How many mistakes people make when they decide to go on a diet and lose weight! But which ones in particular are those that block the scale and are responsible for keeping those extra pounds from dropping off that compromise fitness and health?
There are certainly many errors, but a few of the main ones that are most responsible for the seemingly irreducible weight gain can be listed.
Don’t eat breakfast in the morning
Some people think that not eating breakfast, skipping it altogether, can result in a systematic reduction in body weight due to the lower number of calories gained, but in fact skipping breakfast increases hunger throughout the day and induces larger meals or intermediate snacks , with significant increase in calories.
The habit of drinking little water
Water is necessary to keep hydrated and to reduce calories. A proper diet must rely on water as a condition of dietary balance. Not drinking enough water can slow metabolism and not facilitate weight loss.
Drastically exclude certain foods
Some foods are sometimes excluded from the diet altogether, as is the case with dairy products, for example, considering them responsible for much of the excess weight.
In the case of dairy products, for example, rather than eliminating them from one’s diet, it would be better to choose them free or low-fat, since they are able to supply calcium to the body, which will then use it precisely to burn greater amounts of fat. In fact, when calcium is lacking, fat accumulation can increase.
Disregard calories in beverages
Attention should be paid to beverages, which usually, unlike foods, are often overlooked despite containing high levels of sugar, and go unnoticed while weighing heavily on the calorie count. When you are at the coffee shop and choose to drink a particularly elaborate coffee or a sophisticated cocktail with multiple types of ingredients or a mix of sugary juices, it should be kept in mind that you can take in as many as hundreds of calories in one shot.
Taking lots of snacks and snacks throughout the day
Account should be taken of all those various snacks and snacks eaten during the day between main meals: chips, olives, pizzas, pastries, cakes, sugary drinks, foods that are not very suitable for weight control and whose significant caloric intake is often avoided.
Any diet, in which the right foods and appropriate amounts are provided to control weight, loses its meaning if the additional caloric intake of snacks is hidden from us.
The snacking habit, especially when it involves protein- and fiber-rich foods, can certainly help keep the metabolism working compared to larger main meals, with good weight maintenance results, but it is better not to snack at all and rely only on main meals if you are unable to avoid diet-damaging foods.
So , if snacking it must be, let it be of foods such as nuts, almonds, carrots rather than of pretzels, chips or pizza.
Consuming fast-food type foods
If you get used to eating, even periodically, fast food products such as sandwiches stuffed with meat, sauce and cheese , chips , milkshakes in various flavors, it is very easy to put on 7-8 pounds after a month , wondering what happened.
Not informing themselves about the contents and nutritional value of foods
Know how to read label directions and distinguish between foods with more or less fat content and calories expressed per gram of weight, know how to adjust and not exceed portions even when a food turns out to be low in calories
Choose extreme or overly prohibitive types of diets
Some people , fed up with excess weight and eager to wear tighter clothes , decide to adopt particularly drastic diets .
A particularly drastic diet might involve one cup of broth or only one vegetable dish in a day . Apparently, the person intent on losing weight sees a number of pounds dissolve in a short time because of such a low-calorie diet.
But after an initial slimming effect such a drastic type of diet causes a slowdown in metabolism, and once it is over , one is left with a body that is slow in disposing of the calories of a normal diet , and consequently with a new rise in the needle of the scale.
On the other hand, it should be said that a nutritious and balanced breakfast , complete with protein, vitamins, fiber is very suitable for keeping hunger under control and reducing the amount of food in subsequent meals , adding that people who manage to maintain a fair weight are also those who assiduously eat breakfast in the morning .
Setting unachievable goals
When setting out to lose weight and adopt a controlled diet , it is best to be realistic by avoiding setting unattainable goals or penalizing behaviors.
If the goal set is exaggerated, failure to achieve it could result in a sense of failure and a sudden abandonment of good intentions to lose weight and follow assiduous eating behavior. So it should be said no to an improbable goal of 3-4 pounds in a week, but better to have a much more modest but real goal , that is, one set by the treating physician.
