Bust Your Excuses, Lighten Your Load: 

It doesn’t matter how old you are: If you’ve got a goal, you’ve probably got an excuse for not reaching it.

 

Everyone is strapped for time—young guys because of school, older men for their paychecks—and everyone says they’ll make a change on the same day: tomorrow.

 

Hate to break up the party, Little Orphan Annie, but tomorrow’s here. And two guys on our Belly Off! program—a student and a busy father of three—have laid your time-crunch complaints to waste. They’ve already dropped pounds using our simple program, temptation and time constraints be damned. And they’ve busted some of their own excuses, too.

 

For 18-year old Martin Del Carmen (Belly Off! profile name jbhslineman72), football was his excuse: As a lineman at John Burroughs High School in Burbank, Ca., he was supposed to carry “a little extra baggage.” But now that his senior season’s over, that explanation’s gone stale.

 

“I want to become a firefighter, and I need to be in tremendously good shape for that,” says Del Carmen, who cites another, more familiar reason for wanting to lighten his load: spring break. Either way, he says, “I knew I had to change my bad habits.”

 

He discovered the Belly Off! program in the pages of Men’s Health and found a ready-made New Year’s resolution. The Belly Off! workouts were enough to challenge a guy who has spent some time pushing himself in the weight room—“It surprised me … the Bodyweight 100 left me gasping for air”—and the eating plan fit the time he had. Del Carmen lost 4 pounds in his first week on the program, and another 5 in his second week.

 

Of course, we don’t all have the resilient body and calorie-eviscerating metabolism of a high school senior. Massachusetts software developer Ian Dalton (Belly Off! profile name BlasterDalton) doesn’t have that—or a second to spare: The 39-year-old has three kids aged 7 or younger, a demanding job, and a growing gut he’s dying to get rid of.

 

“It basically comes down to two points: You have to want to do it, and you have to have self-discipline,” Dalton says. He’s incorporated the Belly Off! eating plan into his days for one week, and says the five-times-a-day meal schedule fits in and keeps him fueled.

 

Oh, and it works: In 7 days, he’s lost 4 pounds.

 

Of course, these guys aren’t perfect: They’re regular stiffs like the rest of us, and they’re struggling with the same things any guy trying to lose weight has to wrestle. Here’s how they’re handling temptation, motivation, and urges to quit.

 

On beating temptations:

Dalton’s got a serious sweet tooth—one he thinks he’ll never beat. To stick to a healthy eating plan, he knew he’d have to include some sugar, so he’s plugged it right into his plan.

 

“I have decided to allow myself a small sampling on a daily basis to keep my urges in check,” he says. “I allow myself one block of a dark chocolate Hershey bar—which equates to maybe two Kisses—and that has controlled my urges.”

 

Del Carmen has overcome the high school urge to indulge in fast food and movie theater popcorn with another of Men’s Health’s tricks: choices from our Eat This, Not That! tool.

 

“I try to find something relatively healthy compared to other fast food,” he says. “I’ve eaten out twice in the past 2-and-a-half weeks—a 6-inch sub from Subway, and a chicken fajita pita from Jack in the Box.”

 

When they’ve wanted to quit most:

Del Carmen said his early success, coupled with the renewed temptation of fast food, almost made him feel like he’d done enough. Instead, he refocused on his goals.

 

“But I looked in the mirror and thought, ‘I’m gonna look better than this in 5 more weeks,’” he says.

 

For Dalton, late-night eating has almost thrown him off-track. But a little faith—in himself and in the changes he’s making—has convinced the software man that his body will adjust to his new eating schedule soon.

 

The best feeling so far:

While Ian felt best on the scale, Del Carmen had a rush of goodwill upon returning to school from winter break with less Martin to carry around with his books.

 

“My offensive line coach saw me, looked from head to toe, and asked, ‘Did you not eat during winter break? You look lean,’” the senior says. “I now have some linemen coming up to me asking me how I did it, and I refer them to the Belly Off! program.”

 

Want to try it for yourself? Go to  MensHealth.com/bellyoff and sign up. It’s easy, and thousands of guys are doing it. You could be the next guy we feature on MensHealth.com—or the one who winds up in the pages of a future issue of the magazine.

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