1. YOU THINK ITS HEALTHY
Fruit, nuts, and fitness cereal is healthy for you right? Sure it contains lots of vitamins and important nutrition but their also very energy dense. 100 gr of natural almonds are a whopping 574 kcal!
Guess what? Thats more than a regular Big Mac… which is 495 kcal. When eating almonds having 10-20 grams is enough. Fruits are often very high in sugar, (fructose) and can give your blood sugar level a boost that will ruin a slow constant metabolism: Instead of burning stored fat, the body prefers the sugary and fast energy found in fruit. Also many products claiming to be healthy are full of sugar, fat, and carbs. Just because it says 50% less fat it doesn´t mean that it contains little fat. Just 50 % less fat than the horrific amount you find in the original.
How to fix it: Stop categorizing food as healthy and not healthy and find out how big your daily calorie intake is and what it should be. You might be shocked when you find out how much kcal your daily “healthy between meals treats” of fruit and nuts are! Then make a meal plan to help you get the correct intake of essentials: Carbs, protein, fat, minerals and vitamins. Then stick to it! For a long time. Guaranteed results.
2. YOU ONLY DO CARDIO
If you live on the treadmill but never lift a pound, then you’re missing out on one of the most important pieces of the fitness puzzle. Not only does weight training prevent injury by strengthening the joints, but it also builds muscle mass and increases metabolic rate. Bonus: thanks to a revved-up metabolism, you’ll keep burning calories long after you’ve slipped off your trainers.
How to fix it: Easy, find your self a personal trainer to get you started on a fun weight lifting program, and you´ll be seen progress in no time.
3. YOU DON´T HAVE A SPECIFIC ENOUGH GOAL AND YOU DONT STICK TO IT LONG ENOUGH
If your only fitness or health goal is: Loose weight and look fit. I can tell you right now; You´re gonna fail. Because like a paper without a dead line or no consequences of not achieving you goal, it´s just not motivating enough to get you there. It needs to be more specific.
How to fix it: Set a more specific goal; Like Loosing a pound each week. And to reach a goal like that you need a plan. a SPECIFIC plan. Eat healthy and work out more is not a plan. that’s a wish. Figure out how much your´re eating each week, and how much you should be eating and exercising every week to make progress. Plan every meal and every workout for and entire week. And stick to it!
4. YOU THINK YOUR´RE BURNING MORE THAN YOU ARE
You just killed that workout! Now its time for a real treat! No. You though you burned 1000 kcal but in reality is was more like 550.
How to fix it: Get a fit bit, a pulse monitor or something to measure your activity and energy burning levels. Or get help from a personal trainer/ dietary and meal planner professional. Then you have someone else to answer to and that will greatly add to your self discipline.
5. YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES TO HIDDEN CALORIES (Cheating on your diet)
So some dressing on the salad, lick the spoon of this and that, eating pieces of the food your cooking while preparing it, some ketchup on that chicken, and extra scoop of oats, eat 2-3 olives out of the jar.. Its just a few, a little bit, can´t hurt right? You justify it with these thoughts in you head all the time. A salad is one of the healthiest meals you can have, but when you top it with bacon bits, goats cheese, nuts, dried fruits, and a creamy dressing, you can double the calorie amount in a flash. Be aware of how many calories your favourite salad extras add on. For instance, 10 croutons is an easy 100 calories. Well all these small innocent pieces of food now and then easily add up to blowing you kcal plan by 100 of kcal every day. Leaving you thinking demotivated and thinking that this diet is just not working.
How to fix it: JUST STOP DOING IT! Whenever you consider doing it just don´t! The craving will disappear after a while.