Understanding the habits that can help or hinder weight loss is key to achieving long-term results. Often, it’s the seemingly harmless habits, practised with the best of intentions, that can slow or even plateau weight loss progress.
In this blog, we’ll highlight five common habits that might be preventing you from reaching your weight loss goal.
Skipping meals
An energy deficit—eating fewer calories than you burn—is essential for weight loss. To achieve this, some people try skipping meals, especially breakfast, thinking it will make creating a calorie deficit easier.
However, skipping meals often backfires by leading to overeating later in the day. When you delay eating, hunger intensifies, leaving you feeling ravenous—so hungry that you want to eat everything in sight. This intense hunger makes it harder to choose nutritious foods, increasing the likelihood of overeating and making less healthy choices. This can lead to consuming more energy than you would have if you’d eaten regular meals throughout the day.
Rather than skipping meals, focus on portion control and eating regular, nourished plates to create a healthy, maintainable energy deficit.
Eating too much protein
Protein is praised when it comes to weight loss, due to its ability to keep you full and help build and maintain muscle, especially if you’re including resistance training in your routine.
However, consuming more protein than your body can use may be slowing your weight loss progress. This is because excess protein is turned into energy and stored as fat.
While it’s important to include protein in every meal, be mindful not to focus so much on protein you forget about the rest of your plate. Fruits, vegetables, healthy fats and fibre are just as important too.
Mindless eating
If you’re eating well at meal times but aren’t seeing the weight loss results you expect, mindless eating could be the culprit.
Mindless eating happens when you snack without being aware - like grabbing a handful of crisps, a biscuit or a slice of cheese when you walk past the kitchen.
These small, seemingly insignificant snacks can lead to additional energy being consumed, without you even realising… and this might take you out of your energy deficit.
Learning how to eat and snack mindfully can help you to take back control of your snacking habits, supporting your weight loss goal.
Hidden energy
Sugary drinks, such as sodas and juices, and milky coffees from your favourite coffee shop, can sneak extra energy into your diet without filling you up. Liquids typically aren’t as filling as solid food, meaning it’s easy to over consume them.
Consider reducing your intake of these drinks, whether that’s addressing how often you drink them, or your portion sizes.
Emotional eating
Eating in response to emotions is a normal human behaviour, whether we’re celebrating, bored or dealing with stress. Emotional eating isn’t just limited to sadness - eating can accompany many emotions, from joy to anger. However, if emotional eating is a frequent habit, it can interfere with weight loss.
If you find yourself regularly turning to comforting foods, such as chocolate or ice cream, when you’re feeling down, it’s worth exploring alternative ways to manage how you’re feeling. Learning to manage emotions in healthier ways, such as exercising, talking to friends or practising mindfulness, can help reduce emotional eating and keep you stepping towards your weight loss goals.
Summary
Even with the best intentions, some habits may be holding you back from achieving the weight loss results you desire. By addressing behaviours like skipping meals, mindless eating, and emotional eating, you can take back control of your weight loss journey.
If you want to lose weight and fit comfortably and confidently back into your clothes, whilst still enjoying your favourite foods, book your complimentary 15 minute discovery appointment with Lucy Jones ANutr to find out more about 1-1 nutrition and lifestyle support.
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