Common Mistakes People Make When Trying to Lose Weight

The world has entered the era of healthier choices. For some people, that choice is losing weight. But, many people struggle when faced with this task. Even if you're doing everything by the books, getting the results you want might seem impossible. You're putting in so much effort, but you don't see any change? This is probably due to some of the common mistakes people make when trying to lose weight.

Not eating enough

It's been a very harmful misconception that you need to stop eating to lose weight. So many factors contributed to this word being widely spread, with the fashion industry leading the way. Thankfully, things are starting to change for the better.

Your body is a temple. Every temple needs a balanced foundation, and that's what you are giving to it with two simple words - balanced nutrition. Balanced nutrition is not some newly composed witchery that nutritionists love to play with - this is the real deal. The Holy Trinity of balanced nutrition is three crucial macromolecules:

• carbohydrates (or as their friends call them - sugars)
• proteins
• fatty acids

A little bit of everything is the key recipe.

Carbohydrates are NOT your enemies

Possibly the most harmful misconception is the one that puts carbohydrates on the blacklist. Glucose is the most critical thing that fuels your whole body. Your brain (you know that thingy that controls literally everything?) cannot use fatty acids as an energy source. It works on glucose exclusively. So, when you stop consuming carbohydrates, you're putting your brain and your whole body in danger. You don't have to give up your favorite cookie dough entirely to lose weight. We're also not saying you should now go and eat a whole loaf of bread by yourself, but you need to have carbohydrates incorporated into your diet.

Make sure to get enough proteins and amino acids

Another misconception is that only people who want to build muscle mass should consume protein. However, that’s only one of the purposes protein intake has. Even if you don't like to mix 'suspicious' powders into your smoothies, you need to make sure that at least you're taking enough raw and food rich in protein.

Why? Because by taking more protein, you will help your body heal quickly and help your muscles grow (so they can burn fats). Also, amino acids that make proteins are crucial for hunger regulation. For example, serotonin, the hormone which regulates your appetite, is synthesized from tryptophan. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid, meaning - your body can't produce it, so you have to get it from food. If you eat the right proteins, you won't be struggling with constant hunger as much.

Nuts and seeds are rich in tryptophan.

Low fat and 'diet' marks on food are not your friends

First of all, you need fatty acids as much as carbs and proteins. Every cell membrane in your body needs them. Because of their crucial role, your body will make sure to produce fatty acids even if you take a sacred oath not to ingest them. So, don't even try to avoid those in your daily diet. Second, if you read nutrition labels carefully, you'll see a very concerning thing. Products with a 'diet' mark are overloaded with sugars to compensate for the lack of fats. The balance of essential macromolecules is non-existent in them, and, as we said before - the balance is everything.

You avoid lifting weights

Ah…the widespread mistake of not lifting weights. Maybe you think that you'll become more massive by adding muscles to your bones. But that's not logical. First, do you know how much weight lifting plus strong efforts in eating you have to go through to change your fatty tissue to muscles? You won't get extra bulky just by lifting some weights regularly, don't worry. But, what you'll get is - faster metabolism. The greatest energy consumers in an organism are muscles. By lifting, you will get just enough muscles to increase ATP (energy unit) outlay. Your body will, in response, start cutting more fatty acids to produce more ATP. That means you'll be left with less fatty acids, which will lead to your more permanent weight loss.

Pro Tip: Set up a home gym

You don't have to lift heavy weights in professional spaces; you can do a lot from the comfort of your home. It might be a good idea to set up a home gym with some equipment. If you have a place for this in your residence, you can hire moving professionals to help you set everything up. Professional movers do much more than relocating stuff from one place to another, and this only requires a one-time set up, then you’re good! No monthly gym fees. 

Skipping breakfast 

Yes, we know you've heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day a dozen times. That's because it is! Eating as soon as you get up helps your metabolism work the way it's supposed to. When you skip breakfast, you tell your body to slow your metabolism down. You're not only torturing your body with hunger but also slowing down your weight loss because fast metabolism is everything in that process. So, don't skip your favorite high-protein peanut butter on toast before work anymore! You will soon see the difference. 

You're focused on the scale only

The scale is a helpful little thing that tells you whether you're improving or not. But it's not the only instrument you should use when checking your weight loss. Some of the fat you lost might be replaced by new muscle gain. Also, if you focus only on the numbers, you'll negatively impact your mental health, and you'll only slow the process down. 

Numbers on the scale are not everything in weight loss!

Some of the misconceptions mentioned above are deeply incorporated into our society. So, you're not to blame for following them and not getting results. But, now that you know a thing or two, you’re ready to avoid common these mistakes people make when trying to lose weight and can finally get results.