One of the eternal purposes that many people have is to lose weight, improve body composition or improve eating habits, but how to do it properly? Bad habits and food myths often interfere with our goals. What are the most frequent mistakes when wanting to lose weight? If you also ask yourself “why I don’t lose weight”, in this article we will explain what mistakes are usually made and how to solve them .
Table of Contents
1- Think about diet and not about a change in habits
It is very common to take great care of the diet during the week and at the weekend to completely neglect eating. Other people take the diet as a period of restrictions, as if they were going to jail for a time. Neither one nor the other is sustainable over time. The error starts with the “I go on a diet” approach. The thought should be “I am going to change my habits” , “I am going to learn to eat and enjoy this learning”. In this way we will acquire all the changes that we make and thus our health will improve, our weight will drop and we will be able to maintain this weight loss.
The error begins in the approach of “I go on a diet”, when the thought must be “I am going to change my habits.”
2. Reduce caloric intake too much
Lots of people eat just vegetables for dinner with some protein or a bowl of fruit with yogurt. Making these changes does not lead us to a balanced diet, it is not healthy and it cannot be maintained over time, so failure is assured. If we eat too low, in addition to starving, our metabolism tends to slow down and go into “saving mode” . That is, we will spend fewer calories than we should, which will make losing weight increasingly difficult.
If we eat too little, our metabolism goes into “saving mode” and uses fewer calories.
3. Eliminate carbohydrates
When someone wants to lose weight, it is very common for them to remove bread, rice, pasta, potatoes or legumes from their diet. E l result is that anxiety is triggered. When eliminating complex carbohydrates we find that suddenly, our body asks us for sweets , so we do not eat pasta at lunch but we inevitably find ourselves having cookies, chocolate or any pastry.
Solution to the last two errors? Make a reduction in your total intake, without compromising any food group. One method that works very well is the plate method , an easy and visual resource that allows you to include the different food groups in all lunches and dinners with tighter proportions. The summary would be a large portion of vegetables (which would correspond to the look of a plate) a quarter of a plate for protein (legumes, meat, fish, eggs) and the other quarter of the plate we would dedicate to complex carbohydrates ( bread, rice, pasta) always enhancing whole grains.
4. Abusing detox smoothies and juices
It is common to consume juices, shakes and detox smoothies daily as a compensatory method or even with the intention of purifying our body. But the reality is that when we consume food in liquid form, there is usually much more than you would eat in solid form , so in a juice we end up consuming 3 whole oranges without one of its most important components, its fiber, for which will satisfy us less and the amount of simple sugar will be excessive.
If we want to reduce calories and the intake of simple sugars, we will not achieve it with this type of food. It is better to eat whole fruits. Plus, you don’t need to detox, or compensate. If you eat well, your body will already be healthy and will follow its natural cleansing processes. In addition, fruit and vegetables are very healthy, but if you do not consume protein and carbohydrates adequately, your diet will not be balanced.
Solution? Make an adequate intake of fruits and vegetables a day, encouraging them to be in season, along with other foods. Therefore, the general recommendation is to include a serving of vegetables in each main meal and at least 2-3 pieces of fruit a day.
When we consume food in liquid form, there is usually much more than you would eat in solid form.
5. Exercise without changing your diet
Another common thought is: “Since I exercise, I do n’t need to watch my diet too much.” A lthough it is very beneficial and indeed necessary physical activity to maintain good physical and health condition with exercise alone you will not get lose weight. Exercise will help you lose weight more constantly, minimize the loss of muscle mass, improve your feeling of stress and your rest. But if you do it to compensate for “bad” calories, it won’t work for you.
The solution would be to do physical exercise in addition to making changes and improvements in your diet to control your intake and thus lose the desired weight.
6. Follow a high calorie diet
It is essential to eat healthy, but eating healthy or healthy food is not the same as eating to lose weight. C hen you want to lose weight, not only we make healthy eating but we have a caloric restriction maintained over time with portion control (protein, carbohydrates and fats) according to the needs of each person. In this sense, we recommend you contact a dietitian-nutritionist who can guide you during this period of loss.
7. Do not eat fruit
A widespread myth is that fruit is fattening. We find a thousand excuses to do without fruit, but we must consider the following reflection: If we don’t eat fruit, what do we drink? We generally snack on unhealthy foods instead of filling ourselves with fruit.
You have to eat fruit. It has fructose, a simple sugar, but since it comes with fiber, this sugar will not behave like the sugar added to food or the one we add to coffee. Eat fruit every day whenever you feel like it, you can consume it between meals or for dessert, the important thing is to take 2-3 pieces a day.
Other factors involved in weight loss
They are not errors, they would be rather circumstances that can interfere with your objective:
1. A bad rest
Sleeping a few hours is a factor that influences weight loss, therefore calculate what time you should go to sleep in order to get a good night’s sleep.
2. Stress
Personal problems or the pressure of wanting to lose weight can interfere with the loss.
3. Undiagnosed metabolic disorders
In the case that you are following a diet with the supervision of a dietitian-nutritionist and you are not losing weight, it may be due to an undiagnosed metabolic disorder, from hypertension, insulin resistance, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, thyroid disorder, etc. This should be consulted with the appropriate professional.
