As a personal trainer and a fitness enthusiast, I have seen people do ridiculous things, in trying to accomplish their weight loss goals. Human body is a complex machinery, which needs the right buttons to be pushed. Without extensive knowledge about human body and years of experience in training, you are unlikely to do everything correctly, right from the start. I have compiled a simple list of common mistakes in weight loss.
Do yourself a favor and gather the knowledge, before starting your weight loss journey!
1. Looking for advice from fitness magazines - majority of the articles written in health or fitness magazines are based on a goal to sell a product(supplements,pills,gym equipment) or advertise a service. Bringing you on the right track fitness-wise, is their least concern. In fact, they might mislead uninformed individuals to completely opposite of what they suppose to do in order to achieve a weight loss goal, just to keep you buying their miracle pills and powders.
2. Doing long hours of moderate or low intensity cardio - first of all it is very time consuming to run for hours each day. Secondly, extensive hours of cardio is much less effective than sprint training (HIIT). Running or biking over 45 mins starts a catabolic (muscle break-down for energy) process. Unless you are a professional marathoner, you don´t want to lose your muscle in the process of losing fat weight. For a complete beginner in sports, cardio is a good start, but don´t overdo it! Ladies and gentlemen, this is where "the more the merrier" does not apply!
3. Trusting your gym buddies - every modern gym is packed with wide range of personalities, of whom everyone has a different advice to share with you. although, the advice you get from your buddies at the gym might not be wrong, but it can get rather confusing to differentiate the right from wrong. Also, fitness tips from your gym amigos are solely based on their own personal experience. Fitness and weight loss is such an individual quest and has more than a handful of variables to take into consideration. What might have worked for one, might not work for you!
A better choice would be to ask a professional such as your local gym instructor or consult an online fitness trainer.
4. Weighting yourself every day - you must realize that losing weight is not a linear downhill process. Your total body weigh consists of bone, fat, muscle and water weight. About 70% of your body consists of water. Water weight fluctuates daily, because it depends on carbs and minerals intake, also alcohol and coffee might have a major impact on water retention. Regular exercise helps to denser your bones and build lean muscle, which in turn adds in to your total body weight on the scales. Fat metabolism is a fairly slow process and weighting yourself in once a week is more than enough. 0.5 - 1 kg of fat loss per week is completely healthy and safe. But don't get disheartened if your weight on the scale stays the same - trust your eyes instead and look in to the mirror. You might have been building muscle and losing fat at the same time!
5. Relying on exercise only in your weight loss journey - exercise accounts for only 50% of your fat loss endeavor, just as important factor is your diet and nutrition! You absolutely can not continue to eat like a pregnant woman on her 5th month. Losing weight depends on your calorie consumption vs daily energy expenditure. Use a fitness calorie calculator in order to establish your daily energy needs. Then shoot for eating 200-500 kcal less than your daily caloric requirements. Just as important is where those calories come from. You need all the macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, fats) along with your vitamins and minerals in a diet plan.Consult a fitness trainer or nutritionist to help customize personal nutrition plan for you.
6. Panicky avoiding all kinds of fats in your diet - although it is so last century, some people still avoid all fats in their diet as a religion. There is a wide belief, that fats you take in go straight around your stomach, hips and other unwanted areas. This can not be farther from the truth. Healthy fats (omega fatty acids) from nuts, vegetables and fish oil are used by your body in a variety of ways - for functioning of your skin, respiratory system, circulatory system, brain and organs. Consuming 20-30 % of fats from your daily caloric needs actually helps you to burn more fat!
7. Doing only cardio in your exercise program - you will get results doing only aerobic exercise for a while, but I can guarantee that you will hit a plateau, where cardio just helps you to maintain your current weight. For faster and continued results it is wise to incorporate a weight training workout into your exercise routine. Lifting heavy weights at least 3 times a week, forces your body to produce high amount of anabolic hormones (most important being testosterone and growth hormone), which will literally shed the fat from your body 24 hours a day. Weight lifting plan should incorporate multi-joint mass movements, such as squats, deadlifts and presses.
8. Doing crunches and sit-ups for flat stomach or six pack abs - a widely common mistake in "trying to get flat stomach." This idea is based on a simple logic, that you burn fat from the specific area of your body which you are working. The truth is, there is no such thing as spot fat reduction. Have you ever seen a guy who has fat jelly arms and legs, but has a perfect six pack? I don't think so! Fat is not distributed evenly all over your body. Based on bone structure, genetic makeup and body type, some people have more jelly around their stomach, hips, legs or bum. Stomach being the most common place as it is the center of gravity on the body. You can do sit-ups for fun and entertainment value, but remember, they do not give you the desired results.
9. Being hungry like a wolf all the time - losing weight does not necessarily mean you have to be hungry all the time, or worse, starve yourself. To keep the metabolic machinery up and running on full throttle, you should eat frequent meals (every 3-4 hours) throughout the day. Instead of 3 big meals, divide them into 6 smaller meals! That way, you NEVER feel hungry and still keep losing weight.
10. Trying to do the transformation all alone - since transforming from fat duckling to skinny swan is a long journey of many emotional ups and downs, you should let all of your friends and family to know about your goal. They can support you once you start falling off the track. They can motivate you not to give up. Best bet would be to find a person of similar goal and train with them or hire a certified fitness trainer to work with you. A lil pressure from society, friends or trainer can actually motivate you to push yourself out of comfort zone and stop you from giving up. Determination, focus and willingness to succeed, is all it takes!
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