Friday, November 16, 2007

3 Weight Loss Mistakes

There are literally tons of information and articles about losing weight. Believe it or not, people still make the same dieting mistakes over and over again. I am not referring to little slip ups. What I am talking about are big mistakes that become real problems in your weight loss attempts. If we can define these mistakes it may make it possible for healthy, permanent weight loss.

The first mistake is the all or nothing attitude. People who approach their dieting in this manner will often select a diet that practically impossible for them to maintain. When they first begin, they remove anything from the kitchen that does not fit in with their new diet. What they are thinking is that they wish to be perfect. They probably will be. Maybe for a day or two, or perhaps ever a couple of weeks. But something always happens. For some reason they are not able to continue with their diet. When this happens the entire process is ruined and the diet is over. So what they do is go to the store and replace all the things that they threw out in the first place.

If this is your approach to dieting then it is necessary to ask yourself some difficult questions. What exactly is the purpose of your diet? Do you want to lose this weight permanently? Perhaps you just wish to lose a few pounds. The secret here is to make lifestyle changes in your diet. This way you create a slow and regular means of losing weight.

The second mistake is the attitude of sacrifice. Many people see their diet as some sort of sacrifice. It is easy to see why. You are not allowing yourself to eat the foods that you enjoy the most while attempting to achieve your target weight. This is what happens. You have done your research. You have come up with well thought out diet that you can do. You can successfully lose that weight and achieve your target weight. Okay! Now what? You have reached your goal. Have you really changed your eating habits? Did you learn to eat those so called bad foods in moderation? Are you likely to end up out of control? Can you broaden your diet in moderation and maintain your target weight?

The third mistake is goal failure. Defining your goals is essential with your weight loss program. Your goals should be crystal clear. They must be realistic. You should write them down. You probably have an ideal weight in mind when you begin. If you are more than a few pounds overweight, this goal is probably too far away to be helpful. A more practical goal is to lose 2 pounds per week for the first several weeks. After that, 1 pound per week. Of course, this will vary from week to week. However, when you track your progress you will observe that you are consistently moving toward your goal.

Do not worry if you have been making any of these mistakes. Just like everything else in life, it important to learn your lesson and to move on. The truth is that we learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. Do not let your mistakes to be an excuse for giving up. Success comes from making a commitment and by being persistent.

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Kathryn Soloff is the mother of 8 children and a natural foods cook for over 30 years. She is co-publisher of http://www.natural-remedy-dot-com.com/losing_weight/ where she provides additional advice, tips and hard to find information on Herbal Fat Burners

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