5 Weight-Loss Strategies You Should Absolutely Avoid

These no-good strategies will backfire on you.

This article was written by Jenny Sugar and repurposed with permission from Fitness Moving.

When you're trying to shed pounds, it's important to steer clear of the quick fixes and focus instead on healthy weight-loss strategies. It's not always easy to decide which diet tips you should follow, though, so we've rounded up five common weight-loss techniques you should avoid.

Cutting Entire Food Groups
Giving up entire food groups can lead to a nutritional deficiency—not to mention trigger major cravings for whatever food has been cut. Rather than, say, eliminating all carbohydrates, focus on whole grains and remember to watch out for portion control. Usually it's the extra servings that add to your waistline, not the pasta itself. Keep your pasta calories in check with these tricks, or make these low-carb veggie noodles.

Doing Cardio Workouts All the Time
If you live on the treadmill but never lift a dumbbell, you're missing out on one of the most important pieces of the fitness puzzle. Not only does weight training prevent injury by strengthening the joints, it also builds muscle mass and increases metabolic rate. Bonus: Thanks to a revved-up metabolism, you'll keep burning calories long after you've slipped off your sneakers. New to lifting weights? These tips for starting strength training will help you out.

Exercising on an Empty Stomach
If you regularly exercise without eating first, you should reconsider. When you work out on hungry, research shows that the calories burned come from muscle, not fat. It's important to fuel your body before exercising because you’ll avoid losing muscle and have more energy to push yourself through your workout. Here are some suggestions for easily digestible snacks to eat right before your sweat session.

Missing Out on Sleep
Making time for your workouts can mean less time for sleep, but it's important to get enough snooze time if you're trying to lose weight. You need extra energy to keep up with your exercise routine. Plus, skimping on sleep can affect your body's ability to control appetite. Too little sleep increases ghrelin—an appetite-stimulating hormone—so if you don't get enough shuteye, you may be tempted to overindulge. If shuteye tends to elude you, try these tips for falling asleep faster.

Skipping Meals
Cutting calories is key to weight loss, but missing out on entire meals can wreak havoc on your metabolism. When you wait too long to eat, your body reacts by slowing down your metabolism, which delays your weight-loss efforts. If your schedule is the issue and you're simply too busy to sit down and eat a full meal, store small snacks in your purse to eat throughout the day so that you can keep your metabolism moving. Check out our suggestions for healthy store-bought snacks for when you're on the go.

Healthy Weight Loss

So many people nowadays are becoming desperate in order to lose weight. They are starting to go to unhealthy lengths in order to look skinny, because they think that it is attractive. However, losing weight in an unhealthy way could certainly be very damaging to your body, and you might not turn out so attractive if you are bony. You probably hear commercials and ads all over the place trying to sell you the newest diet or the newest weight loss operation, and you should ignore these red flags. Instead, you should take the healthy and natural path towards weight loss, one step at a time.

Things to Watch Out For

As mentioned above, new weight loss procedures are being thrown at the public very frequently. However, not a lot of people really know about the health risks of these procedures. Liposuction, a procedure where doctors literally use a vacuum-like contraption to suck the fat out of your body (usually from the stomach area), can be deadly. It also sounds very gruesome, and I assume after reading a more in-depth description of it, you will agree with me. Another weight loss procedure is the Lap-Band procedure. This is where doctors place a band around your stomach, so that you feel fuller sooner and eat less, which eventually leads to weight loss. This is practically like starving yourself, since you aren't actually full and you aren't actually getting all of the nutrients that your body requires to function. The band has also killed a few people, since it has been broken before. Imagine having an unnatural band wrap around your stomach! It makes me tighten up, and I don't know how other people can stand the thought of it, much less the actual procedure. Also, if you eat too much with the lap-band, you could end up throwing up, which is unhealthy as well.

Starving yourself on a diet is another weight loss strategy to watch out for. Starvation is a very serious health condition if you let it go too far. You're losing all of the nutrients that your body needs in order to function, and eventually your body will shut down due to lack of energy. Your body will not target your fat first, but instead will consume your muscles. You will lose all of your muscle mass before you lose any fat, and having nearly no muscle makes life very hard to manage. Starving yourself and denying your body the proper nutrients is never the way to go.

The Steps You Can Take

Healthy weight loss is accomplished through healthy eating and exercise. I know you have been told this time and time again, but it is the truth. This is the only way that you can lose weight in a healthy manner. Plus, if you exercise, your body will be in shape, and will look more attractive than the body of someone who is anorexic. Eating healthy and exercising will make your body feel better, and you will have more energy throughout the day.

Eating healthy will provide your body with the nutrients it needs, and you will feel the difference after about a week or so of changing your eating habits. It might be hard to switch at first, but eventually it will feel natural to eat carrots instead of burgers. Exercising also releases feel-good hormones to your body, so after you get the motivation to leave your couch, you will not regret it! Start making your way to a healthier and fitter you by watching your eating habits and hitting the gym more often.

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