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How to Avoid
Weight Loss Pitfalls
The road to your ideal weight is full of weight loss pitfalls. Don’t use them as an excuse to give up. Falling into a weight loss pitfall now and then may feel disappointing, but it’s part of the process.
Many of these pitfalls we create ourselves. Changing your mindset will solve that problem.
Some pitfalls are just a matter of bad planning and that’s easily revised.
As you start paying attention, you will learn a lot and you will become more and more aware and it’s just a matter of time before you reach your ideal weight.
Most Common Weight Loss Pitfalls
The main reason people fail at losing weight is lack of commitment. They don’t take it seriously. Imagine yourself running a business as you "run" your weight loss, would you have a profitable business? Or, if you are very successful at your job, you can be successful at losing weight as well. When you are committed you will make it work. If it doesn’t work the first time, it will the second or the third. Even if it feels that you are just walking around in circles each time you lose weight and gain it back, that’s not the case. You are moving around upwards in a spiral, each time with more knowledge and becoming more and more aware of what works for you.
Don’t believe it has to be "all-or-nothing"; 100 % eating everything or 100 % sacrifice. You are not supposed to go hungry or not allow yourself any treat at all when you are on a weight loss program. Eat 5-6 times a day so that you don’t feel hungry and have controlled portions of something "naughty", that will stop you from falling into the weight loss pitfall of indulging because you can’t resist it anymore. Being "good" 80 % of the time is fine. Nobody is perfect. We all have our moments. There is no need to put too much pressure on yourself.
Most dieters are impatient, huge weight loss pitfall! We set our expectations too high and want results too fast. Healthy weight loss takes time and studies show that if you lose weight fast you are at greater risk of gaining it all back again. Relax; it’s a good thing that it happens slowly. Measure your progress once a week and if you have been losing weight for a month you know you are on the right track.
Don’t compare yourself to others. We are all different so there is no point in doing this. We easily fall into this weight loss pitfall because the papers and magazines are full of stories of people losing a lot of weight in a short time. Such stuff sells. But when you take a closer look, those people usually were extremely obese to start with. It’s easy to lose a lot of weight in a short time on a very strict program. The tricky part is that you can’t stick to that kind of program for a long time and most people gain the weight back again. So why bother? Focus on your own weight loss program and if the program is realistic it’s just a matter of time before you reach your ideal weight – and keep it off! The issue is not so much on losing weight as keeping it off. You will not see a magazine with the headline: "I kept my new weight for 10 years" though, that won’t sell any copies.
Bad planning can ruin the best intentions. Take some time to plan menus; don’t expect to feel inspired every day. Prepare food so that you just don’t grab what’s in front of you when you get home from work starving. Bring your own healthy snack to work, so that you don’t fall for candy bars and biscuits. And don’t forget breakfast! You have time to eat breakfast; it’s just a matter of planning. The weekend requires a different kind of planning. We have different routines on our free time; take that into consideration when you plan your meals. Maybe you can allow yourself some treats over the weekend, but don’t overdo it.
A common weight loss pitfall is not eating proper meals. You think that you are good if you only have a salad for lunch, but it’s not enough. You only risk overeating later that day because you are too hungry, ending up eating more calories than you would have if you had eaten a normal lunch. Don’t try to cut down too much on calories. You have to eat to keep your metabolism going. There is a limit to how many calories you can cut down on before your body goes into starvation mode and holds onto the fat as much as it can.
Falling into a weight loss pitfall is not a reason for abandoning the whole project. What matters is what you do after you fall. There is always the option of getting up, brushing off your knees and starting over again. You have learned something from it which will be useful in the future. Being aware of your own behavior will get you a long way. When you realize that, for example, you have been doing it the “all-or-nothing’ way, you can stop yourself in time. You can figure out an alternative way to handle the situation and you will be in control!
With you on the weigh,
Eva
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