The 10 Biggest Diet Plan Mistakes That Sabotage Your Weight Loss Goals
Just the word “diet” makes us groan inside.
Unsplash/Pablo Merchan Montes Following the right diet plans for effective weight loss is not always easy.
The unknowns that come along with eating healthy, choosing the right foods, not breaking your own rules, and keeping up with a regular exercise routine while also balancing your meals...Yikes!
Trying to manage a healthy lifestyle and nutrition can take some time to get used to. It almost makes you want to say "To heck with it!", right? Who needs a diet plan?
Well, before you throw in the towel, you need to be aware of the various mistakes people make when creating plans that can stand between you and your weight loss.
Knowing these mistakes can serve as a guide to help you avoid the pitfalls and reach your goals. So, keep them in mind and remember to avoid them — it’ll make your life a whole lot easier if you do.
With that said, here are the 10 diet and weight loss mistakes you need to avoid.
1. Following an unsustainable or crash diet
Sustainable does not mean losing weight fast, even if the speedy options might be the diets you want to go for. Those "crash diets" are not only bad for you, but they’re also impossible to stay on.
Those diet plans might help you lose some weight quickly but once you’ve lost the weight, you’ll more than likely turn to your old habits and gain back even more weight.
When you diet to lose weight, changing your lifestyle and choices creates a more sustainable diet that will help you form habits you can stick with for the rest of your life.
2. Skipping breakfast
The statement "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" is based on fact. Breakfast will help keep your body going throughout the day, providing energy that will keep you at the top of your game.
If you want to prevent looking for poor choices later due to hunger pains, be sure to include a protein in the morning.
3. Snacking too much
Often, people forget about the snacks they have had during the day then say things like, "I don’t know why I don’t lose weight. I eat like a bird!"
More than likely, the "bird" choked down a candy bar in the middle of the day and followed it with a carb-loaded muffin in the afternoon.
If this sounds like you, try keeping a food journal and write down everything that enters your mouth until you see a pattern emerge.
4. Going overboard with low-fat foods
It’s easy to feel safe eating low-fat foods but when you double the intake of food that has half the calories, you’re still eating just as much.
Keep serving size in mind with all snacks and meals so that you don’t end up going over and don’t forget to check for sugar content — low fat and fat-free foods are notorious for overdoing the sugar to make them taste better.
5. Drinking sugary drinks
Sipping on alcoholic drinks, sugary coffees, and sodas can end up costing you hundreds of calories a day.
They are often full of sodium and sugar which can lead to feeling bloated and worn out, with another pound or two packed on at the end of the day.
6. Avoiding water
When you avoid water, you end up gaining more weight. Water is essential to the way your overall body functions and without having a good amount of it in your system, your metabolism will lag and you’ll feel more fatigued.
Drink at least eight glasses a day to feel your best. Most people mistake hunger with thirst. It is recommended you drink half your body weight in ounces.
So, if you weigh 160lbs you need to be drinking at least 80 ounces of water a day. If you want to jazz up your water, add some lemon or cucumber slices for a super refreshing twist.
7. Avoiding dairy products
Many people find that dairy products are bad for you when you are on a diet. However, ditching them completely isn’t a good idea.
Dairy provides much-needed calcium and will boost your metabolism as well. If you are lactose intolerant, you may want to avoid all dairy and supplement your calcium through vegetables like broccoli or taking isotonic capable supplements.
8. Eating fast food
Drive through meals may be inexpensive quick fixes but they are extremely unhealthy.
Forget the french fries, fried chicken, burgers, and buns. Avoid them at all costs and if you have to go to a fast-food eatery, just make sure to choose the healthiest possible options, like a salad.
9. Constantly weighing yourself
Constantly weighing in and expecting to see significant results are a great way to drive you crazy. Avoid this madness and stop torturing yourself waiting for results.
Instead, just look at yourself and think about how much better you feel and how great you look once you fit into something besides stretchy pants.
Pay attention to the feeling of being bloated dissipating, your clothes fitting looser and watch the inches disappear.
10. Having unrealistic expectations
It can be easy to expect to reach your goal in a month but this isn’t going to happen. You didn’t gain it all in one month. It took years as you progressively gained 5-10lbs.
So, realistically, give yourself some time. Make sure that you set realistic goals in order to stay positive. A great way to do this is to set frequent short-term goals and then turn them into reality.
Real change takes a while but you’ll start to feel better almost immediately if you stick with healthy diet plans.
Lisa Lieberman-Wang is the creator of Neurological Associative Programming (NAP), Licensed NLP Practitioner and a relationship & emotional health breakthrough expert specializing in disordered eating. Contact her on Fine to Fab.