What mistakes do we make most often when losing weight? For many of us, losing weight means regularly going on a diet. We think: now I’ll limit myself, but then I’ll be able to eat EVERYTHING. And, I must admit, at first this strategy really bears fruit, we lose weight quickly and noticeably.
Only then do these kilograms return. We go on a diet again, lose weight again - and they are right there again. After a couple of years of such experiments, you may find that you weigh even more than before.
Nutritionists call the return of kilograms after severe dietary restrictions the “yo-yo” effect. And they explain why this happens.
Basic mistakes when losing weight
Most women have gone on a diet at least once in their lives, hoping to get a slim figure, get rid of an inferiority complex, increase self-esteem or solve some other problems. According to statistics from a survey among women:
- Lose weight and maintain weight – 19%
- Stay at their weight – 47%
Unfortunately, it is worth noting that due to mistakes made when trying to get rid of excess weight, the result does not always correspond to the efforts made: the weight went away, but quickly gained again or decreased too slightly, problems with the health and condition of hair, nails, and skin appeared. Let's look at what mistakes women make when losing weight and how to lose weight without harming your health.
The desire to lose weight very quickly
According to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), the norm for safe weight loss is 2 kg per month or 0.5 kg per week. This is exactly how much you can lose without fearing for your health.
Unnaturally rapid weight loss is fraught with many dangers for the body:
- Due to the need to break down large amounts of fat in a short period of time, the load on the liver and kidneys increases significantly;
- Refusal of proper nutrition causes diseases of the digestive system;
- Lack of vitamins and microelements negatively affects the condition of the skin, hair, and nails;
- Nutrient deficiency leads to decreased immunity;
- Women often experience problems with reproductive function due to exhausting diets.
When losing weight quickly, the body does not have time to adapt to the changes, trying to regain what it has lost, which leads to gaining even more weight.
There are no instant results. Losing weight is a long and painstaking work on your body.
Diets
Diets have three disadvantages:
- The first is that every now and then we have breakdowns on our diet. This is a completely logical psychological phenomenon, to which many girls for some reason turn a blind eye. If you limit yourself in nutrition, take breaks once a week and allow yourself a little sweet or starchy food; it certainly won’t do any harm, but it will be much easier to endure until the next break.
- The second disadvantage is the difficulty of leaving the diet. Many girls who have noted the effectiveness of this or that diet quickly return to their original weight. The reason is the wrong way out of the diet, which should be gradual.
- And finally, the third disadvantage is lack of thought. Unfortunately, now you can find many diet options that will only lead to stomach diseases. Anyone can create a diet, but only a person with proper education can make it healthy and effective.
Conclusion: the ideal diet is a healthy diet with rare breaks for sweets. If you still want to take more stringent measures, be sure to contact a good nutritionist who will create a correct diet.
Deceiving yourself
You need to monitor your weight dynamics in order to catch yourself in time if something suddenly goes wrong. However, many people who lose weight have their own relationship with the scale. If they see that the numbers are not changing, then this is a signal for them: they can eat everything, go back to dear old habits!
But after you've lost weight, you need less food, just like a car needs less gas than a truck.
It is important to learn how to interpret the numbers on the scale. Weight is affected by physical activity, salty foods, alcohol, hormonal cycle - all factors that change the balance of fluid in the body. The difference between today's and yesterday's weight can be 1-2 kg. This is on the one hand. On the other hand, if you eat a cake today, you won’t necessarily see the consequences when you weigh yourself tomorrow, and this can lead you astray.
Advice. Instead of a constant feverish race for grams or completely ignoring the scale, it is better to weigh yourself not every day, but regularly and evaluate your weight over time, at monthly or yearly intervals.
Skipped meals
This is another mistake when losing weight. When losing weight, eat more often, but in smaller portions. Six times a day, 100 grams of food will help you lose weight faster than one meal a day with a volume of 500-600 grams.
Reduce portions gradually, chew food long and thoroughly. The longer we eat even a tiny portion, the faster we get full. Proper, balanced, frequent meals in small portions will also help to avoid diet failures.
Mistake #2: Forgot about breakfast.
It has long been known that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It helps to awaken the body, prepare it for mental or physical work. There are many people I know who say, “I can’t eat breakfast. Just strong coffee and off to work.”
If you are one of these people, then you have noticed that after skipping the first meal, having a snack of some nonsense at lunch, by dinner you turn into an omnivorous creature that does not have the strength to stop. You stuff yourself with food when the body’s processes are already on the decline, and it simply does not need as much energy for sleep.
If you don't like breakfast, force yourself! You can force yourself to starve for days on end, so force yourself to eat in the morning! Moreover, in the morning you can, and even need to, eat high-calorie foods that will charge you with energy for the whole day!
