10 Mistakes You Should Avoid If You Want To Lose Weight

Making mistakes is a natural circumstance of living as a human.

Self-blame increases the intensity of your mistakes tenfold.

Understand these ten mistakes, correct them and get back on track.

Show yourself a whole lot of love and kindness and you’ll be ready to rock.

There are many things you probably believe you shouldn’t be eating. But this is the wrong approach. It leads you down the path of self-blame and overly restrictive dieting ideas.

Instead, think of ways you can include healthier foods. I don’t mean foods labeled as “healthy”. Sometimes these foods are not actually good for you anyway. I mean look for foods that are good for you and still make you feel satisfied. This is key.

Here are 10 mistakes people do when they’re trying to lose weight:

Mistake #1 – Believing that you can outsmart the brain with willpower alone

Most people start by using raw willpower to lose weight. It can work for some time, but it’s just not sustainable. You need better tools than willpower.

It’s very difficult to sustain your willpower for a long time. Life is always changing and willpower can break down over time. You’ll have moments of weakness. We all do.

Cultivating a strong mindset achieves sustainable weight loss because it gives you tools you can use for any situation. Yes, it takes time, but so what? We’re talking about your health here. Your life. The time it takes is irrelevant, don’t you agree?

Mistake #2 – Having a diet that’s too restrictive

Restrictive diets don’t work. It’s been proven time and time again. The brain and the body hate them. They’ll fight you every step of the way.

You must get on board with how the brain works. It’s 100% focused on survival and it knows the types of foods it needs to achieve that.

Work with your body and give it what it wants which will also allow you to achieve your ideal weight. It’s easy if you don’t follow restrictive dieting practices.

Just to be clear, it doesn’t mean following the body’s cravings and eating unhealthy junk. The body is craving because you refuse to listen to it and try to force your will on it.

Give it what it wants in the form of healthier alternatives. Instead of french fries how about a baked potato with sour cream and chives? Get creative and be a friend to the body. It’ll give you what you want if you listen to it.

Mistake #3 – Blaming yourself for eating the “wrong” foods

Self-blame is a curse you can really do without. Don’t do this to yourself. You know why? Because it stresses you out and you end up eating more. If that’s not a good enough reason to ditch the self-blame, then I don’t know what is.

So you ate one of the foods on your DNE(Do Not Eat) list. It doesn’t matter all that much in your overall plan. Besides, you’ve already done it so what’s the use in blaming yourself for it? Unless of course, you love to blame yourself. But I doubt that!

The best thing you could do is let it go right away and continue on with your plan. Feel grateful for all that you’re trying to accomplish. Feel grateful for the good things you’ve already done. Feel grateful that you care enough about yourself to change.

The more love and kindness you can give yourself and your body, the stronger you’ll become. Love is such a powerful force.

Mistake #4 – Not getting enough good quality sleep

When we get busy in our lives, the first thing we seem to cut is the amount of sleep we get. This is a bad mistake. Science has proven this. You need to have between 7 and 9 hours of good-quality sleep.

A lot of people might say, “but I feel great with just 5 hours.” This is because it’s become a habit over a long time. If you really took a good look, there’ll be something that’s suffering from the lack of sleep. Maybe emotional issues. It could show up as bad health of some kind eventually.

You need to get a good night’s sleep. Period.

Adjust the temperature of your room, get blackout curtains, a more comfortable bed, or wear eye shades. Do whatever you can to improve your sleep. Including switching off devices 1 hour before bed.

Mistake #5 – Believing weight gain is purely physical

Yes, there are physical reasons for not being able to lose weight easily. But many of them are caused by being overweight or eating food that’s unhealthy.

It’s your mindset that plays a pivotal role in gaining weight. So it’s here that weight loss should begin. By cultivating a strong, weight-loss mindset.

How do you do that?

The first step would be picking up a copy of my new book on Amazon at wlmind.com/of120, that’s w-l-m-i-n-d.com/o-f-1-2-0

Mistake #6 – Believing that food labeled “healthy” or “low-fat” will solve your weight problems

Just by purchasing foods labeled healthy or good for you, many think they’ll lose weight. They’re disappointed to find out it doesn’t work out that way. Why is that?

It’s got a lot to do with the brain and the expectancy effect. Most of us have the impression that healthy foods aren’t tasty or fulfilling. We only eat them on the pretense they’ll help us lose weight.

As I mentioned in the last podcast, studies have been done to test this phenomenon. Scientists gave people identical milkshakes. One was described in a decadent style, the other a purely healthy and good-for-you style.

The healthy one didn’t satisfy the participants and they still felt hungry afterward.

These two shakes had identical ingredients. Crazy, right?

Go over one of my previous podcasts on this subject to find out how to use the expectation effect to your advantage. It’s called, Your Expectations Can Govern Your Results For Weight Loss. You can search for it on my website at, weightlossmindset.co.

Mistake #7 – Thinking you already KNOW why you can’t lose weight

Sometimes people believe they know exactly why they can’t lose weight. Maybe they do, or it’s just guessing. But, there’s a big difference between having knowledge about something and taking action to handle it.

Sometimes it’s easy to just feel satisfied knowing why something is a problem, but doing nothing to correct it. As if knowing will somehow miraculously fix the issue. Don’t fool yourself. It’s procrastination. I understand, we all want to be able to do things the easy way.

But, if you’re still overweight, there’s no point in that, is there?

Take the knowledge you have and put it into action and get real results. A slim, healthy body.

Mistake #8 – Not eating slowly and without distractions

It’s a busy world. We all have so many things we need to do. So sitting down to eat a meal slowly without distractions may seem like a big waste of time. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If you can’t sit down and take 20-30 minutes to joyfully eat a meal then you need to make the time for this. Get the time from wherever you can. Your health depends on it.

Rushing through your meals causes you to overeat. How can you feel satisfied if you don’t take enough time to savor your food? You’ll end up eating more than you should and put on weight.

Eating too fast will cause you to miss the body’s natural cues to stop eating.

Overeating puts stress on the body whether you put on weight or not. Mindful eating is one of the keys to having a healthy, fulfilling life.

Mistake #9 – Forcing yourself to give up all indulgent foods

On the one hand, we’re told that certain foods are unhealthy for us, and on the other hand, we’re bombarded with ads for those exact same foods. No wonder we poor humans are so confused about what to eat.

The truth is, indulgent foods—you know the ones I mean—are okay for us now and then. It’s better not to get too strict with yourself.

Studies have found that allowing a few so-called indulgent foods into the diet didn’t negatively impact weight loss goals. In fact, they helped by making the body feel satisfied and not feeling overly restricted.

So the next time you bite into that creamy, high-fat morsel, enjoy every moment. Savor it. Then continue on with your weight loss plans.

Mistake #10 – Not getting out of your seat and moving the body

Every day, you need to get up and do some kind of body movement. Notice I didn’t use the E word? It doesn’t have to be much or take a long time.

Take a walk after lunch. Do some stretching. Do some bodyweight activities like Calisthenics. You’ll feel invigorated. Make a deal with yourself to do 10-20 minutes every day. The key point here is to make it into a habit. So don’t make it hard for yourself.

Final Thoughts

We all make one or more of these mistakes on our weight loss journey. It’s human to err, right?

The key is not to get stuck on them and make a big deal out of them. Self-blame will set you back more than any other action.

Just decide to correct your mistake as soon as you can without stress. Take a deep breath, stay calm, and just keep moving forward.

Be a friend to yourself not an enemy. Love and kindness are the way. I’m sure you’ll agree that you’re worthy of some love and kindness, am I right?