You’ve been working on losing weight, but you just aren’t seeing the numbers on the scale go down. What gives? There are lots of sneaky ways that your life may be getting in the way of your goals. There’s nothing wrong with having to take a step back and assess what’s going wrong. In fact, that’s the best way to figure out what you could be doing differently to ensure that you start seeing the results you want. Here are some reasons why your diet isn’t working.
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1. You Mess up so You Scrap the Day
This is a really common reason why people find their diet not working out. Maybe you spring for the chocolate cake at the office for a co-worker’s birthday or you hit the drive-thru for a sausage biscuit when you drop the kids off at school. You messed up, so you might as well just go all out for the day, right? Wrong! True, those choices might not be conducive to weight loss, but get right back on track for the rest of the day and the damage won’t be as hard to take.
2. You Aren’t Writing It down
Experts say that one of the most powerful ways to lose weight is to record every bite that goes into your mouth. Not keeping a food journal? Now is the time to start. Writing down everything you eat keeps you accountable and allows you to look for patterns when you aren’t seeing the results you want. Put pen to paper and you might start seeing your weight drop.
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3. You Skip Meals
It’s so tempting to skip a meal and bank your calories when you know you’ll be going to happy hour with friends. It makes sense, right? The problem with this strategy is that you will get so hungry that you’ll eat everything in sight, totally overdoing it. Instead of a free for all, have a snack or small meal a couple of hours before you go out. That way you’ll be full enough to make smart choices without the morning after regret.
4. You like Your Drinks
Cocktails, sweet tea, soda, juice…what do they all have in common? They are full of calories. When you balance them with the rest of your day’s intake, it’s fine to enjoy a beverage, but many people fail to account for their liquid calories. Once you start keeping better track of the calories in your drinks, you might start seeing the pounds sliding off.
5. You Have Extra Food and Decide to Work It off
Yes, exercise is a fabulous way to burn calories for weight loss, but it isn’t as powerful as you might think. Most of the time, you eat that extra burrito, walk for 15 minutes and think you’re even. The sad truth is that burning calories isn’t as easy as eating them and often you promise to work out later, but don’t get around to it. If you’re going to indulge, make sure you know the calorie damage and how you’re going to counteract it.
6. Banning Foods
High calorie foods definitely don’t have a place in a weight loss meal plan. However, you must give yourself a little wiggle room. Love brownies? Don’t ban them! Just save them for special occasions and be sure you include them in your daily calorie quota so you don’t overdo it. Willpower is usually running out by the end of the day so allowing yourself a small treat keeps you on track.
7. Letting Friends and Family Influence You
We all have a friend or family member that offers food as a way of showing love. It’s so hard to turn them down, so you eat the food and then you’ve overdone it. What’s a girl to do? Often, cluing that person in to your goals and how they can help you will give them another way to show their love – helping you get where you want to be. Problem solved!
What’s getting in the way of your weight loss? What are you going to do about it?
Comments
Miranda: So true all of these gonna reevaluate myself.
b: You drink diet sodas
sharon: Take note these points are all true. Try not to pick on bad food through the day try fruit instead. Also you might be mistaking thirst for hunger as I discovered recently.
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