Are you one of them who are trying hard and long to lose weight but still your efforts are in vain and hence also impacting your weight loss motivation? Well, then it is time to retrospect on your eating habits because there may be some diet mistakes you have been committing for years.
All diet experts have reiterated healthy eating and proper exercising as a key to maintain a healthy body or to lose weight. But still after adhering to diet experts’ mantra of “healthy eating and regular exercising” we commit some diet mistakes which can keep us waiting to achieve our goal of having a healthy and well-toned body.
You must be wondering, what are those diet mistakes? We have categorised and described them in detail for you.
Hurrying to finish the meal fast
Some people tend to eat fast as if they are going to get a reward for finishing the meal rapidly. It is understandable that with our hectic schedules we have developed a practice of finishing off our food fast, but this is an unhealthy habit. We should eat slow and should taste every bite of food we take as it will give us a control on overeating.
Skipping your meals
There is a big misconception we are living with that skipping breakfast or lunch will help to lose weight. It has been found through research that people who skip their breakfast carry more fat than the people who take their breakfast regularly.
Eating oversized portions
Eating oversized portions of meal is fine once in a while, like when you are at restaurant. However, it has been noted that we continue our restaurant habits of eating oversized portion of meal on daily basis at home. You can keep a control on eating oversized portions of meal by practicing the following:
- Leave few bites on your plate even if you are feeling like eating more. This will help to develop a restrain against overeating
- Always use smaller plates and bowls to eat
- On periodic basis you should measure how much you are eating. Measuring your meal can put a control on how much of calories you are consuming per meal or per day basis. Measurement can be done by measurement cup.
Unhealthy add-on in your diet
It has been noticed that we eat junk food mostly in the form of extra calorie toppings on the food. There is no doubt that toppings make food tastier and presentable, but it also leads to extra calories to your diet. The high calorie toppings comprised mostly cheese, bacon and cream.
Mindless eating habits
There are some people who always feel like eating. This condition in medical terms is also termed as “eating amnesia”. It is very difficult for people with “eating amnesia” to stop their hand always going to their mouth. People with these conditions are always in “food craving” mood whether they are watching television or reading a book. The temptation also happens when there are leftover bites on your child’s plate and you are always volunteering to finish off the leftover food. Well, you must be thinking how to get rid of this mindless eating habit? The answer to this question is:
- Develop self control when you are relaxing, because mostly, people feel like eating when they are not doing anything. You can divert your “food craving” desire by trying tea, water or chewing gums (there are also sugarless chewing gums available in the market).
- If you are willing to have snacks, try it in portions as that will help you to eat less at a time.
Addition of Liquid calories
Sometimes people have misconception that only solid foods have high calories and liquid drinks don’t carry much of them. They just think that over consumption of solid foods only lead to weight gain; however, it is wrong to think so because liquid drinks also comprise high calories and can also lead to weight gain. The high calorie drinks include alcoholic beverages, coffee or tea with extra cream and sugar, sodas, milk shakes rich in cream or fat, etc. There are options available which can help you to change over from high calorie liquids to low calorie liquid drinks like water, club soda, skimmed milk, vegetable juices and small amount of 100% pure fruit juices.
We are sure that keeping control on above mentioned mistakes can also help you in losing weight effectively.