By Katherine Smith

There are all kinds of reasons we give for why we settle for an unhealthy lifestyle. Here’s the thing: They’re all bad. Granted, healthy living is not as easy for some as it is for others. But it is absolutely essential for all.

Consider some of the reasons we give for not sticking to a healthy diet:

• Healthy food is more expensive

• Healthy choices are harder to find

• Healthy eating requires a lot of cooking

These all seem like excellent reasons until we end up with some kind of life-threatening disease which requires a drastic dietary change. Suddenly, the budget opens up for healthy eating. We discover where to find those healthier choices. And cooking becomes much less of a chore than it once was.

The same kind of thing is at play when it comes to proper exercise. We are convinced that our bad excuses are actually good reasons. Here are three of the most popular excuses, why they’re bad, and how you can overcome them:

I Can’t Afford It

Who said you need money to get fit? You can strap on the pair of running shoes you already have in your closet and hit the road to physical fitness before you are done reading this paragraph.

Spending money to achieve higher levels of fitness is always optional. But if you select one of the many options, such as a Fitness 19 gym, you will find plenty of affordable plans that cater to entire families.

You can spend as much or as little as you want. You can choose to take classes from professional instructors, or enjoy a more free-form use of facilities.

We tend to spend money on the things we consider important. If your life depended on a gym membership, you would find the money. It is just a matter of convincing yourself that your health is a budgetary priority. If a loved one were in your condition, you would find a way to pay for their treatment. You only need to love yourself equally as much.

Pain Is Holding Me Back

Regardless of your level of health, good exercise causes a certain amount of discomfort. This is especially true for muscle building. But not all exercise is about muscle building. No pain, no gain may be motivational to a certain type of Neanderthal. But it is scientific nonsense. Exercise doesn’t have to hurt.

Lifehacker points out…..

“This myth has been debunked by doctors, physical therapists, and researchers of all stripes, but it still persists because most people conflate the idea of pushing themselves to work out harder with pain.”

The desire to, and enjoyment of hurting one’s self is called masochism. It is a mental illness, not a useful, athletic trait. If exercise moves from challenging to painful, see your doctor. And get better exercises to do.

Exercise need not be at the level of a professional athlete to be useful. Expecting pain from exercise is the product of bad high-school coaching. Take your favorite NSAID such as Advil, and do the level of exercise you can achieve that does not include pain.

I Don’t Have Time

This is always the trump card that is supposed to end the discussion. It is also the worst of the bunch. You may think that a good exercise regimen takes a lot of time. But the Mayo Clinic begs to differ.

They say it takes about 75 minutes a week of vigorous exercise. That is less than 11 minutes a day. Strength training will cost you two sessions a week with no specific time limit. Whatever you can spare is fine.

How do you find the time? Set your alarm to go off eleven minutes earlier. Take one less detour to Starbucks. Split it up with two minutes here, three there, and so on.

At the end of the day, finding eleven minutes, or eleven dollars, or eleven pain-free exercises is not the problem, and never has been. It is always ever about prioritizing your health. It is either important to you, or it isn’t. Don’t let past failures stand in the way. One saying we all learned as children applies doubly as adults: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.