The weight loss mistakes you didn’t know you were making

 

Here are some mistakes that people make all the time when trying to lose weight. They don’t know they’re making mistakes because these mistakes because they’ve heard these are the right things to do to get to goal. Are you making any of these mistakes?

Eating breakfast

Oh, I know you’re supposed to eat breakfast if you want to lose weight. It jumpstarts your metabolism and it’s the healthiest way to start the day. All of that is true, but not entirely true. If you hate eating breakfast and you force yourself to eat a healthy breakfast you’re wasting calories you could use later for something you would rather eat. The jumpstart to your metabolism isn’t enough to make a real difference. If you don’t want breakfast, you’re making a mistake forcing yourself to eat it.

Not eating breakfast

If you do enjoy eating first thing in the morning, skipping breakfast is a mistake. Sure, it’s a way to eat fewer calories but that may not be your net effect. Even though you don’t consume any calories when you first get up in the morning, later on when you’re very hungry you eat too much and too fast and end up eating more calories at that one meal than if you’d eaten a reasonable breakfast and were less hungry when you ate another meal later in the day. If breakfast is how you like to start your day, it’s a mistake to skip it.

Breakfast is a mistake a lot of people make. Some eat it even though they hate it, and others skip it when they really want it. The mistake is not doing what is better for you.

Looking in the wrong place for nutrition information on packaged food

Good marketing has successfully trained American consumers to pick up their food products by putting buzzwords on the front of the package. They know the buzzwords are all it takes to sell the food and people don’t bother to read the Nutrition Facts on the back of the package. If they did, they might put the food back on the shelf. “Fat Free, 1/2 the fat, Less fat, No Cholesterol, Gluten Free, Non GMO, Organic, 100% fruit juice,” – none of these words should convince you that you’re getting good nutrition for the calories. If you’re not reading the nutrition facts on the packages you’re making a mistake.  

Read the facts before you buy. Flip the package over to determine what you’ll really be eating.

Knocking yourself out at the gym

It’s a fact that exercise aids weight loss. It burns calories and it helps preserve muscle mass during weight loss, so that more of the loss comes from body fat. Muscle is important to help keep your body burning more calories at rest. Workouts at the gym are a good idea, but not always. If your workouts leave you exhausted and in great pain and barely moving between one workout until the next, you could be getting the opposite results you’re seeking. If you’re not staying active throughout the day, every day, you’re making a mistake.

A good workout promotes health and well being, but working out too hard can do more damage than good.

Believing your own negative self-talk

It’s human to get discouraged when things don’t seem to be going your way. Some of us go way beyond just being discouraged. We come to conclusions that aren’t true and we act of those conclusions. We hear and read things that aren’t true or maybe don’t apply to us, but we apply them to ourselves anyway and then act accordingly. It’s an unhelpful way of thinkingIf you frequently are self-diagnosing yourself with conditions that prevent or complicate weight loss or give yourself negative messages about your progress, you’re making a mistake.

 

Jackie Conn

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.