Biggest Mistakes To Avoid When Losing Fat
The Biggest Mistakes to Avoid When Losing
Fat and Getting Fit
As author of The Maui Diet, I’m repeatedly asked questions like, “Why can’t I lose weight?” Or, “How can I lose more fat, the flab?” Or, “How can I keep off the weight I lost?”
Here are some crucial mistakes I see people make when trying to lose fat and shape up—mistakes that can easily be avoided using the solutions offered.
Not obeying “the feed limit.”
Most overweight people overeat. They disobey the feed limit. The double whammy is that they tend to eat too much of the worst kinds of food—junk carbohydrate and high fat foods.
The supersize movement has added to this problem—restaurants, fast food and other places serving oversize portions. A recommended serving size for a serving of rice or pasta is one cup. Get out a measuring cup and see if you’re serving yourself one cup. Chances are, you’re eating much more than that, because of the influence of supersizing .
You simply have to watch the amount—and kind of—food you eat. Just taking in a couple of hundred extra calories daily, even if you’re exercising faithfully, can doom your weight loss efforts. Obey the feed limit!
Not weighing in daily.
Weighing in daily is all about keeping seriously on track until you lose the weight you want to lose. And then keeping it off by continuing to regularly weigh in, making sure weight is not creeping back on. Weighing in regularly definitely works, studies show. I’ve found this tactic to work in my fitness program. It’s a good idea to weigh in at the same time, same way every day. I’ve found it really helpful to use a good digital scale that measures 1/10ths of pounds, because we really don’t lose—and usually don’t gain—pounds; we more accurately lose and gain tenths of pounds. Daily weigh-ins on this type of scale can really keep you honest and on track.
Not eating whole, fresh, natural foods, emphasizing vegetables, fruits, complex carbohydrates, and plant-based fats.
These are the crucial foods to eat for anyone who wants to lose fat and get fit. “Whole” means as close as possible as they come from nature—nothing taken away, nothing added. “Fresh” means the fresher the better; right from the fresh produce section at the market. “Natural” means if man made it, don’t eat it.
These foods are naturally filling, and satisfying. They’re naturally low in calories, and fat, and the fats they do have are healthy fats. They are devoid of saturated fats found in meat, poultry, seafood and animal products like cheese, other dairy products and eggs. Whole, fresh, natural foods are nutrient dense, which means they give you the most nutritional bang. Many overweight people eat so few whole, fresh, natural foods that they don’t realize how out of whack they are.
Just one example is eating sugary junk snacks of any kind. The sugar in such foods is addictive—the more you eat, the more you want to eat. The addictive cycle of eating such “foods” will doom any attempt to lose fat and get fit permanently.
Not doing all-important aerobic exercise with proper intensity.
You’ve probably heard you can’t beat simple walking for great aerobic exercise. And that’s true. But to lose fat, to burn fat, simple walking won’t do it, what I call walking and talking—casual walking.
To lose fat, you have to do high-octane walking, walking with intensity, with real determination and purpose. The purpose is to burn fat, and that means an 8 on the intensity scale, for at least 20 minutes a session. Striding briskly, arms swinging, really moving. You’ll feel your breathing. You’ll sweat if you’re doing it at the right intensity. If you’re not in good shape, work up to it to do it at the right intensity for at least 20 minutes. Do so gradually, respectfully asking your body to go with a bit more intensity each time. If you feel foolish walking at this pace, like you might look like one of those weird Olympic walkers, that’s a good sign you’re doing it at the right intensity. Forget what others think and have fun.
When you’re ready, and if you want to, you can start to jog, further upping the intensity level. You might want to ease into it by power walking a lap, then jogging a lap; or power walking for five minutes, then jogging for five minutes.
These common mistakes and suggested remedies are by no means comprehensive. But by comprehensively addressing these errors, you’ll move toward achieving your weight loss and fitness goals.
Jerome Kellner is the author of The Maui Diet, and an educator specializing in healthy, permanent fat loss. To contact Jerome, e-mail him at jerome.kellner@gmail.com
