7 Weight-Loss Fails to Avoid

Written by Jamie, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

Weight loss can be a minefield, one filled with potential pitfalls and wrong-way road signs. But why?

One big reason why we can so often be led astray is because many of these online dispensers of diet advice are trying to tap into our fears and insecurities.

Isn’t that messed up?

Sure it is, but we can ditch those doomsday docs and YouTube yahoos and get empowered with solid information about diet, nutrition and supplements.

In fact, your weight-loss goals don’t have to be about losing but instead can be about gaining: gaining better health, gaining a new sense of accomplishment, forging a better relationship with food, and getting a better appreciation for what you are achieving.

Almased can be one important part of your new approach to healthy eating and weight loss, but more on that below…

Here are those 7 weight-loss pitfalls we definitely want to avoid:

1. Obsessing About the Bathroom Scale

Did you know that your weight can go up or down by up to 4 pounds over the course of a day, depending on how much food and liquids you’ve consumed?

Plus, increased estrogen levels and other hormonal changes in women can lead to more water retention, which, again, shows up on the scale.

So what happens if the digits on the scale aren’t moving at all? Well, you could be losing fat but holding on to water.

You can jettison excess water with regular exercise, sleeping more, reducing stress, making sure you’re getting electrolytes, and drinking more water.

2. Eating Too Many High-Calorie Foods But Not Enough Nutrient-Dense Foods

While you might be overeating, in general, it very well could be that you’re eating big portions of healthy foods that are high in calories, like cheese and nuts, and not enough moderate-calorie foods that are packed with nutrients, like salmon, kale, garlic, blueberries, egg yolks and, yes, dark chocolate!

Dark chocolate? Yup, it’s loaded with fiber, iron, magnesium, copper and manganese, and boasts more antioxidants than almost any other food, including acai!

Enjoying a small square of quality dark chocolate (with 70% or more cocoa) every day is one easy way to supplement your diet with added antioxidants.

3. Skipping Meals

Bypassing breakfast, lunch or dinner could seem like an easy way to drastically slash your daily calories, but it’s not only unhealthy to do this regularly but also very likely to backfire.

In fact, Dr. Martha Belury, professor of human nutrition at The Ohio State University says, “You definitely don’t want to skip meals to save calories because it sets your body up for larger fluctuations in insulin and glucose and could be setting you up for more fat gain instead of fat loss.”

4. Going Fat-Free

Saying no to all fat — including healthy ones like olive oil and avocado — will not only lead to a tasteless diet, it’s also dangerous.

Even low-fat diets are completely worthless for weight loss, according to a recent review of 53 studies and nearly 70,000 people published in The Lancet.

5. Doing Detox Cleanses

Sure, cleanses bring on temporary weight loss from water and stool weight. But they can be very harmful. In reality, they lead to dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and worse.

Instead of detoxifying, be more mindful of what you eat. If you want to naturally detoxify your body, just make sure to drink plenty of water and eat enough high-fiber foods.

6. Exercising Too Much

Off-the-charts exercise may impress on TV or in Facebook memes, but, in reality, extreme exercise can cause gravely serious problems.

It brings on severe wear and tear, increases injury risk, causes dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, and basically turns exercise into “punishment” for eating.

The American College of Sports Medicine and CDC guidelines recommend getting at least 30 minutes of moderately intense cardio exercise 5 days a week, or 20 minutes of vigorously intense cardio exercise 3 days a week, and strength-training exercises that work all the major muscle groups two to three times a week.

Unless you’re training for the Spartan Race, more than that could do more harm than good.

7. Setting Unrealistic Goals

You may benefit from breaking down a long-term goal into smaller, short-term goals.

For example, if your outcome goal is to lose 15 pounds in three months, consider breaking this down into separate goals for each month, like 7 pounds for the first month and 4 pounds for each of the last two months, because early weight loss is often faster.

Almased: The Right Stuff

Almased nourishes the body at a cellular level to help boost metabolism and safely support both fat-burn and overall weight loss.

Crafted with only three primary ingredients — non-GMO soy, honey and yogurt — Almased features 27 grams of protein in a natural low-glycemic formula that comes in a powder for super-easy mixing into shakes and smoothies.

It's easy to drink Almased shakes in place of 1, 2 or 3 meals daily. Or just use Almased as an occasional healthy snack to hold on to that hard-earned weight loss success.

Almased is there for you, since it’s part of a simple, easy-to-follow way of eating that can help you reach all your goals — and avoid those pitfalls!

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