down, you'll also start feeling more energetic and have the motivation to exercise.

Remember- always keep going. Don't give up on your health and your wellness.