When you’re trying to lose weight, it’s important to get your facts straight. Here are 5 common mistakes that everyone makes when losing weight.
1. Thinking it’s not working when it really is working.
Many times, a person is successful burning fat, but not really losing weight. This is because the muscle, which is heavier than the fat lost, is increasing.
The goal is to burn more fat and to increase muscle percentage. The last thing you want to do is to give up or change something when what you’re doing is actually working. Focus on how your clothes fit and forget the scale.
2. Using the calorie model.
Not all calories are equal. Certain calories affect weight differently. Let’s say you have calories from protein, like chicken or fish, and you have calories from a fruit.
A fruit will block the burning of fat, especially if your metabolism is lower. This is because the fruit is high in sugar. You may want to look at the type of food — not just the calories you eat. Fruit, yogurt, and grains have plenty of hidden sugars that will stop the burning of fat.
3. Eating too many nuts.
Many people will go on a diet and start eating a bunch of nuts. When you eat too many nuts, it interferes with the gallbladder and liver function. Eventually, you will start having right shoulder pain and bloating. Yes, nuts are low on calories and they have protein, but they are also loaded with fat.
Fat is not bad per se, but you can overdo it. The ketosis diets are all about eating more fat. The problem is when you get older, you would have a lower metabolism. This means you may be burning fat, but you’re not burning your body’s own fat.
4. Everything in moderation.
The purpose of fat is to protect you against the starvation of sugar. Fat is there as the backup fuel in case you run out of sugar. That means most people don’t burn enough fat because they never starve themselves of sugar.
Some people go on a low-carb diet, but it might not be enough starvation of sugar. When you look at the labels of food, always look at the sugar grams. It must be at zero. If your metabolism is low,, your sugars must be especially at zero. Why? This is because any type of sugar like juice or candy will bump you off of the burning of fat for 24 to 72 hours.
Everything in moderation does not work if you have a slow metabolism. What you should not want to do in moderation is to eat vegetables. Eat a high amount of vegetables.
The average person needs 7 to 10 cups of salad or vegetables per day. This will provide the minimum amount of nutrients such as potassium and magnesium. If you are just doing a little side salad, that will not be enough to get the nutrition and it will cause all sorts of problems.
So, high vegetables, moderate protein, and NO sugar.
5. Focus only on the weight.
You don’t have a weight problem. You have weight symptoms. The deeper issue is having a lot of other health problems like having no sleep. If you are not sleeping, you won’t lose weight.
Let’s say you are bloating. For instance, if you're eating a lot of vegetables that make you bloat, that could be the reason why you are not losing weight.
Look for other issues instead of the weight like sleeping, digestion, inflammation, menstrual cycle, hot flashes, energy level, stress tolerance, and mood — these are the things you need to fix to start losing weight.
I would love to hear your questions or comments below.
Thank you and I’d love to hear from you.
Dr. Eric Berg
08/31/2023
