Warning: You are at risk of sabotaging your hard work at trying to lose weight! But don’t let this alarm you too much, with the tips in this article you can easily avoid any of these setbacks.
5 Things You’re Doing That’s Hampering Weight Loss & What You SHOULD Do Instead
These are the top 5 common problems I see which people often don’t realize and/or don’t understand the importance of.
Soft drinks, alcohol and caffeine
Drinking soft drinks is pretty much the same as eating a few lumps of sugar, and it can seriously affect the effectiveness of your well thought out diet and exercise plan.
Alcohol is even more dangerous, it contains lots of calories, damages brain cells, and makes you feel hungry. Remember those cravings after a night out? Drinking alcohol is thus a double whammy when it comes to losing weight – consuming extra calories and creating the urge to eat when you shouldn’t.
Caffeine has actually been shown to increase your metabolism slightly, however consuming too much can put a strain on your heart and make you dehydrated. If you do love your tea/coffee too much try and limit it to one cup per day.
SOLUTION: Only drink water (the stuff from the tap) – Avoid soft drinks, alcohol and caffeine and have them on your day off (you don’t have to give any of these things up). Plain water might sound unappealing but I have plenty of tasty suggestions for you, check out this article for some great ideas – Drinking water to lose weight
Exercise monotony – Weight loss Plateau
When you keep on doing the same exercise routine your body will eventually get used to it. At first you’ll see significant weight loss, perhaps even losing a quite a few pounds in the first month and getting a lot fitter (and congratulations if you got this far). But once you become accustomed to the routine your fitness won’t increase any further and you won’t lose anymore weight.
SOLUTION: Review your exercise plan according to your progress – When you feel like you’re getting used to the exercises you do, and feel that they are getting easy switch it up. Increase the intensity of the workouts you do and/or introduce new routines and activities. Do this on a regularly basis such as once per month.
Not eating breakfast
Breakfast is a vitally important meal, and I am still shocked at the thought that loads of people just have a coffee in the mornings. After a night a rest you need to fuel your body for the day ahead, not doing so will make you sluggish and affect the rest of the day.
SOLUTION: Eat breakfast – Eat it as soon as possible upon waking up, and include a healthy serving of high protein foods (think eggs).
Dieting too strictly
Low calorie diet, low fat diets and all sorts of low something diets are recommended against, they do not create lasting weight loss and may be bad for your health. All nutrients are essential for healthy bodily function. For example many people believe that a low fat diet is great for weight loss, but in fact many hormones are made from fat and lack of the right fats will impact your body functions.
Another form of strict which on the surface seems very good is actually not as effective as it could be. Similarly to an exercising plateau you will also reach a dieting plateau, as your body gets used to your diet habits and calorie intake. By taking a day off and eating whatever you want you give the signal that food is abundant, kick starting your metabolism into a higher gear.
SOLUTIONS:
Take a day off once per week – Eat the foods you weren’t allowed to eat otherwise, doing this once per week should enough to satisfy any cravings you have (for me that’s pizza, donuts, chocolate, milkshake, ice cream, cheesecake, …).
Seek a healthy weight loss diet – Look for a diet that allows for all foods, avoid diets which suggest restricting your diet to a very limited range (these are generally not good for permanent weight loss)
Skipping meals
Missing a meal is like telling your body that you can’t find any food to eat, your metabolism will natural decrease and burn less calories.
SOLUTION: Never skip a meal – I know some people struggle with eating meals in a timely manner but it’s really important for weight loss. Plan at the start of each day (over breakfast) if that’s what makes you eat at the right time.
Now that you’ve lost all those excess pounds it’s time to come up with a plan to keep them off! It really would be a shame to put them all back on again. Retaining some daily fitness training in your weight loss activities is an excellent way to do this. You can also grow some muscles to build up your physique. See how Tom Brady has done just that. We share everything you need to know about (as we like to call them) Tom Brady Supplements.
