7 weight loss mistakes you may be making + how to combat them

by Tara Zimliki

 

Black exercise lady

It is easy to make weight loss mistakes like skipping meals, not exercising or even over indulging when you dine out. Often people make these mistakes in an attempt to lose weight but the results are the opposite.

These weight loss mistakes can cause the scale to slow down or bring weight loss to a halt. So how do you combat these mistakes, lose weight and achieve your goal weight? Well first off, you have to stop making weight loss mistakes like these:

1. SKIPPING MEALS

You skip breakfast because you wake up and you are not hungry, then you overindulge at lunchtime. By the time dinner rolls around you still feel full from lunch, so you skip supper and overindulge in late night eating. Does this sound healthy? Skipping meals is a vicious cycle that slows down your metabolism. It is one of the major weight loss mistakes that people make, so avoid this and eat small meals every 2-3 hours.

2. EATING WHILE WATCHING TV

Mindless eating while you are watching the TV or on the computer can have you consuming calories that you may have amnesia over later. Have you ever single-handedly eaten a whole bowl of popcorn while you watched a movie? Or have you ever eaten a bag of chips while watching a show and been shocked that you ate so much? Mindless eating is a weight mistakes many dieter commits, so avoid this so you can expedite your goals!

3. NOT DOING ENOUGH CARDIO

Since there is so much hype on lifting heavier weights to lose weight, many women are turning to this in an effort to slim down, but remember cardio is key. If you just lift weights alone you are not going to lose enough weight, as this needs to be combined with cardio. So aim for 45 minutes to an hour of cardio for 3-5 days a week to burn fat and achieve your weight loss goals!

4. INCREASING YOUR CALORIES BECAUSE OF WORKOUTS

You finish a long run and you are famished, so you open the food pantry and graze on several snacks. Pretty soon the calories you consume are equivalent to the calories that you just burned on your run, so how do you combat this? After your run, make sure you drink plenty of water, because chances are you are confusing hunger for thirst. Then have a piece of fruit and a hard-boiled egg and see the aftermath of these healthy choices on the scale.

5. NOT GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP

You are on a daily schedule of staying up late and waking up early and you feel like each day you are just getting by because of your lack of sleep. As a result of your lack of sleep, you managed to gain weight, so how is this possible? When you lack adequate sleep of 7-9 hours per night, your body secretes the hormone cortisol, which causes you to gain weight. So get more shut eye so you can slim down and have more energy!

6. NOT PUSHING YOURSELF TO EXERCISE

You pack your sneakers in your car and plan on heading to the gym after work. Unfortunately, as you sit in traffic on the way home, you feel sleepy so you decide to pass on the gym today. Big mistake! You need to push yourself to exercise even if it is just for a half hour, because we can always make excuses. So do not think about it, just do it so that you can lose weight and feel amazing!

7. SPLURGING EVERY TIME YOU DINE OUT

Every Friday and Saturday you make plans to dine out and this has now become a regular routine. In the beginning you would splurge with a martini and split a dessert with some friends, but now you are even ordering an appetizer! Stop splurging every time you dine out because you are creating bad habits that are hard to break. Focus on the occasional treat once a week, and make this one treat, not an array, or it will no longer be a special treat.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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