1) Relying solely on exercise.
We need to be in deficit 7000 calories to lose 1kg of body weight.
It would take 14 hours of exercise to lose 1kg of body weight (if you made no changes to your nutrition). That is assuming you don’t eat or rest more than you normally would to reward or compensate for your extra activity.
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2) Over eating healthy foods.
“But Chriss… I don’t know why I cant lose weight. I eat so healthy”
You have a shiny new sports car that needs 60 litres of fuel,
if you put in 70 litres, its excess and will convert into body fat in the case of the human body. No matter how wonderful healthy or pure the fuel source is.
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Also see –
3) Not moving enough during your 16 waking hours each day.
Sure you might get in 1hr of exercise, but what is happening during the majority of your day?
** TIP ** Set a reminder on your phone or computer to get up off your butt. Even 2 – 5 minutes each hour will help.
4) Not getting quality sleep !
Seriously, its THAT important.
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A small amount of stress is great. Its how we improve and grow.
Stress on top of stress on top of stress = disaster.
6) Wanting to fix stuff that’s not broken.
Often a fat loss client will come to me wanting to change EVERYTHING in their daily and weekly routine.
When in actual fact a lot of what they do is just fine and doesn’t need changing at all.
You will get way more return on your investment (of time and effort) by improving your weakest link/s.
Not to mention the fact that you conserve your willpower by not dealing with so many unnecessary changes.
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7) Not enough protein
This is often a problem for “old school dieters” (sorry I don’t know a better term). These people usually look for low calorie, low fat products.
The problem here is that a lot of these products don’t contain enough protein (if any)
This can lead to hunger and loss of muscle. We always want to preserve lean muscle mass whilst losing excess body fat.
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8) Cheat / Free days.
I admit that I used to be a proponent of the Free day. Not any more.
1 or 2 big cheat days can unravel most of the good work you have done throughout the week. I have seen it time and time again.
It reinforces the binge / restrict, ALL or NOTHING mindset.
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A much better idea is to include treats into your everyday plan, yet stay within your calorie limits. Win Win.
9) Rewarding or compensating your positive actions with a poor action.
Example – compensating for your 1 hour exercise session by resting or eating more than you normally would.
You can undo all of your good work, even take a step or two backwards and wonder where it all went wrong.
If you need a reward for good work, please choose something that wont undermine your goal.
A massage, a bath, new pair of earrings etc.
10) ALL or NOTHING mind-set.
This is a KILLER for anyone wanting to achieve a goal.
Your body is much more like a bank account where everything both IN and OUT counts. It’s not a test you either pass or fail. You don’t get a clean slate the next day.
- Every 5 minute walk counts (OUT)
- Every extra biscuit and wine counts (IN)
Imagine if you spent $100 more on your credit card than you intended. It makes no sense to now charge up an extra $5000.
A MUST read >> How much body fat can I expect to lose in one day?
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11) Demonising one food / group hence viewing all others as a free for all
I see this often with people who quit sugar or cut out carbs. If they then replace those omitted foods with eating more than they need of another item (usually healthy fats), they may end up putting on weight and wondering where it all went wrong.
Example – quitting sugar, but over-eating low sugar foods because they are deemed “clean” or “healthy”.
Didn’t we learn out lesson back in the 80’s?
When fat was deemed the enemy, we all ended up eating way too many low fat, carbohydrate rich foods. Look at how that turned out for us all !!
See also – Wanna lose weight? Don’t quit any food until you read this
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12) Negative self talk / beating yourself up with shame and guilt
Achieving a goal consists of 1000’s of tiny steps in the right direction.
Of course you will take some steps backward, that’s normal and to be expected.
However as long as you take more steps towards your goal than away from it, you will eventually get there.
I truly believe that every time you talk negatively to yourself by beating yourself up with guilt and / or shame, or you tell yourself you are fat, lazy, tired, a loser (or worse!), or you doubt yourself, or you worry or stress…
Every time you do that you are taking a tiny step AWAY from your goal.
Every time you think positively about yourself and your goal you take a tiny step TOWARDS your goal.
See also – Affirmations that work for weight loss