Skipped or no breakfast
A common mistake women make when losing weight is refusing to eat breakfast. In fact, breakfast is essential for weight loss. It is known that the higher the metabolic rate in the body, the faster the extra pounds disappear. At night, the metabolic process proceeds at a slow pace; it starts at full speed only when digestion begins to work. Therefore, you need to have breakfast as early as possible. The sooner your metabolism is activated, the faster the extra calories will be burned.
Breakfast is also important for health because blood sugar levels are lowest in the morning, after sleep, so the body needs food and energy.
A significant factor is that after eating in the morning, the level of a substance that affects appetite suppression, leptin, increases in the blood. Skipping breakfast has been found to whet your appetite.
You definitely need to have breakfast. Don’t be afraid to eat more than you need – the body uses the calories received throughout the day. Breakfast should be healthy and filling. Remember that this is the key to your physical energy.
STOP, CAR!
10 rules to help stop the swing. You need:
Remember the main law of losing weight
It is unreasonable to hope that you will lose weight now and then happily return to your old eating habits and your favorite sofa. Weight is what we eat and how we move.
Understand yourself losing weight
Do you think of the weight loss period as an inevitable burden, a time when you just need to survive in order to then start living? Then you are a “project” type of person. They always lose weight purposefully and successfully, but usually gain it back. To achieve long-term results, you need to realize: losing weight is not a short-term project, it is for life.
Understand yourself getting fat
Study your habits. After all, extra pounds stick to you not because of a mythical genetic predisposition or metabolic disorder. A person eats more than he spends and that’s why he gets fat. How, what and how often does it reach your table? How do you feel about feeling hungry? Do you dull it with a cigarette or coffee? What about the feeling of fullness? Do you have time to “catch” him at lunch? Does food provide you with solace from resentment? Boredom?
Forget about dreams
Stop endlessly scrolling in your imagination about pictures of a wonderful future when you, all thinner to model size, are running along the beach in a tiny bikini. Such dreams make you lose weight faster and go on strict diets. Therefore, stop dreaming, and direct all your energy to changing those habits that caused weight gain.
Don't focus on kilograms
Those who are losing weight definitely need a goal. But it’s better if it is not expressed in kilograms. This way of thinking perpetuates the illusion that achieving a certain weight is all we strive for. What will you do when the pounds come off? How will you maintain your weight? Here are important points to think about.
Don't make a revolution
There is no need to try to change everything, immediately and forever. Revolutionary sentiments in the style of “Forward, to storm the Winter Palace!” lead to rebellion and then to stagnation.
Adhere to the “three changes” tactics
Make only 3 lifestyle changes at a time. For example - oatmeal for breakfast, walk 2 flights of stairs every day, go to bed at 12 pm. Continue this way for a month. Then change three more points. We have a lot of time to change our lifestyle - our whole life. There's no hurry.
Be honest with yourself
Typically, lost pounds begin to return when a person underestimates the reading on the scale. Avoiding the scale when your jeans begin to press on your waist is a typical example of self-deception that does not lead to anything good. Keep in mind that once you lose weight, you are not immune to calories!
Learn a lesson
Learn from old bad experiences. Think about why the kilograms came back. Pay enough attention to sorting out each breakdown. Why did it happen? Hunger? Boredom? Loneliness? Fatigue? Look for the reason! This is something concrete, and not the notorious weak will of which we usually accuse ourselves. Having figured out what's what, next time you won't step on the same old rake.
Fasting or severe food restrictions
Refusal to eat or extreme diets are serious mistakes when losing weight; they are based on excluding a large number of foods from the diet; they do not bring the expected result, since the body, which has received stress, creates fat reserves literally “out of thin air.” In addition, muscle mass decreases, metabolism and the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract are upset, depression occurs, weakened immunity, hormonal disorders and problems with the functioning of the heart and blood vessels.
Also keep in mind that on a strict, extreme diet, the body does not receive enough essential nutrients necessary for the normal functioning of organs.
Their deficiency can seriously undermine health and even become life-threatening.
Dietitians warn that the daily calorie intake when losing weight should not be lower than 1200, and the permissible rate of weight loss should not be more than 5% per month of the initial weight.
Nutrition during weight loss should be balanced in all vital elements.
Overestimating Calorie Expenditure
You should not rely on the readings of exercise equipment in the gym or at home. Often the readings are too high (by about 150 kilocalories/hour), which can also cause slow progress towards the goal. A heart rate monitor with calorie counting would be more reliable. You can use tables of calorie consumption for various types of activities presented on the Internet during physical activity.
Excessive calorie cutting
To lose weight, you need to eat. Of course, there must be a calorie deficit. But cutting your diet to three digits will have a detrimental effect on your metabolism. The body will switch to energy-saving mode, using up fat reserves more slowly.
