The 14 Worst Mistakes if you are trying to lose weight and drop body fat.

These 14 common mistakes often sabotage weight loss efforts.

Deciding to take charge of your health and fitness in an effort to lose weight can be daunting, especially if you don’t have a clear plan and you are just ‘winging it’. We’ve identified 14 common missteps that people fall prey to when it comes to weight loss. Read through the list, and try to identify where your approach might need a tweak. A lot of these mistakes are simply the result of a lack of knowledge and or awareness, and by reviewing them and checking in with yourself, you will be empowered to make the necessary changes to support your weight loss goals. Let’s go through them together and see where we can make some improvements shall we?

You have set totally unrealistic expectations for yourself. Most of us go into weight loss goal setting mode full of gusto to change not just our waistlines, but also to reinvent ourselves and how we live our lives. While its important to visualize what you want, and we applaud positive intentions, setting unreasonable expectations on yourself is just setting yourself up for failure. For instance, if you have never been a morning person, and you struggle to make it to work on time, deciding to join the 4am wake-up club so that you can smash out your workout is not something you should be expecting from yourself right out of the gate. Waking up early and working out consistently are two separate goals. Don’t handcuff them together. Work to establish a daily workout routine at a time of the day when you know that you will be awake, and work on turning into a morning person separately. 

Trying to do it alone. Losing weight is not a cake walk. It can feel like a pretty lonely journey, especially if everyone around you is going on business as usual. People that have a support system of at least one other person are statistically more likely to successfully lose weight. If there isn’t a likely candidate for a workout buddy in your immediate vicinity, then an online group can be just as effective. When you train with us on BodyRockPlus, our coaches and trainers take an interest in your progress, and you can always reach out to them for guidance and support. We also have a community group of people that post encouragement every single day. You need help, guidance and encouragement to succeed. Don’t try and do it on your own. 

You cut out entire food groups. Don’t make sweeping declarations that you are going to ban whole categories of food. It’s just too extreme of an approach to be realistic. People tend to say that they won’t eat carbs, without understanding that your brain requires carbs to function. The truth is, that you can lose weight and shed excess body fat without these types of unrealistic food bans. If you invest in following a healthy meal plan that is purpose built for weight loss and to support your training goals, the plan will be set up to balance all types of food in the correct amounts so that you don’t have to go into unsustainable food restrictions. We build our meal plans to follow a sustainable, common sense approach to food. It shouldn’t feel like you are at war with your diet. 

You don’t pay attention when you eat. Did you know that watching TV, scrolling social media or listening to music can mask or block satiety cues from your body that are trying to signal that you are full? Distracted eating means that you aren’t present enough to enjoy the sensory experience of eating, and you aren’t paying attention to your portions. The mindlessness of distracted eating often leads to overeating which will result in extra calories that your body will likely store as fat. Enjoy your food without screens.

You skip your meals. Skipping scheduled healthy meals is the best way to make bags of chips disappear. Skipping meals almost always leads to consuming more calories later. Don’t skip eating. 

You race your food. Take at least 20 minutes to eat a meal. It takes at least 20 minutes for your body to signal your brain that it’s full. If you are shoveling food into your face, you are likely going to over-eat and still feel hungry. It’s not a race. Treat yourself with enough self-care to eat in peace. 

You skip workouts. Weight loss programs that are structured to include a consistent exercise routine are proven to be significantly more effective than diet only approaches. Diet and exercise need to be aligned for the best possible outcome. Trying to achieve your goals with just diet or just exercise is trying to fly with just one wing. You might get aloft, but sooner or later you are going to crash. Following a workout program with daily routines, that keeps you on a schedule is best, and make sure that you are incorporating strength training and HIIT together as much as possible to ensure maximum fat loss and the fastest results - our Beginner Bootcamp series, Intro to Strength, Intro to HIIT or our Sculpt & Burn series all are designed for weight loss and focus on this proven combination of HIIT and Strength Training. 

You attempt workout programs that are too hard. It’s heartbreaking to see well intentioned people catch the fitness bug and sign up for workouts that are way too advanced for them. How can you be expected to workout consistently when the routine that you’ve signed up for isn’t achievable? This isn’t to say that you can’t eventually get to an advanced level, but like almost everything in life, you have to build up to it. At BodyRock we have dozens of programs that will kick the ass of super advanced athletes, but we also have programs that we have specifically designed to get people up and started again after a break or long pause from exercise. These programs will give you a great workout, teach you the proper form and movements so that you don’t hurt yourself, and most importantly, they are achievable. Being able to confidently finish a workout builds confidence and will open you up to actually (dare we say it) enjoy exercising. Start with our Beginner Bootcamp if you want a program that will help you lose weight and gain a level of confidence that will turn you into someone that actually enjoys getting their sweat on. Working out should challenge you, not make you feel like you can’t. 

You focus almost exclusively on exercise. You can’t out-train a bad diet. Period. Those two slices of pizza that you ate for lunch will require you to pedal for over an hour on a spin bike to burn off. Exercise alone will never keep pace with your calorie intake if you are not following a balanced meal plan. You need to support your workouts with a meal plan that takes into account your weight loss goals. When you align diet and exercise to reach your goals, your workouts will start to deliver the lean, strong body results that you are looking for.

You drink your calories. Liquid calories count just as much as solid food calories. If you are drinking Sodas, Sports Drinks, Juices, flavoured coffees etc, you are likely consuming hundreds of extra calories per day. All of these calories and grams of sugar add up. Where can you swap out your drinks for water or zero calorie alternatives? 

You don’t sleep enough. When you get a solid 8 hours of sleep per night, you help your metabolism to cranking along, you keep your hunger hormones under control and your stress levels in check. Belly fat is often caused by increases in the stress hormone cortisol, so if belly fat is something that you are concerned with, getting enough sleep needs to be part of your weight loss strategy. Also, when you are strung out on not getting enough sleep, your brain responds more strongly to junk foods and your ability to portion control is compromised. Get enough sleep as part of your daily self-care. 

You do the same workouts over and over. Your workouts and coaches should excite you. You should have the option to do new routines as part of your workout strategy. If you have been doing the same boring routines and your body doesn’t look the way you want it to, its time to make a change. Get into a workout series that streams like your favorite show on NetFlix - with a new episode (workout) to challenge you each time you login. That’s the approach we’ve taken on BodyRockPlus, with our series having seasons, just like a favorite show. There is always something new to discover. 

You deprive yourself of foods that you love. Depriving yourself will ultimately just lead to binge eating. If you are following a balanced diet plan, you won’t ever have to restrict yourself like this. Here at BodyRock we believe in training for a life well lived, and that includes some treats now and then. No one here is perfect. Our trainers and coaches are all real people with kids, families, jobs and responsibilities. Life kicks all of us in the head sometimes. We believe that you can be the best version of yourself possible and enjoy living life to the fullest at the same time. If that sounds like a vibe that you can get behind, please come and train with us on BodyRockPlus (get one full year of unlimited access for just $69 for a limited time with code NY22). You can also check out our meal plans here. 

I hope that this list helps helps you recalibrate your weight loss approach and avoid some of the most common mistakes that often lead to failure. Revisit this list now and again and look for small tweaks that will lead to big wins. As always, our purpose here is to help support you - we’ve got your back. 

Best,

Freddy

P.S. We currently have our 40% off New Year Sale running store wide. You can pick up our best selling home fitness gear or any of our meal plans for 40% with code: NY40 at checkout. You can checkout our sale here.