Common Dieting Mistakes
August 10th, 2007 by Y.G.Another thing I’ve had to figure out for myself, another thing I’ve had to mull over and think upon: “how come I’m not losing weight, although I’m doing everything right?”
Well, maybe not. There are plenty of little details that, when losing weight, we tend to overlook. Not because we want to cheat or whatever: just because they’re so small, so trivial, that it takes some time and an acute mind, focused on hunting such impediments, to find, acknowledge and get rid of them. I’m sure many of us reading this blog know what I’m talking about, or have wondered about the same thing. So here’s a list of what I may call ‘common diet mistakes’; perhaps reading about them will help you see if you’re indeed doing everything right, or if, like in my case, it’s time for a little reality check. Remember: what we know about dieting isn’t always what we do.
- Licks, bites and tastes: Aren’t we all familiar with these? The spoon we lick after making that cookie dough, though we intend on not touching the cookies. The finger casually dipped in the sauce to make sure it’s good, and there comes a good chunk of food with it. It doesn’t seem a lot, it doesn’t seem like it’s important, but all those little things adding up can make your daily caloric intake increase enough to slow down or even stall your weight loss.
- Speaking of little things: added food ingredients. That’s the extra spoon of butter that brings 102 calories to your meal, the salad dressing that adds 75 more. Those are more noticeable habits than tasting the food we’re cooking, but I’ve found out we also tend to overlook them!
- Coffee and other liquids: That mocha-latte-thingy isn’t only black coffee, it’s also lots of cream and sugar. Some of those drinks will make you get 300, or even 400-500 extra calories per day, and the awful trap in all of this is that we usually don’t think about it twice: we’re so focused on food, and drinks aren’t food, after all, that we don’t see how calories-laden they are. This is not an incentive to stop drinking coffee at once for the rest of your life, but be aware that having to find appropriate alternatives may become a real need.
- Eating too fast: We need approximately 20 minutes for our brain to register that our stomach is full. If you speed up while eating, you may very well find yourself thinking you’re still hungry–and eat more in turn, a dessert or a snack later on–when in fact your body is satisfied.
- Skipping a meal: The only result is that you’ll arrive at your next meal feeling ravenous, and will therefore run the risk of eating more than you’d have if you had gotten three meals instead of two.
- Portions: We’re getting there in France as well–restaurants serving portions larger than what we should eat–and I believe it’s even worse in the USA. Don’t go by what is offered to you in public places: because it’s in your plate, because you’re told “this is one portion” doesn’t mean it’s not actually two, or three, or four. Also, don’t hesitate to ask for half of your meal to be doggy-bagged; you’ve paid for it, nobody can resent you for doing that. And at home, use smaller plates if needed (I’m doing that, it’s working like a charm).
May this list help you like it did in my case. I can assure you that if those ‘triggers’ are your problem and you acknowledge them to better get rid of them, it will make a difference.
