Five Don’ts When Trying to Lose Weight

I spend a lot of time in these blogs talking about simple and effective things that anyone can do to lose weight. I have previously talked about intermittent fasting, low carb diets, keto, etc. In this post I would like to talk about some things to avoid if you are trying to lose weight in a healthy manner and keep it off permanently. These are things that we teach our weight loss clients in our Cincinnati and northern Kentucky offices routinely.

1. The first thing that you should avoid when trying to lose weight is something that often is thought of as a weight loss technique. The mistake here is trying to eat as little as possible. Your body needs food and calories to function. While limiting food intake somewhat may be effective simply trying to eat as little as possible can not only be counterproductive but can also be unhealthy. People often do these “crash type diets” and see some quick results before their weight loss drags to a halt. Extreme calorie limitations can slow your metabolism and can actually make it harder for you to lose weight.
2. The second thing to avoid when trying to lose weight is to try to out train a poor diet. The science is very clear; weight loss is done by dietary modification not increased exercise. It is for this reason that we don’t even require exercise for our clients in our Cincinnati and Florence Kentucky weight loss centers. Weight loss will not be effective if the mentality is “I can just eat whatever and then work out harder tomorrow”. Always try to eat a clean and healthy diet and exercise moderately instead of being extreme with one or the other.
3. Third let’s talk about the mentality of weight loss. The truth is absolutely no one is perfect when trying to follow a diet plan. I have worked with thousands of weight loss clients and have yet to see one never stray from a plan. Please try to avoid getting down on yourself if you stray from whatever plan you are following. This type of defeatist mentality can be extremely detrimental to long term success. It can lead to a feeling that you are not capable and should just give up. Instead just move on. Forget about what happened in the past and just go back to your healthy eating patterns. Veering from a diet once in a while never causes any long term issues with weight loss.
4. Number four is a big one. If you want to be successful long term you cannot throw in the towel if you hit a plateau. We define a weight loss plateau as a period of a few days where you are strictly following a plan and are not seeing any results. Plateaus are a natural part of the weight loss process. Those that can accept them and stay focused are the ones that we see become ultimately successful in not only losing weight but maintaining it long term.
5. Finally, please do not wait until you have lost all of the weight before thinking about what maintenance will look for you. Maintenance is an essential part of the weight loss process. In our offices we start discussing maintenance on day one. You definitely don’t want to go directly from a solid diet plan to old habits that caused all of the weight gain. This is one of the major problems with yo-yo diets.

I hope these tips on what not to do were helpful. Stay happy and healthy until next time.