5 Detrimental Diet Mistakes Keeping You Overweight

Without looking at the nutrition labels, most of us would assume the white bread is fattening, and the whole wheat bread would be the better choice for weight loss...

 

But if you compared the nutrition labels, you'll see that the wheat bread has DOUBLE the calories compared to the "unhealthy" white bread.

 

This high-calorie shock effect happens with other "healthy" foods too...

 

• A small serving of nuts (1 oz) is ~160 calories
• A medium avocado is ~ 250 calories
• One tablespoon of almond butter is ~210 calories

 

Don't take me wrong... these foods are still nutritious.

 

But they can also add a ton of extra calories to your diet, especially if you aren't monitoring your portion sizes.

 

Here's your takeaway:

 

It doesn't matter how "healthy" or "clean" your diet is. If you consume too many calories, you'll won't lose weight.

 

I still advise making the majority of your diet come from whole & nutritious foods, but ensure you're ALSO eating few enough calories to create the energy deficit needed for weight loss.

 

2. You're Not Tracking Accurately

 

Food tracking and calorie counting are two of the best ways to guarantee you're consistently eating in a calorie deficit. It's the method of dieting I've used for myself and use for the majority of my online coaching clients.

 

But HOW you track is just as important as actually logging your food intake.

 

If you rely on guessing and eyeball estimations alone to figure out proper portions, then there's going to be an unavoidable measure of uncertainty around what you're logging...

 

That half-ish a muffin you tracked turns out to be 3/4ths a muffin (difference of ~75 calories). That tablespoon or so of peanut butter was actually 1.5 tablespoons (difference of ~50 calories).

 

One or two slips like this may not do much harm...

 

But do this 4, 5, or 6+ times a day, and you could end up taking in an additional 300-500+ calories without realizing it!

 

That's why along with tracking, I'm a big fan of using a food scale.

 

Why? Because they're cheap, and they guarantee 100% accuracy for measuring exact servings sizes. In fact, I believe that a food scale is THE best investment you can make for your weight loss success and long-term health.

 

Now, you may be thinking that a food scale seems a bit obsessive. I know because I thought the same thing when I was starting out...

 

But after a few months of using it, I found that using a food scale made my diet LESS strict, LESS obsessive, LESS stressful, and MORE effective!

 

Which diet plan sounds more strict and obsessive to you:

 

a) One that DOESN'T involve tracking and weighing...

 

But demonizes certain foods (like bread and pasta) as being "bad" and "fattening," restricts your food choices to a short list of "healthy" foods, and makes dining out and sticking to your diet impossible...

 

b) One that DOES involve tracking and weighing...

 

But doesn't restrict your food choices, won't demonize or praise a particular food based on some preconceived idea, and makes dining out while dieting easy-peasy (as long as you plan, use moderation, and practice portion control)...

 

I don't know about you, but option b seems like the clear and obvious winner.

 

Here's what I think: If I can lose weight eating whatever foods I want, and the cost is spending an extra 10-15 minutes a day weighing out portions and logging my food in a digital journey, so be it.

 

It's a million and one times better than feeling overly restricted and incorrectly labeling foods as being "good" and "bad."

 

Plus, after using a food scale for a few months, you'll have gained experience that makes it much easier to guess and eyeball proper portion sizes accurately.

 

Heck, I've been doing it for so long that I often feel like Neo in the Matrix...

 

Now when I look at a plate of food, all I see are various numbers scrolling down showing different macronutrient amounts, grams of food weight, and the number of servings sizes...