The more you know about getting fit, the easier it becomes. Don’t fall into the trap of doing the wrong things to lose weight that can be quite discouraging. Here are the top 3 fat loss mistakes and some ways to counter them. I’ve included other hints that can help you shed pounds and keep the weight from returning. Arm yourself with this information to keep you on the road to weight loss and fitness.
One mistake is focusing only on cardio workouts.
Cardio exercises are important, but they aren’t the way to shed fat. In fact, doing too much cardio is one of the biggest mistakes most people make. Yes, cardio does burn a lot of calories, so running every day will help shed pounds. The problem isn’t whether it burns calories, but where the the body gets the calories. They come from both lean muscle mass and fat. You need muscle tissue. The more you have, the more calories your body burns 24/7, which means it boosts your metabolism making weight loss easier. It’s better to do strength training exercises that build muscle tissue as they burn calories.
Eating too few calories is a big mistake.
Your body needs fuel, especially if you’re working out in addition to changing eating habits. Super low calorie diets aren’t the way to go. Not only are they not sustainable, they are counterproductive. They put your body into starvation mode, which means it slows your metabolism to ration calories for important functions. You’re better off eating healthy meals, remembering portion control and forgetting about calorie counting.
A huge mistake is to think you can do it all with exercise.
Exercise is an integral part of a weight loss program, but you still need to combine it with healthy eating. A great body starts in the kitchen, not in the gym. If you workout regularly, but top off your workout with a pizza and a beer or two orders of fries, a soft drink and Big Mac, you won’t make any headway. You need both a healthy diet and regular exercise.
- Portion control is often forgotten and extremely important. A healthy snack of a handful of nuts is good, an entire family size bag of mixed nuts is not.
- Just because you want to get rid of fat on your body, don’t eliminate it from your diet. You need healthy fat to maintain bodily functions. Your brain is 60% fat! Both healthy fat and protein also fill you up and keep you feeling full longer.
- Don’t make the mistake of choosing low or no fat alternatives in food. They’re often made more palatable by adding sugar and can make you fatter by stimulating the production of insulin.
- Strength training, especially when combined in a HIIT—high intensity interval training— program, burns huge amounts of calories. It continues to burn them for up to 24 hours after the exercise ends, which can boost fat burning by as much as 24%.