The 7 Biggest Common Weight Loss Mistakes

Almost everyone wants to shed a few pounds, but there are many common weight loss mistakes that would eventually take you back to square one, or even worse, make you gain more weight than your initial weight. To avoid this, there are some changes you can adopt in order to realize your dream. For those who have been trying to attain a healthier weight but the excess pounds aren’t budging, here are the common weight loss mistakes that frustrate your goals and how to avoid them.

Relying on exercise

Although exercise plays an essential role in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and avoiding those extra fats, studies have proven that, if not combined with proper diet, exercise would have a little effect on your weight loss efforts. In fact, most exercise beginners even gain more weight by eating fatty foods to overcompensate the workouts. Most people tend to overestimate the number of calories burned through workouts and overly increase their calorie intake to compensate their workouts.

Going fat-free

Most people tend to check the fat content in food products and look out for ‘low fat’ label to decide whether the food is healthy or not. But choosing low-fat food products may be a big dieting mistake because a number of low-fat foods are very sugary. Remember that there are bad and good fats, hence not all fats are unhealthy for your body. Instead of avoiding fat completely, lower your consumption of saturated fats but consume more monounsaturated fats (which are found in nuts, avocados and olive oil) as studies have proven that it can enhance your weight loss efforts.

Switching to weight loss drinks

Just like the intake of low-fat foods is not the ideal choice for weight loss, taking diet drinks may also hinder the weight loss process, or lead to weight gain. Research has shown that people who consume diet drinks on a daily basis experience greater increase in their waist circumference compared to those who drink none. This is because the artificial sweeteners present in such drinks often increase appetite, and can also slow down brain cells which are responsible for making you feel full.

Hanging up on your weight

Most dieters tend to focus on their weight but this may turn out counterproductive. Your body weight is not a true reflection of your progress as you don’t know how much of this weight is muscle, fat, water and undigested food. Moreover, seeing results you don’t expect can affect your motivation which may eventually make you gain weight. Instead of fixating on your weight, relax and follow your healthy diet, and check other positive diet effects like glowing skin and increased energy levels among other things.

Being too restrictive

Although eating excessively would make you gain more weight, less intake of food is equally wrong. The body would go into starvation mode, if you give it insufficient amount of food, which slows down metabolism and causes the body to accumulate fat and calories. On the same note, it is unrealistic to restrict your daily diet excessively and cut out foods that you like.

Giving up much easily

Many people adopt an all or nothing weight loss approach, meaning one small hurdle can make them abandon their weight loss efforts and give up completely. After all, you have already broken your weight loss diet and eaten chocolate, so you can also eat the full packet! But this is a wrong approach! If you are determined to lose weight, you should not be bogged down by any hurdle (whether big or small). If you get distracted a bit by eating cookies, don’t keep thinking about it. Giving in to temptation once does not mean that you’ll repeat it and that you’ve failed.

Having Too Much Expectation

Although you should start your dieting efforts with a determined and positive mindset, overconfidence and lack of preparedness for those challenges may be a big mistake. Don’t think you are beyond failure; instead, accept that everyone may lack willpower sometimes and try to eliminate the possible temptations. Get rid of chocolates on the cupboards, avoid buying your favorite treats and avoid situations and places that would tempt you to abandon your course. Make the possibilities of breaking the diet as difficult as possible.

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