You diet like crazy but you are still not losing any weight. Read about some diet-related mistakes you could be making.
Tara decided to go on a diet to shed a few extra kilos. She selected a diet plan and followed it faithfully for a month. She was surprised to find that she not only became thinner but also gained weight. Tara could not figure out how this had happened. Then she visited a nutritional consultant and told him her story. Within two sessions, the consultant told Tara how her diet plan was full of mistakes. He then devised a new plan for her. Within few weeks, she started seeing positive results.
When you diet, you may fail to take into account some hidden calories you consume. At other times, you do not stick to your plan completely. Here are some basic dieting mistakes.
Eating too Fast
In today's hectic world, a leisurely lunch is a luxury. If you are at work, you may need to have a quick lunch so you can get back to that important project. At home, lunch is squeezed in between picking up your children from school, dropping them off at their classes, and running to the market to buy groceries.
Eating too quickly can wreck havoc in a diet plan. When you eat fast, you do not spend sufficient time chewing your food. This delays the signals to your brain that indicate you are full. The delayed signals increase the chances of you overeating. In addition, when you eat quickly, you are more likely to feel hungry faster than if you had taken the time to chew your food properly.
Missing Meals
People often believe that if they skip meals, they will lose more weight. This misconception is the number one cause of gaining weight while dieting. If you miss a meal, you feel hungrier. To make up for what you have missed, you tend to snack on unhealthy food or eat a little extra at other mealtimes. This increases the amount of calories you consume.
Skipping meals also affects your body's metabolism. When you do not eat, your body goes into starvation mode. A large percentage of the food you consume is stored as fat, because your body does not know when it will get food again. This fat adds to your weight.
Liquid Calories
When you diet, you not only monitor your food intake but also your consumption of liquids. Water is the only non-calorific drink. Any other liquids you consume will contain some calories. A can of cola contains 150 calories while a cup of tea can go up to 120 calories depending on the amount of sugar you put in it. Fruit juices, milk, smoothies, alcohol etc. also contain many calories.
If you consume a large amount of liquids besides water, you fail to account for these hidden calories. There is no point in having a small lunch if you are going to keep drinking sweetened tea throughout the day.
Additions to Your Diet
Many people subconsciously add fattening items to their diet without realising it. For example, a salad is healthy as long as it is not overloaded with a high calorie dressing. Similarly, the calorific value of a whole wheat bread sandwich increases if you add rich mayonnaise or a creamy cheese spread to it. Most salad dressings and dips have a large oil and saturated fat content. These substances do not only make you gain weight but also are among the leading causes of heart disease.
You may often make mistakes while dieting. Do not lose heart. By identifying these mistakes, you can find solutions to them and truly achieve your weight-loss goals.
Have you ever dieted to lose weight? Did you make any mistakes you were unaware of? What diet mistakes have you heard of? How does a person successfully follow a diet? To share your tips, views, and experiences, click here.
