Even though I teach nutrition science for a living and own a health coaching practice, I didn’t (and perhaps still don’t) always know all the answers to helping myself. Its what led me on this path to helping others in the first place. I had to figure out how to help myself first.
Over the years, I did a lot of trial and error to get myself feeling healthier as well as losing and maintaining my own weight.
I think the scientist in me always loved the challenge to try something new, see what works, get the “data” and then analyze the results. Every time you go on a “diet” or a new healthy living expedition, you are learning more about yourself every time.
What worked? What did you like? What did not work? Etc.
I always took what worked and kept them (which I wrote about here). But its also good to know what didn’t work. So to help you avoid my mistakes I made over the years that probably kept me stuck a lot longer than I should have, here are the
7 Mistakes I Made on My Health and Weight Loss Journey
1. Prioritizing cardio instead of resistance and strength training.
I was only focused on cardio exercises because I thought that the calories you burned doing the act of exercise was only what mattered. I didn’t know that you can increase your metabolism (or rather make it more efficient) in between your workouts, by increasing muscle mass1. Having more muscle, means your body can burn more calories ALL the time2. Also, its having more muscle that is going to change your body shape into the more desirable one anyway. Win win!!
So yes, cardio is important. But building muscle mass through proper strength training is just, if not more important for your overall metabolic health.
2. Not focusing on eating enough protein (and eating it at every meal).
I’ll be honest, I didn’t prioritize protein until like last year. It just wasn’t on my radar like carbs and fats were. I used to only pay attention to how much carbs and fat I was eating. Or whether I was eating too much meat or not, etc.
Protein and muscle building work hand in hand, (you need protein to build muscle!)3, but its also the macro that doesn’t lead to fat gain. You also need it for you metabolism to function properly. Protein also helps maintain all your cells, tissues, and keeps your immunity functioning well.
Need a list of healthy high protein foods? Here is free one you can print and put on your fridge!
Its really easy to overeat carbs and fats (which is most people’s problem), but its really hard to overeat protein (you can, and should not, but its much harder). It just fills you up too fast4. And your body just doesn’t store extra protein (but it will keep every last drop of extra sugar and fat!!)5. It also takes a lot of energy to assimilate protein, so you actually burn some calories in the process too.
3. Snacking too much (especially after dinner)
The old convention used to be “eat 3 meals a day and 2 snacks.” I am in the belief that you should not be eating all day everyday. Then all your body is doing is trying to digest food. Also, most people (including me!!) underestimate the portions (and calories) when it comes to snacks. Snacking is rarely healthy food for many people.
Once I figured out that its better to focus on only eating three meals, and making sure they are the best they can be, I no longer felt hungry in between them and my snacking went away.
Need help to curb snacking, here is a free guide for you!!
Its a bit freeing for my brain to not have to think about food all the time. I got too much rattling around in there as it is.
4. Drinking too much alcohol (even one drink a night can mess with your results).
I’ll be honest, this was the hardest one for me (and the one I denied being a problem for too long). I thought “its only 1 drink and its not even a sugary-laden one!” But I was wrong.
When your body has to metabolize alcohol, it switches all its resources into doing it and therefore its not metabolizing sugar and fat properly, which could hinder your efforts. Also, it creates a lot inflammation in your body too (that lingers for a while!), which makes you extra bloated and you hold onto weight longer6.
5. Not prioritizing sleep
A lot of good stuff happens to your body when you sleep. That is when your body is repairing itself and your muscles actually grow and get bigger.
But also when you are tired during the day, your appetite gets wonky. Your ability to make good food decisions goes down. You actually feel hungrier. You might crave sugar more. Its much hard to stick to healthy eating when you are tired.
6. Not handing stress well
Just like lack of sleep can ruin your best efforts, so can too much daily stress. I tell my students and clients all the time, “there will always be something to stress you out, but how you deal with it is 100% in your control.”
Handling stress needs to be the #1 priority for everyone. When you are stressed, your body goes into “stress-survival mode.” Which means all your resources gets devoted to it, and then everything else gets demoted. So when you are stressed, things like your immunity, digestion, and metabolism slow down. If you are chronically stressed, that means your body’s immunity, digestion, and metabolism are always going to be put on the backburner. So of course your efforts to lose fat and/or get healthier will not be working.
Stress will always be there, but for the interest of not just your sanity, but overall health, you need to find way to cope with it in a healthy way.
7. Focusing too much on the BIG goal
If you only put all your intention into the big lofty goals (lose 30 lbs!, eliminate symptoms, stop medication), instead of smaller, more manageable goals, you probably won’t get there.
Most people want a big life or health change, but they don’t put the focus on the actual steps and HOW to get there, which is why most people stay stuck and never reach their goals. Because they get overwhelmed. Overwhelm = inaction.
Instead, pick one small, tiny, goal that can be done easily (and in a short time frame). This way health changes become manageable and they stick around for the long term. Plus, every time you hit a goal, your brain gets this cool dose of dopamine which propels you to keep going.
Eventually, you have done a bunch of small goals, which ultimately has gotten you closer and closer to finishing your BIG goal.
So, break up that BIG amazing goal into smaller pieces and work at them one at a time instead.
Need ideas on what to work on? I’ll send you a personalized list!
Humans don’t like change, especially big changes. So the trick is to make a bunch of small changes (one by one) to keep your brain from feeling overwhelmed. Its what I help my clients with the most.
I help my clients figure out the best tiny changes that will help them the most and give them the support and guidance to accomplish them!
Want the exact blueprint I used, so you can do this yourself? Grab it here.
References:
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-020-0251-4 ↩︎
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-018-0030-7 ↩︎
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32666115/ ↩︎
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30101510/ ↩︎
- https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2016/fo/c5fo01530h ↩︎
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6527027/ ↩︎