7 Mistakes you shouldn’t make while dieting

Many people spend years trying to reduce that extra body fat with little to no success, because that’s the effect of following a diet while making many mistakes at the same time. Losing fat is one of the most common goals, but it’s definitely not easy.

To contradict the yo-yo effect of your diets, you should understand the mistakes you might be making and try to avoid them.

What are you doing that keeps you from seeing results?

1. You’re eating too much.

It appears to be an obvious mistake, but the thing is, many people don’t know how to calculate the amount of calories they’re eating with every meal. For example, a salad may seem a healthy choice, but it can contain about 600 calories without you even noticing. You’re probably not taking into account the sauces, oils and every seasoning you use to make your salad tastier. You should understand that, when eating at a restaurant, you can’t control the amounts and quality of what you’re eating and that can be the problem.
The rule is simple: the weight loss process is based on eating fewer calories than the ones you spend during the day. However, there’s complexity in this rule, because you should take into account the quality of the calories you eat, so it’s essential to combine the adequate proteins, carbs and healthy fats to build lean muscle mass and burn fat naturally. Overall, a ratio of 40% carbs, 40% protein and 20% fat is a good way of finding balance and making a positive change. However, this is not the golden rule for everyone, that’s why it is essential to have a specialized monitoring. Many people have to lower their carb intake to see results and increase the ingestion of healthy fats, so they can be able to give their body an alternative energy source. You should find the most adequate method to your metabolism and you should not follow a standardized pattern, because everyone’s different.

2. You’re not taking enough protein.

Protein does more than just building and repairing muscle tissue. A study published in 2003 by the Journal of Nutrition has revealed that an experience with two groups of overweight women was conducted and that, during the process, the number of calories they took was identical; however, the group of women of followed the diet including 128g of protein a day lost more weight than the ones who only took 68g of protein a day. By taking this macronutrient in the adequate amounts and taking into account your body weight, you’ll fell fuller during the meals and you’ll feel less hungry during the day. Choose high-protein foods and eat them with every main meal.

3. You’re eating too fast.

Eating too fast won’t help you with your diet. The fact that you’re swallowing too fast will make you swallow air and provoke a stomach bloating. Your brain needs about 20 minutes to process the message that the body is full already, so eating too fast ends up making you eat more than you actually need to.

4. You’re drinking unnecessary fluids.

The only fluid your body really needs is water. Of course you can drink coffee, tea and sometimes even milk, but a constant ingestion of beverages with too much sugar will have a negative effect on fat loss (out of the picture are cappuccinos, bottled teas, that usually have a lot of sugar, etc). When it comes to alcoholic beverages, beer is the lesser of two evils; however, avoid drinking it.

5. You’re thinking that every healthy food is calorie-free.

Wrong. It doesn’t matter how healthy a certain food is; if you eat too much, you’ll find it hard to lose fat. For example, dried fruits like nuts, almonds, hazelnuts and seeds are highly nutritive, but the calories they contain can be excessive if you eat too much. Usually, you should count the amount you eat and eat them as a snack (during the morning or afternoon).

6. You’re constantly under stress.

Stress is a silent killer. When you’re under stress, your body produces too much cortisol, which will provoke an increase in the storage of body fat and keep you from getting closer to your goal. To contradict this phenomenon, adopt relaxation techniques during the day, like: sauna, yoga, watching a movie, reading a book, meditating or any other activity that makes you relax.

7. You’re not sleeping enough.

Just like stress, sleep deprivation increases cortisol levels and the predisposition for the accumulation of fat. Establish a schedule and adopt routines that make you follow a minimum of 8h a sleep every night.

Besides the 7 reasons we just mentioned, you may not be putting enough intensity in your workouts and you may need new stimuli to get out of the stagnation point you’re in.