5 Common Fat Loss Mistakes (and what you should do instead)
I get LOADS of questions and DM’s from girls on a daily basis asking whats the best and quickest way to lose fat. While there aren’t really any quick fixes in the fitness world, there are definitely a number of things you may be doing to slow down and even SABOTAGE your progress. Many of these come from completely WRONG and TERRIBLE fitness “advice” on the internet. I also made this blog post into a Youtube video, so if you prefer listening, click here.
Read ahead and comment below if you have made any of these mistakes before. Lets get into mistake #1….
CUTTING OUT ALL CARBS FROM YOUR DIET
THE BIGGEST and MOST common mistake people make. Why does everyone think carbs are so evil? Carbohydrates are what supply your body with energy to do pretty much…. everything! Cutting out carbs with leave you feeling low on energy and just TIRED. Then, because you are tired, you don’t give it your all at the next workout and end up burning even less cals.
Can you lose weight and fat while eating carbs?? OF COURSE! The most important thing for weight loss is that the calories you consume are less than what you burn. It does not matter WHERE those calories come from. Carbs have the same amount of calories per gram as protein.
Now why do so many people have this misconception about carbs being evil? Because carbs are ADDICTIVE! Especially fast-digesting, simple carbs. This means that most people don’t know how to stop themselves and will continue to eat carbs even when they are not hungry. It is very hard to do this with protein, for example, because protein makes you feel SO FULL and also doesn’t trigger that same pleasure center in the brain.
So here is what you should do instead: Focus on eating complex carbs. Peas, beans, whole grains, fruits and vegetables are some great examples. Can you still have simple carbs such as white pasta, rice, chocolate, etc? OF COURSE! But you need to practice self control and DISCIPLINE! Only consume what you truly need. Moderation is key here.
2. SNACKING AS A HABIT
If I could pick one culprit that sabotages most people’s fitness journey it would be the damn SNACKS! Snacking is the one way to basically ingest a bunch of calories without even noticing. Most snack foods are not designed to be nutritious - things like crackers, chips, etc. Even trail mix, which is full of nuts, can sabotage you. Now of course nuts have tons of good fats and nutrients, BUT they are VERY high in calories and ADDICTIVE to eat. A whole bag of nuts can contain a thousand calories! You can easily eat a whole bag without feeling full. I am not telling you to banish nuts from your diet - just be mindful of the portion sizing for foods that are SO calorie dense.
I see a lot people snacking just to pass the time or maybe out of habit, maybe at work or at school. A lot of times people will snack because they’re actually thirsty and interpret that as hunger instead.
So here is what you should do instead: Be MINDFUL! The next time you reach for those crackers or chips, ask yourself - am I really hungry right now? Do I need this? Am I just bored? Drink some water, wait 10 minutes, and see if the urge goes away. Try to choose snacks that make you feel more satisfied - watermelon is a great one cause it has soo much water. Pre-portion the size of your snack before hand, don’t just grab the whole bag and expect yourself to magically stop because you probably won’t.
3. DRINKING SODA / JUICE ON A DAILY BASIS
SO MANY PEOPLE drink soda or juice almost every day. Most juices you buy from the grocery store are stripped of nutrients and have a TON of added sugars. Yes, even that green juice (just because it is green does not mean it’s automatically healthy). Nutrient-wise, It is much better to eat the fruit rather than have the juice. A serving of store-bought orange juice often has the same amount of calories as a can of coke.
Whether you drink juice or soda, you are ingesting a bunch of calories that do not have any nutrients and don’t really make you feel full. When most people calculate their cals for the day they tend to forget to count those liquid calories.
What can we do about this? Invest in a juicer and make your own fresh juices. You can add stevia or even regular sugar! You need a way smaller amount of cane sugar to achieve the same amount of sweetness than simple syrup provides (which is what they use for juices). Try to eliminate soda from your diet. Try some 0 calorie sparkling beverages or some flavored sparkling water. Add some lemon, mint, fruits to your water to give it flavor! Remember, soda once in a while is totally fine, but it can sabotage your fat loss progress if you make a habit of drinking it with every meal.
4. GOING ON A SUPER STRICT DIET AND THEN HAVING CHEAT DAYS
First, drop the concept of “cheat meals” or “cheat days”.There is no one specific type of food that is inherently bad or inherently good. It is all about HOW MUCH and HOW OFTEN of something you eat.
What I see happen way too often is this: someone gets excited to try a diet with all these insane rules and restrictions. After just a few days, they are miserable and feel all these cravings. So they have a cheat day where they basically PIG OUT and eat enough calories to last a week. In that one cheat day or cheat weekend, they have undone any kind of progress that could have resulted from those few “dieting” days.
This gets us nowhere and only makes us feel miserable. And then there is the GUILT of having a cheat day and it is a never ending, self-destructive cycle.
STOP DOING THIS! and do this instead: Start with eliminating ONE bad habit. Try this for a week or two and see how you feel. Make your weekly goals realistic and achievable. A few examples are: making sure you get veggies with every meal, not eating anything fried, eliminating soda, eliminating candy, etc. And it is okay to have treats every day as long as they are in CONTROLLED portions. This is much better than restricting yourself all week and then pigging out on the weekend. And be picky with your treats! Do not settle for something that doesn’t bring you absolute joy. Having treats should feel like an orgasmic experience. It shouldn’t be mediocre. Kind of like sex…. If it doesn’t make you feel fucking awesome, what’s the point?
5. IGNORING RESISTANCE TRAINING
People think that they can just run, run, run until their fat melts off and gets left behind. Which, TECHNICALLY, they can, but this isn’t the fastest or most efficient way to burn fat. Resistance training increases your muscle mass, and having more muscle increases how many calories you burn while working out AND at rest. Your body basically needs to work harder to maintain those muscles - not to mention that resistance training DOES burn calories as well and adds variety to your workouts cause let’s face it - we all get tired of the treadmill.
So what should we do? Combine Resistance, HIIT, and LISS cardio so that you are doing all types of exercise. Stay in a caloric deficit like we talked about in tip # 1 since your main focus is fat loss. Once you have reached your optimal body fat percentage you can go into a caloric surplus, keep doing all 3 workouts, and focus on building muscle.
I hope these tips were helpful for you! I would love to hear some suggestions on what blog posts you would like to see next. Don’t forget to comment down below if you have done any of these mistakes before or if you have any other tips. You can also watch the video below!
