By Dieting is rigid, & will probably become a struggle for most people.
You can be doing all the right things yet experience little or no results for quite a long time. There is a lot of dieting advice online and from many different people. However, it’s hard to know what is the right decision just for you. Perhaps it may take a bit of experimentation to get it right. The truth is, most of us can’t be bothered with anything taking longer than it should. Plus, a lot of us don’t have the staying power to try and fail over and over — because we may never get it right. To start you off, it is probably more ideal to go through what mistakes you could be making than eliminating those things you aren’t sure of. When I took this journey for many years, I made a ton of errors, and that’s why it took as long as it did to work out the root cause — finally. Nevertheless, I hope that some of these can help you bypass frustration and wasted time. I could have saved myself a lot of time.
Six dieting mistakes you could be making & how to overcome them fast
Mistake one: Using fad diets as an option.
Fad diets will always leave you wondering why nothing ever seems to work for you. Perhaps you feel that it’s just your body, or maybe you lack the motivation to see things through. Fortunately, this isn’t always the case. Instead, we have to look at fad diets as being just that — the flash in the pan that took us by surprise but left us with too many unanswered questions without tangible results. Instead of thinking of weight loss as a diet, take it into your life as a plan, one that lasts a lifetime. When you think about it, watching what you eat and exercising is something you work on for life. It’s not easy, but we make it hard on ourselves when we take on the mindset of quick fixes. To lead a healthy life, we must make the right choices day in day out; that’s how we achieve lasting results. Change your mindset towards a lifelong journey in health and longevity, rather than just a weight loss mechanism.
Mistake Two: Being a slave to the scales.
The scales can commonly stay in the same place for a while, despite what lifestyle changes you’ve made. The number on the scales is only one measure of weight change. The scale fluctuations can result from fluids or the amount of food that’s still in your system. Women may experience water retention due to hormonal changes — this is the dramatic change in the weight you see on the scales. Don’t freak out when your weight changes overnight as you get close to having a period. Weight gain is a normal part of the hormonal shifting process. It will resume back in a few days. When you train using weights, muscle mass may increase your scale weight. So that’s another aspect of scale weight to take into consideration. I have chosen to throw my scales out many years ago and judge my weight loss changes by how my clothes fit. Just as they may become tighter when you put on weight — they will become much more lose during the weight loss phase.
Mistake Three: Under and overexercising.
When we’re losing weight, muscle mass and body fat can diminish together along the process. If you aren’t exercising but restricting calories, you’re more likely to lose muscle mass. Losing muscle decrease your metabolic rate. Therefore, it’s better to keep eating a higher protein diet, lifting some weight, and adding cardio to the mix. In addition, the more lean mass you have, the easier it is to lose weight and maintain weight loss.
Mistake Four: Overestimating how many calories you burn during exercise.
So many people fall prey to believing that exercise somehow ignites your metabolism. Although this can happen somewhat, it’s a lot less than we all realise. People also overestimate their proposed efforts when they exercise. The average exercise time is usually 30 minutes to one hour — many people workout for a lot more, even more so when training for an event. Although exercise is essential for all age groups, keeping tabs on how much exercise you do and the calories you burn could be a great accountability strategy. It will give you a better idea of how well you are doing along the caloric deficit journey.
Mistake Five: Eating when you aren’t hungry and too often.
Remember the theory of eating “6 small meals a day” to keep your energy and blood sugar steady? What about the approach of metabolism and hunger prevention? Small meals very often help to regulate this. Well, let me tell you that consuming more calories than what your body needs over days can slowly increase your weight — possibly without you realising it. Forcing yourself to eat breakfast or dinner when you aren’t hungry is very misguided. We don’t automatically lose muscle mass or decrease our metabolism when we skip a meal. Think about the profound results of fasting, which skips a meal every single day. If you miss either breakfast or dinner over a month, the results will be both weight loss and an increase in the efficiency of your metabolism. Do pay attention to your hunger cues. Maybe you could skip breakfast or dinner regularly and see what changes in body composition result from this one shift.
Mistake six: unrealistic expectations too soon.
We all want to lose weight and look fabulous in no time, but the reality is that it takes time and a considerable amount of effort — long term. Our bodies lose weight in either slow or fast increments, according to our genetics. Don’t be so hard on yourself if it takes longer than you had anticipated. My best advice is dieting as a lifestyle change and one that will need effort throughout your life. The frustration of how slow your body may be working can lead to dissatisfaction. Instead, take the time to set practical goals for weight loss in a very healthy and sustainable manner. Life is too short to rush and stress yourself over a naturally slow and progressive stage. Although weight loss can become a frustrating journey at times, it’s essential to stick with the plan long term and try to change our behaviours along the way. It may be frustrating when the weight doesn’t seem to move, but if you keep doing the right things, adhering to a proper nutritional plan and having some fun along the way — it will indeed, make the journey a lot more manageable throughout your life. See weight loss as something we can try our best to take control of, but there may be moments in our lives when we put on or lose weight. Perhaps it’s stress, childbirth or maybe a holiday. Whatever the reason is, transition again towards healthy eating and exercise until you get back to the shape that makes you happy.