Last updated on January 10th, 2019 at 06:42 am
If you’re eating healthy and working out, but still struggle to lose weight, you might be doing some things that sabotage weight loss without even knowing.
Sounds like a dream come true: You eat healthy and you can’t lose weight. Even better: You eat healthy and you get fat. The internet is full of stories about how when you eat better you’ll automatically turn into a supermodel within a few months. Aaaaeer. Not all of us.
For those of us who eat healthy, but can’t lose weight – here are 3 weight loss mistakes that might be the reason for this.
Mistake #1. You only move when you exercise
Exercise is important, no doubt. Especially for your mental health, in my opinion. But nowadays people expect TOO MUCH from their hour-long workouts. Burn fat, get abs, lift your booty.
I was the same. For a while in 2010 I thought that doing 15 minutes of HIIT every other day will get me in shape. “Save some time and burn 9x more fat? I hate these workouts, but I’m in.”
Then this is what happened for the rest of my day.
No, that’s not me, but you get the point – I’m not moving at all, all day long. Nobody told me that 15 minutes or even an hour of excruciating interval training won’t really help if I after that sit all day long in front of a computer.
Turns out for me and for many others who sit all day long, it might be better to go for a walk a few times a day.This way you develop a habit of moving, of being constantly active.
| Related: How to lose weight with a desk job
Such a small change, but it can improve your immune function, prevent infections, cancer and cardiovascular disease and it can reduce stress. And guess what? Good immune function and low levels of stress are important for health and thus – for keeping a healthy weight.
Even if it’s just 20 minutes in the morning, 20min at lunch break and 20min in the evening. Small things add up. Get those 60 extra minutes of movement by just walking more.
You can, of course, do your workout, but it shouldn’t become a substitute for daily NATURAL movements. We humans are made to explore and experience new things. Not for sitting around, doing the same old crap, waiting or resting all the time to then out of nowhere do 50 burpees.
Mistake #2. BORING!!!
Not only are we sitting all the time, we’re physically so bored that we eat whenever we feel like it.
Think about it. How often do you reach for something to eat while you’re at your desk just scrolling through stuff? Or when you’re so absorbed working on that report you needed done yesterday?
Bored or stressed, even if it’s healthy food – eating mindlessly when you’re not hungry is never good. It leads to overeating and overeating is one of the main reasons for weight gain and for the development of diseases.
Eat only when you’re hungry. Let your body tell you when you need to eat. Not the other way around.
Don’t eat because it’s time for a snack or because it’s ok to overeat on healthy things. Overeating is never healthy – the type of food doesn’t matter. Because when you “snack” all the time, you’re preventing a very necessary signal for your body – getting hungry. You need that signal back in your life from time to time.
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Mistake #3. You eat until you fall asleep
Mindful eating and exercise are very important, but sometimes you need to set a time frame. Otherwise you might end up eating until you fall asleep.
I like to eat until latest 8pm. Not only do I sleep better, I also lose some weight without doing much.You might not be able to control a lot of things and you might not have time to exercise, but you can do this.
When you decide you’re not eating after 8pm – you just do it. Doesn’t require time or money. All it requires is a decision. The decision that you will not eat after 8pm. That simple.
The reason why not eating after 8pm works, from my own experience is because eating junk food, even when you have good intentions, happens mainly in the evening. Can’t explain why. At that point, my best guess is – it’s probably a lack of self-discipline.
For me, even if I had a smoothie, salad and oats during the day I would simply ruin this healthy day at around 9pm while digging into a bag of chips or ordering pizza. I just start craving all those things in the evening after dinner.
But the fact is that making the decision for not eating late upfront saves me
- a ton of calories,
- energy I could use on something more productive and
- it makes me wake up feeling rested & lighter in the morning and ready to exercise.
Just try it, but be warned that you might feel a little hungry the first few evenings. But it’s just a few days and totally worth it!
Eat healthy and start making these changes today. Because if you don’t start today, you won’t start soon (I’m telling you this from my own experience). These are simple things that don’t require that much time and can really help with weight loss.
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