Why Is My Diet I Not Working??

5.  Starving Yourself Until Dinner

DO NOT STARVE yourself in the morning and lunch knowing that you will have a huge dinner.  If you put your calories toward the end of your day not only do you not have enough time before going to bed to burn off those calories, but based on middle aged men and women in a study by the National Institute on Aging they showed that eating late just like this will produce Ghrelin, a hormone that actually causes hunger.

Instead of eating on the back end, front load your day by eating a large healthy fibrous breakfast that will keep you full throughout the day that way you can have all of your small meals throughout the day, but not load up at night right before you go to bed.

4. Eating With No Rhyme or Reason

You must have a timed schedule for your eating.  I like to have my first meal at work 9am, mid morning at 11am right before I go to lunch so that i don't gorge, and then after lunch (12pm) I like to have a mid day snack right after i get "that 2:30 feeling" like they say on the 5 hour energy commercials. This will help you stay on track but also it will help your body understand what it needs to do. Research shows that people who maintain a food journal lose more weight than those who do not.

3. You Don't Count "ALL" Calories

I want my clients to look more at the synthesis of the total calories rather than the total calories in itself.  But sometimes we tend to underestimate how much we are really consuming.  A common misconception is that "if this is healthy i can pig out on it"...NO. You can't.  Because you are still taking in more than you can burn off which will make you gain weight instead of losing weight. Even just a handful of almonds can be up to 200 calories that could be critical to your weight loss if you are not on a regular exercise regimen.

2. Setting Short Term Weight Loss Goals

Setting a goal is a great thing.  It helps you level set and also know what you can maintain.  But don't set a weekly goal unless you truly plan to stick to it each week.  Many people say "today I am going to eat healthy" and then they get the reward mentality and say "Well yesterday I ate well, so I can eat this today instead of sticking with my meal plan." Unfortunately, that's not how it works.  It has to be a constant cognizant approach if you are serious about losing weight.

1. LOW FAT DOES NOT MEAN SPLURGE

I put this in CAPS because many people think that just because it says 'no fat' means that it says 'no calories.' Not true. Many times the term 'low fat' actually gives us more of a green light (mentally) to pig out because it is 'guilt free'...But it is NOT consequence free. The golden rule is to watch portion size regardless of how good you are eating so that you know you are doing the best you can with what you have.

These tips should help you get your diet back on track if it has gone a bit astray.  Stay focused and STICK WITH IT.  You will get there only with discipline and hard work.

OVER AND OUT!