When people experience that losing fat is really difficult, they do unwise things out of desperation in the hope of losing some pounds. Often these are mistakes that thwart their fat loss. Here are 5 killer dieting mistakes that guarantee you will fail to lose fat. Avoid them.
(a) Eating too little protein
Protein is made up of smaller units called amino acids. Your body needs 20 different amino acids, but can only make 9 to 12 of them; your body must obtain the remaining 8 to 11 (called “essential amino acids”) from food.
1 gram of protein provides 4 calories. It contains nitrogen and therefore is chemically different from fat and carbohydrate.
As your body cells wear out every day, your body needs a constant supply of protein to repair them. Therefore your body needs protein to grow and develop. Not only that, your organs, muscles, nervous system, blood vessels and skeleton require protein. Proteins are also part of enzymes, such as antibodies that help protect from diseases and viruses.
I hope you now see that it’s a big no-no to pass up on protein while dieting.
(b) I skip breakfast… So what?
When you wake up in the morning, just think how many hours it has been since you have your last meal? 7 hours? 10 hours? It’s as if your body has been fasting during your sleep. That’s why your first meal in the morning is called breakfast, ie ‘break fast’. It’s therefore easy to appreiciate that the body needs to be refueled — starting with breakfast. If you skip breakfast, you are literally forcing yourself into running on empty. Eating a good breakfast sets the tone for the rest of the day.
Let’s say you finished dinner at 8 p.m. last night. If you ate lunch at 12pm noon today, that’s 16 hours of no refueling! If you skip breakfast to lose weight, chances are this is going to backfire on your efforts because you will be so hungry by lunch time that you almost always overeat, and eat the wrong types of food that thwart your fat loss.
Actually, eating breakfast is good for losing weight. In fact, you are more likely to maintain a healthy weight if you eat breakfast.
The fuel your body needs is glucose (blood sugar). Your brain and your nervous system need glucose to function. Your breakfast supplies the needed fuel. Studies show that eating breakfast increases concentration, and that children who eat breakfast perform better in school. Adults who don’t skip breakfast are more efficient at work physically and mentally as well.
Start the day right - don’t skip breakfast. Breakfast is for weight loss champions!
(c) Depriving yourself of your favorite foods
You may deny yourself your favorite foods because they are bad for fat loss. If you are not to eat the food you love ever again, it’s unlikely you will have the motivation to stick to your fat-loss diet. Here’s the trick: break the rule and eat a small amount of your favorite foods every so often. This trick is one of the factors that makes the idiot proof diet plan highly effective in losing fat. This diet plan allows you to eat whatever you want at the end of every 11-day cycle. You can read more about this extraordinary diet plan here:
(d) Oversized Portions
Perhaps because we’ve got used to getting huge portions of food at restaurants, we unconsciously think it’s normal to eat huge portions at home.
Also, many dieters, after several weeks of dieting, think they know the right size of portions that they should be eating, and so stop measuring the portions. But what they don’t realize is that their portion sizes are getting larger and larger.
You may trim your portions by:
* Use smaller plates and bowls.
* Periodically check your portions with measuring cups.
* Don’t finish off large portions
The idiot proof diet plan offers another effective tip for weight loss, ie eat till you are satisfied but not full.
Read more about the success stories of idiot proof diet plan here:
Success stories of the idiot proof diet plan
(e) Not drinking enough water — the biggest dieting mistake
Your body is 70% water, and so you must drink enough water so that your body can process foods properly. Not drinking enough water — the biggest dieting mistake — can slow your metabolism, and this will work against your fat loss.
Next: 10 great tips for low-carb dieters to lose fat in 3 weeks
