Anyone who has ever tried to lose a few excess pounds knows how hard this process can be. Without a good plan and a boatload of motivation, losing weight can be nearly impossible. One of the most important things you have to do to prepare for your weight loss journey is to choose the right diet.
Most people hear the word diet and automatically tense up. What you may fail to realize about dieting is that it does not automatically mean you have to avoid the foods you love. Here are some of the most common dieting misconceptions.
You Can’t Have Desserts While Dieting
If you absolutely love desserts, the last thing you want to do is deprive yourself of them at every meal. While you need to avoid eating a dessert every day, having one occasionally is perfectly fine. Your main focus when dieting should be controlling your body’s caloric intake.
Allowing yourself the occasional treat is a great way to stay the course and have dieting success. Continually denying yourself the pleasure of a delicious dessert may lead to you jumping ship and resorting back to your unhealthy dieting habits.
A Lot of Weight Has to Be Lost to Make a Difference
Some people think that have to lose a lot of weight to feel better. The fact is that losing as little as five pounds can improve things like your body’s natural insulin resistance. Instead of thinking weight loss is something that is too hard to achieve, you need to keep a positive outlook.
Every pound that you lose puts you one step closer to achieving your weight loss goals. The key to having long-term weight loss success is developing a love for dieting and working out.
What You Eat Matters More Than How Much You Eat
Another very common misconception people have about dieting is that what they eat matters more than how much they eat. Recent studies show that the number of calories in the food you ingest are far more important than where they come from. Focusing on ingesting high-quality foods with a great deal of nutritional value is a good idea that can help you greatly during your weight loss journey.
Working Out Allows You To Eat Whatever You Want
Working out and eating healthy are key factors when trying to achieve your weight loss goals. However, you need to realize that just because you work out regularly doesn’t mean you can eat whatever you want. While working out allows you to burn more calories, you will still need to exercise some self-control when it comes to what and how much you eat during the day.
Skipping Meals is a Good Idea
Skipping meals is by no means a shortcut to losing weight. The reality is that skipping meals will usually lead to you gaining even more weight. This is due to the fact that you have a higher chance of overeating if you are neglecting to eat three square meals a day.
You Can’t Eat Late at Night
Are you a bit of a night owl? If so, you probably have the dieting misconception that you can’t eat after a certain time. Having a hectic day can lead to you keeping odd hours, which means that you may have to eat at a later time. Instead of beating yourself up about this, you need to eat a healthy meal before bed.
Making a blanket statement that you can’t eat after 8 p.m. can lead to a number of problems. If your lifestyle has you working odd hours, you need to eat whenever you find time.
Taking a Multivitamin is the Only Way to Stay Healthy
Taking supplements and multivitamins can be a bit of a slippery slope if you fail to do your homework beforehand. Consuming a multivitamin with a lot of fillers in them can have you fighting an uphill battle when it comes to weight loss. Consulting with a dietician is one of the best ways to get information regarding what type of
supplements to incorporate into your daily routine. If you are taking a variety of other medications, you probably need to consult with your primary physician to ensure there will be no side effects from taking a particular multivitamin.
While losing weight will require a lot of time and effort, it is worth it in the end. Setting realistic weight loss goals will help you stay on track and allow you to avoid getting deterred on the journey to a new you.
