Common Weight Loss Mistakes That Could Be Holding You Back (and How to Fix Them)

How to Overcome the Most Common Weight-Loss Mistakes

If you’ve hit a snag in your weight-loss journey, it could be because one (or more) of the steps you’re taking to shed pounds isn’t actually helping you.

Let’s take a look at some of most common missteps and get you back on track.

1. Cutting Meals without Adding Balance

You’ve been eating nothing but iceberg lettuce with no dressing for weeks. It hasn’t been fun, but at least it’s helping you lose weight – right?

Not so fast.

Most of the salads we buy don’t have enough nutritious value to keep you full – making it much more likely you’re going to grab a salty or sugary snack later.

And if your salad is lacking protein, healthy fats or nutrient-dense vegetables, your body’s metabolism – the internal engine that burns calories – is probably going to slow down.

What to Do Instead

If you’re cutting out the junk food and replacing it with more salads, make sure those salads are packed with a variety of nutrient-dense, high-fiber foods to keep you satiated and your metabolism cranking.

Consider adding the following:

• Berries
• Whole grains
• Beans or lentils
• Root vegetables

2. Hitting the Treadmill without Lifting Weights

You committed to a weight-loss goal and as part of that, you’ve been hitting the treadmill – hard. But it’s been three weeks of daily treadmill running and the scale hasn’t moved that much. In fact, it hasn’t moved at all.

As it turns out, cardio exercises like running and cycling aren’t great weight-loss drivers – at least not on their own. The calories burned are pretty low (and easy to undo) and excessive cardio causes muscle mass to break down, which can lower your metabolism.

What to Do Instead

Of course, cardio is an excellent (and needed) part of any good weight-loss plan, but you need to pair it with strength training to really burn fat.

A good weightlifting routine will burn more calories per session, and the added muscle mass will help you burn more calories throughout your day – even when you’re not exercising.

3. Eating “Diet” or “Fat-free” Foods

Buying fat-free milk or grabbing the diet version of your favorite soda and instead of the other stuff seem like weight-loss no-brainers, but the truth is a little murkier.

For one thing, eating the “diet” or “fat-free” versions of a food or drink might trick us into a false sense of security – and that might cause us to consume more than we otherwise would have.

And while many foods with the diet label are low in calories or sugar, they often still contain many ingredients that are bad for your health – and your weight-loss goals.

Similarly, the fat-free label might actually be stripping nutritious foods of their healthy fat content, robbing you of the many weight-loss benefits they contain.

What to Do Instead

It might seem backward, but cutting all the fat from your diet probably won’t help you shed fat. Instead, focus on swapping unhealthy fats for fatty-but-healthy foods like nuts, olive oil and avocados.

And while diet soda might help you cut back on calories, opting for nutrient-dense shakes or juices could be a better way to get your snack fix while helping you stick to your weight-loss goals.