Name few major mistakes/solutions experienced while dieting

iarelarry

Curious to see the mistakes others have made while dieting and the solutions they implemented or intend to implement to correct them.

For me its:
1) Cutting calories wayyyyyy too drastically at the start of the dieting process
Solution: start my diet at a relative high calorie baseline. Decrease 100 calories either weekly or bi-weekly depending on how i feel.

2) Considered carbs as the the source of all evil. The result was a diet with less than 50g of carbs on a daily basis
Solution: Carbs are your friend and an essential component to proper recovery. Its also the single most important nutrient that impacts your performance in the gym (to me anyway) Better performance --> more muscle --> more calories burned --> life sucks less. I'll be sure to adjust carbs as needed (enough to not feel fatigue in the gym) while still maintaining a calorie deficit.

3) Being impatient with dieting (freaking slow process!!), which resulted in crazy dieting protocols.
Solution: Come to terms with yourself that this is a lifestyle change and not a short-term phase.

Had I not made these mistakes early on... I would be carrying alot more muscle mass.

Cheers

hookilau

hmm...this is a *very* individualistic thing so I hesitate to post but for the fact that I made a major blunder that in retrospect, had I read something like what I'm about to post, it might've saved me a good deal of time, trouble, frustration and not put my health in unnecessary jeopardy.

If you carry most of your weight around your middle;
*doing *all* the right things to lose weight (and not losing *ANY*) such as:

*weighing food, exercising portion control
*eating lots of veggies
*eating low fat or no fat
*cooking with teensy weensy amounts of oil for fear of calories
*avoiding all fast food
*weight training (yes, as in heavy)
*taking gym classes multiple times per week

and you are still not able to lose weight, look into possible metabolic reasons such as Insulin Resistance, Glucose Impairment.

You *ARE* a special snowflake. If you recognize yourself in what I've written, carbs=sugar. It's poison to more folks than you think.

Iron_Lotus

Major mistake: I was dieting

Solution: No longer dieting

thanhdle

That's why all, if not most fitness experts suggest you consult with your physician before starting a diet and exercise plan.

Mistake: talking and working out with people who say muscle turns in to fat and fat into muscle
solution: No longer talking and working out with said people

iarelarry

That's why all, if not most fitness experts suggest you consult with your physician before starting a diet and exercise plan.

Mistake: talking and working out with people who say muscle turns in to fat and fat into muscle
solution: No longer talking and working out with said people

I am said person

missshyeviolett

Trying to eat 1200 cals. Cannot do it for more than 2 weeks and then I gain. Now I'm eating 20% under TDEE and I do not feel deprived at all. It's been 6 weeks!

cwolfman13

1) Started off seriously under-eating and pretty much all I was eating was vegetables and fruit because I thought that would be healthy. After a couple of months, I felt like ****...I wasn't getting anywhere close to enough protein or fat. Solution...researched more about proper nutrition and came to the conclusion that in fact, fats and protein are necessary macros.

2) Cut out way too much fat...went no fat/low fat everything because I was combating high cholesterol and thought that would be the appropriate way to go about it. I felt like **** an started having major anxiety attacks and mood swings that I attribute to inadequate fat intake...started eating more fat...all is good...figured out that my cholesterol issues were as much about what I wasn't eating and the exercise that I wasn't doing as it was what I was eating...all is well now.

3) Wasted a lot of time doing mindless cardio with no purpose other than calorie burn. Solution...started setting independent fitness goals and registering for events to actually train for with a purpose. Result...a much more well rounded fitness plan and I'm enjoying the **** out of every second.

4) Obsessed about the number on the scale for far too long. Solution...started obsessing about the process, proper nutrition, and getting my fitness on...magic.

5.) Abstained from anything and everything I deemed "bad". It was boring and I was miserable. Solution...eat a lot of good **** most of the time and eat some "bad" **** in moderation...'cuz bad **** tends to be f*ckin' good...

JeremiahStone

Adding little snacks thinking it wouldn't make a difference.. In the end it does.

hookilau

That's why all, if not most fitness experts suggest you consult with your physician before starting a diet and exercise plan.

glucose impairment is not what your physician will screen for as a matter of routine (as mine didn't) they thought I was being non-compliant & not properly measuring, over-estimating my calorie burn, over-estimating my caloric intake etc. Turns out the family hx of having a grandparent with 3 of 5 offspring with Diabetes makes a *hell* of a difference.

