You never miss a workout, and you’ve even started pumping more iron because you were totally stoked to discover – after watching this FIT 411 episode! – that you could achieve significantly faster weight loss results and body transformation from lifting heavier weights. And still, even as you’ve maintained consistency with your workouts, you can’t help wonder why you’re not seeing quicker results as expected.
Well, point blank, it’s your eating habits that are doing you in. So now let’s discuss the following 3 bad and very common eating habits that can and will chip away at all the progress you make during your workouts.
- Not drinking enough water
You hear it all the time: Drink more water! Drink more water! And you promise that you will, but you keep falling short. Well, here’s something you might not realize: Water is a natural and very effective fat-burner because it is water that helps energize muscles, and even more important, water also fuels the biochemical fat-burning process. And so, by not drinking enough water, you’ll actually be quite effectively sabotaging your own weight loss because even mild dehydration can cause a significant drop in exercise endurance, metabolism and fat burn. Definitely not a good look! So now it’s time to really commit to breaking out that water bottle. Bottom line, if you drink ample water throughout the day – as well as before and during exercise – you’ll not only have gorgeous skin, you’ll also ensure that your body stays well hydrated and in peak condition for torching fat.
- Not keeping a food journal
Weight loss will always come down to calories in versus calories out. In other words, burn more calories (calories out) than you eat (calories in), and you’ll lose weight. In fact, you could essentially maintain a diet that consisted totally of junk food – like Twinkies – and still lose weight if you follow the calories in/calories out rule. And a well-respected nutritionist even pulled off this weight loss hat trick by successfully putting the Twinkie Diet to the test. This is all to say that any diet (be that one with primarily healthy food or junk food) will work if you food journal and count calories. Now mind you, I didn’t say you’d be “healthier” after following a Twinkie Diet protocol, but you will indeed lose weight if you keep a food journal and count your calories. So if you’ve been exercising and the pounds aren’t off, the #1 reason will be because you’re not keeping track of your calories. Take home: pull out that smartphone, download that food journal app, and start adding up those calories. Remember, calories in vs. calories out.
- Not eating enough protein
I wrote quite extensively about the very important role of protein in dieting and weight loss in this blog post, as well as in my book, and in a nutshell, research has shown that people who follow high-protein diets do have more success losing weight and keeping it off. Now when it comes to protein intake, the average woman tends to fall short – which can result in effects like decreased metabolism. Even more cringe-worthy, exercising regularly and not eating enough protein will lead to the loss of precious calorie-burning muscle. So be sure to keep your diet protein-packed, especially if you’re a gym rat or fitness fanatic – which I’m sure most of you are because you’re on my awesome fitness and healthy living site! And as far as high-protein foods, look to things like meat, Greek yogurt, eggs, nuts, legumes, as well as quick and easy protein shakes and protein bars, which are wonderful protein lifesavers for folks who are always on the go.
And on that protein praising note, I’d now like to announce our Nugo Bar Giveaway winner!
*Drum roll please*
And the winner of 12 Nugo Dark Chocolate Coconut and Dark Spicy Chocolate bars is…… Adrianna Williams! Congratulations Adrianna, you will be receiving an email and I’ll be awaiting your reply and shipping address.
To all the other giveaway contestants, thanks for participating and I look forward to hosting more super giveaway opportunities in the future for you to snag some healthy goodies.
Also, if you want to learn how to avoid many other common (and sneaky) diet and fitness mistakes that can sabotage your slim, definitely check out my book That’s Why We Get Fat: 20 Diet & Fitness Mistakes You Don’t Know You’re Making.
Catch ya’ll later! – Doc