Admit it: Lame Excuses To Pig Out

Summer is almost here and, ideally, we should all be eating lots of fruits and vegetables and hitting the gym every day. But really, who wants to do all of that work? We’re too busy to focus on eating well. We don’t have enough money to buy healthier foods. Sugary cocktails are too good to pass up after a hard day. The list goes on and on.

By Jessica

The point is, in most situations, we will come up with any excuse possible for eating badly. I’ve seen it happen too many times to count, and I also definitely admit to coming up with some pretty lame excuses myself. So, I’ve compiled a list of the most commonly heard excuses. Maybe the next time you’re about to say one, you’ll think about this and make a healthier choice.

1. “Finals are coming up. I’m stressed. Chocolate makes me feel better.” Yes, finals and the end of the semester do cause a ridic amount of stress, and eating chocolate might ease the pain, but while you’re scarfing down that king-sized Snickers bar, consider this: you could possibly be causing yourself more stress. When finals are over, and you look in the mirror and see that you’ve gained about 10 pounds, you will definitely start stressing about wearing that cute new bikini. Don’t let the stress get to you – chew some gum instead.

2. “The drunk munchies don’t REALLY count.” – Yes. Yes, they do. You might not really remember it happening, but all of those greasy pizza slices and bags of potato chips do add up, especially because it’s late at night. Eating at night is always worse because your body has no chance of working it off before you go to sleep. I know it’s hard to control those cravings when you’ve had a few drinks, but I promise you’ll feel better when you wake up in the morning.

3. “It’s too hard to eat healthy in college.” – I know on my campus, the cheapest food is always the worst for you – cheeseburgers and fries for only $4 while a salad costs $7.50. In tough economic times, it’s easy to give in to the excuse that all you can afford are these fattening meals. You may have less money, but you should be spending that money on the most important things, and healthier foods are definitely one of those. You could even try running to the grocery store once a week and stocking up on some cheaper and healthier foods instead of relying on the campus cafeteria or, more likely, pizza place for your nightly meals. It may be slightly inconvenient, but it’ll be worth it in the end.

4. “It’s just this ONE time. And I deserve a treat!” – Okay, so sometimes you do deserve a little treat. Everyone knows that denying yourself of every unhealthy craving you have only results in binge eating. But that doesn’t mean you can completely give up and give into EVERY craving. First, you’re letting yourself have a few M&M’s. The next thing you know, you’re having macaroni and cheese for dinner – ‘This isn’t so bad. I ate a good breakfast and lunch’. And a few hours after that you’re chugging beer and eating wings and telling yourself that you worked hard this morning – and you deserve it. Treating yourself is a slippery slope, so you gotta stay focused.

5. “It’s cool, I went to the gym this morning.” – Good job on making it to the gym, but it’s completely counterproductive to eat like a pig just because you burned some calories earlier. In order to lose weight, you have to eat healthy AND work out. A few of my friends are constantly going to the gym in groups, coming back and feeling nice and sweaty, and then ruining everything by going out to dinner and eating disgusting amounts of food. When I point out that they basically just worked out for nothing, they come back with “Exercising makes me hungrier!” Okay, then have a healthy snack! Please don’t work your butt off at the gym only to come home and ruin it all with some junk food. It’s a complete waste of your time and energy and also just doesn’t make any sense.

6. “I’m starting my diet tomorrow.” – I have one friend who says this statement at least three times a week. “I’m starting a diet tomorrow, so I have to eat this stuff while I have the chance,” she says, as she eats anything unhealthy in site. Don’t pretend you haven’t done this before. You plan to start your diet on Wednesday, but then you wake up late and end up eating a bacon-egg-and-cheese for breakfast, so you decide to start Thursday. Thursday comes, and you do pretty good during the day, but then you go out and eat everything in your kitchen that night, so you figure you’ll start Friday. But on Friday you go out to lunch with your friends, and you HAVE to have at least three of those breadsticks. The weekend’s here, and you know it’s going to be hard, so you decide you’ll wait until Monday – a fresh start for a new week. Guess what? Putting it off is doing nothing but helping you gain a few extra pounds.