Poor preparation

We hear it time and time again “Failing to plan is planning to fail” and with good reason.  It’s important to plan out what you are going to eat every day.  Some people like to meal prep for the whole week.  I prefer to cook my meals the night before.  So decide on your 3 main meals and your 2-3 snacks. Write yourself a shopping list with only these foods on it.  This is not only going to save you money but it will avoid a bad situation where you are hungry with nothing to eat & more likely to make a poor meal choice that you will regret later.

Not drinking enough water

Everyone knows that we are supposed to be drinking our 2-3 litres of water to lose weight.  Not many people know why we are doing this. By having the right amount of water you are ensuring that your kidneys are functioning properly.  If the kidneys don’t have enough water then the liver has to step in to help.  The problem with this is that one of the liver’s functions is to help burn fat.  So if you don’t have enough water then the liver is less efficient at helping burn excess body fat. Water also helps with the digestion and absorption of food.  What does this mean for weight loss?  Well it means if you don’t get enough water you won’t get the full benefits of the nutrients in the foods you eat.  Additionally if you don’t get enough water you run the risk of getting constipated.  Water assists excretion of waste from your bowels and kidneys.

Skipping Breakfast

Breakfast helps kick start your metabolism in the morning, it also sets you up for a healthy day of eating. Skipping breakfast will lower your blood sugar levels which will lead to sugar carvings throughout the day.  I have people tell me time and time again “I’m not hungry in the morning” well sorry there is no way around it, if you want to lose weight you HAVE to eat breakfast, even if it something small like a piece of fruit or a handful of nuts.

Not getting enough sleep

There are two hormones that are key to our ability to lose weight. They are ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is the hormone that tells you when to eat, when you are sleep-deprived, you have more ghrelin. Leptin is the hormone that tells you when you’re full, when you are sleep deprived, you have less leptin. Not getting enough sleep therefore will be making you overeat as you will have increased levels of Ghrelin.  You will also be less motivated to train when your energy levels are low and sessions will be very average. Not having enough sleep can also make you grumpy with a bad attitude towards your health & fitness goals.

Not lifting weights

This is one especially for the ladies.  I see woman in the gym spending hours at a time in the cardio studio and no time at all in the weights room.  The more muscle you have on your body the more calories you burn throughout the day therefore our goal should be to build lean muscle. Cardio is of course important for heart and lung health & will also help to lose weight but too much cardio can also burn muscle instead of fat.