Losing weight is hard, and more so for women who manage both home and office and have little time to prepare healthy and nutritious meals for themselves. As a result, many women tweak their diet plans to suit their busy lives, which often compromises their entire weight-loss program.
While indulging yourself once a while is no crime, try and steer clear of the following common mistakes most women fall prey to when trying to shed weight.
Eating large portion sizes to stay full longer
Ask any diet expert, and they will tell you that overeating does not work at all when it comes to losing weight. Even then, this remains a common mistake made by most women trying to lose weight. Rather than stuffing yourself over a single meal, gradual and sustainable weight loss requires that you eat small, nutritious meals, six times a day.
Overeating does not work; rather it leaves one feeling bloated and uneasy. Moreover, eating more than you need—even if you’re eating the healthiest food—can expand your stomach over time, which means that you’ll need larger quantities of food to satiate your appetite.
To keep your weight-loss journey from going off-track, eat every three to four hours and eat a little less than you need.
Getting frustrated and giving up too soon
So what if you ended up cheating or messing up your diet plan? It should not lead you to give up on your diet altogether just because you got carried away once.
Instead of feeling demotivated, letting go and allowing yourself to go off your diet plan and attacking the junk food cupboard, tell yourself that it is all right to indulge yourself once a week. Build the willpower to stay on your diet while also enjoying a slice of pizza every now and then.
The key to successfully reaching your goal weight is determination and perseverance. So, change your mindset even before you start to change your eating habits and you’ll have way less trouble going through the highs and lows of a diet program.
Not realizing the power of water as a weight-loss aid
Most people know the important role that water plays in all sorts of diet plans; however, not everyone utilizes this amazing weight-loss resource. Drinking water through the day not only keeps your body systems hydrated, it also helps you eat less.
To make plain water more palatable, squeeze in a few drops of lemon or drop a small piece of ginger, cardamom or anything else you prefer, into the bottle. Drink half a bottle half hour before a meal and you’ll see yourself eating less than you would normally.
Starving yourself by skipping meals
Staying hungry for long periods when you’re trying to lose weight is a big mistake. When you skip a meal, you may feel a temporary sense of accomplishment, but when you eat after a long gap, you actually end up overeating or don’t feel satiated after finishing a meal.
Depriving yourself of food is not the magic solution to weight loss—eating mindfully is. So, stop skipping meals and make it a habit to eat a healthy meal or snack every four hours.
If you’re following a special protocol, such as the HCG diet, follow the instructions given in the program to make the most of your experience. Charles Maddigan from HCGDiet.com explains that although the HCG diet is the most effective diet for quick weight loss, if the 3 phases aren’t followed carefully the diet becomes much less effective.
Eating in advance
When you’re trying your best to get fit, what could be worse than eating before you’re even hungry, just so that you don’t feel famished? Eating when you don’t need to does not help your weight-loss process, say experts. When you sit down to eat a meal or reach out for a snack, you should be a little hungry if not starved.
Stop feeling anxious about not being able to control your hunger and don’t worry about overeating. Get your mind and body accustomed to eating every few hours and it will soon become a habit. When you take your meals on time, you won’t feel the need for preventative eating.
Having a snack for dinner instead of a full meal
This is the second most common mistake women make when on a weight-loss program—the first one being skipping breakfast, which is the most essential meal of the day.
Again, this boils down to not preparing for meals in advance. When you return home after a long, tiring day and don’t have the ingredients to cook up a quick, filling meal, you will inevitably end up binge eating this and that. While this will calm down your early evening hunger pangs, you’ll still feel hungry again after a couple of hours.
To avoid overeating and feeling guilty later, don’t pick up a snack when you should be eating a sit-down meal, and vice versa. Have a nice, full meal at dinnertime to get through the night—and remember not to skip breakfast the next morning.
Not adapting your lifestyle to your new weight-loss regimen
When you’re trying to get healthier and fitter, simply changing what you eat rarely gets the desired results. Losing weight is an all-encompassing experience, and your lifestyle needs to change in order to accommodate your new eating habits.
To make it work, you need to make conscious decisions every single day. For instance, avoid eating out frequently; avoid meeting friends at restaurants where you might be tempted to cheat on your diet; don’t buy junk snacks at the grocery store; always carry a homemade sandwich or a piece of fruit in your bag; exercise every day for at least 30 minutes; and, most importantly, learn to say no when someone forces you to binge.
Making these small yet significant changes in your lifestyle will make you feel more in control of your weight-loss goals and help you achieve them faster.
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