You might make mistakes at the start of your weight loss journey, especially if you don’t follow up with a trained nutritionist and fitness coach. If you can't do that, you must avoid these mistakes during your weight loss journey to get amazing results quickly. These mistakes are:

1- Only focusing on the weight scale

You might always wonder why your weight doesn’t go down on the scale even though you stick to your diet correctly?

The reason is that weight is affected by many things, mainly the fluids and foods you consume daily. Your weight can swing up to 1.8 kg a day depending on your food and drink intake, increased estrogen, and hormonal changes in women that cause water retention. This affects your weight measurement. If you follow your diet strictly but see no change on the scale, it means you’re losing mass but still holding water because your body can’t get rid of it. Also, if you exercise during your weight loss but don’t see weight change, you’re losing fat but gaining muscle. You will feel your clothes loosen, especially around your waist even if the scale doesn't change. So measure your waist with a tape monthly, record it, and compare to previous. If it gets smaller, you’re losing fat. Also, check yourself in the mirror and take weekly photos to compare over time.

2- Eating too many calories or too few

EIf you want to lose excess weight, that means eating fewer calories and burning more than you take in. The amount of calorie deficit needed is different for every body.

You might eat snacks that are high in calories, like cheese and nuts. So you need to know the calorie count of everything you eat. But this doesn’t mean you should cut calories a lot because you can lose muscle mass noticeably.

3- Not exercising

When losing weight you'll lose muscle and fat. The amount depends on your goal. If you don't exercise during weight loss, you'll lose a lot of muscle and your metabolism will slow down. Exercise helps burn more fat and build muscle which stops you from gaining weight back quickly.

4- Not lifting weights

Resistance training is important while losing weight. Studies show lifting weights is one of the best exercises for muscle gain, boosting metabolism, improving body shape, and losing belly fat. Over 15 studies proved workouts and weightlifting are the best ways to lose weight.

5- Choosing low fat or "diet" foods

Low fat or diet foods are okay for losing weight but might have a downside because many contain a lot of sugar to taste better.

For example, one cup of 245g fruit-flavored low fat yogurt has 47g of sugar which equals 12 teaspoons. Instead of just curbing hunger, you end up eating a lot more. So try to get nutritious foods that are as unprocessed as you can.

6- Overestimating the number of calories you burn during exercise

Even though exercise increases metabolism, it might be less than we think.

Some studies showed that normal people who are overweight often overestimate how many calories they burned during exercise.

In one study, some people burned 200 to 300 calories during exercise but thought they burned more than 800. So they ended up eating more.

But exercise is still good for overall health and helps with weight loss. It's not as effective for burning calories as people think, but it also helps reshape the body.

7- Not getting enough protein

Protein is important when losing weight because it helps in many ways. It makes you feel full, reduces appetite, lowers calorie intake, boosts metabolism, and protects muscle mass during weight loss.

8 - Not eating enough fiber

Eating fiber in your diet helps with weight loss. There's a type called soluble fiber that lowers appetite by moving through your digestive system and making you feel full. All fibers help in weight loss but sticky fibers are best at curbing appetite and cutting calories. Soluble fibers include oats, peas, beans, apples, citrus fruits, carrots, and barley. If you eat a lot of fiber, not all calories from mixed foods get absorbed.

9 - Eating lots of fat on a low-carb diet

Keto and low-carb diets help with weight loss. They reduce appetite and make you eat fewer calories.

Some low-carb diets help you feel full faster and signal you’ve had enough, but you still need to count calories to avoid gaining weight. Some people don’t feel full and end up eating too many calories. If you add a lot of fat to your diet and don’t lose weight, you need to cut fat intake. .

10- Eating a lot of food, even if you’re not hungry

Eating every few hours to avoid hunger and slow metabolism can actually cause you to eat too many calories and never feel full.

One study showed people eating 3 meals compared to 14 meals in 36 hours had lower blood sugar and hunger. Their metabolism and feeling of fullness increased.

Wrong but common advice: Always eat breakfast every morning even if you’re not hungry. This is a mistake. Some studies found people who skipped breakfast ate more calories at lunch but still ate about 480 fewer calories overall that day.

You should only eat when you're hungry. If you starve yourself thinking it'll help you lose more weight, that's wrong. It will cause some problems for your diet, so have a light snack instead.

11- Expecting unrealistic things

Motivating yourself and setting health goals helps with weight loss, but wrong expectations can work against you.

Some researchers took data from many weight loss programs and found that women with the highest expectations for losing excess weight were the most likely to drop out after 6 to 12 months. Moderate expectations are better and motivate you.

12- Keeping on drinking sugary drinks

Many diets ban soda and other sugary drinks, which is good, but some people drink fresh juices even though natural juices have more sugar than Coca-Cola.

Also, drinking juice doesn't help curb appetite because the calories don't affect your hunger, but eating fruit will affect your appetite.

13- Not reading the data on products

Not reading info carefully leads to eating more calories than needed and stuff outside your diet. To get product info, read the label on the back of the package.

14- Not varying your food and adding your favorite meals

Many of us when starting a diet aim to lose weight so they either don't eat at all or cut out favorite foods. Always be flexible with your food. Try eating what you like in different ways. Follow us and you'll find healthy ways to enjoy foods you like. Write us foods you'd like in your diet and we'll send recipes and calories.

15- Not tracking what you eat in any way

Following a food plan is good for weight loss but some people don't track their eating. So they eat more calories than needed and don't get enough protein, fiber, carbs and fats to help lose weight. Tracking what you eat helps you know what your body needs to lose weight better.