Patrick Henry once said, "I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I have no way of judging the future but by the past." Fortunately for us, there are millions of people who have gone before us attempting to lose fat and/or weight, each with varying degrees of success. We can learn from their collective experiences and gain enlightenment, or insight, into our own weight loss plans.
Over the next several paragraphs we're going to review things that have been reported as "weight loss mistakes". Take some time to read each one and compare/contrast them with your own personal weight loss plan.
Weight loss and fat loss success is the result of making the right adjustments and living with them. Quite possibly some of the adjustments you've made may need to be reconsidered.
Mistake #1: Expecting to lose weight too quickly. We've talked about this in earlier issues. We can spend years messing up relationships and expect them to be healed or repaired after sincerely saying, "I'm sorry." What is it about humans that we think that things should be a certain way just because we want it to be? It takes years to get out of shape and overweight. It will take a long time to lose the weight and get back into shape. Patience is a key to making life-long changes for the better.
Mistake #2: Adopting a plan that is not sustainable over the course of your lifetime. This mistake is two-fold in nature. The first aspect is creating a habit that is unreasonable to continue long term. Some examples would be the tabloid diets you read about in the line at the grocery store. Grapefruit diets, cabbage diets, chicken soup diets. We need variety in our lives. Thinking that we can forego that variety forever is a recipe for failure. The second aspect is thinking that the lifestyle that we are adopting is only short term and that we'll go back to our previous lifestyle when our weight is gone. Our previous lifestyle IS the problem; the new lifestyle is the solution. We need to adopt a lifestyle that will become, literally, a style of life for us.
Mistake #3: Neglecting to be quantity-conscious. This is really a huge issue. At every meal we need to scrutinize the amount of food we serve ourselves and limit ourselves to a single serving. If we put too much food on our plate, chances are we're going to eat it... whether we need it or not. Using smaller plates make it easier to avoid serving up too much food. Don't let someone else serve for you. Make sure you serve yourself so that you can control the quantity.
Mistake #4: Choosing the wrong places to eat out. Eating out is the "mine field" in the battle of the bulge. Every step you take needs to be measured and selected carefully. If you select a fast-food restaurant, make sure they have low calorie options available. A grilled chicken sandwich without mayonnaise, or a salad with a very light dressing and water can be a safe fast-food meal. Treating yourself to the "mega-burger" dripping with sauce and a small diet soda can set you back an entire week or two. Avoid a buffet or smorgasbord. It's human nature to overeat at one of those places. Enough said?
Mistake #5: Avoiding eating breakfast. Your body's metabolism goes to sleep at night when you sleep. While the alarm clock may wake you up, it is breakfast that wakes up your metabolism. It's easy to justify skipping breakfast if you think only about total calories over the course of a day. Unfortunately, what you burn is as important as what you eat, especially when you have excess fat to burn. Keep your furnace burning from morning to night by spreading the day's calories out over the course of the entire day.
Mistake #6: Being unaware of what you are eating. Be familiar with the ingredients and the way your food is prepared. A fried chicken breast, skin on, breaded and fried can yield about eleven grams of fat. The same chicken breast with the skin removed and no breading - but still fried - yields only two and a half grams of fat. The battered breast has about 220 calories, while the non-battered skinless version has less than 100. That's an amazing difference! Over two times the number of calories and four times the amount of fat!
Mistake #7: Making candy and snack foods a part of your hospitality. Bowls of M&M's are my personal weakness. I used to work in an office where my administrative assistant would keep bags of the variegated nuggets of pleasure ready. Every pass by her desk was rewarded with another handful of the miniature waistline destroyers. In retrospect, I can visualize a change taking place in my own physique. Make sure you aren't subverting your own attempts to control what you eat. Even seemingly innocuous snack foods can cause a world of damage. Try to keep fresh fruit available. Apples, bananas, oranges, pears, peaches and others are typically available nearly year around.
Mistake #8: Relying upon "fat free foods". A common mistake is to assume that "fat free" means that the item is good for you, healthy, or low in calories. Fat free simply means that there is no fat. Fat is usually pleasant in taste and adds a nice texture to food. If it has been removed, pause for a second to consider what has been put in its place. Is the fat replacement high in calories? Is it a chemical? Will my body be able to metabolize it?
