Common Weight Loss Mistakes to Avoid: I Made Them So You Don’t

Trying to lose weight but not seeing results? You might be making these 5 mistakes. Here’s how you can avoid them.

You might feel like you’ve tried everything to lose weight, but nothing happened. That’s likely because you’re making these weight loss mistakes that you should avoid. 

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

You might feel like you’ve tried everything to lose weight, but nothing happened. That’s likely because you’re making these weight loss mistakes that you should avoid. Don’t worry much, I’ll tell you what might be going wrong.

The podcast explains everything you need to know, so check it out!

Weight Loss Mistakes to Avoid: Not Sleeping Enough

Sleep is important for good health. Good sleep is essential if you want to lose fat.

The majority of your fat loss and body recomposition happens when you’re asleep. When you’re sleeping your body releases Human Growth Hormone which helps you heal and recover. So you need good sleep to be healthy.

From the age of 11, I refused to go to bed on time.

My mom tried to get me to sleep early. I didn’t. If I could travel through time, I would go back into the past and give young me one tight smack across the head and be like, “Shut up and go to sleep.”

So this continued, and I used to get either less sleep or no sleep every night. This was the case during most of my academic and professional life. Except one summer. When I used to sleep for like 8 hours straight every night. I used to sleep at around 4 am and wake up at 1 or 2 in the afternoon. And I made sure my room was completely dark and quiet.

I slept well, I got a little exercise, not much, and I was eating just TONS of meat. In that time I lost more weight than I did during any other period (except for the time I did a fat-only fast for two weeks).

Sleep in a DARK, quiet room. No artificial light, no other stimulus. And you’ll get the BEST rest possible.

Weight Loss Mistakes to Avoid: Not Actually Eating Healthy

If I had a shot every time someone told me they were “dieting” but the were actually eating trash, I’d be dead from alcohol poisoning right now. And no, I’m not judging you for eating junk. I love good junk too. It’s delicious. But the thing is when I’m eating junk, I know I’m eating junk. I understand I’m eating unhealthy food. I acknowledge that what I’m eating is bad for me.

Misinformation is everywhere. We’re always fed lies about what’s good for us and what’s not. So, if you’re telling yourself that “you’re on a diet”, but you’re actually eating grains, rice, and processed food, you’re not actually eating healthy.

But, that said, transitioning from eating food that you thought was healthy, to eating actually healthy food, isn’t too difficult.

If you’ve got the mindset and the motivation in place, and you plan a little ahead and stick to it 90 percent of the time, you’ll actually SHRED fat.

But you WILL have to be honest with yourself and make the effort to eat healthy. The first time I did this was by spending my last day eating all the junk I wanted. Then I threw whatever I had left in the trash. Throw it out. Don’t save it just in case. Don’t keep it because you don’t want to waste food. THROW IT OUT.

Go shopping, stock up on eggs, lean meat, green vegetables, some dark chocolate and maybe a little fruit, maybe for a week or two’s worth of food. That’s what I did. I went shopping for bacon, eggs, cold cuts, meat, yogurt, fruit and vegetables.

Over the next week I ate bacon and eggs for breakfast, some vegetables, meat (usually chicken) for lunch, tenderloin steaks and other natural, unprocessed food. And I ate lots of it. No calorie counting. I’d just eat till I was full and stop when I was full.

Eat till you’re full and stop when you’re full. Weight loss guaranteed. No, cereal isn’t healthy, it’s just an excuse to eat sneaky sugars. And no, eating a fruit bowl isn’t healthy. Yes, they may be LESS unhealthy than a burger, but just because they’re not the worst thing you can eat, doesn’t mean they’re healthy.

Weight Loss Mistakes to Avoid: Not Working Out

Exercise is important. It’s important for feeling good, and it helps stimulate weight loss. A few years after my initial weight loss, I’d gained some of the lost weight back. I wanted to get back to being healthy, so I started eating healthy again. Lots of meat, some vegetables, fruits and the occasional nuts.

A few weeks go by, and there’s nothing. I’m actively regulating my food intake and the weight loss was not great. I wasn’t getting the same response from my body like I did the previous time.

So then I started swimming, twice a week. In a couple of weeks I started seeing visible weight loss. I looked healthier, I felt better, my clothes fit better, and my hunger changed. I felt like I was actually being healthy again.

You need some exercise if you want to lose fat optimally. You don’t need to kill yourself every day by working out. But some exercise is important.

Your fitness is 70 percent diet, 20 percent exercise and 10 percent good sleep.

You CAN still plow through by just focusing on one of the three things. But it’ll be like writing an exam but only working on one section. You can’t out-exercise a bad diet. You can’t ignore your sleep or exercise and expect to burn fat optimally.

Weight Loss Mistakes to Avoid: Cheating Too Much!

In many diets, one day of the week, or one day every two weeks is scheduled as a cheat day.

You eat what you want on your cheat day, and don’t worry about counting calories. It’s a VERY useful little tool. It helps you stick to your diet long term and has a few benefits, like shocking your body and preventing it from getting too used to your lower calorie diet.

But cheating is only good if it’s well planned and timed. Not if you cheat every day.

I’ve had many days in the past few years, when I’ll go off my diet and binge like mad, anywhere from two days to a whole week or two weeks. And it shows. It always shows. I’m sure you’ve noticed it on yourself. I’d have like weeks where I’d just eat chocolates, chips, Nutella, and bars of Kit-Kat.

There was a period where I would JUST eat peanut butter and jam sandwiches. I went through at least 15 kilos of peanut butter and jam in two months.

Yeah…cheating is alright, if it’s occasional, planned, and done scientifically. Not if you treat your body like a trash can that’s on the clock.

When I was eating healthy 6 days a week, and cheating one day a week, I felt the difference. I’d be experiencing smooth, even energy six days a week, and on the one day that I cheated, I’d feel terrible because my body was rejecting the junk that I was eating. I’d feel slow, lethargic, and bloated.

Weight Loss Mistakes to Avoid: Lying to Yourself About Any of the Above

Whether it’s about a little thing like why you couldn’t make it to a night out, or about something big, like tax fraud, everyone lies.

Take a good, hard look at your lifestyle and ask yourself whether you truly are eating healthy, working out, and getting enough sleep. If you aren’t, dedicate more time to it, and do it.

Almost all human problems fall into one of three categories: Health, Wealth, and Relationships. Make your health your number one priority. If it’s out of balance, you can’t just do a little bit to balance it. It’s unbalanced.

So you need to dedicate more time to it. Focus your efforts. For just three months. If three months is too much, start with three weeks.

You WILL notice results and start feeling the difference. But only if you’re honest with yourself and stick to your plan.