Do you ever feel like why am I not losing weight with diet and exercise?
Even though you eat your vegetables and do some form of workout every day, you do not see any progress when you stand on the weighing scale?
Losing weight can be difficult, but avoiding mistakes that most people make when starting their weight-loss journey can make it easier.
Even with healthy eating habits and a regular exercise routine, You could be making many mistakes that are hindering your progress, for instance, by following a piece of misguided or outdated advice or following a weight-loss program that may not work best with your body.
Here are the 10 most common mistakes people make when trying to lose weight.
1. You are overestimating your daily calories
According to one survey, only 11 percent of Americans correctly estimate their ideal daily calorie requirements. For example, most of us assume that we need to eat 2000 calories to lose weight, well that might be true for some people, but it may not be ideal for you as we all have different bodies with different calorie intake requirements.
One easy way to ensure how many calories you need to consume to lose weight is to use an online calorie calculator or an app to track your daily calorie intake like Myfitnesspal.
2. Not Exercising
You lose some muscle mass and fat during weight loss, although the amount depends on several factors. For example, If you don’t exercise while limiting calories, you’re likely to lose more muscle mass and experience a drop in metabolic rate.
On the other hand, if you exercise along with restricting calories, you are more likely to boost fat loss and stop your metabolism from slowing down, which helps to minimize the amount of lean mass you lose and makes it easier to lose weight and maintain the weight loss.
3. Not Lifting Weights
Performing resistance training is especially important during weight loss. Researches prove lifting weights is one of the most effective exercises for gaining muscle and increasing metabolic rate. It also improves overall body structure and boosts belly fat loss.
Lifting weights also helps you burn more calories when you are not in the gym; This is because you get an “afterburn,” where your body continues to use more calories in the hours following a workout to repair the muscle tissues you worked on that day. (1)
4. You Are Exercising Too Much
Exercising is vital to lose weight and maintain weight loss, but over-exercising can hurt your body.
Research shows that excessive exercise is unsustainable in the long term for most people and may lead to stress. In addition, it may reduce the production of adrenal hormones that control the stress response. (2)
The best way to make sure you are not over-exercising is to listen to your body and stop when you feel too tired.
5. Not Eating Enough Protein
Just like plants need sunlight to grow, our body needs protein.
Getting enough protein is extremely necessary if you’re trying to lose weight.
Studies show that protein can reduce hunger, increase feelings of fullness, decrease calorie intake, significantly boost metabolism and increase the number of calories you burn. which can help you burn 80-100 more calories easily every day. (3) (4)
To optimize weight loss, make sure you consume 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight or 0.36 grams per pound.
6. Not Eating Enough Fiber
A diet low in fibre may be compromising your weight loss efforts.
Not consuming enough fibre can make you feel more hungry between meals.
Studies show that a diet high in dietary fibre can cause weight loss by automatically reducing your calorie intake, slowing the absorption of nutrients, and increasing feelings of fullness. (5)
7. Not Tracking What You Eat
Eating healthy food is good for weight loss but tracking the calorie intake is more important to make sure you are still in a caloric deficit and not consuming too many calories.
It’s easy to miscalculate the ingredients while cooking; for example, people who don’t measure the amount of olive oil sometimes end up adding a few more calories to their meals as 10ml of olive oil has about 80 calories, and that can add up quickly if not careful.
The best way to track calories is to use a fitness tracking app, and our favourite is Myfitnesspal, as it has all the options to create your recipes and track your macros and weight daily.
8. Choosing Processed Low-Fat or “Diet” Foods
Processed low-fat or “diet” foods are often regarded as good choices for losing weight, but they may have the opposite effect as most of these products are packed with sugar to enhance their taste. For example, one cup (245 grams) of low-fat, fruit-flavoured yoghurt can contain 47 grams of sugar (nearly 12 teaspoons). Unfortunately, rather than keeping you full, low-fat products are more prone to make you hungrier, causing you to eat even more.
Instead of Processed low-fat or “diet” foods, choose a mixture of nutritious, minimally processed foods as they are more suitable for your weight loss goal.
9. Overestimating How Many Calories You Burn During Exercise
We have all been there when a workout feels like you just burned a thousand calories, but in reality, you just burned 300.
Sometimes, people overestimate how many calories they burn, which causes them to eat more calories after a workout, negatively affecting their weight loss.
Research shows that both normal and overweight people tend to exaggerate the number of calories they burn during exercise, often by a significant amount. (6)
10. Still Drinking Sugar
Sugar is your worst enemy when you are trying to lose weight, so it’s best to eliminate all sugary foods and drinks from your diet.
Some people forget that even 100% fruit juice is loaded with sugar and may lead to health and weight problems; for example, 12 ounces (320 grams) of unsweetened pineapple juice contains 28 grams of sugar. That’s even more than in 12 ounces of cola.
What’s more, consuming sugar can cause you to gain fat around the visceral section, aka belly fat.