I wanted to write this blog in the hope that you can learn from my previous mistakes with my approach to fat loss.
The diet industry is so confusing and conflicting and it's really easy to get sucked into the next best thing. Especially when it promises rapid and easy results.
That old saying 'if something seems to good to be true it usually is' really does make sense and something I should of considered many times before investing time and money into a certain plan or supplement.
So here are some really common mistakes that can rail road you and lead to feelings of failure.
Not having a plan- It's really important to set out a plan. Aim to set a time scale (say 12 weeks) and see if any events (weddings, holidays, birthdays) lie in this time. These can all make it really difficult to stay in a calorie deficit and research shows that these are significant reasons why people fail their fat loss plan. Planning for these special occasions in advance can really help using diet breaks and refeed days (I have written a blog on this) which can help boost leptin levels (your satiety signalling hormone), increase energy and give you a psychological boost. So use these times to your advantage.
Having unrealistic expectations of weight loss- So what is a realistic amount of weight to lose a week? A safe and acheivable amount per week is between 0.5-1.5% of your total body weight. So for a 60kg woman she could look at a loss of between 0.3-0.9kg per week. Someone a little smaller at 42KG would be looking at 0.2-0.6kg per week. Losing weight in a steady fashion will not only be more sustainable but preserve more precious lean body mass.
Choosing the wrong diet approach for your individual dietary preferences- Today's culture is all about quick fixes, cleanses, meal replacements and supplements but none of these are going to help you acheive long lasting results. The most succesful diet will be the one that is the least restrictive for you and enables you to be in a calorie deficit. You get to choose your weapon of choice- what dietary approach works best for you? Which foods do you enjoy? If you are a person that loves carbohydrates for example then going on a low carb diet is just not going to be sustainable and is a terrible idea. So make sure you are including the foods you enjoy but keeping attrack of the energy availabilty from those foods is key.
Being impatient- As I mentioned above weight loss takes time. One of the main reasons why people give up is because it's not happening quickly enough. Try and enjoy the journey and notice small wins along the way. How do your clothes fit? How is your energy? Are you finding things a bit easier like a workout routine or running up the stairs. Not just focusing on the scale has huge benefits and giving up because things are moving slower than you like is literally going to halt and reverse any progress made. Even a tiny amount of loss a week is moving in the right direction and accumulated over time adds up to significant changes.
All or nothing mindset- Ok so you've given in to the tub of Ben and Jerry's that's been hiding in your freezer for the past month. Guilt and shame ensues so what do you do? The first response is to beat yourself up, tell yourself that you are a failure and you knew you couldn't do it. Then use the next few days to punish yourself with food by overeating as you've eaten the icecream so you may as well have all the other 'naughty' things only to increase feelings of guilt and shame and the cylce continues.
Instead you could just critically anaylse why this might of happened, you could be restricting too much or have too many trigger foods in the house, there could be many
reasons but either way move on and draw a line under it. Being consitent over time gets results the odd slip up is just that.
No one said weight loss is easy and it really isn't at times but putting sensible appraoches and goals in place really does make all the difference.
If you need some guidance and support with this feel free to contact me.
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