7 Things Sabotaging Your Weight Loss

Have you been on a fitness plan for months, only to find that the pounds drop off slowly or not at all? Trying to lose weight can be hard for anyone, but finding that you’re doing everything you can and the pounds still aren’t coming off can be frustrating. Overlooking seemingly minor things can spell disaster for you and your fitness goals. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most important ones, so you can be confident and secure in your ability to reach your weight loss goals.

1. You overindulge on high-calorie healthy foods.

Although it’s great to incorporate avocados, nuts, and whole grains into your diet, doing so excessively can put your weight loss at risk. While dieticians recommend that you incorporate healthy fats and carbohydrate sources into your diet, piling on things like avocados or brown rice in your meals will do you more harm than good. Moderation is key to any weight loss plan. Consuming excess calories, even if they’re coming from healthy foods, will make it harder to lose weight. A good idea would be to use a nutrition tracker—like MyFitnessPal—to track your total calorie intake and measure out your daily nutritional requirements.

2. You have unrealistic expectations.

Most people can’t go from eating a regular diet to eating a raw vegan diet in a day. Most people also can’t lose 20 pounds in a month. If you find yourself going from extreme to extreme when it comes to losing weight, you’re not alone. Many people in this situation think they have a great plan in mind, and that they’re going to stick to it. Unfortunately, most of the time huge adjustments like this have the opposite effect. The best way to diet is to aim for losing one to two pounds a week—and adjusting your exercise routine and caloric intake accordingly. Setting small goals for yourself and allowing yourself to eat cheat meals in moderation will allow you to stick to your weight loss plan much more effectively, and for a longer period of time, than if you were to crash diet. Crash dieting is unsustainable, and having an all-or-nothing mentality is not going to get you to where you want to be. Crash-dieting leads to burnout, which leads to overconsuming the foods you deprived yourself of for so long. Not only that—it can lead to malnutrition and is incredibly unhealthy.

3. You forgo your diet on weekends.

We all want to party, drink, and let off some steam on the weekends. But is it the best decision when trying to lose weight? Mixed drinks, beer, and wine are laden with empty calories—not to mention the poor diet decisions that are often made when drinking them. It’s easy to undo your weekly calorie deficit with a few drinks on Saturday, Sunday, or both, plus making poor diet decisions for your Sunday brunch or Saturday dinners. All of this adds up, and makes it harder to lose weight. Of course, splurge every once in a while and offer yourself a cheat meal, but don’t let it turn into a cheat day, or a cheat weekend. Planning your cheat meals ahead of time will help you dramatically in overindulging in unhealthy drinks and foods over the weekend.

4. You eat too fast.

It takes 20 minutes for your stomach to send the message to your brain that it’s full. Eating slower and enjoying your meals, rather than quickly scarfing them, can help prevent overeating.

5. You count calories too closely—and only count calories.

Most nutrition apps provide data on your intake of daily calories—as well as macronutrients and vitamins. Only paying attention to not surpassing your caloric intake is likely to get you into trouble. A 100-calorie snack pack may only have 100 calories—but it doesn’t offer the nutritional benefits that a 150-calorie snack of almonds or apples with peanut butter might have. It’s important to not eat low-calorie foods specifically because they’re low calorie. They’re likely filled with empty calories. Eat with intention—aim for foods that are going to give you the fuel you need to get through your day and your workouts. The less packaged and processed, the better.

6. You don’t eat foods you enjoy, or do workouts you enjoy.

The best way to lose weight—and keep it off—is to change your lifestyle. It’s important for you to incorporate foods that you enjoy eating into your diet (and maybe even find healthy versions of your high-calorie favorites!). If you want to lose weight and keep it off for the long term, you should be finding healthy food that you enjoy eating and workouts that you enjoy doing. Don’t like to run? Don’t do it! There are tons of other ways to incorporate cardio into your workout routine like biking, swimming, dancing, roller skating—you name it! Don’t have time to make it to the gym everyday? Do bodyweight workouts in your garage, there are literally thousands of videos and programs online devoted to at-home workouts. And a little secret—if you don’t like *that* healthy food, you don’t have to eat it! That food for you could be salad, broccoli, brown rice, anything!That’s the best part. Incorporate healthy foods that fit your lifestyle. The only thing that matters is that you’re getting the nutrition you require, and that you’re burning more calories than you’re consuming.

The person that doesn’t lose weight is the person that forces themselves to consistently do and eat things they don’t want to.

7. You’ve cut out oil.

Cutting out oil in an effort to forgo “unnecessary calories” isn’t actually as helpful as you think it might be. A little bit of healthy oil, like olive or avocado oil, goes a long way. Not only does it add flavor and healthy fats to your food, it helps you feel fuller for a longer period of time! To curb hunger pangs and feel satiated, adding a moderate amount of healthy oil to your meals is incredibly beneficial.

With summer right around the corner, more and more people are switching up their normal habits in favor of losing weight. These seven tips will, hopefully, make the process a little easier and more enjoyable.