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| DIET MISTAKES THAT WILL KEEP YOU FAT |
Unrestrained, unhealthy eating and uncontrolled weight gain are not good for our bodies. Lets face it, the chances of you or someone you know wanting to get diabetes, high blood pressure, a heart attack or any of the other diseases and maladies that may be the consequences of being overweight are slim. We all know, well most of us, the importance of maintaining a healthy diet and weight, but sometimes we need to be reminded.
I'll tell you right now that these 7 diet mistakes were part of my daily eating routine (there were actually a lot more), in fact I still find myself struggling with a few.
We all need to stop expecting perfection from ourselves and others; we are all perfectly imperfect after all. We will make mistakes; what we have to work toward is minimizing them as much as possible. So here are seven of the most self-destructive errors that contribute to a flabby middle.
#1 Too many liquid calories
If you subscribe to the notion that "liquids don't count, they go in and then out", you might be surprised to learn that Americans get 21% of their calories from beverages.
Specialty coffee drinks, fruit and energy drinks and alcohol are some of the biggest calorie offenders. Alcohol may be the worst because drinking relaxes our willpower. After a couple of drinks, eating half a pizza may not seem like such a bad idea.
#2 Skipping meals to cut out calories
Not eating regularly throughout the day slows down your metabolism, making it harder to lose and easier to gain.
#3 Not drinking enough water.
Water is essential for burning calories and plays an integral role in nearly every biological process in the body.
When we're not well - hydrated our metabolism drags.
#4 Waiting for the Diet Fairy to swoop down, twang you with her magic wand and "poof" your extra pounds away.Umm, what are you smoking?
Mistake #2 talked about intentionally skipping meals to cut calories; here we are talking about not eating enough or often enough.
Our bodies are built to help prevent starving when there's not enough food to go around. Your body perceives any drastic reduction of calories as a threat of possible starvation and rapidly adjusts (slows) its metabolism.
#6 Mindless eating - if it's not on a plate it doesn't count
Unless you're keeping a food journal you probably don't have a clue as to how much you really eat. Unknowingly putting hand to mouth or "eating amnesia" accounts for the large consumption of calories that have little to no nutritional value.
#7 If you exercise, you can eat anything
Just because you exercise regularly doesn't mean you can feast on garbage food all the time without worrying. Exercise won't benefit you much if you stuff your body with crap.
Exercise alone is not enough, you also need to maintain a healthy, balanced diet.
Our bodies are built to help prevent starving when there's not enough food to go around. Your body perceives any drastic reduction of calories as a threat of possible starvation and rapidly adjusts (slows) its metabolism.
#6 Mindless eating - if it's not on a plate it doesn't count
Unless you're keeping a food journal you probably don't have a clue as to how much you really eat. Unknowingly putting hand to mouth or "eating amnesia" accounts for the large consumption of calories that have little to no nutritional value.
#7 If you exercise, you can eat anything
Just because you exercise regularly doesn't mean you can feast on garbage food all the time without worrying. Exercise won't benefit you much if you stuff your body with crap.
Exercise alone is not enough, you also need to maintain a healthy, balanced diet.
Don't believe #4. There really is a Diet Fairy. Anybody who doesn't believe in the Diet Fairy probably doesn't believe in the Tooth Fairy or Santa. Geesh.
