We all make mistakes. And no where is that more true than in weight loss.
Did you know that you have been trained to make certain weight loss mistakes over and over? You wouldn’t even know that you are doing them. Because they are so deeply ingrained in our diet culture.
They feel like this is just the way it is. Just facts of life.
But they get in your way. They make it harder to get started losing weight, to get back on track with your weight loss and to keep the long term consistency you need to reach your weight loss goals.
I want to be clear… if you identify with these mistakes, they are not your fault. We have simply been taught these approaches and beliefs over our lives. They are so deep-seated that we don’t even notice they are there.
But as your coach, I see them cropping up over and over. And I know them personally as well. I have had to address each and every one of these in my own weight loss journey.
Keep reading for the top 3 Weight Loss Mistakes (some may surprise you!).
Mistake #1
Hanging All Your Hopes on a Diet
Diets on their own don’t work. It takes more than just an eating plan to lose weight and keep it off. But this mistake goes a bit deeper than that. When you hang everything on a diet plan someone else gives to you, you are handing some of your power over to the diet. And that doesn’t feel good. Often it will end up with you resenting the diet at some point and deciding you don’t want to follow it any more.
The right diet is the one that fits into your life, satisfies you and is something you enjoy following. You want to feel happy about eating that way for the rest of your life. This is why I encourage the physicians I work with to develop a customized eating plan.
Mistake #2
Thinking Everything Needs to Change
You are likely busy. There is probably not a lot of extra time in your days. So why when we want to start losing weight or get ourselves back on track do we think we have to do everything at once? Thinking that you have to totally change what you are eating, start cooking more than before, do amazing meal prep and get back to exercise all at once is overwhelming.
The issue with this mistake is that it directly gets in the way of starting. It feels like work to start because starting = everything changing. So you may find yourself delaying getting going. Or maybe you start and it feels like so much work that it only lasts a day or two.
Here’s the thing. Consistency matters more than perfection. You are far better off starting with simple actions that feel easy to start and build momentum from there. Choose changes that feel manageable so you have the time and energy to do them consistently.
Mistake #3
Change What You are Eating Without Looking at Why You are Eating
If weight loss was just about following a new diet, you wouldn’t be struggling. As physicians, we have great skills at following through with plans. There is nothing wrong with your willpower. You use a ton of it every day. I promise.
The issue is not what to eat so much as why you eat what you do when you do. Diets don’t address this and yet it is so important. Understanding your eating triggers in detail and with compassion is how you find freedom from constantly being in a tug of war with yourself.
This week’s podcast episode is all about getting started with weight loss. In it, I go through each of these mistakes (plus 2 more) in detail. Click below to listen to the full episode.
Recent Comments