Even though there's a ton of information available about weight loss, the same exact diet mistakes are being made over and over each day. We're not talking here about little slipups where you had that slice of pie that wasn't on the plan, but major mistakes that cause you to fail to lose that extra weight that you are trying to lose. Understanding these errors can help you get the attitude that will help you get the permanent weight loss for you.
1. The All Or Nothing Attitude
All or nothing dieters often pick out a hard diet that's almost impossible to maintain. Before beginning, they'll search the kitchen for anything that doesn't fit the plan and throw it away. They are planning to be the perfect dieter, and so they will be, for one day, three days, seven days or maybe even a couple of weeks. Then, something happens that means they can't keep to the diet one time. Right then and there the whole thing is ruined in their eyes and the diet is over. They then go to the store and re-buy every thing that went into the trash last week and proceed to gain back all the weight that they lost, as fast as possible....if they even lost any weight at all!
If you are this kind of dieter you really need to ask yourself a few tough questions. Do you really want to lose weight permanently, or do you just want to lose a few pounds so you can enjoy putting them back on again? The way forward is to simply make small changes to what you are eating so you have a slow but steady weight loss.
2. The Attitude of Sacrifice
Another mistake is to view your diet as a period of sacrifice. You don't allow yourself the foods that you enjoy, while you're on your way to your target weight. You might have a great diet plan and be very successful in losing weight, but what happens if you do reach your goal? You haven't learned to eat 'bad foods' in moderation, so as soon as you start, you are most likely to go out of control. It's better to include a little of everything in your diet, and learn to enjoy it in small quantities. Yes, even chocolate!
3. Goal Failure
Setting achievable goals is needed in any weight loss plan. Goals should be clear, realistic, do-able, and set out in writing. While you probably have an ideal weight in your mind, unless you're only very slightly overweight, it's probably too distant to be useful. A much more useful goal would be to lose just two pounds per week for the first five weeks and then lose just one pound per week after that. Some weeks you'll lose more and some less, some weeks you may even gain weight, but if you track your progress on a graph, you'll see that ups and downs are natural and don't stop you from slowly progressing towards your weight goal.
If you've been making these mistakes, don't worry. The most important point in dieting as in many other things, is to just move on. Learn from your failures along with your success, and don't use a mistake as a reason for giving up. The only way to achieve your goal, is to make a commitment to become a healthier person. Remember that it's normal to eat more some days and less others. Learn to enjoy your favorite food in moderation and you have every chance of avoiding these bad diet mistakes.