Are you having trouble sticking to the right diet? Chances are, you are the victim of one of these seven mistakes. Find out how to fix them and be successful!
Mistake 1: You Don’t Know How Much To Eat
The most important condition for the success of any diet is a clear understanding of how much you should eat. Speaking about the amount of food, we do not mean its volume, but the calorie content. The number of calories you consume determines the changes (or lack thereof) in the physique that you see.
To improve and control body composition, we must understand the principle of energy balance. Energy balance is the difference between calories received and consumed.
- The calories receivedare the energy that we receive (assimilate) from food.
- Calories burnedare the energy that we burn through basal metabolism (maintaining vital functions).
To know exactly how many calories you are getting from food, you must carefully monitor your diet. If there is no clear understanding of how many calories you are consuming, how can you expect to be successful?
Solution: Know Your Numbers
First of all, determine how many calories you need to keep your body weight at the same level. To do this, you can use the calorie calculator.
Mistake 2: Not Eating Enough Protein
If you are a bodybuilder, you are unlikely to make a similar mistake. Many of them believe that they are getting enough protein, but the protein in their diet is not enough.
Today the recommended daily protein intake is 0.8 grams per kg of body weight per day. This amount is enough to prevent protein deficiency in older adults but not enough for an athlete. Protein consumption in excess of the recommended norm for healthy people is not only not dangerous but also useful.
The Solution: Lean On Protein
If you want to solve a problem, you need to know exactly how much protein you are consuming. To get the most out of protein, athletes need 1.4-2.0 grams per kg of body weight per day.
Mistake 3: Drastic Changes In Diet And Habits
A common approach to starting a diet is to change the diet in an “all at once” manner. For example, from a completely disorderly diet, people switch to the most severe diet, which forces them to eat from plastic containers every three hours. They are completely reformatting their diet and trying to make it perfect.
Changing your eating habits can come as a shock. Many end up quitting the diet because they find themselves paralyzed by constant analysis. They evaluate every aspect of their menu and worry about the smallest details that don’t matter. When something like this happens, change is a daunting task, and dieting becomes much more difficult.
Solution: Make Pinpoint Changes
Change only one aspect of your diet at a time. This strategy has several advantages at once.
Mistake 4: Overly Obscure Food Choices
You are probably wondering how careful food choices can be a mistake. If you are too pedantic about your food choices, you are missing out on calories. And as we said, diet composition has a tremendous effect on your physique.
Our bodies can’t tell the difference between specific foods and don’t read labels. They only see calories, macronutrients, vitamins, and minerals. In addition, people who are overly sensitive to food choices can develop eating disorders.
Because of this, they often start dividing food into good and bad, which can be very dangerous. The product itself cannot be good or bad; it must be judged in the context of the entire diet.
Solution: Strive For Sustainability Over The Long Term
It will be easier to stick to your diet if you don’t go too far with your food choices. Cover the need for macronutrients (including plant fiber), mainly with healthy foods, and you will be fine.
Mistake 5: Messy Food Choices
The messy food choices can be a problem, too. If you only think about calories, you may develop micronutrient deficiencies. Each food contains different vitamins and minerals, and if you eat the same food day after day, there is a high risk of being deficient in certain nutrients.
A popular trend in the fitness industry is the IIFYM diet (If It Fits Your Macros or flexible diet). If you are not yet familiar with IIFYM, the bottom line is this: you need to cover the need for calories from the foods you love.
The mistake of such diets is that they did not consider at all what foods their macronutrients come from. It does not declare anything beneficial or harmful. Thus, even if you are abusing opioids but eating enough calories, it does not matter.
Solution: Know What’s Good Or Bad
Be sure to include a variety of foods on your menu, especially fruits and vegetables. Avoid using drugs or anything that is harmful to overall well-being.
Mistake 6: Not Recording Progress
Lack of documented results is a big mistake, especially when body transformation is at stake. Step on this rake, and your diet is likely to fail because you won’t know the diet is working. There is nothing better than controlling body weight, measuring volumes, and studying our reflection in a mirror.
The progress made can play a positive reinforcement role. When you see that the effort you put in is yielding results, it is motivating. With good motivation, it’s easier to stick to the diet. If you don’t track your progress regularly, you are making a big mistake.
Solution: Follow The Results
Find a convenient way to keep track of your results. Some people like numbers, and they are better off recording body weight and volumes. Others prefer to look at the reflection in the mirror and their photographs. Most importantly, do not stop monitoring and stay in the chosen coordinate system.
Take Away
We covered seven main reasons why people fail to stick to their diet. By eliminating these mistakes, you will take yourself much further on your fitness journey. Above all, remember that building your dream physique takes time. Be patient and keep working hard.
