A common story from women trying to lose weight and 5 mistakes when trying to lose weight.

When I talk to a new client to understand their history of trying to lose weight, this is a common story I hear… 

“I feel lost, out of control, one day I eat too little, the next day I eat too much. I tried to stick to 1000 calories but by day 4 I’m starving and moody, I can’t focus or sleep. I over-eat for 2 days straight after what was only meant to be one cheat meal. The guilt kicks in. By Monday morning I’m in a state of despair and wondering why I can’t stick to a plan. I feel like I’ve tried everything to lose weight”. 

Does this sound familiar to you as well?

You can’t stick to an extreme and unsustainable plan or set unrealistic goals - you’re only setting yourself up to fail, over and over again.

Deep down you know there has to be a better way. You know that what you’re doing isn’t working, but you don’t know what the solution is. Or do you know what you should be doing, but you are choosing not to. This is a huge reason why coaching is beneficial, or you continue to go around in circles. Coaching will guide you, keep you accountable, give you stability, a clear plan, and provide you with solutions for the set backs and challenges along the way. These are all the things you probably don’t have on your own.

The main thing holding most people back, is making a decision to invest in themselves, to get help with reaching their goals.

5 common mistakes many make when trying to lose weight on their own are:

1. Calories are too low… e.g. 1200 calories or less for a female, 2000 calories or less for a male. When you chronically under-eat for a prolonged period (typically 6 months or more), your body is fighting to survive on the lack of nutrients, your metabolism slows down, and you stop losing fat or you may even start to gain fat again.

2. Not focussing on the quality of the foods consumed, only focussing on ‘hitting macros”.

3. Prioritising supplements over real food. e.g. you take protein powder, BCAAs, multivitamins, creatine, pre workout… but your diet is made up of mainly processed foods, or you binge eat on weekends and drink a lot of alcohol, completely negating any positive effect of the supplements you take.

4. Not eating frequently throughout the day, so you’re ravenous at night and binge on processed food. 

5. Eating a lot of sugar-free, low-calorie foods. e.g. sugar free jelly, protein bars, protein ice cream, sugar free biscuits etc. They usually make you hungrier because they lack any nutrients, and are full of sugar alcohols, sweeteners, and ingredients that the body can’t function well on.