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17 Ways You Are Sabotaging Your Weight Loss Goals

You made a promise to yourself and stood by it: waking up early in the morning, working out five days a week, and eating healthy. But what if we told you that some of your habits are actually counterproductive to your efforts?

Here are 17 ways that can sabotage your weight-loss goals. See if you can spot any you are guilty of doing.

1. You Drink Water Out Of Plastic Bottles

1. You Drink Water Out Of Plastic Bottles

It's been proven without a shadow of a doubt that drinking water out of plastic bottles is actually harmful for your health. Why? Because plastic bottles leach Bisphenol-A over time. And since this chemical is known to stimulate fat storage in our body, you should definitely throw away your plastic bottle and replace it with a solid stainless steel one.

2. You Have Gone Cold Turkey On Sweets

2. You Have Gone Cold Turkey On Sweets

Yes, eating too many sweet will make you fat and give you diabetes. But cutting them out completely from your diet is not good either as you require some amount of sugar in your body.

So if you have a sweet tooth, don't go cold turkey. Instead, replace artificial sweets with sweet fruits.

3. You Are A Perfectionist

3. You Are A Perfectionist

Scolding yourself when you miss a gym session or when you binge on some cookies is the surest way to failure on this weight-loss journey. Instead, forgive yourself when you fall short and keep going forward.

The only person you are running against in this race is your own self. So don't judge yourself when you falter. Only aim to improve.

4. You Eat When You Are Sad

4. You Eat When You Are Sad

Emotional eating is the worst thing to happen to diets since losing weight became the coolest kid on the park. So the next time you are in a rotten mood, don't reach for those chocolates to pick you up. Instead, hit the gym and let your emotions pound the hell out of the punching bag or the treadmill.

5. You Consume Store-Bought Protein Bars And Energy Drinks

5. You Consume Store-Bought Protein Bars And Energy Drinks

Here's the catch: store-bought protein bars and energy drinks are packed with artificial sweeteners, which fool your body into releasing insulin even though there are no sugars for it to utilize. Over time this leads to obesity and diabetes even though these do not contain real sugars.

So skip the store-bought ones and have a tall glass of coconut water as an energy-drink substitute or a handful of nuts as a substitute for the protein bar.

6. You Eat Sweet Whenever You Feel Like

6. You Eat Sweet Whenever You Feel Like

If you are trying to cut down your sweet consumption, cut it out of your diet at all times other than right before a workout. This is great way to get your sugar fix but also burn it off soon.

7. You Hang Out With The Wrong People

7. You Hang Out With The Wrong People

"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with". So make sure you are not surrounded by people who might force you to eat or drink or do something that would derail your weight-loss goals.

After all, if you are better than your friends, it's time to make new ones.

8. You Measure Your Success On The Weighing Scales

8. You Measure Your Success On The Weighing Scales

The weighing machine cannot tell you what your weight should be based on your height, muscle mass, medical history, and body goals. It can only tell you how hard you are being pulled towards Earth by gravity. So don't measure your success on the weighing machine.

Instead, create a weight-loss routine and then make sure you stick to it. That's a better measure of success.

9. You Take Meal-Replacement Supplements

9. You Take Meal-Replacement Supplements

Sorry to burst your bubble, but meal-replacement supplements won't really help you lose weight. Instead, they tend to increase your hunger pangs and food cravings, which can cause you to fall off the wagon and binge eat.

So if you fell for these marketing tactics, don't beat yourself up. Clap for the brilliant mind that came up with the campaign and then go eat some "real" food.

10. You Got Rid Of Carbs From Your Diet

10. You Got Rid Of Carbs From Your Diet

Three macronutrients in optimal proportions make up a balanced meal. They are carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. So cutting carbs completely out of your system will actually lead to health problems down the line.

Instead, cut out refined carbs and replace them with whole-grain products.

11. You Only Eat Fat-Free Or Skimmed Products

11. You Only Eat Fat-Free Or Skimmed Products

Again, fats are one of the fundamental blocks of a balanced meal. So if you only eat fat-free or skimmed products, you will soon develop serious health disorders, like neurological deficits and skin and hair problems. This is because fats fuel your brain and give hold all the cells in your body together. Therefore, it is extremely important to include healthy fats in your diet.

12. You Don’t Get Enough Sleep

12. You Don’t Get Enough Sleep

Studies have proven without a doubt that not sleeping enough will eventually cause you to put on weight and develop health problems. So do yourself a favor and at least get 7 hours of shut-eye every night.

13. You Eat Too Less And Workout More

13. You Eat Too Less And Workout More

This sabotages your weight-loss efforts because when you eat too less, your body goes into starvation mode that prevents further fat burning. After all, your body cannot rely on you any longer to provide it the fuel it needs, so it saves its contingency plan.

So if are cutting down your daily calorie consumption, make sure the deficit

14. You Do The Same Routine For Weeks On End

14. You Do The Same Routine For Weeks On End

When you do a new exercise circuit, it's difficult at first for your body as it is not used to the new movements. This induces a lot of fat-burning. But over time your body adapts to the routine and stops expending so much energy on the same movements. When that happens, you hit a plateau in your exercise routine.

Therefore, it is very important to mix things up and keep changing your exercise routine once every week to keep your body "on its toes".

15. You Drink Your Calories

15. You Drink Your Calories

Just like meal-replacement supplements, drinking your daily calories instead of eating proper meals will bite you badly in the end. This is because your body does not count calories. It only asks you to stop eating once your stomach has reached its capacity, regardless of what you are putting in there.

So when you only drink your calories, you feel hungry more often and develop food cravings because liquids leave your stomach only half-full and are emptied out fast.

16. You Are Too Strict Too Soon

16. You Are Too Strict Too Soon

There is a reason why nutritionists ask you to taper your meals until you hit your ideal diet plan. This is because when you restrict your diet too fast, you open yourself up to the very real possibility of falling off the wagon too soon and then dropping the whole plan out of guilt.

17. You Are Trying Out Someone Else’s Weight-Loss Routine

17. You Are Trying Out Someone Else’s Weight-Loss Routine

Here's the deal: the perfect weight-loss routine for you depends completely on your unique body type, its metabolism, and underlying health status. So copying someone else's routine will not really help you out in the long run since what might work for them may not necessarily work for you.

Therefore, it's better to do your research thoroughly before you begin your weight-loss routine.

Story first published: Monday, March 19, 2018, 18:07 [IST]