No carbs. More fat.

Eliminate this. Eliminate that.

Are you confused with all the weight loss tips? Frustrated that you have tried dozens of diets and nothing has worked?

An estimated 160 million Americans are overweight or obese. If you want your weight loss journey to be successful, check out these ten mistakes I most commonly hear,  to avoid on your weight loss journey.

1) Skipping Meals

If your fueling system for your body is your food then overly restricting calories is a terrible idea when you are trying to lose weight. Skipping meals will also slow your metabolism and can cause you to actually gain weight.

When you don’t eat, your body goes into starvation mode. In order to try and conserve energy, your body will burn muscle tissue, not fat.

BUT  your body can also be fueled by your body fat as opposed to your food.  The protocols for healthy weight loss when using fat for fuel are very different than when you are using food.  In fact one of the best ways to activate fat burn is by using intermittent fasting.  During a long enough fasting period, the body’s fat burning system will be activated so your body will switch to using body fat for fuel rather than food.  When done properly your body will also preserve muscle.

Your body is like a hybrid car which has 2 fueling systems.  When trying to lose weight the decision of when to eat and how much will be determined by  which fueling system you wish to use to  fuel your body. The key here is you can use either system but in order to make sure you are targeting fat burn and keeping your muscle you just need to follow the correct protocols dependent upon the fueling system.

If using the food system make sure you avoid skipping meals and ensure your caloric intake is not too low so you get some fat burn and do not trigger starvation mode. 

If using body fat as your fueling system  then you can do intermittent fasting to support fat burn and keep muscle. 

2) You Say No to All Fats

Trying to eliminate all fats is a big no-no. All fats are not created equal. In fact, our bodies need fats, but we need the good kind.

Are there good fats? Absolutely. The right kind of fats increase metabolism, keep you full longer and protect your body from heart disease. Examples of fats that you should be incorporating into your diet are:

• Avocado
• Olives/olive oil
• Coconut/coconut oil
• Greek yogurt
• Nuts
• Flax seeds
• Chia seeds
• Nut butter

Obviously, don’t go overboard on the fats, but consuming these healthy fats in moderation will help you feel satisfied and lose weight.

3) You Are Obsessed with the Scales

Obsessing over the number on the scales can sabotage your results. When you don’t see the number change the way you would like, you can get frustrated and quit.  

Many issues affect the scale other than just body fat.  For example water retention will cause the scale to go up. 

Focus on non-scale victories like how you feel in terms of energy, aches and pains and also notice how your pants are fitting. Changes in inches is more representative of fat loss than just looking at the number on the scale. This is why I have all my clients also track their inches for 7 areas on the bodies.

4) You Don’t Read Food Labels

If you aren’t reading nutritional labels, you are making a big mistake. You should be using this tool as part of your journey. They tell you what is in the foods and how much is in there. It tells you how much a “single serving” size is. Hint: it’s not the whole box!

This includes reading the ingredients as well. Just because the label says, zero, sugar, carbs, fat doesn’t mean it is healthy.  It could be full of Ultra Processed Chemicals, known as UPF (Ultraprocessed Food) and many of these items cause food addictions and contribute to inflammation. 

5) You Are Drinking Your Calories

Eat your calories. Don’t drink them. Cut caloric beverages from your diet. Eating your calories is a great rule of thumb for anyone, but especially those wanting to lose weight. It’s important to get your calories from food so that you can satisfy your hunger.

Choose water, green tea, and black coffee. If you need to flavor your coffee, steer clear of high calorie and sugar loaded creamers.

6) You Choose “Diet Food”

It’s easy to be misled by so-called “diet food”. Foods that are labeled as “low fat” are filled with sugar and usually more sugar than their full-fat counterpart. Cereal bars, store-bought granola, and smoothies are full of added sugars that will put on the pounds rather than shed them.

Focus on whole foods rather than the “low fat” options. You can easily make granola and smoothies at home so you can control the ingredients. Whole fruits and vegetables will always be the better choice.

7) You Don’t Exercise or You Exercise Too Much

When some people are on their weight loss journeys, they don’t realize that they can exercise too much too. You need to find a healthy balance.  I have often had people temporarily decrease or even stop exercise for a short period of time at the beginning of their program.  The result is the stress on their body decreases (caused by too much exercise) and this brings their hormones and metabolism into a more balanced state.  When this happens, they see their body fat and inches drop dramatically just by focusing on the food plan and doing some intermittent fasting.  

Find a type of exercise that you enjoy. Get a workout buddy to help encourage you and keep you motivated and accountable. Walking, cardio and dancing are great options. Remember to lift weights too.  Exercise plays a much bigger role in helping people to maintain their weight after losing it rather than using exercise to lose weight especially when building muscle after burning fat.  This is the best way to maintain the loss. Strength training helps boost your metabolism. (If you are a woman, don’t worry, you won’t get bulky.)

Try different forms of exercise until you find the right fit for you just remember to move your body. Aim for 10,000 steps a day and get a fitness tracker to help you keep track of your steps.

8) Not Keeping a Food Diary

Keeping a food diary or using an app to track food is a great way to keep you accountable. You should keep track of what you are eating (and drinking) so that you can see where your calories are coming from.

This way you can also detect patterns that may be contributing to plateaus or increase hunger or cravings.  

Food diaries are a great way to hold yourself accountable. This will help you reevaluate things if you are not seeing the results you want. I always have my clients track their food and even make notes regarding how they are feeling, such as high or low energy, hungry or  satisfied, mental fog or clarity, even bloating and bowel regularity.  

This will help with weight loss but even more importantly you will become more aware of your body beyond the scale and how your eating habits enhance or negatively impact your body and mind. 

9) Not Drinking Enough Water

Water helps rid your body of waste, boosts metabolism and can keep you fuller longer. Despite what you may think, increasing your water intake can keep you from retaining fluids. You need to drink half your body weight. If you weigh 200 pounds, you should drink 100 ounces of water.

Do you have trouble drinking water? If you get bored with plain water, you can flavor it, naturally. You can add herbs, fruits, and veggies to your water to keep you from getting bored. A few delicious suggestions are:

• strawberry
• lemon
• ginger
• cucumbers
• mint
• lavender

You can find water bottles that will track your water intake or use an app on your phone. If you want carbonation, choose sparkling water.

When my clients experience a plateau on the scale my first question, after seeing that their food plan was great, is “did you drink all your water”.  Majority of time, if their water is low then weight loss slows down and they often feel more tired.

10) Doing It Alone

Having a weight loss support team can be the difference between meeting your goals or failing. You are more likely to be successful in your journey if you have supportive people around you.  This is true for anytime we are looking to achieve a goal or experience transformation in any area of life.  Transformation in solitude is almost impossible for the majority of people. 

Some people closest to you may try and sabotage your results, so having a support group or accountability group will help you stay motivated.

A supervised medical weight loss program may be what you need. Having someone supervise what you are doing and help you stay focused can keep you on the road to success.  Having worked with hundreds of people they all say that having support and accountability along with informed guidance when they do run into plateaus is the biggest game changer for them.  

Ready to Start Your Successful Weight Loss Journey?

Losing weight and keeping it off is about being healthy and finding balance. You need to ask yourself “what do I want my weight loss story to look like?”. Do you want help to reach those goals?

If you are ready to start your weight loss journey to success, book a 15 minute assessment call with me where we can discuss your goals and challenges and determine what you need and if you are good fit for my program either the group program or to work with me privately.