Top 7 Weight-loss Mistakes

If you are trying to lose a few pounds and you feel like you are hitting a wall, make sure you read this blog where I go over some of the top mistakes I made in the kitchen, at the gym or as my mindset, while I went through my journey.

Mistake #1: Fasting

like many people I thought if I eat less, I would be consuming less calories, therefore I will lose weight.

You can lose weight and gain fat at the same time 

The tricky thing with this one is when you lower your calories, regardless of what you're cutting out of your diet, you will start to see the number on the scale going down. But that doesn't mean you are losing weight in the healthiest way; you might not even be losing fat!

Your body uses 60-70% of your energy for metabolic functions and its favorite source to use is glycogen which is basically stored carbohydrates! If your body runs out of glycogen, it will dip into fat and then into skeletal muscle tissue. Fasting for longer periods of time could eventually become very unhealthy as your body will start breaking down skeletal muscle tissue from your muscles and organs.

Furthermore, when you put your body in starvation mode, it actually thinks it need to hold on to fat. This is been a part of our evolution to keep us alive!

Therefore, the first thing you eat after not eating for so long will be turned into fatty acids just in case you decided to starve your body again, your body can dip into fat to provide energy!

After I understood this, I started feeding my body every couple of hours with a small meals which did wonders for me! It kept my metabolism going and it made my body feel safe that it will have access to food shortly so it doesn’t have to worry and it can let the fat GO!

"STOP thinking as food as something that is supposed to comfort you, make you happy or make you fat & Start thinking of food as something that nourishes our body and provide you with energy"

Mistake #2: Quitting Carbs & Sugar Cold Turkey

I feel like I liked sugar and carbs too much and quitting it cold turkey kept resulting in headaches, cravings and eventually caving in. I normally stayed strong and motivated for about 2 months and then went back to stuffing my face in bread and chocolate!

If you have watched this video, you know I am an advocate of replacing sugar and cutting it down. Check out that link where I talk about real techniques to use in order to quit sugar.

Mistake #3: Not Paying Attention to Mobility and Flexibility

know you hear it everywhere. “lifting weight burns more calories” & yes they do. But if you are not flexible and mobile, lifting weight can SERIOUSLY injure you.

One thing I truly regret in my fitness journey is not fixing my imbalances before I started lifting. This is something I now struggle with daily. I have a rotated hip, injured shoulder and up until last year, the left side of my body felt completely different than my right side. I have had to spend a lot of time on mobility exercises and stretches to be able to fix some of these issues. Therefore, I wish I worked on that before or while I started lifting with that much intensity.

Mistake #4: not taking "Rest Days"

I wanted to lose the weight so badly that I didn’t take enough time to let my body recover properly. Now that I am more conscious and more in tune with my body I understand that if I am working out with so much intensity, it’s best to take one day off every 3-4 days. This way I can be sure that I have the right energy for all of my workouts.

Mistake #5: Not Eating Enough

When you want to lose weight, the first thing you are going to do is to cut your calories all of a sudden! I made this mistake repeatedly until I realized that bodies do not work like that! If you have more than 10 pounds to lose you actually have to strategize and plan your calories in a way so your weight loss doesn't stop after losing 10 pounds.

To fix this, I started using MyFitnessPal to track my macros and decided to only start lowering it by 200 calories every month or so. Doing this, gave my body enough time to lose as much weight as it can with the new macros. Later, every time I hit a wall, I lowered it a little bit more so my weight loss continued.

Mistake #6: Unrealistic Expectations

I kept going on the scale every single morning to check my weight and I kept asking my boyfriend “If I continue working out and dieting do you think Ill lose 10 pounds in 3 months?”

I kept wondering and used it for motivation but that number on the scale played mind games with me. Every time there was an event or a birthday I would hope that I will finally look the way I want but it didn’t happen. I was always angry and frustrated and now that I look back it was because I had unrealistic expectations of my body. I wanted it to look a certain way instead of having it look healthy and the only way to make that happen is eating healthy food and staying patient! I really wish I took my time and enjoyed the journey more instead of spending my days expecting results. I have a free program you can download here. This program will introduce healthy foods and helps you get rid of the old ones.

Mistake #7: Thinking I will become disciplined overnight

Just because you decided to start dieting and working out tomorrow doesn't mean you will. Creating habits are really hard and you have to use real strategies to do it.

It's very rare that someone wakes up in the morning and turn into this disciplined person who doesn't eat junk food and exercises regularly.

I think this is what most people expect from themselves without realizing how big of a transition this really is.

Here is another video on how to create habits to help you with creating healthy habits and getting rid of bad ones. It's based on the book Atomic Habit by James Clear. You can watch it by clicking here.