That’s actually the name of a big hit back in the 50’s by the Platters. It’s a song about a guy who is pretending he is o.k., even though his heart is breaking because his girl is gone.  ”The Great Pretender” could also be the title for some of our Body for Life transformations if we’re not careful.

What I’m talking about is self-deceit, and deceiving others as well.
The “Pretender” starts on this course by failing to set meaningful
goals that are lofty but measurable. Then, he settles for
“pretend” goals like “to get hot-looking” or to “be ripped.” These
pretend goals have no ability to move us forward because they can be
whatever we want, and they allow us to just do as little or as much as
we want. They don’t motivate, inspire or propel us towards anything.
They are just a flight of fantasy.

Then, armed with these goals, our pretender begins to fudge right off
the bat.(I’m going to call our pretender “he” just to avoid the awkward
he or she all the way through, but this is not a gender based problem I
assure you!)  He pretends that he “just couldn’t get up” this morning
to hit that first early morning exercise program–even though if he had
been getting up to go to a new job it would have been no problem at
all!

Then, he pretends that he is physically unable to resist the
temptations of food at work. The dead giveaway comes when he writes
that “someone at work brought………(fill in the blank of whatever he
ate)….” He then tells us he couldn’t resist or that he would have
felt out of place if he hadn’t had at least a few bites.

Next, our pretender “struggles with” an invitation to go out after work
with the boys, and of course, that leads to a few beers, and a few
wings, and there goes the evening exercise program!

“No worries,” he proclaims, as Tuesday approaches. “Today is a new day.
I start today!” Of course he doesn’t. Soon enough, our pretender has put together about two days out of three weeks that even remotely resemble a BFL program, and then comes back to the guestbook to assert that, “I guess this doesn’t work for everyone. I’ve done it to the T but I don’t see any changes at all.”  The really sad part of all this is that the pretender has pretended long enough that he actually begins to almost believe that he has done what he said he would.

In the end, not only does the pretender look the same on the outside,
but he much the worse on the inside. That’s because he is paying the
steep price of what BIll Phillips calls “self-perjury,” failing to keep
promises to ourself. What is that price? Sadness, disgust,
anger–sometimes directed inwardly and sometimes outwardly–and ultimately depression and withdrawal.

The solution? Set real goals that are steep but can be measured; set up
a self-discipline and reward system; create some accountability in your
life, and understand that lying to yourself is one of the most
destructive things you can do. You honestly would be better off to not
even start a challenge if that is what you’re going to do.

Please, be brutally honest with yourselves, and don’t accept any of
those excuses that weaken you. This is ONLY twelve weeks, and you ONLY
have to do them one day at a time. Do them to your very best ability,
and at the end, you’ll be amazed. You’ll be stronger physically,
emotionally and spiritually than you’ve ever been. YOU’LL BE TRANSFORMED!