A lack of vitamins, microelements and nutrients will have a negative impact on your overall well-being.
Avoiding bread and carbohydrates
Bread is a valuable and healthy product. There are practically no other products that can completely replace it.
The most beneficial is bran bread or whole grain bread, which is rich in vitamin B, vegetable protein, methionine and lysine (essential amino acids), and fiber necessary for digestion.
Refusal of carbohydrates is a serious stress for the digestive system, leading to an imbalance in energy balance.
Therefore, it is important to keep in your diet foods containing polysaccharides (complex carbohydrates), which we get from legumes, grains, durum wheat pasta, and some vegetables - corn, potatoes, beans, peas.
Mistake 4. I will exclude carbohydrates, because they are most quickly stored in fat.
Let us repeat once again that nutrition should be balanced! And the share of carbohydrates, as the main source of energy, should be 50-55% of the diet. It is not the carbohydrates themselves that are harmful, but their excess, especially simple carbohydrates. You cannot sharply reduce the amount of carbohydrates in the diet, their role in metabolism is very important - to lose weight, reduce simple (aka fast, “harmful”) carbohydrates to a minimum, give preference to complex carbohydrates (aka slow, “healthy”), and consume them for food in the first half of the day. And consume simple carbohydrates in the form of a small portion of fruit for second breakfast.
Replacing water with other drinks
Many have heard about this, but it’s still worth mentioning that to remove toxins and speed up metabolism, you need to drink clean water. It can be melted, still mineral or just boiled water. You can add lemon or mint. Not everyone knows how to drink water properly.
The daily norm of water is 30-40 ml per 1 kilogram of weight.
You need to drink in small sips and on an empty stomach.
High calorie food after workout
This is one of the common mistakes when losing weight. After we've sweated for an hour at the gym, we feel like we have the right to eat to our heart's content.
Advice. Sports trainers and nutritionists recommend eating either 1 hour before exercise or 2 hours after it. Ideally, these should be proteins, possibly in combination with vegetables. If your appetite is in earnest, after class you can drink low-fat kefir or water (1 glass). Don't go to training very hungry, otherwise it will be difficult for you to stop yourself later.
Lack of physical activity
Many people believe that purposeful and persistent adherence to any diet is enough to lose weight. In fact, this is not so. Physical activity helps you burn calories faster, get rid of fat deposits more effectively, maintaining your metabolism at a high level, which is necessary for weight loss.
In addition, playing sports will help maintain muscle tone, firmness and elasticity of the skin. It is important to consider that physical activity must be adequate.
People who have a large body weight are not recommended to exhaust themselves with intense training or running.
If a person has not played sports before, you should not immediately run to the gym. Apart from fatigue and increased appetite, such exercises will not give anything. To avoid this mistake when losing weight, choose a set of physical exercises that will make you happy. For obese people, walking and light morning warm-up and exercise in the pool are quite enough.
Psychological errors
The psychological attitude towards losing weight and self-control is very important. The most common mistakes are:
- Lack of a specific goal and plan. To achieve concrete results, it is better to make a plan that you should stick to. Planning should include menu composition, portion sizes, calorie counting table, place and time of physical activity, and sleep time.
- It is necessary to approach the issue of losing weight sensibly and set realistic goals. It should be borne in mind that it is impossible to lose 50 kg in a week.
- You should not limit yourself too much or set strict prohibitions. They will inevitably lead to breakdowns and a feeling of guilt that you cannot achieve your goal. Such emotions worsen not only the physical state, but also the emotional one.
Ill-thought-out training
Remember: you can’t just find any exercise on the Internet and include it in your workout! Each exercise option has a purpose and needs to be studied. Excessive strength training can lead to the formation of muscles under a layer of fat deposits, which is not what anyone wants.
We select workouts responsibly, always including stretching exercises.
It is preferable to choose sets of exercises that have already been compiled by professionals and cannot cause harm. Pilates and yoga will also do no harm, since they are aimed at static loads and stretching at the same time.
Don't build expectations and you won't be disappointed
Losing weight instantly is impossible. You just have to come to terms with this. Everything that has been accumulated over the years will not burn out in a few days or weeks.
Of course, an “effective and fast-acting” diet will do its job and the needle on the scale will show a lower number, but only such weight loss is provoked by the fact that the body has removed water and used its own muscles, rather than fat reserves, as an energy source.
As soon as the diet ends, all the lost kilograms will return. Moreover, the body will try to increase its reserves in the form of fat deposits for the future “rainy day”, that is, for the next diet.
It is important to be patient and not wait for a miracle. When the process takes its course and fat is burned, the weight loss per week is 800-1000 grams.
