Why Is Trying To Lose Weight So Hard?

At some point during our our lives almost all of us have probably made an attempt at trying to lose weight. Some of us are succeful and some of us not. Weight loss is such a complex area. There seems to be conflicting advice all over the internet and in health shops, doctors and from friends and family.

It can be hard to know which advice is best to follow and which behaviors really will help you lose weight. Often without realizing, we are actually engaging in self-defeating behaviors which will only make it harder to lose weight overall.

Self-defeating behaviors are those that prevent you from your goal, in this case, losing weight. It might be that they actually cause you to put on weight, or simply to stay as you are. Either way, they are not helping you achieve your goal of weight loss. If you’re trying to lose weight, these 5 common self-defeating behaviors can sabotage your efforts.

5 Self-Defeating Behaviors To Avoid When You’re Trying To Lose Weight 

1. Ineffective Planning

When you’re trying to lose weight planning becomes a key habit that you need to get into. It’s all too easy to be at work or out for the day when you realize you are hungry and you haven’t prepared lunch. As you’re short on time, you go to the nearest café or fast food restaurant and try to order sensibly, possibly choosing a salad. This may seem sensible, but often salads at these places are full of calories and will definitely not help with your weight loss.

The best way to lose weight is to prepare meals in advance for the whole week. This way you know that when you get home you have a healthy meal waiting, and you have something good to grab for lunch as you leave for work. This type of pre-planning allows you to prepare the most healthy and thoughtful meals. This will avoid on the run eating which is typically not healthy at all.

2. Getting Distracted

Weight loss takes dedication, time, and effort and unfortunately, it is all too easy to get distracted in daily life. For example, you may have the best intentions to go to the gym, but when you receive a phone call or an offer to go out, the gym doesn’t happen. However, when you’re trying to lose weight, these distractions will  prevent you from doing the very things that will help you lose weight.

Make a decision to not let such distractions get in the way. Turn off your phone on the way to the gym or when you’re exercising. Ignore everything else in the moment where you are focusing on your weight loss plan. Tell friends at work that they can support you by not asking you to lunch until further notice as you will be bringing your lunch for a while. You are the only one that can make weight loss a priority.

Why Is Belly Fat So Difficult To Lose? (Free Report)
 
3. Making Excuses To Justify Behaviors

When trying to lose weight those few extra drinks or that quick stop at the fast food restaurant will seriously derail your plans. As humans, we have in built mechanisms to justify these behaviors to ourselves, to make them seem acceptable. For example, “Oh well I’m late for an appointment so I have to stop at McDonalds.”

By doing this, we don’t realize the effect they have on our weight loss efforts and can actually end up putting on weight instead. It’s best to be realistic about what your doing. Don’t blindly justify any behavior, as weight loss will be incredibly difficult then. This is where planning also comes into play. Make a list of all the possible contingencies and how you will deal with them.

4. Not Asking For Help

Weight loss can be hard at the best of times. Add stress into the mix and it can be even harder. For some people, formal help is needed. This could be simply from friends or family or possibly health professionals. When you’re trying to lose weight, there’s no shame or weakness in asking for help, and it can actually make a huge difference to your goals. It’s worse to keep struggling alone and not ask for help and wonder why you can’t lose weight and keep it off.

5. Fear Of Failure

Failing is always a possibility but it doesn’t need to be feared and it certainly shouldn’t be a reason to not try. It can be tempting to never start trying to lose weight because of the fear of failure. But if you don’t start, you definitely won’t lose any weight. Only by getting over this initial fear and actually trying to lose weight will you see the results. There may be setbacks along the way, but this shouldn’t stop you from going forward.

Get Help When Trying To Lose Weight

You may be looking for ways to lose weight for health reasons or simply to look better.  The goal is the same.   Take a hard look at your diet and workout plan as well as your calorie-tracking system to ensure everything is on the right track. Take advantage of apps like My Food Diary. This highly-acclaimed food database contains over 100,000 foods to improve your diet and the exercise log can calculate calories burned for over 700 activities to help you achieve your weight loss goal.