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People often think that skipping meals can help you lose weight faster.
Skipping meals will only make you hungrier than usual and cause you to overeat, warns fitness and weight loss expert Sumit Dubey.
Weight loss can be an arduous expedition for anyone to make it through because you are often overwhelmed with tons of advice available on the Internet.
In order to stay motivated, what you need is a realistic approach, regardless of how quick you want to see results.
You must draw a realistic plan and at the same time, avoid some basic mistakes listed below.
1. Imbalanced calorie intake
Most people tend to underestimate their calorie consumption when they start to have healthy foods.
Remember, even healthy foods can be high in calorie count.
Though it is advisable to create a calorie deficit in order to lose weight, an imbalance of calorie intake -- eating too many or not enough calories -- can prove counterproductive.
2. Skipping meals
People often think that skipping meals can help you lose weight faster. It is a big mistake.
How you eat and when you eat your food plays a huge role in your weight loss journey.
Skipping meals will only make you hungrier than usual and cause you to overeat.
It also has a detrimental impact on blood sugar levels, and metabolism.
3. Not having enough sleep and stressing
In addition to exercising and maintaining a healthy diet, you must pay attention to your sleep cycle and stress levels.
Both sleep and stress affect the hormones levels.
The stress hormone cortisol is released when body is sleep deprived. And, cortisol triggers fat storage and increase cravings for unhealthy foods rich in sugar and high-fat.
4. Having a diet low on protein
Protein is a versatile component when it comes to weight loss.
It keeps your sugar cravings in check and also limits fat deposition.
It helps to build muscles, which in turn helps to burn excess fat stored in the body.
If you want a healthy diet plan, add protein rich foods to your daily meal.
5. Low water intake
Your body is made of two-thirds water. Water is essential for healthy functioning and determines your body mass and overall weight.
Not having enough water leads to dehydration, which leads to a string of bad effects like increased calorie intake, slow metabolism and low energy level.
6. Not exercising the right way
People often exercise too little or too much when they are trying to lose weight.
With the former, while you restrict your calorie intake, you also end up losing more muscle mass than required leading to lower metabolic rate.
With the latter, it is simply not sustainable to maintain in the long term as it can put the body under undue stress trying to keep up.
If you exercise the right way -- a mix of weight lifting and cardio -- then you are more than likely to speed up the process of weight loss and sustain it effectively.
Keep in mind to switch up your exercise routine to avoid hitting a stagnation point in your weight loss as your body gets used to repetitive exercises.
7. Having low-fat and/or diet foods
Yes, it is true that you must balance your fat intake. But having foods labelled 'low-fat' or 'diet' is not the solution to losing weight.
Often such foods contain hidden calories that may do more harm than good.
For instance, diet drinks and low-fat, fruit-flavoured yogurts contain a lot of added sugar to improve their taste that ends up making you hungrier.
Just replace saturated fats with monounsaturated and/or polyunsaturated fats and focus on a low-carbohydrate diet.
8. Switching to a liquid diet
If you think opting for a liquid diet will make you lose weight fast because you may not have to put in more efforts, then you are in for surprise.
Liquid diet, like fruit juices or smoothies, will not suffice for your body’s essential nutrient requirements.
Juices often lack fibre and protein, and smoothies are loaded with artificial sugar.
You must learn to balance your diet with the right amount of vitamins and nutrients in order to stay healthy.
9. Having post-workout cheat meals
People are psychologically wired to think they deserve to treat themselves after having worked hard at the gym and hence, are more likely to binge on an unhealthy food as a snack afterwards to make up for the exhaustion felt in the moment.
If you feel hungry or tired after a workout, pick up foods that contain healthy calories like fruits or nuts to fuel yourself.
10. Eating in quick succession
A lot has been said on how eating every two hours is a way to keep the metabolic rate up and prevent hunger; thereby avoiding overindulgence.
However, this often leads to people eating too many calories during the day, regardless of their appetite.
Managing portion is also key in this process.
This can happen when one is doing intermittent fasting too, where the window to eat during the day is shortened to impractical limits (like, less than 6-7 hours).
Practise eating according to your appetite as it will ensure your weight loss plan is successful.