10 Weight Loss Pitfalls To Avoid

Contents
10 Weight Loss Pitfalls To Avoid............................................. 2
1. Lack of Knowledge ................................................................................... 2
2. Giving In to Food Cravings........................................................................ 3
3. Focusing on the Scale .............................................................................. 4
4. Eating for the Wrong Reasons ................................................................... 5
5. Letting Others Influence You ..................................................................... 6
6. Not Planning Ahead ................................................................................. 6
7. High Cost of Health Food .......................................................................... 7
8. You Exercise Too Much ............................................................................. 8
9. Cutting Too Many Calories ........................................................................ 8
10. Your Expectations Are Unrealistic ............................................................. 9
Conclusion................................................................................................ 10

1
 10 Weight Loss Pitfalls To Avoid

10 Weight Loss Pitfalls To Avoid

There are so many things that can keep you from achieving
success in your weight loss diet plans, and it’s important to be
aware of these things before you even begin so that you can
avoid them. In this short report we’re going to go over 10
common weight loss pitfalls and discuss exactly how you can
avoid them so that they don’t prevent you from reaching your
weight loss goals.

1. Lack of Knowledge

Many people jump into fad diets without looking at the science
behind them. The hear good things about them and assume they
must work, so they start in on them. However, if these diets are
not based on science with studies and facts to back them up,
then you’re putting your health in the hands of something that
may not work.

This is why so many people end up gaining weight back.

Take time to educate yourself about the best diet plan for weight
loss. You need to understand how food works with your body
2
 10 Weight Loss Pitfalls To Avoid

before you can know what you need to eat. Just as you wouldn’t
buy a car without finding out more about it beyond what the
owner says about it, why would you start a diet plan without
finding out how it’s going to work with your body?

2. Giving In to Food Cravings

Another common roadblock that can keep you from your weight
loss goals are food cravings. This is especially true of sugars.
Sugar triggers your brain’s pleasure center which means it can be
addictive, and hard to avoid since your body craves it. However,
sugar is also the biggest contributor to weight gain, so you have
to resist these cravings.

There are a few ways that you can avoid giving in to food
cravings. The best way is to make sure you don’t have any junk
food in your house, so you won’t be able to easily eat it even if
you wanted to. You also need to make sure everything you do eat
is filling and packed with nutrients so that you feel full and don’t
need to eat sugary snacks to satisfy hunger.

3
 10 Weight Loss Pitfalls To Avoid

3. Focusing on the Scale

Weight loss is about more than just the total number of pounds
that you have lost or want to lose. When you focus too much on
the number on the scale, then you run the risk of getting
disappointed when it’s not moving as quickly as you want or
when it goes up even though you’ve been doing everything right.
This is a huge pitfall for some people and may cause them to give
up.

Measure more than your overall weight and you may find that
you are actually losing fat and gaining muscle, especially if you
are also working out to improve your weight loss results. Have
your body fat percentage tested regularly to see how much fat
you’re actually losing, and measure your body parts (arms, waist,
legs, etc.) to see how you’re getting smaller even if the number
on the scale isn’t.

It’s also important to realize that the number you see includes
everything in your body, like water. If you weigh yourself after
drinking a lot of water or while dehydrated so your body is
retaining more water, you may see the number jump up by
several pounds. For this reason, you need to regularly track your

4
 10 Weight Loss Pitfalls To Avoid

weight, but watch the overall trend, not worry about the exact
number on that day or week.

4. Eating for the Wrong Reasons

Many people who are obese or overweight are like that because
they don’t have the right relationship with food. They may use
food as a way to comfort themselves when they’re sad, or to
keep themselves occupied when they’re busy. Still others eat for
the enjoyment of it. This is a problem because when you think of
food in this way, it’s hard to change what you’re eating.

If you’re not eating as a way to provide the right type of

nourishment to your body, you will get trapped by this roadblock.
It takes some time, work, and sometimes the help of a
professional psychologist, but you need to make sure you’re
eating for the right reasons. Food should be considered a tool
that you use to lose weight, not something you turn to for
emotional help.

