Here’s a situation I’m sure many of us faced before. You step on the scale, and see the numbers increase daily, or look at your belly in the mirror and realize it is forming layers and layers day after day. You tell yourself you have to do something about it, and make a resolution that year to lose weight.

You know you have to eat less and get some form of exercise on most days of the week. You follow quick fixes from the internet like crazy fad diets and bulletproof coffee. You feel good, but when you step on that scale again and look in the mirror, nothing has changed. You get frustrated and wonder what you’re doing wrong. By the second month, you throw in the towel and give up.

You’re not alone. In fact, a study showed that although 77% maintained their resolutions for 1 week, only 19% continued for 2 years. What makes that 19% succeed where millions have failed? They do a lot of the right things, of course. But first, we must be able to recognize the mistakes we are making, correct them, and then we can be on our way to achieve our fitness goals.

Check out the 5 biggest and most common fat loss mistakes!

*Fat loss isn’t as simple as eating less and exercising more.*

1. Making your workout a license to eat whatever you want

"Exercise hard now so I can eat whatever I want later!”

I'm sure this thought has crossed your mind before. Most of you probably exercise so that you can afford to eat more, without putting on extra mass. While exercising does burn calories which can partially make up for the way and amount you eat, using it as an excuse to binge and eat whatever you want is recipe for disaster. Often people do not realize that the amount of exercise you do cannot justify for amount of calories you consume when you binge after the workout. For a moderate intensity exercise, you wouldn't burn more than 600 calories for one hour (sadly studies shown that fitness trackers usually overestimates your calories burnt, to make you feel good about yourself), whereas eating a whole pizza can add up to more than 1000 calories.

*A medium-sized pizza can amount to more than 1000 calories.*

Here’s a quick calculation for someone who burns 600 calories through exercise daily and then proceeds to eat 1000 calories after. If he / she continuously does that for a month, assuming everything else constant, about 1.5 kg of fat is gained in the process!

However, this is not to say that you cannot eat more after you exercise. You can, but it is still important to consume fewer calories than you are actually burning. One way is to be mindful of the portion you are eating, and that brings me to the next point.

2. Not practicing portion control

Portion control can have a huge impact on fat loss. The calories between 2 plates of the same type of food yet different portions can differ as much as 2 times. For instance, the difference in calories between a double McSpicy Meal, upsized and a McSpicy Meal with a small coke and fries is 600! Another example of portion control is eating 2 slices of pizza instead of 3, or 1 scoop of ice-cream instead of 2. Accumulated, these can make a huge difference in total calorie intake. Therefore, it is important to control portion sizing when ordering food.

To aid portion control when cooking at home, it would be good to use the following guide to measure your portions:

Always fill your plate with protein first. A serving of protein should be about a palm size.
Vegetables are next. A serving of vegetables should be about fist size.
Then fill your plate with carbs, in which a serving should be about cupped hand size.
Last, fill your plate with fats, which should be a thumb size.
Note that for men, eat 2 servings per meal and for women, 1 serving per meal

Another common mistake is that we assume healthy or nutritious food is always low in calories. As a result, we think that we can eat as much healthy food as we want. Although it should be a part of our diet, some healthy food might have more calories than others. As long as we are eating in a caloric surplus, we will be gaining weight. For example, adding a ton of avocado to your sandwich, drizzling your salad with lots of olive oil, adding large spoonfuls of honey into your oat, or munching endlessly on raisins and almonds while watching TV can be disastrous. Remember, it is the portion that matters!

*Avocado is actually quite calorie-dense.*

Not accounting for small bites and tastes here and there, which can add up to a few hundred calories, is another big mistake that people commonly make. This is especially so if you are eating while you are distracted, which will cause mindless eating. A study found that eating attentively can help with food intake, which will provide a novel approach to aid weight loss without the need of conscious calorie counting. Therefore, it is recommended to avoid eating when your mind is elsewhere, and eliminate unnecessary distractions. Another way to ensure accuracy and consistency is to come up with a food journal to record all the food you consume. Or to take a notch higher, count your calories, which studies have shown that it works.

The last note about controlling portion is to eat more protein. As in my previous article, I mentioned that protein is the most important macronutrient. Studies have shown that increasing protein intake can reduce appetite, increase feelings of fullness, decrease calorie intake, increase metabolic rate and protect muscle mass during weight loss.

3. Being too restrictive with your diet

Although a diet plan can help you better meet your fitness goals, being too restrictive is not good either. The biggest reason why people fail their diet plans is because they are too restrictive, as seen in this study. They restrict themselves from eating the food they love so much that they feel deprived and affect their mental health. They focus so much on perfection that when there is a day that they eat more than planned, massive guilt kicks in and they fall off the wagon completely.

This mistake should be avoided at all cost! This can be done by allowing flexibility in your diet - if you eat more on one day, just get back on track or make it up for eating less on another. Focus on consistency, not perfection.

Employing cheat days is a common way to stay motivated while on a restrictive diet. However, entire cheat days can be dangerous and derail healthy eating habits. In addition, research has found that people do not realize they eat markedly more on weekends, when they tend to consume more fat and alcohol, which are empty calories. Instead of a cheat day, you can treat yourself to a cheat meal instead. It is much easier to get back on track after one meal.

*It’s easy to go overboard with cheat days.*

4. Going on a crash diet

It often seem appealing to lose weight quickly. This is done by severely restricting what we eat for a short period of time, also known as “crash” dieting, in order to shred weight fast. It can be tempting by the quick fix, but studies have shown that crash dieting can actually backfire and be bad for your health.

*Crash diet can be unsafe for your health.*

When you suddenly reduce your food intake drastically, your body adjusts itself and will reduce your metabolism in order to store energy more efficiently. This will cause weight loss to slow down after the first few weeks.

In addition, cutting food intake so quickly will leave you fatigue and with low energy levels. You will subconsciously move less, which means you burn less calories unknowingly. Less food also means less vitamins and minerals, which can further affect metabolism and health.

Last but not least, crash diet is not sustainable in the long run. The most important aspect about fat loss is to keep it off, right?

5. Being too impatient

Once you decide to embark on this fat loss journey, you expect everything to go smoothly and quickly. You compare yourself with success stories on the internet, where men and women shed 10 kg in a month (disclaimer - very unlikely), and then convince yourself that you are failing because you are not losing weight fast enough. As a result, you may be tempted by short term quick fixes from the internet like detox tea or crazy fad diets, and when they do not work (which is most of the time), you blame it on your genetics, and give up.

Comparing your journey with someone else’s is a never-ending, pointless rat race that is mentally unhealthy. Think about it - when you look back, does it make a big difference if you achieve your fitness goals in 6 months or in 12 months? What matters most is that you achieved your fitness goals sustainably!

It is also important to set realistic goals. Studies have shown that setting unrealistic goals can increase dropout rate. In my previous article, I also recommended to set micro goals which can help you celebrate smaller victories. And if you do hit your goals, don’t forget to reward yourself, no matter how small!

Conclusion

Anyone knows that in order to lose fat, you just have to eat less and workout more. However, losing fat is more than that. This is why so many people fail even after dieting and working out. They make mistakes that they are unaware of.

I hope this article has enlightened you on the mistakes that you might be making and how to address them!

Do share with someone who needs to see this!

P.S. - still struggling with fat loss? Drop me a message!