Are you sabotaging your dieting efforts?

Woman eating cake/freedigitalphotos
Woman eating cake/freedigitalphotos

Dieting is a healthy way of losing weight if done in the right way. Eating right and exercising regularly is the mantra of a healthy lifestyle. But often dieting hits mental roadblocks. We all make excuses for skipping dieting. If your on a diet make sure that you follow it regularly for results. Read on to know when dieting won’t prove fruitful…..

You do not diet on weekends: Do you derail from your dieting schedule over the weekend? Or you hog on weekends assuming that dieting during the week will cover this up? Yes weekends are for unwinding and enjoying but constant yo-yo dieting can play havoc with your body and weight. Do not over-drink, overeat or under exercising as it is the weekend. Instead spend time with your family and an extra hour at the gym, if you want the results to show. And have wholesome home cooked food over truck loads of junk!

You have exercise excuses: My legs hurt from squats yesterday or I have too much work pressure are common excuses to skip exercising. If you do not make exercising or gyming a regular feature, you cannot enjoy the benefits of your dieting. Nobody is too busy to include 10 minutes of brisk walking. Stop giving excuses and  move your butt!

You just want to be under your calorie goal: Yes, focusing on calories is extremely important but you need to know the nutritional value of what you eat too. For example one McVities biscuit has 70 calories and so does one roti, so the next time skip those biscuits with coffee and have one roti with sabzi. It will be more filling and nutritional. Look up protein, fibre, vitamins and mineral in your food over calorie count.

You diet in the day and finish off with a heavy dinner: Many of us skip breakfast and nibble lunch at work. But by the end of the day we are too tired and hungry to remember our dieting efforts and binge eat a heavy meal. Often thinking that we made up for this during the day but experts say dinner should always be light as you do not exercise afterwards.

Instead have a hearty breakfast and nibble on healthy food throughout the day(nuts and fruits are your best bet.) And even if you want to have a heavy dinner do so before 8 pm.

Festivals, weddings mean no dieting: Don’t we all go ‘off’ diet during special occasions? This is a never ending ‘off season’ once you step on it.  You will start with that one extra drink and before you know it , breaking your diet will become a common practice. When you are ‘on’ diet make lifestyle modifications and keep the diet realistic so that you can follow it for a long time