Common mistakes to avoid when trying to lose weight

One of the most common resolutions made during the beginning of the year is to lose weight. However, most of the pledges made go unfulfilled within the first few weeks. While consistency looks like the primary reason for not getting effective results on weight loss, there are several underlying mistakes that go unnoticed.

Extra weight puts the human body through innumerable havocs; the prominent ones are: heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer. It also hampers the daily life of a person. "When you carry around extra pounds, you can have trouble staying active, low energy, and difficulty sleeping," says Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

So while losing weight is inevitable, here are the common mistakes you need to avoid:

Though calorie and weight loss go hand in hand, many people ignore the calorie intake and focus only on physical activities in order to burn down the extra fats. A calorie deficit, undoubtedly, increases the chances of weight loss, but how much deficit should it be in needs to be known. Standardised data say, the normal requirement is 2,000 calories a day for women and 2,500 for men. While we all know more calories add on to the weight, less calories make the person listless. So an ideal amount of calorie should be taken.

These wonderful ingredients are the most ignored ones. If one's considering to lose weight, then for faster results more amount of fibers should be taken in the diet. As per a research study a 10 gram increase in daily soluble fiber intake leads to a 3.7% lower risk of gaining belly fat.

For quicker results, many people tend to opt for diet foods. These processed foods, though claim to be helpful in reducing weight, are actually loaded with other unnecessary ingredients. For example a 170 grams of low fat flavored yogurt contains up to 23.5 grams of sugar. As per the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in a 2,000 calorie diet, no more than 200 calories should come from added sugars (about 12 teaspoons).

Rich in antioxidants, natural foods contribute immensely to weight loss. Along with other important macronutrients, one should also eat a portion of natural foods or eat foods in their natural form. This includes salad majorly. In order to add more natural food to the diet, one can cut down other foods and reserve a major portion of the diet for salads. This is not only filling, but also is highly nourishing since these are unprocessed and are devoid of chemicals.

Many go crazy with weight loss. While this sort of behaviour towards a difficult task yields results some times, but most of the time the high enthusiasm drops down quickly. Instead of making it a short term goal, one should stretch the weight loss routine longer. In order to get more results, one should try to inculcate healthy food habits in daily life. Persistence is the key to every success, including losing weight.

If you idolise a celebrity or a fitness freak and try to follow their routine then this is the biggest mistake you are making. No two people can have the same weight loss strategy. Weight loss methods depend on the lifestyle of an individual. A celebrity's lifestyle is totally different from the lifestyle of a sedentary job holder who works from 10-5 everyday. Therefore, while drawing inspiration from others is allowed, following their method is totally unacceptable.