Hi lovelies,

A lot of people struggle to lose weight. This is often due to a number of common mistakes. Below are just a few weight loss mistakes that you should avoid falling trap to. 

Choosing a goal that’s unrealistic/too vague
When setting a weight loss goal, many people make the mistake of choosing a goal that’s unrealistic or too vague. Such goals fail to motivate us because they’re not achievable or not clear enough.

An unrealistic goal usually involves trying to lose too much weight in a short amount of time. In most cases, you’re not going to lose 30% of your body weight in a year. It’s better to aim for 10% or 5% to start with. 

Vague weight loss goals tend to lack a specific time frame or tangible goal. Telling yourself you want to lose 2 stone is not a clear goal because there’s no time frame. Telling yourself that you want to lose 2 stone in 5 months is much clearer. 

Not tracking your progress
It’s important that you regularly keep track of your progress. Without tracking your progress, you’re likely to lose motivation but you won’t have a clear idea of how far you’ve come.

You can track your weight loss progress using a diary or an app. On top of tracking your weight, it could be worth tracking your exercise performance and your ability to stay on target with calories. Documenting your progress in detail will allow you to look back and feel proud of the small changes. 

Thinking you can lose weight without exercise or dieting
Some people think that they can lose weight solely by taking weight loss pills or by using a waist trainer. This isn’t the case - while weight loss pills like lipodrene ephedra can help you lose weight, they should be used as supplements to a healthy diet and exercise.

There is no lazy way to lose weight. Unless you develop a disease that causes you to lose weight (which is not a recommended weight loss strategy), you’ll likely have to change your diet and the amount of physical activity you do in order to see results.

Focusing on ‘weight loss’ and not ‘fat loss’
Sometimes ‘weight loss’ isn’t the factor to focus on at all. Sometimes, in our attempt to lose fat, we gain muscle. Muscle is about as heavy as fat. As a result, you can lose weight and gain an equal amount of muscle in two weeks and not see a difference in your weight.

While a weight loss goal is worth having, you should also set non-weight related goals alongside it such as trying to fit into a specific size of jeans or trying to reach a certain waist size. This will allow you to track whether you’re getting slimmer and not just lighter. 

Expecting results too soon
When taking measures to lose weight, you shouldn’t expect instant results. Sometimes the body fights back against our weight loss efforts, storing more calories as fat to make up for our change of lifestyle. You have to be persistent with a workout regime or diet before your body finally gives in and starts shedding the pounds.

How long should it take for you to start seeing results? Unfortunately, there is no universal time. Some people are able to see results after two weeks. For others it can take two months. In all cases, it’s worth giving yourself a few weeks. Don’t give in after the first weekly weigh-in just because you haven’t lost any pounds. 

Doing all cardio and no weights
You’ll burn more calories doing cardio than you will doing weight training. However, that doesn’t mean you should avoid weight training altogether. Weight training can help to vary up your workout and help you lose weight in other ways.

On top of burning calories while doing weight training, your metabolism is also boosted. Weight training also helps you to build muscle. The calories you digest are turned into muscle instead of fat. This allows you to effectively eat more than you would purely doing cardio without all the calories turning into fat. 

Drinking too many calories
When people think of a calorific diet, they tend to think of junk foods such as burgers, fries, candy, cakes and chips. In actual fact, many of the unhealthy calories we consume are within drinks. Soda drinks like Coca-cola, milky coffees containing syrups and alcoholic drinks like wine are all packed full of calories. 

When trying to fix your diet, don’t overlook these drinks. You may find that switching out half your drinks with water has a huge difference on your calorie consumption. 

Rewarding yourself with too many treats
If you’ve just done an intense workout at the gym, try to resist rewarding yourself with junk food. This type of treat could be undoing all of your hard work. 

You’re much better off finding treats that don’t involve pouring calories back into your body. Instead, reward an intense workout with a trip to the sauna, an evening of no housework or even a nap. 

Meeting your weight loss goal and then returning to your old ways
In the hopeful event that you do reach your weight loss goal, it’s important not to return to your old lifestyle. This will just cause you to pile the pounds back on again - and then it will be all for nothing. 

Weight loss has to involve some permanent lifestyle changes. This is something that many people fail to realise - getting slim isn’t a license to stop doing exercise and pig out again. This doesn’t mean that you have to stick to a strict exercise regime and diet for the rest of your life. Once you’ve reached your weight loss goal, you can ease off a bit. The key is not to ease off too much. You’ll still need to do some exercise and limit some foods.