| There may be small errors that are preventing you from losing weight - some that you don't even realize. See if you have fallen into one of these traps and get some great tips on how to change! |
How often have you gone on a diet, thought you were doing everything right, only to step on the scale at the end of the week and find out that despite all your efforts, the needle hasn't budged? Nothing is more frustration.
There may be small errors that you are making though that are preventing you from losing weight - ones that you don't even realize. Getting on track to fixing those problems should get the weight loss moving again and you reaching your target goal weight.
Seven Reasons
Why You Might Not Be Losing Weight
Have a look over these seven factors and see if you are guilty of committing any of them. If so, don't panic, just adjust your actions and carry on. Before you know it you'll be right where you want to be.
1. You Starve Yourself Only To Compensate Later:
Some people often think that by having a light breakfast and lunch they will be doing themselves a favour since their total daily calorie intake will be lower.
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While it is true that you obviously need to consume fewer calories over the day if you want to lose weight, doing it with this approach is only going to set you up for a late night binge. Rather, spread your calories out over the entire day, making night-time meals the same as lunch and breakfast.
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Spread Your Calories Out Over The Entire Day.
If anything you should reverse the meals so that breakfast is your biggest meal of the day since you will have lots of time throughout the day to utilize the energy you consume at this meal. If you must have a late night snack, simply calculate that into your day so you have planned for it. Obviously it likely cannot contain 500 calories but in most diets there is definitely room for 100-200 calories before bed.
2. You Don't Have A Set Place To Eat:
You eat at the counter; you eat at the sink; you eat in the bedroom and if you're like most Americans, you likely eat in the car too. The problem with doing this is that it makes it a lot harder to monitor how much you are really eating.
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You Likely Eat In The Car Too.
Sure those few bites of your child's left-over sandwich that you crammed in while doing the dishes and cleaning up from their school lunch may not seem like that big of a deal, but at around 100-200 calories a pop, over the course of two weeks, you could be looking at a full pound weight gain!
Calories:
It's that easy for the weight to add up if you are not careful. So choose one place in your house to eat and eat there and only there (this will likely be the table). Doing so will force you to pay more attention to what you are eating and prevent you from eating for reasons other than hunger.
Try and concentrate only on your food while eating as well, rather than say reading a book, to further enhance keeping the eating process at the front of your awareness.
3. You Aren't Getting Enough Protein:
Protein is essential for proper functioning. You likely already understand this and know it deserves a place in your diet. What some people forget to realize though is that eating slightly higher protein diets can actually aid in weight loss. The reason behind this is because the body uses energy whenever it digests food.
Protein:
Protein happens to require the most energy for the digestion process so your total net calories will be lower. Because of this, assuming you are eating the same amount of food, when you eat more protein over carbohydrates and fat, your body will actually be taking in fewer calories.
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4. You Are Afraid Of Fat:
Fat phobia? It's a fairly common thing. When someone says high-fat foods, they often think fast food, chips, chocolate bars, ice cream and other snack foods of the like.
You need to change this thinking and rather view high-fat foods as things like nuts, olive oil, avocado's, and fatty fish. These foods are all very good choices to consume on a daily basis.
You must get fat into your diet, not only to maintain healthy skin, hair and body functioning but also because it keeps you feeling fuller for a longer period of time. Staying full means less eating later on, less calories consumed and more weight loss for you! All because you decided fat really wasn't all that evil.
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5. You Can't Remember What You've Eaten:
Similar to the concept about not having a designated place where you are going to eat, forgetting what you have eaten earlier that day can also lead to weight gain. Furthermore, often people do not "remember" any of the beverage calories they have consumed and in this day and age, beverages can add up.
It's not uncommon for some of those fancy coffee or smoothie drinks to total upwards of 400 calories so not accounting for this in your daily intake is not going to work in your favour. This is another reason why food journaling is a very good idea for anyone who is thinking of going on a weight loss plan.
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Can't Stop Drinking Coffee In The Morning.
I work full time, and get into work roughly 9.30am every day. First thing I do is get a coffee (Cappuccino if I got some time). But then, sadly, this ties me over until Lunch (12 midday).
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6. You Don't Have A Set Eating Schedule:
Generally speaking, most people are going to do better on a diet when they have a set schedule that they eat around. This means planning out what times of the day you are going to eat and hopefully even going as far as planning out the exact foods. If you can do that and are also able to track how many calories are in the food you are consuming, dieting is an easy game.
You can simply adjust the amount you are eating based on the real world results you are seeing. If you are losing great, if not you need to eat less (to an extent, using a very low calorie diet will likely cause your metabolism to slow significantly).
Metabolism:
Have a set schedule so you aren't letting yourself become overly hungry at any point in time since you should be evenly spacing your meals and snacks 3-4 hours apart.
7. You Associate Eating With Other Activities:
This is perhaps the biggest problem that people have. Not only are they becoming more sedentary, but often their sedentary activities are coupled with periods of eating. More often than not, as soon as they settle in for their favourite show, their favourite food comes right along.
Breaking this connection is a very hard process once the habit is made. For some people it won't be the TV but might be surfing the Internet or reading a book. Whatever you love to do, if you associate food with this hobby, you are in for trouble. This is yet another reason why it is good to have one designated area for eating (preferably NOT your couch) and stick to it.
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You Better Not Be Eating While You Read This.
Conclusion
So make sure you are not guilty of any of those things if you are having trouble losing weight at the moment. If you are, don't fret about it, just change it. As long as you learn from the mistakes you make there is good hope for your future that it will no longer be an issue for you.
berryblis@hotmail.com
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