5 reasons your diet is doomed
By Martin Ebner
There is nothing worse than committing to a diet, making the sacrifice and seeing zero return on your investment.
Before we look at some of the common culprits in failed dieting, let's have a quick look at the numbers. A successful diet is often a simple case of working out your own mathematical weight loss equation.
How many calories per day do you need?
Take your weight in Kilograms and x it by 27.
Example - I weigh 75 kilos. This means, on an average day (before exercise comes into the equation), i require 2025 calories just to maintain my current body weight. To lose weight, i would need to reduce that number x desired amount of weight lost per week.
Let's say you want to lose 1lb per week (The healthiest and most sustainable amount).
Take your weight and x it by 27. Now subtract 500 from that number = your daily calorie requirement.
Now let's say that despite correctly working out your perfect weight loss equation, the weight still fails to come off. Let's look at the culprits!
You're not giving the diet enough time to take effect
Unfortunately, results are rarely ever instant. You need to allow at least a couple of weeks for your body to start responding to a diet and up to 4 weeks to see any results. Don't let the frustration of not seeing instant results throw you into an uncontrollable sugar feast. Be patient and consistent and the results will come!
Your portions are too large
The cereal box recommends a 30g serving. Do you have any idea what a measly 30g bowl of cereal looks like?
Get the scales out, and start weighing your food. You only have to do this until you have a better idea of what recommended serving sizes look like.
you're eating too much sugar
The delicious, highly addictive white stuff is the most fundamentally detrimental ingredient to any diet!
Sugar is hidden in around 90% of pre-packaged foods. I say hidden because food companies have come up with fancy names for sugar to make unhealthy products appear healthy. Keep an eye out for glucose, fructose, maltose, and lactose. Chances are that if it ends in an OSE, it’s probably sugar and it's ruining your diet.
You take the concept of a cheat meal to the extreme
You've been waiting all week for the almighty cheat meal. The time has arrived and you're ready to overindulge in 2 packets of crisps, 3 big macs, a kilo of ice cream and a gallon of coke.
A cheat meal doesn't mean you should go completely bananas. Doing so will result in you ruining all of you hard work. Instead, eat foods that your crave but that contain nutritional value. Think hamburgers, pizza and healthy pasta dishes (not all together).
Alcohol
If you're really serious about losing weight, you may need to consider reducing your alcohol consumption. Not only is Alcohol loaded with empty calories, it offers very little nutrition value and it'll reek havoc on your sleep and willpower.
Related articles:
How to lose 50lbs in one year
