6 Habits to Avoid If You Want to Lose Weight

Trying to lose weight can be frustrating, especially if you are dealing with weight fluctuations, where you gain weight after you have lost it. Plus, so many different factors can affect our weight. That is why it is important to remember that Weight does not determine your healthIn other words, talk to your doctor to find out other aspects of your well-being that you can focus on instead of weight loss. However, if you are committed to your weight loss goal, you may want to try a new approach, such as finding a more optimal time to exercise.

You should also be aware of some pitfalls that you can avoid to increase your chances of success. Here’s what not to do.

1. You have a short-term mentality

Everything on this list is a bit of a hard truth, but this is often the hardest to accept (and change). If you approach weight loss with a short-term mindset, you may not get anywhere except on the yo-yo dieting train.

Without a long-term approach to weight loss, you can lose 10 or more pounds in two weeks and then experience a rebound when you discover that the regimen didn’t work for you. This is all too common when people start strict diets like keto or paleo or fashion diets that promise rapid weight loss. In reality, for most people, a well-balanced diet with all food groups and even some treats work best in the long run.

Part of successful, sustainable weight loss — losing the weight and keeping it off for good — is realizing that fad diets, excessive exercise, and “detoxes” usually don’t work. They only last as long as your willpower lasts, and I’d wager that’s no longer than two weeks to a few months.

There are no quick fixes, miracle cures, or magic pills when it comes to weight loss, despite what the wellness industry would have you believe: losing weight requires commitment to a plan that supports healthy habits for the long term.

The general recommendation for weight loss is a rate of 1 to 2 pounds per week, although initial weight loss may exceed that for people who are very obese, and then slow to the suggested 1 to 2 pounds per week. Studies have shown that this is a effective way to lose weight without losing too much water or muscle tissue — and to avoid a rebound.

2. You practice an all-or-nothing mentality

Many people who struggle with a short-term mentality also struggle with an all-or-nothing mentality. I started my health and fitness journey with this mentality. I have all processed foods: No breadno pasta, no milk, no cheese and no individually wrapped snacks. I lived mainly on chicken, vegetables and berries.

This was great until it wasn’t and I ended up on a CVS run for all the chocolate and goldfish I could hold in both hands. Then, because I had “ruined” my diet, I ate as much as I physically could because “Why not? I’ve already ruined it.”

Then I would feel bad about the snacks I was eating and the next day I would go back to my overly restrictive regime. This is a destructive cycle to be in, but it’s something I see all the time with personal training clients. An all-or-nothing mindset can keep you in a perpetual cycle of lose-win-lose, not to mention the shame and guilt around food.

This all-or-nothing concept also applies to fitness: if you’ve been working out for a while, the most effective workouts to get in shape in the shortest possible time left and right, but if you don’t feel fitter or stronger, you may be doing too much. Taking it easy could be — counterintuitively — the answer to improve your fitness (and in the long run).

3. You suffer from a poor support system

Supportive friends, family members, and significant others are crucial to successful weight loss. If I were asked to name the most common reason my past personal training clients didn’t stick to a healthy diet, I would say stigma.

That’s right. As crazy as it sounds, people do get ridiculed for eating healthy, especially in regions where food is an integral part of the culture. I grew up in southern Louisiana, near New Orleans, and I experienced this many times when I decided to change my diet.

At family gatherings and social outings, I often heard comments like, “Is that all you’re eating?” or “Are you really not going to have dessert at all?” or, with sarcasm, “Next time we’ll have a salad potluck.”

It’s no fun being ridiculed or mocked, especially when it comes to things you care about (like your health!), so it can be easy to fall into the trap of using food — and drink — for your social life. That’s why a solid support system is essential for long-term weight loss. Without one, the journey can feel lonely and intimidating.

If you currently feel like you lack a support system, try to have open conversations with your friends, family, and partner. You can make it clear that they don’t have to change their eating habits if they don’t want to, but that your health means a lot to you and that you would appreciate it if they didn’t ridicule or minimize your hard work.

If an IRL support system doesn’t work, turn to online communities that promote both health and body positivity. I really like Flex and Flow on Instagram, Health in every size and the Intuitive Eating Community. These communities emphasize health without emphasizing weight, which is helpful because when you focus on health outcomes, you’ll easily reach your desired weight. Reddit also has a great forum (/r/loseit) where you will find many true stories about losing weight.

4. You assume that movement conquers all

If you’re at all aware of the wellness industry, you’ve heard the saying, “Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym.” Even if your goals don’t include a ripped midsection, the saying still rings true. You can’t out-train a bad diet.

Exercise should be part of your overall approach to weight loss because it proven to promote weight loss (not to mention the long list of other health benefits), but it’s hard to lose weight through exercise alone. Many people overestimate the number of calories they burn with their workouts; it’s usually much less than you think, and much less than the calories your body burns at rest during the day to maintain your current physique.

For example, a 154 pound man will burn less than 450 calories during an intense, hour-long weightlifting workout. You can easily undo that effort if you don’t pay attention to your diet. The exact number of calories you burn during exercise depends on many factors, including your current weight, the intensity of the activity, the length of the workout, your age, and your body composition.

Additionally, focusing on exercise alone can lead to a destructive cycle of exercising more to burn calories you feel like you shouldn’t have eaten. Or you may feel like you have to “earn” your calories through exercise. Either way, this approach can lead to a strained relationship with food and exercise, as well as stalled weight loss.

Some people, like those who have had a tattoo for years, muscle mass, can eat lots of high calorie foods and not gain weight because muscle burns more calories at rest. Even if you can eat whatever you want and lose or maintain your weight, that doesn’t mean it’s healthy for you.

A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, lean proteins, and some whole grains will serve you best in terms of sustainable weight loss and health. Combined with a consistent training routineYou will experience lasting weight loss and weight maintenance once you reach your target weight.

5. You have a lack of sleep, a lot of stress and work too much

Losing weight will be much harder if you are chronically stressed, lack of sleep or overworked. This scenario may sound familiar to you:

• You wake up motivated and ready to seize the day. You have plans for a post-work interval running and your healthy, prepared meal is waiting for you in the fridge.
• A few hours into the day, your lack of sleep catches up with you. You reach for the afternoon coffee.
• By the time the work is done, you are far too exhausted to go for a run. You decide to skip it.
• You’re tired and maybe a little stressed or moody, so you skip the healthy meal and head to the drive-through instead. You want comfort food, after all.

That’s okay if it happens every now and then (everyone deserves a lazy night in every now and then), but losing weight seems impossible if this happens all the time.

The truth is that diet and exercise just two components of a healthy life that can lead to weight loss. While important, focusing too much on diet and exercise can cause you to overlook other factors that are just as important: sleep and stress management.

6. You are too dependent on supplements

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that fat burner supplement in your medicine cabinet won’t do the work for you. Certain supplements can help you reach your weight loss goals, but you have to work to make your supplements work.

For example, it can help to take a protein shake every morning. helps you feel fuller throughout the day, which can help control cravings. Increasing protein intake can also helps you build musclewhat helps with body rearrangement.

Certain weight loss supplements do have any evidence to support thisbut there are no proven supplements like the method that no one wants to take: eat fewer calories than you burn.