Wrong motivation and unrealistic expectations
It is important to understand that by setting a goal to get rid of excess weight, we get the opportunity to improve our well-being, health, and become more attractive and energetic. If the decision to lose weight is based on dependence on the opinions of others, how they perceive one’s appearance, or the desire to be liked, such motivation will most likely turn out to be insufficient. It will only work for a short amount of time.
The process of losing weight is not an easy work on oneself, which can only be effectively accomplished by realizing that this should be done solely for one’s own good, out of self-love.
In addition, it is impossible to become slim in a short time, since extra pounds accumulate over a long time, and that is why losing weight without harm to the body will require patience and time.
Using only weight loss products
You should not rely only on weight loss products. There are no miracle pills. Regardless of the manufacturer’s form, they can be divided into 5 types:
- All laxative teas are based on ordinary senna, so you should not overpay for an overly expensive drink. You cannot use them for weight loss for a long time, since the herb causes a loss of potassium, which affects the functioning of the heart.
- Psychostimulants affect the nervous system because they usually contain caffeine, garcinia cambogia or guarana. The disadvantages of these substances are addiction and exhaustion of the nervous system, which especially affects the female body; girls often fall into a depressive state.
- To stimulate peristalsis, microcrystalline cellulose is used, which can destroy the intestinal walls. Over time, lazy bowel syndrome will occur and it will no longer function normally.
- Fat burners help digest food, but there is no scientific evidence that they burn fat.
- Diuretics disrupt the water-salt balance of the body.
The appearance of excess weight in girls always has a reason. This could be a sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, or hormonal imbalance in the body. The approach to solving this problem must be comprehensive. You shouldn’t count on a miracle, you need to really take care of yourself and try to avoid the mistakes of losing weight.
The listed measures will allow you to cleanse your body of toxins and lead to weight loss. If you have difficulties losing weight at home and cannot avoid them, then you should consult a specialist. He will select a suitable diet, draw up an exercise schedule and help solve all problems associated with excess weight.
Author: Ellada Ionova, especially for Mama66
Excuses
These mistakes when losing weight are a number of psychological ones, and they really bother many girls. The brain deceives us by telling us that an extra piece of cake won’t make us fat, and it’s best to start losing weight on Monday. To avoid this mistake when losing weight, set yourself a clear goal and follow it. Start losing weight right now. But you can also ask a friend to track your weight loss progress. When someone else knows about the diet, it can be more difficult to break.
Mistake 6. I will give up dinner to lose weight faster.
Do not under any circumstances make this mistake. Do not move dinner to an earlier time and do not give up dinner altogether, because in this case your body will not receive food from the afternoon snack until tomorrow morning. This will lead to a strong feeling of hunger and a slowdown in metabolism. And the speed of weight loss directly depends on metabolism. To prevent this from happening, do not skip dinner or other meals. To make dinner your friend when losing weight, eat a small portion of protein food with vegetables for dinner. Have dinner 4 hours before bedtime.
Mistake #4: Floating meal schedule.
From infancy, our mothers and grandmothers taught us to follow a routine. That’s why we ate on a schedule, slept on a schedule, even went to the potty - and then we went on a schedule! So now what prevents us from making our body work smoothly - we feel good, and all systems are in order!
Remember that skipping or spontaneously eating confuses our digestive system: it works reflexively, and you shouldn’t surprise it with such impromptu things - it can even malfunction. Remember for the rest of your life (forgetful people can hang this saying on their refrigerator): eat breakfast yourself, share lunch with a friend, give dinner to your enemy.
Error No. 8 - disturbed water balance.
Metabolism occurs in a liquid environment, so the body needs water to speed it up. Much water. Proper nutrition and exercise oblige you to replenish your body with water, which will help eliminate toxins formed during the process of losing weight. Drink an average of two liters of water daily. But remember: there is water, and there is tea, lemonade and soups. It's not the same thing.
I hope you will take into account all the above recommendations in the fight for a wasp waist. Remember that it is better to lose weight slowly and correctly, but for sure.
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Mistake No. 5 - abuse of juices and fruits.
When switching to a healthy eating system, people add a lot of fruits and juices to their diet. I can’t help but support this initiative with both hands, but! There must be a golden mean in everything. Fruits are a natural source of sugar and are an excellent alternative to flour and confectionery products. They are great for snacking between meals. But you shouldn’t overeat them, because the fructose present in them turns into fat in our body.
The same goes for fruit juices. It’s better to completely forget about packaged juices from the store - they contain a maximum of 50 percent natural juice, everything else is sugar syrup, dye, etc. Conclusion - we eat fruits without overusing them, we drink only freshly squeezed juices in small quantities.
