Thanks to the stresses of 2020, combined with the Holidays and the fact that gyms across the globe have been forced to close for so long, it’s safe to say that many of us could stand to lose a few pounds.
If your waistline is expanding and your pants are feeling tighter than ever before, don’t put off getting in shape any longer, instead force yourself to make a start, even if you don’t want to.
On paper, losing weight is the easiest thing in the world as it is basically a case of eating less, moving more, and eating healthy produce. In reality, though, it is obviously much harder than that. If it really was as easy as some social media “influencers” would have us believe, everybody would be walking around with a 32-inch waist and visible abs.
The fact is that weight loss can be tough, but if you avoid making these mistakes, your journey to a leaner and trimmer body will run much smoother.
Not counting calories
Okay, you can add all of the buzzwords to weight loss that you like, but if you strip everything away, it basically boils down to calories in versus calories out.
If you create a slight caloric deficit and consume fewer calories than your body needs for maintenance, you will lose weight.
When eating and drinking, be sure to monitor every single calorie that you consume. This will mean weighing your food, and logging everything that you eat and drink. Making a cup of coffee and adding a splash of milk? Don’t forget to log the calories in the milk? Ate a small handful of nuts while dinner was cooking? Make sure you log those calories!
Not practicing portion control
Another common mistake that people make, which could technically be classed as failing to count calories, is failing to practice portion control.
When people are trying to lose weight, they sometimes cook a healthy meal, and simply go ahead and eat too much. The meal in question may be healthy, but it still contains calories and if you load your plate up with food, or go back for seconds, you may wind up in a caloric surplus.
Relying on the bathroom scales
When trying to lose weight, far too many people find themselves reliant on bathroom weighing scales, and this can actually be detrimental.
Whereas scales give you an idea of how you’re getting on, they can’t tell the difference between water, muscle, and fat.
You could lose a pound of fat and gain 2 pounds of muscle, yet on the scales you will be a pound heavier, and this can take a toll on you mentally.
Each day our weight can fluctuate by as much as 4 – 7 pounds, so stop weighing yourself daily and try to stick to one weigh in per week at the precise same time.
Setting unrealistic goals
When trying to lose weight, setting weight loss goals and targets can be a good way to stay on track. The problem, though, is that more often than not, people set unrealistic goals.
If you want to lose weight, don’t set yourself unrealistic goals such as losing 5 pounds per week, every week, because it just isn’t sustainable. Sure, you may hit that target once or twice, but more often than not, losses of 1 – 2 pounds per week are more common.
Ordinarily, losing 2.5 pounds in a week would be something to celebrate, but if you have been aiming for 5 pounds, you’ve failed to reach your goal and in your head you’ve failed.
Eventually, all of these “failures” could get too much for you and could result in you throwing in the towel.
