Do you make these mistakes in your diet – especially if you are trying to lose weight?
They’re common. Sadly, I’ve made every single one of these dieting mistakes myself – even when I’ve known better.
1. Counting calories. Conventional wisdom says the key to diet success is “Calories in, calories out”. In other words, if you want to maintain your current weight, match the calories you take in through your food and drink to the calories you expend through daily living, activities and exercise. If you want to lose weight, you need to reduce the number of calories you eat / drink. And preferably you will also exercise more to expend more calories.
This theory is somewhat helpful, in that you do need to be aware of how much you are eating and drinking. But the real secret is not in the number of calories you are eating….it’s in the TYPE and QUALITY of the calories.
Also, when it comes to exercise, the calories expended through a typical exercise program are negligible, compared to the calories you expend all day long, through breathing, moving, thinking – in other words, basically through living. So exercise in and of itself does not have the impact most people think, in terms of this obsession on calories. You have to exercise in a certain way to actually burn enough calories to make a meaningful difference.
2. Following diet and food group guidelines from the government. These days the government is an easy target, given Congress’s and the President’s recent abdication of responsibility and common sense, leading up to a government shutdown and almost-default. So….if we can’t trust the government to perform the basics of governing, can we really trust them to provide us with accurate, scientifically-based guidelines for healthy eating?
The answer, unfortunately, is no. The current US guidelines for the composition of a “healthy” diet is weighted far too much toward processed foods such as grains and cereals…and way too little toward natural foods our bodies truly need, such as meat, fowl, vegetables and fruit. This is largely because the huge, rich processed food companies and dairy producers have the most clout with the government….and your local organic farm or dairy has very little clout or influence.
I see the current guidelines at work in the cafeteria at my son’s school. The meals typically feature high carbohydrate, low protein and low fat options. The only milk available is low fat or skim milk – although they think it’s OK to offer chocolate and vanilla milk with added sugar.
To their credit, they also offer fresh vegetables and fruit, and even present these healthy options in an appealing manner. But only about half the kids actually choose – and eat – the fresh stuff.
Our kids – and we adults – don’t need more carbs, more grains, more sugars. We need less of the “three poisons” – white sugar, white salt, white flour. We need more whole fats (including animal fats which currently are depicted as “bad”), more protein, and more fresh vegetables and fruits.
Basically, if you invert the US food pyramid, you will be closer to the healthy diet on which humans thrive.
3. Following a “grazing” eating plan where you’re constantly eating or snacking. The “Eat six small meals a day” fad has been in vogue now for about 10 years and counting. Some people get decent results with this way of eating, at least for awhile. And I think it can help you become more aware of portion sizes and how you can be satisfied with eating less than you usually do.
However, when you eat or graze all day long, you never give your body the chance to go through its normal cycles of hunger and satiety. Your body is constantly digesting food, so your energy levels may suffer. And each “meal” in a six meal regimen has to be pretty small to ensure you don’t consume too much food over the course of each day.
Here’s the other big problem with the six meals a day plan, especially if you are dieting to lose weight:
If you have any kind of issue with food, this regimen presents you with six opportunities per day to overeat, to make poor food choices, to obsess about food or give in to food cravings. Your time and energy is better served by focusing on something other than food.
So there you have it, my top three mistakes that keep smart dieters fat.
Notice I said “smart” dieters. We all make, or have made, these mistakes. Like I said, I’ve made them too, even when I’ve known – from reading, research, and direct experience – that they were mistakes. It’s just so easy to follow the conventional “wisdom”, or do what everyone else around us is doing.
So, what can you do to avoid these mistakes? What are some of the keys to successful dieting?
I’m glad you asked.
I’ve actually written a lot about nutrition and diet choices that promote health and wellbeing – and can provide you with the added benefits of natural, sensible weight loss and dramatic changes in body composition and appearance.
One of the best resources I’ve published is the <strong>“Fire Up Your Metabolism” Program.
The program centers around two major areas:
The first is an approach to exercise and a simple program you can do each day, or every other day, which combines breathing with specific exercises that really hit the major muscles and ramp up your metabolism and fat burning – not only during the exercise period itself, but all day long.
The other area includes specific guidelines and recommendations for your eating plan (notice I said eating, not dieting) which provide you with nutritional strategies to burn fat, lose weight in all the right places, and enjoy optimal energy – all without dieting and deprivation.
Honestly, I’d say the nutrition recommendations alone are worth the price of the program.
There’s just so much crap out there we have to sift through and try to make sense of. In the “Fire Up Your Metabolism” Program, I’ve done the sifting and analyzing and research for you… and reduced it all to an easy-to-follow set of guidelines and recommendations.
Right now I’m offering the program at a special price. And, if you order within the next 48 hours, I will also throw in one of my most popular special reports – “Eat More, Weigh Less!”
Plus the program includes a special bonus section, “Ten Simple Strategies to Effortlessly Accelerate the Fat Burning Power of Your Body – All Day Long”.
To get more information, or to claim your copy of the program today – including the special bonus report, “Eat More, Weight Less!” – click here.
You Can Do It!
“Best Breathing Exercises: Transform Body Mind and Spirit with Dynamic Energy Exercise!”
www.BestBreathingExercises.com
Copyright, Karen Van Ness, 2013