You want to lose weight, you think about it every day. You read magazine articles and watch fitness shows on TV. You may have even bought a diet plan or fitness DVD. And yet, it seems to be very difficult to actually shed those troublesome pounds.
Why it this happening?
I think that there are a number of ways in which you may be, inadvertently, sabotaging your own diet. Here are some of the things you need to watch out for.
1. Not starting it
You can buy all the diet plans you want, but until you actually start using them seriously, they will come to nothing. Tomorrow will always seem to be a better time to start exercising and eating right than today is. This is a dangerous illusion. You can postpone the time in which you finally take this first important step toward a better body and improved health indefinitely. You may find months drift by easily.
You need to start in order to reach your goals and the best time to do so TODAY. There is no point in waiting, no reason to procrastinate. You simply have to move forward. From doing nothing you will get nothing.
2. Not working out
You can lose weight without exercising if you eat correctly and you can also lose weight without dieting, as long as you burn a lot of calories through exercising. However, it will be much easier if you combine both.
A lot of people hate exercising, so they try to shed weight just by cutting their calories. This is not the smart way to lose weight. Think of the fat that you need to lose is a candle. You need to burn it all. Watching your diet is like lighting a flame on one end and working out is like lighting a flame at the other. The candle will burn faster when both ends are lit. This is the way to get fast results.
In addition, you may find it hard to cut enough calories to create a big enough calorie deficit for definite results. Working out will help you do that.
3. Overcompensating after a workout
Some people see fast results with their workouts while others seem to be making very little progress. One reason is what happens after the workout is completed. During that first hour after you finish training, you will usually eat something. This is important if you want to build stronger muscles.
The problem is that some people tend to overeat during their post-workout meal. This is called overcompensation and it is a sure way to sabotage your diet. It’s quite easy to eat more calories during your post-workout meal than those you burn during the workout itself. This will not only make weight loss impossible, but weight gain likely.
4. Going for Extreme Methods
The diet world is full of extreme, not to say crazy methods. They may seem good on paper, but they’re either useless or outright dangerous. The cabbage soup diet is an example of a very low calorie diet plan which may deliver short-term results at best while the tapeworm diet is an example of an insane weight loss method that poses a serious health hazard.
There’s nothing wrong with trying to lose weight fast. However, there is a line you mustn’t cross. If you use a diet method which is too extreme you may find that it backfires, leaving you feeling weak, tired, unhealthy, and that any weight loss you do achieve with it is short-lived. It is much better to choose a program which delivers gradual results, but does so in a healthy and sustainable way.
5. Drinking your calories
Weight loss is all about calories and most people fully realize that too much food likely means too many calories as well. However, when it comes to beverages, it seems that there is less awareness. A lot of people sabotage their diets by drinking their calories. They simply don’t think that their drinks may contain a sufficient amount of calories to worry about.
This is a dangerous and false assumption. As I’ve shown in my post on the calories in coffee, there are beverages which contain more than 300 calories per cup. If you consume such drinks on a daily basis, you’ll find it very hard to lose weight.
Alcohol is a special case. Not only do many alcoholic beverages contain a lot of calories, but alcohol itself is detrimental to weight loss. For more on this check out why alcohol makes you gain weight.
The bottom line is that you need to watch what you drink, not just what you eat.
6. Losing patience
You may be aiming to lose 10 pounds in a week and if this doesn’t work you will give up. Unfortunately, weight loss doesn’t work that way. Sometimes it happens fast and at other times it goes slow. You need to have patience. Otherwise, you will likely stop at the first hurdle you come across.
7. Doing It Alone
Weight loss can be hard so it must not be lonely as well. You need to gather your family and friends around you, talk to them about what you’re trying to achieve, and get their support. You will need it. If you’re too shy to let those closest to you help you achieve your goals know that you’re weaker as a result. So, get your family and friends to help you, keep you motivated, and to lend a helping hand when things get tough with your diet.
In Conclusion
I know that once I got over these 7 potential sabotages that I lost weight quickly and easily. I’m sure that you can do the same if you just set your mind to it. Think whether you’re guilty of one of these 7 “sins” and eliminate them from your life. Once you do you will find that it gets much easier to shed pounds fast.