Updated

It's easy to make excuses when its time to get back into shape, especially when it means having to change your ways. Weight loss coach Charles D'Angelo refutes the 10 most common excuses:

1. I don’t have the time. We all have the same number of hours in the day; it's what you choose to do with them.

2. It’s not a celebration without food. Celebrations are about being around your friends and loved ones at a special time. Using unhealthy foods to celebrate leads to less time with loved ones in the future.

3. We’re all overweight in my family.Two-thirds of the nation is overweight. That doesn't mean you or anyone else should be or has to be. It's our habits that decide whether or not we are overweight — not our family and not even our own history.

4. I’m embarrassed to go to the gym.People at the gym are looking at themselves, not you. They're at the gym to better themselves — just like you want to do. In fact, you may find that some of those people you're afraid of at the gym used to be just like you.

5. I’ve been this way for so long, I don’t know how to start.What better time to learn? You don't need to know how to start. There is no lack of information out there. Just follow a plan. As time goes on, you'll learn more about how to stay fit and thin, and it will become second nature to you.

6. I can't give up sweets or soda. Food is meant to fuel our lives.It is not meant to be our lives. Sweets and soda are not food. When you start eating nutritious foods more regularly, you’ll find that sweets and soda have less of a hold on you and may even begin to be distasteful.

7. I’ll have to starve myself.Starvation is hard! Not only that, it's counterproductive! The way to success in permanent weight loss is not to starve, but instead to feed your body the nourishing foods it deserves.

8. I always eventually fall of the wagon, slip up and lose my way.If you’re the type of person who cannot have one serving of certain unhealthy food without bingeing or otherwise going off the plan, then do not have even a taste of those trigger foods.

9. Food makes me happy.It seems to me the food you've been choosing actually makes you unhappy. Learning to find other outlets for enjoyment will free you from your bondage to unhealthy foods.

10. I’ve tried this before and it didn’t work.No, you haven't. You may have tried a diet before or even 20 diets before. But you haven't been at this exact point in your life — the point where you're ready to succeed.