Mistake #9: Dressing up the "right" foods with the "wrong" things. The classic example is the salad. The seemingly innocent plate of assorted greens couldn't possibly do any damage. Ah, but then we blanket it with mayonnaise or oil-based dressings, cheese, croutons, or bacon bits, and voila... we have created a monster. Salads are not the only well-intentioned meals that can stick around longer than we have planned. Low calorie sandwiches can become high-fat meals with the addition of only a modest amount of mayonnaise. A tablespoon of "light" mayonnaise can have as much as FIVE grams of fat!
Mistake #10: Not eating enough. This mistake is saved for last for a reason. Most of us are not in this category. We are not talking about skipping breakfast here; we are talking about starvation diets. This insidious type of dieting is both dangerous and counterproductive. The person using this method will typically see a quick loss of mostly water weight and get the feeling that they are doing the right thing. Unfortunately, the health risks are very severe. This kind of dieting can bring on cardiac damage, gout, gallstones, anemia and not only that... it actually slows your metabolism. When the starvation dieter finally gives up, the weight typically comes back with a vengeance!
Hopefully we've touched on something that you can identify in your routine that needs to be adjusted or, at the very least, contemplated. Mistakes can be rather helpful, as long as we're not making them ourselves!
Michael Callen is the author of the Weekly Weightloss Tips Newsletter (ccwebgroup.com/tips) and the Chief Technology Officer for http://www.wellnesspartners.com, an online retailer of dozens of health and wellness products such as http://www.wellnesspartners.com, http://www.wellnesspartners.com, and Green Tea Extract.
Low carb diets, though popular, have met with much controversy.... Read More
For the past several years one subject has been coming... Read More
Are you or your family members amongst the 65%?To help... Read More
Liposuction works best with people who are a normal weight... Read More
Diets, diets, diets... every where you go, anything you read... Read More
The world today has more obese and overweight people than... Read More
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor; nor do I play... Read More
In this age being ignorant is like committing a crime.... Read More
Are you dieting your way to bone loss?Are you aware... Read More
When on a diet, snack attacks can hit hard and... Read More
From the moment of birth your first emotional experiences establish... Read More
A common claim from gastric bypass detractors is that after... Read More
The vast majority of postpartum women will not return to... Read More
Do you compete in sports for weight loss or fat... Read More
It's a sad comment on human nature that prejudice and... Read More
Gastric Bypass surgery is becoming increasingly more popular for the... Read More
If you have recently found yourself fretting over your child's... Read More
Q: I've heard you mention that you don't need tons... Read More
We all have aspects of health we want to improve.... Read More
Would you run out of fingers, and maybe even toes,... Read More
Diet is one of the most controversial subjects around. Bring... Read More
Let's face facts; obesity is ripe today in America and... Read More
Diet pills have met with many different fates, and come... Read More
How much will power does it take in order to... Read More
Staying Toned After Weight Loss ---------------------------------------- Following significant weight loss,... Read More
Once upon a time, I fretted about going to a... Read More
Your blood cholesterol level is affected not only by what... Read More
Have a conversation about gastric bypass surgery with just about... Read More
Losing weight is a lifelong commitment. It takes patience and... Read More
Now I know you're always asking yourself questions.You know the... Read More
There are lots of dieters, trying every sort of plan... Read More
Looking for Diet Programs on net is like looking for... Read More
Why has Phentermine stopped helping me lose weight?Many people are... Read More
Dieters have long searched for secret paths to easy weight... Read More
"Life is like a box of chocolates," drawled Forrest Gump.Metaphors... Read More
The following are weight loss tips that you can start... Read More
Body Mass Index (BMI)Body Mass Index is an accurate indicator... Read More
In a culture of blame-shifting we often look for someone... Read More
I was so embarrassed for her. After a grueling 45... Read More
Sharing our bariatric stories is as personal decision as electing... Read More
Weight loss is a hot topic among people today, especially... Read More
Do you know the name of that one disease which... Read More
- Are your ideas of obesity and fat control based... Read More
Food cravings can be triggered by various things including low... Read More
If I collected a dime for each time I've seen... Read More
The long marginalized San tribe of South Africa has suddenly... Read More
If anyone knows anything about fitness, it's that a low... Read More
There are currently over 100 billion dollars sold in weight-loss... Read More
Notice, if you would, that every diet out there only... Read More
You are probably familiar with the weight loss connection with... Read More
Weight Loss |