Diet Blunders That Keep You Fat

You’re exercising, and eating a “healthy diet” but the scale won’t budge. You’re losing your mind and starting to believe that you’re destined to be heavy for the rest of your life. Get real!!! The problem isn’t a slow metabolism, genetics, your thyroid, set point, syndrome x, or anything else outside of your control. An inability to lose weight in a majority of cases is due to diet mistakes. Here are some of the worst diet blunders that are keeping you from losing those excess pounds.

Eating Like You’re a Bodybuilder
Just because you’re strength training 4 times a week and doing an hour of cardio 5 times a week doesn’t mean you can chow down over 2000 calories a day. Many women do this without realizing it and others just feel entitled. Whatever the case may be, realize that if you don’t create a calorie deficit you will not lose the weight. The best way to determine whether you’re overeating is to figure out your ideal calorie intake (active metabolic rate). Then count calories for a week and make sure you are creating a 500 calorie a day deficit between both workouts and diet. In other words if your ideal calorie intake is 1800 per day (amount necessary to maintain) and you’re eating about that amount then you need to create a 500 calorie a day deficit by burning 250 with exercise and eating 250 less calories a day.

Turning Free Day Into A Free for All
Everyone is entitled to a weekly cheat. What’s not o.k. is eating 3000-4000 calories a day just because it’s your cheat day. One fast food meal, one restaurant meal, and a cinnabon or crispy cream will put you at around 3000 calories so don’t fool yourself about being a little bad when you’re being really bad. The only person you’re kidding is yourself. If you’re going to cheat be smart about it. Eat the foods you’ve been craving but stay within your calorie range. Another problem is letting your cheat day turn into a cheat weekend. If you have trouble going back to your junk free diet then you’re not the type of person who can eat junk at all so just forget it and save yourself the heartache. You’ll be glad you did when those pounds start melting off.

Eating Unbalanced Meals Infrequently
Eating high carb, high fat meals sporadically leads to increased fat storage and bingeing. The best way to control this is to eat small balanced meals every 3-4 hours consisting of a small portion of protein, a small portion of carbs, and a little fat. The key with eating often is portion control so be sure you learn what that means. Examples of what you could eat in a day include.

• Meal 1: 2 egg whites 1 egg scrambled and 1 cup berries & canteloupe
• Meal 2: meal replacement shake
• Meal 3: grilled chicken and small baked potato w/ olive oil & pepper
• Meal 4: meal replacement shake
• Meal 5: handful of soy nuts & raw veggies
• Meal 6: broiled fish and spinach salad w/ flaxseed oil & balsamic vinegar dressing

Not Making Any Sacrifices
Losing weight means you’ll have to sacrifice certain things. You may have to give up your pizza and beer every other night, or a little sleep in the morning so you can fit in your workouts. Maybe you’ll have to give up eating out all the time until you become more disciplined with portions or maybe you won’t be able to go shopping as much so you can afford the gym and supplements. Just be aware that making adjustments like this makes a huge difference and if you’re not willing to make these changes your weightloss efforts will crawl along at an unbearably slow pace. Keep in mind that this is often more frustrating than giving up the things you love. Try not to view this as a sacrifice but as an opportunity to experience new things like the deli at the health food store, a new healthy restaurant, a new activity with a friend, or other things that support your weightloss efforts.

Just take one day at a time or even one meal at a time and if you make mistakes don’t give up. Learn from those mistakes and move forward instead of reverting back to the issues that are keeping you from losing the weight. Think of each day as an opportunity to do something that will help you lose weight.