Top 6 Rookie Weight Loss Mistakes to Avoid!

Losing weight is hard in itself so don’t turn it into a nightmare by committing these easily avoidable mistakes.

Mistake # 1- Focusing on Just the Scales
Now that’s a mistake every rookie commits! Your weight is not static as your scales might be showing you. You sweat in the gym and get disappointed by not seeing the scales budge an inch. Don’t get disappointed! Even if you’re not losing weight, you’re still losing fat! Your fat is being replaced by body protein. That’s the whole point of weight loss , isn’t it?

So, instead of just looking at your overall body weight, looking at your body fat percentage as it is one good way to gauge your weight loss success.

Mistake # 2- Overestimating or Underestimating Your Caloric Intake
This is another common, yet, honest mistake. Keeping track of your calories is quite difficult, especially for someone who is new to the weight loss arena.

What people tend to do more frequently is underestimate their overall caloric intake. In one study, the overweight people in a weight loss plan supposedly taking 1,000 calories were actually found taking 2,000 calories when reviewed by experts.

Similarly, you may want to give up on everything that promotes losing weight overnight. That does not necessarily work! That’s because when you suddenly decrease your caloric intake, your metabolism becomes increasingly sluggish and you may end up losing no weight at all.

Therefore, it is important that you look at the portion size of your meals and carefully calculate the calories of your food. Above all, you should not totally give up on eating. Hormonal imbalances can also cause some disruptions to your planned weight loss program. Talk to a specialist in this field if you feel you may have some hormonal imbalances .

Mistake # 3- Being Over-exercised or Under-exercised
Cutting down on your calorie intake is just one part of the weight loss equation. You have to burn the calories you get into your system and exercise is the only way for you to do that. So, you can’t realistically expect to lose weight if you are not exercising enough.

Another thing, just as problematic, is exercising too much. You may not believe that but there actually is something like over-exercise. You may get some initial success by working out too much but that won’t last and it will have a number of long-term negative implications on your health as well. Researchers believe that over exercise causes the adrenals to exhaust and make one prone to a number of injuries and complications.

The bottom line is that you should take it slow and exercise in moderation. Weight management and loss can be a tricky thing to understand.

Mistake # 4- Treating all the Calories as SameMost of the rookies believe that as long as they are consuming fewer calories, they are on the right track. It does not work like that!

While two foods may have a similar amount of calories, how your body would treat those calories is an entirely different story.

Take this for example. When you eat protein, your body has to spend a substantial amount of energy just to digest the protein. Moreover, protein does not essentially get stored in your body. Not to mention, protein makes you feel fuller for longer.

On the contrary, fat gets easily digested, gets stored right away and makes you even hungrier.

So, what’s better? Same calories from proteins or fats?

Mistake # 5- Eating Fewer Meals a DayYou might be eating less but you might be committing this mistake at the same time. While how much you eat is important, but how frequently you eat is equally important too.

When you eat fewer, bigger meals through the day, your body uses most of the calories from that food and turns a lot of them into fat.

On the other hand, when you eat smaller but more frequent meals, your metabolism gets a significant boost and your body gets tuned to burn the calories instead of storing them.

Mistake # 6- Un-tuned ExpectationsThat’s a very commonly talked about mistake but still remains a major problem.

When it comes to weight loss, most of the people have unrealistic expectations or undermine their efforts a little too much.

The answer to this dilemma is moderation. You can’t lose half your weight in a week. But if you have managed to lose a pound or two in a week, that’s still a great feat! You should appreciate yourself for that.

What you must understand is that losing weight is a gradual process. If you lose weight over some time, the results would be more lasting! Consult a weight management specialist to find out what foods and exercises would be best for you to start off with.