How You Can Be Sabotaging Your Weight Loss Goals

We’ve all been there—one week into our new healthy eating plan and we step on the scale to find that we’ve barely nudged the number. Or worse yet, we’ve gained three pounds. 

There are a number of reasons we don’t lose weight quite as easily as we would like, but often it’s the little things that keep the pounds on. Here are the three main ways you might be sabotaging your weight-loss goals:

You Don’t Track What You Eat 
Several studies have shown that writing down what you consume on a daily basis can greatly increase your weight loss. In fact, it has been seen that people keeping a food journal for six days out of the week lost about twice as much weight as those who didn’t write anything down. And, it makes sense that the more you can conceptualize (and own up to) how much you are eating, the less likely you are to reach for that ice cream after dinner. 

You Snack Between Breakfast and Lunch 
We’ve often heard that snacking is good for weight loss, but the opposite might be true. Research has found that how and when you have a snack may sabotage your weight-loss efforts. Mid-morning snackers, for instance, have been seen to lose less weight than those who just waited for lunch. The culprit? Mindless eating. When the snacking is more out of habit than planned, you are no longer eating in response to hunger, which causes you to eat more than you typically could. 

You Participate in Negative Self Talk 
It’s been said that the average woman thinks 36 negative thoughts about themselves each day. This is not only bad for the psyche, it’s bad for the body. On the flip side, improving one’s body image can actually enhance the effectiveness of diet and exercise. Work to actively love yourself, and your body will return the favor.