Weight Loss Tips that Can Backfire

There is a good reason why so many people gain weight back after they lose it, and it’s often because the way they lost it isn’t sustainable for daily life. Similarly, a lot of people mess with their diet midway through losing weight because the diet tricks they use aren’t real sustainable either. Here are some common tips that can backfire and what to do instead.

Avoiding All Sugar

Yes refined sugar should be cut out for the most part, but if you remove all sugar from your diet you might start to crave it more than you would normally. Fruit sugars do not affect the body the body in the same way that refined sugars from processed foods do, so you don’t need to avoid apples to lose weight.

On the contrary, eating reasonable amounts of fruit can assist your weight loss process and help to control cravings. And if you can stop at just a bit, for most people having a couple squares of dark chocolate for dessert is not going to derail them from losing weight. (Just don’t eat the entire candy bar, or it will.)

Cutting Calories Too Dramatically

We all know that eating less and exercising more is a great formula for losing weight, but if you try to speed up the process too much by dropping your calorie intake to virtually nothing it isn’t going to get you very far. The body relies on calories for fuel and truly if you don’t give it any it will just react by being tired and zap your energy so that you will start conserving it.

That’s counterproduction to working out and functioning like a normal human at work. Instead limit your food to unprocessed, whole ingredients, in balanced proportions, and only eat what you need to feel satiated, and the weight is a lot more likely to come off and stay off.

Eating Just One Type of Food or Meal

Some diet plans involve cutting out a bunch of food groups or foods even if they are generally considered healthy. But the problem with eating just a single food or meal is that you can’t possibly keep that up forever and it can mess with your decision making choices when you’re around other foods and don’t have the option of eating your safe food.

This can create the experience that some foods are bad…even if they aren’t. Boredom from eating the same foods can also increase your cravings, which of course is counterproductive. Aim to eat a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, whole unprocessed grains, and healthy fats, and then you’ll have all kinds of delicious and healthy diet friendly meal options.

If it helps you jumpstart a diet to wean down the options that’s fine, but just don’t make it a habit to swear off a food group for life if it can actually be good for you.