8 Diet Mistakes Women Make All The Time

So many diet plans we adopt do little to help and educate in a way that will make our lifestyle sustainable.

It is time to take control of your own diet. It is essential to workout to be fit and going to diet extremes (like avoiding ALL carbs or ALL dietary fat) can make a real mess. Fit, healthy women need a rounded, balanced diet.

Time to gain some perspective on food and gain a little bit of control!

Mistake 1: Adopting a diet program advertised on TV

The promises these programs make are tempting to those of us who are desperate to see real change in our bodies. Eat your packaged meals or stay within your point allotment and the weight will melt off. Except that isn’t the case. A low calorie diet over the long term leads to a loss of muscle mass and a slower metabolism. How could these programs make money if they actually worked? Have you ever noticed that the celebrities who hock these diets plans never manage to keep their weight off long term? These plans do not educate or inform about real healthy lifestyle changes and in doing so, they guarantee that you will become a repeat customer. They set you up to fail. You are far better off doing things on your own. Educate yourself about nutrition — visiting BodyRock.tv is a great start — prepare your own balanced meals. It means taking responsibility and listening to your body. The effort will be worth it!

Mistake 2: Ignoring the obvious

Stop looking for a secret missing component to your diet and start looking at your obviously counter productive behaviours. It would be far easier if Dr. Oz’s fat burning secret ingredient was the answer but that’s just foolish rationalization. It couldn’t possibly be your happy hour habits or your fondness for ice cream or potato chips. It must be something else. You owe yourself honesty. Keep a food journal, write down what you eat and when you eat it. It will help you be conscious of what you are actually eating and identify which foods trigger you to overeat.

Mistake 3: Eating fake health food

The thing with health food, it isn’t really. More often than not, the healthy cereal you’ve picked up, for example, is loaded with sugar. Sometimes we forget that sugar has a whole host of names under which it hides. The other thing about food that is packaged as, and looks, healthy is that it is far easier to justify overeating it. They are not satiating and in many cases make you crave more. If you are looking for a boost in protein or fiber, skip the prepackaged stuff. Hit the produce aisle and stick to fresh meats and eggs. Whole foods are far more likely to fill you up and make you feel satisfied.

Mistake 4: Obsessing over fat loss

We all know women who are always on a diet. Like, been on 5 over the last few years. These women never seem to hit their fat loss goals. Ever. If only they would shift their focus! Our bodies are more efficient at burning fat when we have more muscle. If you are eating to weigh less, you have to continuously eat less to keep it working. Trade in your crazy diets for muscle growth and leanness. Eat to fuel your workouts and then workout with weights that are challenging. You’re looking for that ache that tells you the work has been done. You know the one.

Mistake 5: Having emotional hang ups and judgments

Women often identify with what they eat. If they have a binge moment, they feel like crap about it and compensate by over restricting later. It creates an over indulgence, over restriction cycle that is beyond unhealthy. All too often food is used to relieve stress, sadness and anxiety. But in the end, it only makes those things worse. Try to make little changes. Instead of reaching for the pint of ice cream when you are feeling down, go for a walk. The more of these changes you make, the easier it will be to change your relationship to food.

Mistake 6: Overeating at night

If you eat like a bird in the morning, and don’t eat much during the day, you are more likely to over do it at night. You’re body NEEDS nutrition. A lack of nutrition can lead to elevated levels of cortisol and well, cortisol makes you fat! If you eat more during the day and fuel up for your workouts, you will be less likely to feel those night time cravings.

Mistake 7: Not eating enough protein

If you are trying to lose weight, you likely need to eat more protein than you realize. Protein is satiating, helps with muscle building, and during digestion it takes more calories to process protein than it does carbs or fat. Extra protein helps to fight hunger and prevents muscle atrophy. If you are having a really difficult time losing weight, try eating more protein. It can’t hurt.

Mistake 8: Eating sweets to be sweet

Many women have a hard time saying ‘no thanks.’ This can lead to eating things they don’t really want/need just to be polite. Serious diet sabotage. You do have options in these situations. If it isn’t something special that someone worked hard to prepare, get comfortable saying no. Your friends will just have to deal. If it is something that someone slaved over, than have a taste or save it for later. You don’t have to have such a complicated relationship with food. Do what you feel.

Are you a chronic dieter? What mistakes have you noticed in your past?

 

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