Four Major Ways to Sabotage Your Diet

As a Certified bodybugg Coach I have the privilege of helping individuals reach their weight loss goals. It is through my coaching sessions that I have seen four major ways that my clients sabotage their diets. My hope is that by sharing the five major ways to sabotage your I diet I can help you not fall into the same traps that I have seen many of my clients fall into.

Guilt
Guilt, especially for women is one of the four major ways to sabotage your diet. Whether it is guilt about a bad food choice or a bad life choice. I have seen many clients use guilt as an excuse to eat. Then once they make that choice and eat they then feel guilty about failing their diet. It is a vicious cycle that many individuals repeat daily. Stop kicking yourself over bad choices, obsessing over the bad choice is not going to change it anyways! So get over it and move on. You made a bad choice, you have to deal with the consequences, however that does not mean that your day, diet, or life has to be ruined. Use it as a learning experience and next time you'll do better.

Not Planning
The biggest excuse I hear for calorie surpluses, high fat, and/or high sodium intakes is, "Well I was busy and had to eat out." We are all busy, you have to plan for these moments, keep a stock of 100 calorie almond packs, high fiber granola bars, Clif bars, etc. That way when you are caught off guard you already have something healthy to eat. If you do have to eat out there are healthy choices at every restaurant. Eating out is not an excuse to eat poorly. Even if your only choice is a gas station convenience store you can find healthy food. Grab two bottles of 100% juice in different flavors, a plain yogurt, and a cup from the soda fountain. Add the juices and yogurt into the cup and mix them up for a quick smoothie. Then grab a bag of trail mix (if they have a healthy mix without chocolate) or a box of high fiber cereal and voila you have a healthy meal.

Large Portions
You have to, have to, have to, measure and weigh your food. Not weighing and measuring is a major way to sabotage your diet. Very few people can look at a portion of food and accurately tell you the correct portion. Our eyes are used to seeing huge portions on our plates so unless you train your eyes to know what an accurate portion size looks like you will be wrong. By controlling how much is on your plate to begin with you will automatically eat less. Most people just shell out a plate full of food and then feel like they have to eat it or just mindlessly eat it all because it is on their plate. Weigh your meat, measure out your side dishes, and restrict yourself to just your first plate of food.

Not Snacking
Snacking to lose weight? Yes! Eating three small healthy meals and three healthy snacks helps to keep your metabolism working throughout the day and stops you from getting so hungry that you over eat at your next meal. A high fiber snack such as a cup of veggies makes a great snack that will curb hunger and keep your blood sugar steady. Another great snack is air-popped popcorn with some olive oil and brewers yeast it's packed with nutrients and fiber.