What are some lies you used to tell yourself about your weight?

I've been thinking a lot lately about the lies I told myself (and usually believed) about my weight before I got my act together to get healthy before turning 30. I think they've been on my mind because there are several old friends--some of whom are now "health coaches"--who have really started spreading some of the same lies on social media lately. As I creep up on the minus-50 mark, I'm trying to become more aware of these lies so I don't screw up down the road and find myself in the same situation. I think this is a healthy exercise for everyone, too.

Some examples of lies that I told myself:

• "My thyroid made me fat." -- Like most effective lies, there is a nugget of truth here. My sluggish thyroid did affect my weight, but not in the way that most thyroid patients seem to believe. When you ache all over and sleep 11-12 hours a day (just to still be exhausted when you're awake), it can be hard to strike the CICO balance. But that doesn't mean my thyroid unavoidably made me gain weight, nor does it mean my thyroid makes it impossible to lose weight. It might be harder. But it is not impossible. (Fortunately, I have some solid treatment now and no longer sleep and ache like I did before.)

• "I don't have time to sleep AND work out." -- First of all, this is usually not true. A couple of workouts a week can have the cardiovascular benefits that improve health, and activity can come in the form of a walk or doing body weight exercises while you watch The Daily Show. Yes, sleep is important, and I will still choose sleep over a workout if I truly only have the time for one, but I can still CICO without a workout.

• "Counting calories is so much work." -- Not if I'm eating simple, healthy stuff most of the time.

• "Fat doesn't make you fat." -- Again with the nugget of truth thing. SOME fat won't make you fat, but yes, you WILL get fat if you drench your food in olive oil or eat too much avocado.

• "I'm muscular, so I'm not as fat as my weight suggests." -- You really have no idea if this is even remotely true until you've lost a lot of the fat and can see your muscle mass. And even when there is a grain of truth to it (as there was in my case), it didn't make nearly as much of a difference as I told myself it did.

• "I worked out today and probably burned like 800 calories, so this guacamole won't hurt." -- Do you have any idea how hard it is to burn 800 calories through a workout? Don't listen to your heart rate monitors, Apple Watches, FitBits, etc. They LIE. And if you DO manage to burn 700 calories in a workout, you have to do that five times a week--without eating back any of those calories--to achieve one pound of fat loss a week. That's a lot of work. A lot of work. Work out for the health benefits beyond weight loss, and be careful not to eat back your calories. You almost definitely didn't burn nearly as many as you think you did. (And don't forget to subtract out the 75-100 calories that you would have burned anyway if you were being sedentary for that hour.)

I'm sure there are others that I'm not thinking of right now, but I'm anxious to hear yours.

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