Mistakes that Contribute to Weight Loss Problems

You often write that despite following a healthy diet and doing physical activity, you do not see the effects. You ask me what could be the cause and how to fix it? Today I will tell you about the most common mistakes that can make it difficult to lose weight.

 

Set a Realistic Goal

I’m sure most of you have tried to lose weight at least once in your lifetime with the words “I’ll start tomorrow, I want to lose 20 kilos in a month”. Remember that healthy weight loss is a long-term process and requires patience. You didn’t gain extra kilos in a month, so it won’t take so short to lose them permanently. Setting a realistic goal will allow you to stick to your resolution longer as well as develop healthy habits on a daily basis and maintain the effects for years.

If you want to stay full of energy, well-being and at the same time see the effects of weight loss, set yourself a realistic goal, e.g. I will lose at least 2 kilos this month, I’ll drink at least 1.5 liters of water every day, I’ll go to the swimming pool twice a week, etc. You can achieve more by taking small steps 🙂

 

Give Up the Miracle Diet

Only a properly selected, balanced diet and a permanent change in eating habits will help you lose weight in a healthy way and maintain the achieved results. Following any of the so-called miracle diets leads to rapid weight loss over a short period of time, then the weight increases again and is even higher than before the diet! I always say that in order to lose weight you have to eat!

 

 

Determine the Right Caloric Content of Your Diet

The key to success is a diet with the right calorific value, tailored individually and based on the current body weight, height and level of physical activity. A proper energy deficit will help you lose weight at a healthy pace, without the yo-yo effect. It is really very important to properly choose the caloric content, thanks to which you should not feel hungry despite the introduced caloric deficit. If you do not know how to calculate caloric needs yourself, a team of dietitians in my Diet & Training by Ann app or those available in Super Menu catering are ready to help.

 

Cut Out Snacking

Once you have calculated the appropriate caloric content of your diet, pay attention to whether you do not exceed the recommended amount of calories during the day by snacking mindlessly. A piece of cake with your coffee, having several coffees with a lot of milk, eating your kids’ lunch leftovers, and a handful of nuts between meals can significantly increase the amount of kilocalories taken during the day.

My advice is to write down all the meals and products you eat on a piece of paper and think about whether snacking happens more often than not.

 

Choose Water

A very important part of a healthy diet is drinking enough fluids throughout the day. I often read that you are aware of it and you make sure to stay hydrated. However, after a deeper analysis, I find out that you most often go for juice, colorful drinks or coffee with extras. It is important to realize that 500 ml of juice provides about 200 kcal. Add to this at least one coffee a day with a large amount of milk and sugar and the number of calories taken increases significantly. Remember that alcohol also provides the so-called empty calories! This means that we include it in the group of high-calorie products that do not contain any vitamins or minerals, and may be conducive to a caloric surplus.

A significant part of our fluid intake should be mineral water. You can add some lemon juice, ginger or mint to it. If you like juice, you don’t have to give them up. However, in this case, it is worth including them in the daily caloric balance, e.g. in the main meal or treating it as an official snack.

 

 

Don’t Treat Every Mistake as a Failure

Most people who start a diet strive to stick to it 100%. Often, going out to a restaurant with friends or having a piece of cake at a birthday party will make you feel guilty. The desire to give up the diet appears and you crave for less valuable food in excess. For this reason, people who have a restrictive approach to diet achieve worse results in reducing body weight. Having a meal or a product that’s not in your diet once in a while is not a reason to give up healthy eating habits on a daily basis. After such a momentary lapse, it is worth returning to the menu as planned and not tormenting yourself with thoughts of “failing” the diet. However, remember to take everything in moderation. Frequent mistakes will certainly not bring you closer to achieving the intended effect. It is also a good idea to combine the lapse with your menu and physical activity plans – instead of having dinner from the app, you will eat a meal in a restaurant, you know that the portion is larger, then immediately plan a walk to keep the caloric balance. You can easily incorporate this kind of change into your plan once in a while and not feel remorse.

 

Take Care of Sleep and Regeneration

I have written many times about the importance of sleep in a healthy lifestyle (you can find out more HERE). Inadequate amount of sleep and rest during the day can also contribute to problems with weight loss. It has been shown that people who sleep fewer than 7 hours a day are more likely to snack during the day, reaching for products rich in sugars and fats, such as sweets and fast food.

 

Get Your Health Checked

If you are aware of those mistakes, you do not make them, and you still have problems with losing weight, consider visiting a doctor. Perhaps the difficulties in losing weight are related to health problems. In this case, even careful adherence to a diet and physical activity may not bring the expected results. It is worth doing basic examinations from time to time and checking the state of our health. You can read about what tests should be performed and how to prepare for them HERE.

 

I encourage you to analyze all these points to make sure you are not making these mistakes. I hope that you will find this post useful in finding the reason for weight loss problems and it will help you achieve your goal 🙂

 

Bibliography:

1. Bray GA, Ryan DH. Evidence-based weight loss interventions: Individualized treatment options to maximize patient outcomes. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2021 Feb;23 Suppl 1:50-62.
2. Liu Y-F, Ling I-L. Keep fighting or give up? An investigation of consumer regret over repetitive failures in weight loss services. Journal of Services Marketing 2021, DOI:10.1108/JSM-12-2020-0499
3. Reutrakul S, Van Cauter E. Sleep influences on obesity, insulin resistance, and risk of type 2 diabetes. Metabolism. 2018 Jul;84:56-66.