If you have ever been snow skiing you know that one wrong move, one glance away or one split second of lost focus may get you in a heap of trouble. The hard part comes trying to stop the slide down the slope. It doesnt take much and the next thing you know, you have hit the bottom only to look up and find yourself wishing you had it to do over again, this time much different and with more focus and preparation.

Have you ever made one slip in your workout program and down you went? Doesnt seem like much at the time, but thats all it takes to get the snowball rolling. You make one little excuse not to exercise, you have one day off the wagon of your eating program and wham! Down you go, slipping and sliding all the way until you bottom out and want to quit. And some of you do quit. All you are looking for is one permission slip, one little fall on a hill and thats it. To hard, not worth the effort why bother any more?

Or you may be the type that says, Well one time is not bad, Ill do it tomorrow. Then tomorrow comes and you have some other stupid reason not to exercise. Before you know it, again, youre looking up at that hill thinking, How did I get here?

Your best defensive in preventing a fall is to not give yourself a permission slip to fall. As far as you should be concerned there is no permission slips handed out. There are no options, there are no slippery slopes. You have signed up, you have purchased a lift ticket for the rest of your life to exercise and eat right. Yes, there will be days that you will fall short of a goal, but that doesnt mean you give yourself permission to do so. Yes, there are days when you need to take a day off physically and mentally those days are necessary, however, making an excuse is much different.

I see it almost daily. People will come up with some reason not to, and some sound really legitimate, then that leads to another and another until they have stopped for good.

I encourage you and challenge you to always be on guard. Once you start down that slippery slope of making excuses not to workout that day, may be the beginning of a long hike back up the mountain.

Greg Ryan

Greg Ryan is a high profile fitness expert and former employee of Kathy Smiths. Body building champion, public speaker and personal trainer to the stars. He is a best selling author of the Changing from the "INSIDE OUT" through real behavior change, smart eating and effective exercising.

Greg also is CEO of two successful weight loss and behavior change companies in Louisville, Kentucky. In his spare time he runs an internet weight loss e-book website.