1. Erratic meal times/skipping meals.
Skipping breakfast is one of the biggest food sins, and is committed by such a huge amount of people! Breakfast is there for a reason… to BREAK your FAST! You haven’t eaten for at least 10 hours; it’s time to give your body some fuel. If you go without breakfast you are more likely to have an energy crash later in the day and consume too much or the wrong foods (or both!). The next big sin is eating late at night. You’re body can’t sleep if it has all that food to process, and losing sleep disturbs your endocrine system which can also make you fat! Try not to eat after 8pm if you can. Also going for long periods of time in the day without eating – say skipping lunch because you are busy at work also plays havoc with your system, resulting in energy slumps and highs and reducing your body’s ability to know when it is hungry and when it is full! Try to eat something every 4 hours, that should be breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks a day if you can. Eating in this way will also mean you are less likely to become ravenous and reach for a chocolate bar.

2. Lack of motivation.
Not only do you need to realise that losing weight can take time, and there may be bumps in the road, but also the most powerful asset you have is not a fad diet or a crazy exercise machine, but your mind. Setting goals and knowing your reasons to lose weight are key, and if your heart isn’t in it, you probably won’t achieve what you want. Everyone has different ways of getting motivated, an item of clothing to fit into, a special occasion such as a wedding or a holiday, improving health or even in order to be a good role model for your children. Think of your motivation and what it means to you! Another useful motivational tool is a friend to support you, or to exercise with and encouragement from your family, partner and friends. No dieter is an island, and having people around you who will support you and encourage you can always top up your motivation when you feel lacking.

3. Portion Sizes.
Just because something is healthy doesn’t mean you can eat your body weight. If you are piling your plate up (yes even if it is with ‘healthy foods’) you might still be consuming too many calories. Check the recommended portion size on packets of food, or look up portion sizes and calories on the net or in a calorie counter book. Weigh your usual portion and it may surprise you to know you are eating more than you should. If you are worried about cutting down your portion sizes, make your calories go further by ensuring you incorporate filling foods such as chunky vegetable soups and porridge into your eating regime, that way you won’t go hungry, but will still be able to cut the calories!

4. You’re not getting enough sleep.
We’ve talked about sleep before and how it can affect your hormones and eating patterns. The thing is, the most obvious side effect from not getting enough sleep is tiredness of course, and that in itself is a dieting disaster. Too tired to cook a proper meal? Too tired to shop so order a takeaway instead? Too tired to exercise? If this sounds like you it’s important you not only try to go to bed earlier, but also work out why you can’t sleep? Are you watching TV in your bedroom, living in a noisy or a bright area, sleeping with a snoring partner? Try to assess what is stifling your ‘Zzzzz’ and sort it out; a good night’s sleep will do you the world of good!

5. You’re not challenging yourself.
We have all done it, and certainly all seen people who do it. Go to the gym, plod around doing a few reps on the machines, swim a couple of lengths then go home. It’s not really a proper workout is it? There are also those of us who do exactly the same workout every time, not ever pushing harder, running faster, lifting more, doing more reps. Your body is bored, and it knows what the workout it and is probably more than used to it and capable of doing it by now. You need to change your workout and keep your body guessing. Try different activities, or working with a personal trainer to keep your workouts innovative and challenging!

6. You have a secret saboteur.
That friend that seemingly supports your diet but invites you around and offers you mountains of chocolate and buckets of baileys, the partner who says they want to support you but they love you the way you are and … let’s just have takeaway tonight…. All the people who say things like ‘one more can’t hurt’, ‘you have to treat yourself sometimes’ etc are probably undermining your will power because they don’t have any! Even the best friends can be jealous of their friend’s weight loss, and partners can start to worry that the new slim you may not want them anymore! The best thing to do is enlist your saboteur as a diet/exercise buddy and get them involved as well, turn them into a motivator and motivate them in turn. If this can’t be done, maybe speak to them and explain your goals and how they can help you achieve them. If you still feel as though they are sabotaging you, you may need to think about what is going on for that person and what their insecurities might be. You can say no to chocolate and you can suggest going out to places where food isn’t involved. Maybe if they see you being good, they’ll decide that they can muster up some willpower to achieve their goals too!

7. You’re deluding yourself.
If you are saying things like ‘but I always eat healthy’ and ‘I’ve been exercising loads’ but know deep down you’ve only been going at it half heartedly then you need to admit this to yourself. Once you accept you haven’t been giving it your all you can start to look at where you are lacking and employ motivational techniques such as goal and reward setting to get you going. If you have been dieting a while, you are bound to go through phases like this sometimes, it can be exhausting to diet all the time, so instead of struggling on with half the effort, maybe have a weekend off, then start again refreshed? I don’t mean go mad for a weekend, just give your mind a rest from calorie counting and worrying about it. Re-focus and remind yourself of why you are losing weight and how far you have come.

8. You’re always trying the latest ‘fad diets’.
You read them in a magazine, on the internet or see them on TV. All the celebrities do them, and they promise miracles with minimum effort. Unfortunately the reality is the ‘miracle diets’ are not only a lie, but can be really bad for your health too. Restrictive diets like the ‘cabbage soup diet’ or can mean you are missing out on vital nutrients. Not only does this mean cravings for all you are missing but also an impaired immune system! These diets may give you a quick ‘hit’ of weight loss, but they can be hard to keep up. Ultimately they are not long term solutions, so as soon as you stop drinking the milkshakes instead of meals or eating the crazy soups you will put the weight back on (and possibly more). The best solution is to find an eating plan that teaches you new ways of eating, introduces you to new flavours and foods, keeps you satisfied and is maintainable for life. The food that you eat whilst losing weight doesn’t have to be tasteless and you certainly don’t have to eat the same thing day in day out. Healthy food can be tasty; we have an abundance of spices and flavourings available to us which are natural and healthy. Try experimenting with spices, garlic, chilli, and ginger and soon you’ll see that healthy food can be interesting and flavourful – you won’t ever want to eat that cabbage soup again!

9. You’ve hit a plateau in your training.
So you do work hard when you exercise. You are consistent and train regularly and certainly break out a sweat… so why isn’t it working? Chances are you might have hit a plateau in your training and need to mix it up a bit or try something more challenging. The best way to do this is to see a personal trainer. Not only will they come up with new ways to challenge your body, but also varying workouts which keep your body guessing. Even if you have been working out for a while, chances are a trainer will have some new ideas for you, and as they will be there with you whilst you are exercising they can motivate you, push you harder and make sure your technique is correct. You may also want to try learning a new way to train, try taking up a new sport which will challenge and excite you, or going to a class. If you are only training twice a week, could you do more now your body is used to that? If you are only working out for half an hour, could you do an hour instead? Plateaus usually occur when you have got yourself into a routine, and have been doing it so long it’s just automatic, in order to move past it you need to shake up your routine and take yourself out of your comfort zone again.

If you are struggling with weight and want to beat all these reason with in a matter of weeks then click here now for your solution!

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