Here are 8 things to avoid when trying to lose weight.
Weighing yourself too much. Some weight loss experts agree that you should get rid of your scale altogether. But I think it’s safe to say that you shouldn’t weigh yourself more than once a week to see if you’re on the right track. Ideally, you should be able to look in the mirror and see the physical results of your hard work which should give you motivation to continue striving for your goal.
Eating too much of a good thing. Just because that bag of cookies says it’s low in fat doesn’t mean you can eat the whole bag. The same thing goes with any food. If you eat more than your daily recommended serving of fruit, you’ll be intaking more sugar than your body needs. The key is portion control. Read the nutrition label to see how big the portion size is and how many calories it contains.
Too many carbs during supper. Carbohydrates can be burned up by your body in less than 2 hours, so it’s no wonder so many people snack at night. Include more protein in your supper meal and you’ll feel full longer.
Eating right before bedtime. In fact, you should stop eating at least 3 hours before going to bed. If you eat a bagel slathered with cream cheese spread at 9 pm and you go to bed at 10 pm, you might as well be duct taping that bagel to your butt. It will take some self-discipline and will power in the beginning, but eventually your night-time snacking habit will be broken.
Grocery shopping on an empty stomach. Shopping for food when you’re starving is a disaster waiting to happen. You’ll end up coming home with everything off the shelf. Instead, have a healthy snack before doing grocery duty and stay away from the center aisles that contain mainly processed foods full of preservatives. The outer aisles are all fresh produce, dairy and meat which is all you need.
Eating with giant dishes. Your plates and bowls aren’t made for the friendly giant, so why are you eating with them? Serve your meals with smaller dishes and you’ll tend to eat less. Also, try leaving food at the stove or counter instead of on the table where it’s more tempting to go for seconds.
Drinking alcohol and carbonated beverages. Even if you’re counting calories, many people ‘forget’ to count calories consumed from tin cans. Alcohol and soda are big culprits when it comes to empty calories. My mother has a friend who says “I never drink calories”. I admire her way of thinking.
Not eating enough. Starving yourself is not the answer to losing weight. By depriving your body of the proper fuel it needs to function well, your metabolism slows down because it expects that it won’t get fed anytime soon. The food you do eat will automatically get stored as fat to survive the famine until it gets fed again where it ultimately will be stored as more fat. So start eating three small meals with healthy snacks in between to balance your metabolism and keep it running at full speed.
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