Having a healthy weight is something that so many of us are already looking forward to and having a healthy weight helps us prevent occurrences of cardiovascular diseases like type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and other diseases like cancer.
So there are mistakes that we make when we are on a weight loss journey and we should understand that losing weight is a process, coming from being obese to having a healthy weight is a process. it will not happen overnight. It’s not something that you will sleep and wake up and it’s already happened.
When we are on this weight loss journey, there are several mistakes that we tend to make that would make the process of weight loss quite long, exhausting, and frustrating and most of us may tend to give up along the way.
Do you make these weight loss mistakes?
1. Exercising too much or not exercising at all.
We all know that the process of weight loss not only involves changing your diet, portion control, or choosing healthier options of foods but also involves exercise.
But when you choose to exercise too much, maybe because you want to have sudden results, fast results, then you may end up losing so much weight than you intended to and also the muscle weight, you may start to have loose skin and it may not be as attractive as you may wish.
Also not exercising at all when you’re in this weight loss journey and you expect to have substantial long-lasting results may not be achievable because diet and exercises go hand in hand.
If you want to keep fit, you want to keep your body flexible then exercises will help burn most of the calories that you get from food.
So doing portion controls, choosing healthier options and exercising can bring substantial and long-lasting results and this is the mistake number one that we do not make.
All you need is moderate exercise like thirty minutes of exercise every day just to keep your body flexible and fit and to also burn the calories that you get from food.
2. Low-fat processed foods.
When we go to the supermarket, most of us always go to the nutrition information section.
A long time ago, people just used to pick items from the supermarket as long as they appear cheap or attractive, they just buy.
But today people have grown into looking at the nutrition information section and then when you come across the low-fat tag, sugar-free, no carbs, we tend to buy that food and when you are on a weight loss journey, you find such products very attractive.
So what you may not know is that as much as that food can be low fat, it may not mention that it contains added sugar, so your worry should not only be biased towards the fat, but we also think about the sugar.
What this means is, it doesn’t help when you buy low-fat food but end up eating too much of it. alright, it’s low fat, but you’re eating too much of it, does it help?
That is why we always encourage complex carbohydrates, naturally produced foods, and organic foods, rather than over-processed foods. So if you eat more naturally, and foods like fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, that should be more helpful than eating processed foods with very attractive tags.
3. Carbonated drinks.
Most of us always love carbonated drinks, However, when you’re on a weight loss journey, this is something you really need to avoid.
Carbonated drinks do contain lots of sugar. So when you’re trying to lose weight, sugar is one of the things you really need to cut off, because when sugar gets into your body, it gets broken down.
When you eat too much the excess gets stored as fat in the fatty cells of your body and therefore you might have a very hard time losing most of that weight.
So carbonated drinks as attractive as they come are something that you would need to avoid and maybe prefer more naturally produced fruits like blending them yourselves or eating the whole fruit because eating the whole food can also give you more and more phytochemicals, minerals, and vitamins and also most importantly, fiber,
Dietary fiber is important for weight loss because fiber gives you satiety and when you have satiety, that means there is going to be less snacking and when there is less snacking, that means you’re going to be able to stay on track in your weight loss journey.
4. No protein, no dietary fiber.
You want to be on a diet, but your diet does not have proteins or fiber in it. when you are on a weight loss journey, you need to have proteins in your diet.
You need to have foods giving you fiber in your diet and that is why we encourage low carbohydrates. yes, but from form complex sources we encourage complex carbohydrates because of the fiber.
Fiber is very important. We want you to have high protein from both animal sources and plant sources because plant-source proteins also contain additional fiber, they contain vitamins, and minerals that are essential for your health, and also animal source proteins may provide additional vitamins like vitamin b12, which are also important.
So do not get into a weight loss plan that limits proteins or limits dietary fiber. This is crucial for your weight loss and it’s a common mistake we make.
We want to be on low everything, low carbohydrates, low protein and we end up missing so many nutrients and even might go into nutrient deficiencies.
5. Eating too much too often.
We’ve said we are trying to reduce the amount of calories you are taking. we are trying to burn most of that calorie. that is why we are talking about diet and exercising working together.
So overeating will definitely take you two steps behind because we are going to take in so much food and most of it is going to be stored as fat.
Too often we are talking about frequency. when you’re eating a certain food too often and having sugar items too often, the possibility of weight gain is inevitable.
You want to reduce the amount of food you take, that is the potion control. you have to master the methods of potion control. we have the hand guide method and the plate method where half of your plate contains vegetables for the good vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, a quarter of your plate for the carbohydrates, and the other quarter for proteins.
This is a very simple guide that can help you know portion control without problems. We are talking about frequency because you do not want to be eating too often than you should.
After all, when you include fibre in your diet, then you are going to be able to reduce the amount of snacking.
So how about you, have your three main meals, maybe your breakfast, your lunch and then your dinner, and have healthy snacks in between them, like a glass of milk, a fruit, that way you can stay away from snacking.
6. Low carbohydrate, but too much fat.
We’ve already said that having a low carbohydrate diet helps a big deal in weight loss because you know carbohydrates are the first source of energy for your body.
When you eat too much of them, the excess becomes fat. Does it help that you’re eating too much fat? no, fat gives the most calories compared to carbohydrates and protein.
Let’s think about the amount of fat that we eat, during cooking, fried foods, like french fries, we will be able to maintain good progress and get long-lasting results.
So these are some of the common mistakes that we do make when we are on a weight loss journey. we want to focus on these mistakes because it’s through these mistakes that we can make resolutions and get back on track and lose a few pounds by the end of the year.