5
 10 Weight Loss Pitfalls To Avoid

5. Letting Others Influence You

Think about the people you spend the most time with, and it’s
likely that they weigh about the same as you do. When everyone
around you is going out to eat unhealthy food and encouraging
you to forget your diet just for the night, it’s easy to give in and
keep giving in until you’ve completely fallen off track of your diet.

Sometimes, you may need to cut people out of your life or at

least spend less time with them so that you can focus on what
you need to do and not let their negative influences affect you.
You can also try taking the lead when it comes to planning
activities and suggest your get-togethers involve more physical
activities or healthy restaurants.

6. Not Planning Ahead

If you don’t plan ahead, then you’re likely to get trapped by this
roadblock. When you don’t plan ahead for lunch, for example, you
will probably find yourself having to go out to eat during your
lunch hour and will grab the first thing you can find, which may or
may not be good for you. Or, if you get hungry between meals
and don’t have a healthy snack handy, it’s too easy to hit up the
vending machine.

6
 10 Weight Loss Pitfalls To Avoid

The more you plan ahead, the better you will do with your diet
plan. Meal planning means sitting down once to plan out what
you’re going to eat for the next week, two weeks, or month. This
will help you know exactly what you need to shop for so you can
have the food on hand that you need to cook so you’re not
grabbing whatever you can at the last minute.

7. High Cost of Health Food

Another common problem that people run into while dieting is

that many healthy foods are more expensive than their unhealthy
counterparts. Fresh fruits and vegetables, for example, often
have a higher cost than simply buying a canned or dried version.
Pre-packaged meals are also often cheaper than buying whole
foods to prepare meals yourself.

One way to reduce your grocery bill is to shop the sales. When
you do your meal planning for the week, have the sales papers
from your favorite grocery stores in front of you and use them as
a guide. You’d be surprised at how much you can save by simply
taking advantage of sales. Another way you can get reduced

7
 10 Weight Loss Pitfalls To Avoid

prices of whole foods is by buying direct at local farmer’s

markets.

8. You Exercise Too Much

Exercising to lose weight will often work against you in a couple

of ways. Some people force themselves to get up early to
exercise, and miss out on getting enough sleep which is vital for
weight loss. Others think that spending an hour on the treadmill
will make up for the two donuts they had that morning that
someone brought into work.

Diet must be your main focus while losing weight, and you can’t
expect exercise to bail you out of a bad dieting choice. Getting up
and moving regularly throughout the day can help improve your
overall health and some strength training can help boost your
weight loss, but these should be in addition to a strict diet and
should not be the focus of your weight loss plan.

9. Cutting Too Many Calories

If you cut too many calories at the beginning of your diet, then
you’re likely to lose a bunch of weight fast, which sounds like a

8
 10 Weight Loss Pitfalls To Avoid

good thing, but since you can’t maintain such a low caloric intake
for long, you’ll soon find yourself gaining everything back.
Instead, from the very beginning you need to keep your caloric
intake below your output and at a level you can maintain for the
rest of your life.

10. Your Expectations Are Unrealistic

Many people set up unrealistic expectations for their weight loss,

and this leads them to quit when they’re not reaching their goals.
They often expect to lose too much weight in too short of a time
period. Or, they may expect to continue losing the same amount
of weight that they were losing at the beginning of their weight
loss when they near the end.

Setting up goals is an important part of losing weight, but if

they’re unrealistic, then they’re going to work against you and
could cause you to give up since you’ll get disappointed when
you’re not able to reach them. Make sure that part of your
research before you begin your new diet is how much weight you
can expect to lose so you can set up realistic expectations.

9
 10 Weight Loss Pitfalls To Avoid

Conclusion

By avoiding these common weight loss pitfalls, you’ll have a

much better chance at losing the weight that you want and
becoming a healthier version of yourself. It’s going to take some
work, especially at the beginning, but it will all be worth it in the
long run

10