You’re a few weeks into your weight loss regimen, and the weight seems to be coming off rather slowly. What are you doing wrong? It’s not what you ARE doing, but it’s actually what you’re NOT doing. Let us explain with these 20 weight loss tips that you probably aren’t doing:
1. Believe That You Can Really Do It.
Sometimes all it takes is a little belief in yourself that you can achieve your goals. Think about it this way: You can do anything you completely set your mind to. If you envision your healthy, fit body in your head, you will become the person you imagine. Instead of getting discouraged in your weight loss journey, just realize that there are plateaus and even gains along the way. But if you stick to it – like anything else – it will happen!
2. Don’t Give In To Temptation.
We’ve all been tempted by food we shouldn’t eat. Most of us, many more times than we can count! Before you eat that chocolate candy or scarf down a bag of salty chips, take a step back in your mind and ask yourself, “Is it worth it? Would I rather be fit and healthy, or would I rather indulge in this bad food?” If you answer yourself honestly, you will walk away from temptation!
3. Find A Workout Partner.
Two is always better than one! There’s nothing quite as motivating as having a buddy to go through your weight loss journey with. When you don’t feel like getting up to run in the morning, your buddy can motivate you. When you feel like opening a bag of pretzels because you had a hard day, your buddy can talk you down. Finding a weight loss buddy can definitely help you achieve your goals.
4. Eat More Good Foods Instead Of Cutting Out Too Many Foods.
Far too often, people trying to lose weight cut too many calories. This is a huge mistake. You won’t lose weight unless you are eating enough for your body to burn when you exercise. Instead of cutting too many calories, focus on eating clean, healthy foods. You will feel full and have energy for your workouts!
5. Keep A Weight Loss Or Food Diary.
Sometimes you don’t realize just how good or bad you are doing with your weight loss until you see it in writing. Writing things down holds you accountable for what you are consuming. If you write down that you ate 10 cookies today and drank 4 cans of soda, you may feel a bit of guilt! Writing down what you eat and what exercises you did will also help you track your patterns. If you are doing something that is working great, you now have a record of what you did, and can continue.
6. Visualize Your Ideal Body.
If you can envision it, it will happen! If you keep a mental picture of what you would like to look like running through your thoughts, you will be more motivated to make your dream body a reality.
7. Watching What You Eat After You Workout.
Just because you ran 3 miles today doesn’t mean that you can now go and eat whatever you want. Although exercise is known to boost appetite, keep what you eat clean and stick to a healthy and reasonable calorie intake.
8. Focus On Clean Eating Not On A Fad Diet.
Fad diets may help you lose weight, but consider if you can (or want) to stick to a fad diet for the rest of your life. Chances are, when you stop the fad diet, you are going to start eating like you used to and gain the weight back. The real way to have a healthy, balanced diet is to eat clean and treat yourself to some “bad” foods every now and then as a treat.
9. You Aren’t Doing The Right Exercises.
You run 2 miles a day, but you don’t do any strength training or any other types of cardio. After a while you might see your weight loss plateau. Remember: It’s best to mix it up! Try new types of exercise and outdoor activities to not only keep you from getting bored, but also to work different muscles and parts of the body. By mixing up the sorts of exercise you do, you will begin to see the weight come off!
10. Being Consistent.
You may be so proud of your 10 mile bike ride on Saturday, but if that’s the only exercise you do all week, you aren’t being consistent. Try to exercise several times per week, even if it’s just for 30 minutes a day. Likewise, you must also be consistent with how you’re eating.
11. You Only Rely On What The Scale Says And Don’t Take Measurements.
Remember that muscle weighs more than fat! If you are working out several times per week, you will gain muscle. Don’t just rely on what the scale says. Instead, measure your waistline! If you are seeing changes in the mirror and in the way your clothes fit, stop paying so much attention to the scale and keep up the good work!
12. You Don’t Fully Understand Why You Gained Weight In The First Place.
If you don’t know why you have weight to lose, then you need to understand so it doesn’t happen again. Perhaps it was because of a medical condition or medication you were taking. Or maybe you were stressed and overate all of the time. No matter what the reason, understanding why it happened will help you understand how to fix it.
13. You’re Dwelling On Your Diet Too Much.
If you’re dwelling too much on every calorie you put in your mouth, you’re going to lose out on things that make you happy in life. For example, don’t cancel plans to have lunch with friends – you can find something healthy to eat at almost any restaurant. And if you do splurge on a date, remember that you can just workout extra-hard tomorrow. The lesson is not to stop living your life because you want to lose weight.
14. You’re Making Too Many Changes Too Fast.
It’s best to slowly ease into exercise routines and new ways of eating. Trying to give up certain foods cold turkey or taking on vigorous exercise can do more harm than good. Remember that it’s not a race, it’s a way of life.
15. You Don’t Have Realistic Goals.
If your goal is to lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks, you may want to rethink that! Setting unrealistic goals only sets you up for failure. Take it slow and celebrate each milestone – your first 5 pounds lost, the next 10 pounds gone and so on.
16. You’re Disorganised.
Believe it or not, being disorganized in general will harm your weight loss goals. If you have a set schedule of foods to eat and exercises to do each day, you are far more likely to succeed!
17. You Drink Too Much Alcohol.
It’s ok to indulge once in a while on alcohol, but remember that it is just empty calories. Oftentimes, it will also make you hungry as well. If you do decide to drink, women should keep it to a minimum of 1 drink a day while men should have no more than 2 drinks per day.
18. You Are Continuing Bad Habits And Not Starting Good Ones.
If your “bad habit” is eating ice cream every night, you don’t have to necessarily stop your habit. Instead, simply trade ice cream for some low-fat frozen yogurt. See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?
19. You’re Only Relying On Exercise To Lose Weight.
Just because you are exercising a lot doesn’t mean that you should eat whatever you want. This won’t help you get to your weight loss goals. Only a combination of diet and exercise will get you there!
20. Setbacks Cause You To Give Up Totally.
So you gained a pound this week. This doesn’t mean you should go to a fast food restaurant and binge on everything you see! Yes, you might feel down about it, but take that negative energy to the treadmill with you. Get inspired to lose next week instead of letting a setback get you down.
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