RivenV

hmm...this is a *very* individualistic thing so I hesitate to post but for the fact that I made a major blunder that in retrospect, had I read something like what I'm about to post, it might've saved me a good deal of time, trouble, frustration and not put my health in unnecessary jeopardy.

If you carry most of your weight around your middle;
*doing *all* the right things to lose weight (and not losing *ANY*) such as:

*weighing food, exercising portion control
*eating lots of veggies
*eating low fat or no fat
*cooking with teensy weensy amounts of oil for fear of calories
*avoiding all fast food
*weight training (yes, as in heavy)
*taking gym classes multiple times per week

and you are still not able to lose weight, look into possible metabolic reasons such as Insulin Resistance, Glucose Impairment.

You *ARE* a special snowflake. If you recognize yourself in what I've written, carbs=sugar. It's poison to more folks than you think.

I know that feel.

That's why all, if not most fitness experts suggest you consult with your physician before starting a diet and exercise plan.

glucose impairment is not what your physician will screen for as a matter of routine (as mine didn't) they thought I was being non-compliant & not properly measuring, over-estimating my calorie burn, over-estimating my caloric intake etc. Turns out the family hx of having a grandparent with 3 of 5 offspring with Diabetes makes a *hell* of a difference.

And also this feel. It's hard to be doing everything your doctor says is "right" and then being accused of falsifying your eating records.

stargazer008

1. Undereating - I eat much more now.

2. Eyeballing portion sizes - I use a kitchen scale.

3. Being scared of fat rich foods - I eat plenty of healthy fats.

4. Only doing cardio - I lift weights and I look slimmer than I used to be at the same weight.

PilatesConvert

Making changes that weren't sustainable. Diets start and end. Healthy eating/behavior is FOR LIFE. I started my weight loss journey in high school. I'm in my 30s now and only in the last few years have I truly understood that to change my body I have to PERMANENTLY change my lifestyle.

Now I:
Cut calories to a place I can still enjoy living and eating!
Do exercises I love that make me stronger and happier.
Don't deprive myself into rebellious or 'cheating' behavior. That is a stupid mind game and I'm only screwing myself.

endoftheside

I used to think that dieting was eating as little as you could stand. Learning about TDEE and playing around with those calculators was/is so helpful to the way I think about this process. Learning about the effects of dieting on hormones was huge.

I used to think that there was one right way to do things, for everyone. Now I realize that I need to play around with things like macros and food choices and see how they affect me, and continue to keep an eye on things as I lose weight and vary my activity level because I have needed to make changes and likely will again.

I used to think that I had to make drastic sweeping changes to see results, and then would just quit hard when the unsustainability of it inevitably hit. Now, every single change I make has to be sustainable, for me.

I used to lose some weight and then somehow pile it all back on because I wasn't paying attention and hadn't made real changes to my way of eating. Now, I keep maintenance in the back of my mind even as I am losing, because the calorie level I chose is theoretically TDEE(sedentary) at my goal weight so I need to make this calorie level work for every situation.

ShannonMpls

Major mistake: I was dieting

Solution: No longer dieting

I seriously can't put it better than this.

MyOwnSunshine

Not logging everything I ate -- all the little bites here and there, the little bit extra that I didn't weigh on the food scale, condiments, pieces of candy at work, a cookie from the breakroom. All that stuff adds up.

ecw3780

Believing in cheat days. Maybe a well deserved favorite comfort food on occasion if it fits into the calories, but there is never a good enough reason to completely go off the rails. You will always pay for it somehow. Everything always counts.

xkarinadollface

when I wa clueless about fitness n nutrition, I wouldn't be consistant at the gym and I would do the same exact workout every visit and too much cardio, then go home n not eat properly.. no results.. In the past year I am now lifting heavy, less cardio, eating nutrition and 6 meals a day... looking the best I ever have, goal is to compete bikini down the road

Moviegal77

Slim fast
About 6 years ago I decided to do the Slim fast diet. Two shakes a day and a sensible meal, sure the weight came off but I didn't teach myself anything about healthy eating habits so of course after I stopped the shakes the weight came back and then some. There is no quick fix when it comes to losing weight that's what I learned.