But the one he hears over and over again is: "I don't have time."

People say they don't have time to exercise. They don't have time to grocery shop and cook healthful meals. They don't have time to eat right. They don't have time to think about their weight.

"It doesn't matter who they are, they are convinced they don't have time," says Phillips, 45, author of the 1999 best-seller Body-for-Life and his new book, titled Transformation.

Phillips has been helping people lose weight and shape up for 20 years.

"What I teach people," he says, "is that one great reason for getting healthy overrides a dozen excuses."

The motivation for giving up your excuses is often right in front of your nose. For many people, it's as obvious as wanting to stay healthy for their spouse, kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews and themselves, Phillips says.

Some may have medical fears, such as diabetes or heart disease, or they may be approaching a landmark birthday such as their 50th, says Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian in Chicago and author of The Flexitarian Diet.

The people who are most successful at changing their lives don't want to be the victim of their own excuses anymore and decide to take immediate action — even simple things, such as drinking water instead of regular soda, getting up earlier to walk and using the nutrition information from their favorite restaurants, she says.

Phillips says when you give up your excuses, you take responsibility for your own life. "Most every transformation I've witnessed over the years was preceded by a dramatic increase of self-responsibility." Individuals have to accept the fact that they need to "pilot" their own lives, he says.

Instead of using lack of time as an excuse, people have to schedule the time they need to exercise and cook healthful meals, just as they schedule a doctor's appointment, business meeting or lunch with a friend, he says. "There's always an opportunity to make time."

Blatner says excuses can be overcome by thinking about them in a new way.

For instance, take the excuse that you don't have time to exercise.

Think instead: It's possible to walk 10 minutes several times a day.

Or take the excuse that you don't have time to cook.

Think instead: It doesn't take that much skill, fancy recipes or a lot of time to put together a quick, healthful meal such as barbecue chicken, a whole-grain bun and a simple salad, Blatner says.

"You just have to get back to basics with real food."