15 Diet Mistakes That are Making You Overweight

Even the most optimistic and strong-willed person can throw up his/her hands in despair when they seem to be doing everything right in their might to lose weight – from exercising to eating to what they think is the right kind of food, that would melt off calories. If you are in such a situation where you are just about to give up and get down the “weight loss” wagon because you aren’t seeing any results with dieting, you absolutely need to read this post because it pinpoints exactly what might be going wrong in your weight loss journey. So, lets’ get started-

* Starting your day with Packaged Breakfast Cereals

These may seem as “healthy,” but if you go through the ingredients list, it’s just the opposite. Ideally, everyone’s breakfast should be rich in protein, fiber, and other nutrients and starting the day off with a highly-processed food that lacks both fiber and protein may not be a good idea, and may prevent you from losing weight.

* Drastically reducing calories

Severely restricting calorie can affect the smooth running of body functions. Also, crash dieting also would mean cutting down of food sources that provide nutrients and it would eventually lead to hair fall, dry skin, hyperpigmentation, dark spots. With crash dieting, you would end up looking malnourished and weak rather than fit and healthy. Crash dieting will leave you with little or absolutely no energy to do workouts or exercise, so there you go – multiple reasons why you should not try crash diet. Crash dieting also slows down metabolism and keeps fat burning to minimal.

* Sticking to only cardio exercises

Cardio exercises are great, but only when you do them along with strength training and other form of workouts because running for hours together on the treadmill or stationary bike will only burn minimal amount of calories.

* Picking only “low fat” food on a diet

When fat content is subtracted, it usually makes food bland and tasteless. To appeal to the tastebuds of consumers, food companies often add lots of sugar, refined carbs, salt, emulsifiers, transfat, and thickeners which all add loads of calories and increase the risk of inflammation. Picking up only “low fat” food while on a diet will defeat the whole purpose where one wants to lose weight and get healthy.

* No protein in the diet chart

When you eat enough protein during the day, it increases the level of the satiety hormones, reduces your appetite, which in turn lowers the hunger hormone “ghrelin.” In order to lose weight fast, you need to consume more protein and less of carbohydrates and fats. This way, you boost satiety hormones and keep the hunger hormones in check, which in turn means that you will be less likely to binge and eat calories.If you notice women who are in good shape, we bet they are on a healthy diet with high protein value in it.

* Going low on Fiber

Fiber is an essential part of a healthy diet because it helps to maintain a healthy digestive system, clears constipation, regulate blood sugar levels, and also to control appetite. Fiber helps to reduce appetite, slims down belly fat, and thus helps with weight loss too.

* Adding artificial sweeteners in tea/coffee

Most people often switch to artificial sweeteners when they get on a diet after doing away with refined sugar. But just like refined sugar, certain artificial sweeteners can cause weight gain, metabolic disorders, and even diabetes. Some commonly used artificial sweeteners are aspartame, acesulfame-K, saccharin, sucralose, neotame, and advantame and they are most commonly found in “sugar-free” products.

* Frequent snacking

Unknown to many, insulin, a hormone which regulates blood sugar levels in the body, is apparently also a fat-storing hormone, which tells the body cells to store fat and also prevents breakdown of fat. Frequent snacking raises insulin levels in the body and too many insulin spikes through the day will result in creation of new fat cells. Restrict snacking to just twice a day, without indulging in high-calorie food. Opt for healthy snacks like apple and nuts such as almonds, walnuts, or even peanuts.

* Stressing too much

Stress can increase the level of a hormone called “cortisol,” which leads to weight gain. So, one major tip to lose weight, lower your stress levels.

* Sleeping for less than 7 hours

Not getting enough sleep can destroy your weight loss goals by slowing down your metabolism and preventing the body from burning calories Low sleeping hours will also activate the level of hunger hormone “ghrelin” and you will wake up “hangry” in the morning.

* Drinking less water

Water retention and bloating are the most common factors that cause weight gain (albeit temporarily) Drink enough water, more than 8 glasses per day to lose weight.

* Drinking too much fruit juice

Eating your fruit in its raw form rather than juicing is better for your weight loss goals because one tends to lose count of the calories by juicing the fruits and also the precious fiber gets lost (fiber is so essential for weight loss). Do not replace meals with fruit juices whose calories you cannot keep track of.

* Fortified minerals instead of nutrition from real food

It’s disappointing how we are replacing “real” food with fortified food that claims to be rich in added minerals and vitamins. Such fortified food come highly processed, high on sugar and sodium, totally adding more calories to your daily diet. Switch to real, local food to lose weight and get healthy in general.

* No portion control

Portion control is an essential aspect, not only to lose weight but also to maintain optimum health and to prevent diseases such as type 2 diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. Here’s how you can portion control effectively to lose weight.

* Eating fruits for dinner

Sure, fruits are healthy, but it would not be a good idea to have them during dinner time. Fruits have sugar content and you do not want to load the body with sugary delights just before hitting the bed because it would keep you from a getting good night’s sleep.

* Adding calorie-rich salad dressing to salads

Adding a high-calorie, store-bought salad dressing with high sodium and sugar content can make a healthy salad into junk food. Just coconut your own healthy salad dressing sans the high sodium and sugar content.

* No cheat meal in the week

Yes, cheat meals are necessary – it helps to kickstart a sluggish metabolism and to trick the body into believing that food is coming and it’s okay to reach out to fat reserves in the body and burn them.

* Consuming protein powder with high sodium content

Protein is good but not all protein powders are great. We are made to believe that whey protein is good for weight loss, it is, but only with a low sodium content and without any artificial sweeteners added. Make sure you go through the ingredients list to find out how much sodium has been added and if there are any artificial sweeteners in the powder because they are going to make you gain weight.