If you are attempting to shed weight, but you’re having little or no results, it’s more than likely that you’re making a few mistakes that will be severely damaging your advancement. In this article I will be discussing three major mistakes that people make when trying to shed weight. Are you making any of them?
Dropping your calorie intake too low
It’s common knowledge that to lose weight you will need to lower your calorie intake, so surely the more you lower your calorie consumption the faster you will lose weight right? Unfortunately this isn’t true. Your body can not tell the difference between a calorie deficit and being starved. If you drop your calorie intake too low your body will respond as though it’s being starved. Your bodies primary job is to survive, if it seems like it’s being starved then it will adjust it’s be much as possible to keep all of the survival function safe. With your starvation response triggered, your body will do some or all of the following:
- Slow down your metabolism -this means it will become extremely tough to eliminate weight, your body will use as little calories also prolong survival.
- Look with the body for energy resources – As your body sees it isn’t getting enough energy from food, it is going to appear within the body for resources. The first place it’ll look is at what it considers unnecessary for it’s survival, and sadly muscle isn’t considered essential so this is among the first things broken down to use as a fuel source.
- Hold on to Fat for dear life! – Your body sees fat as a fantastic survival tool. Fat is a wonderful insulator, helping to keep your body warm. Once the starvation response is triggered your body will do everything it can to hold onto fat.
Those are the problems caused by too low a calorie deficit in your diet, so what can we do to achieve fat loss? The solution would be to have only a small calorie deficit in your diet, approximately 15-20% below your maintenance level (maintenance amount being the quantity of calories you require daily simply to maintain your current weight), your body is able to cope with this. This small calorie deficit in your diet should then be used with a fantastic exercise program to burn more calories.
Skipping Meals!
Skipping meals is a big no no when it comes to fat loss. A good deal of people have the miss conception that should they miss a meal or two, they will lose more fat. You should really do the opposite and trying to eat more frequently.
Allow me to explain… When you eat you really start to burn calories straight off when your body begins to digest the food, this procedure takes hours and will continue to burn calories (energy). By skipping meals you’re reducing the number of calories your body will be consuming. Also having long period between your foods will cause your body to slow down its metabolism, as it realises that there is not a steady energy source being given so it is going to save as much energy as you can.
What you need to actually do is eating smaller meals more frequently. Having four, five or better yet six small meals per day, instead of three, two or even one meal per day is much better. With more meals being consumed, more digestion is happening, raising your metabolism during the day. Go for five or six small meals a day, every three hours this will really enhance your fat loss benefits.
Completely cutting fat from your diet!
When you decide you would like to modify your diet and try and lose excess weight, the first thing a good deal of folks do is to attempt to eliminate as much of the fat out of there diets as you can. Although eliminating as much of the bad fats in your diet as possible is a good idea, you also must make certain that you’re getting enough of the good fats.
Good fats and bad fats that you state?! That’s right there are good and bad fats, bad fats that ought to be avoided are the saturated fats and much worse that the hydrogenated fats. These are found in red meats, butters and margarines, processed foods and a lot more.
The good fats are the Essential Fatty Acids or EFA’s for short. These are the fats that the body can’t produce itself, and for that reason must be obtained from your daily diet. These EFA’s are Omega 3 and Omega 6, both of which have many health benefits. It’s Omega 3 however that is the one which we will need to pay additional attention to as the vast majority of us are now borderline deficient in Omega 3 that has many health benefits. In addition to that it’s needed for energy generation, aids in muscle preservation, raises your metabolism, and help to burn body fat.
Good sources of omega 3 include fatty fish, nuts, olive oil and flaxseed oil, so try to incorporate a small quantity of these in your daily diet.
There are 3 major mistakes that people make when attempting to shed weight. Now you know what they are you can completely avoid them and start seeing some terrific results with your weight loss!
