Aiming to lose weight and shed off those excess pounds may be difficult especially when you are taking the wrong approach. Different weight loss products like diet pills, diet plans and weight loss medical procedures may have its own pros and cons. But working your way to a healthier and lighter physique the natural way can be a little tricky. Some people tend to practice certain habits that really do not help them lose weight at all, and these can make losing weight a more challenging task.

Crash Diet

Many people are rushing to lose weight a few months, or even weeks, before a summer trip that calls for revealing attires or any occasion where you would have to fit in a clothing that's 2 steps smaller than your current size. Crash dieting doesn't work, and it can be harmful to your health since drastically lowering your calorie intake can virtually interrupt the normal processes in your body.

A single change in calorie intake that's out of the regular routine can create certain physiological changes to the body. The body is equipped with the ability to adapt to its environment like the person's eating habits. And at the same time, it also tends to become accustomed to the person's eating habits; this is what happens when you experience a strong craving for food if you skip certain meal.

When the usual calorie supplied to the body is cut down to just a fraction of the usual, the body will immediately respond to this by limiting the energy distributed to certain body functions and it will also decrease the rate that calorie is burnt in order to make it last longer. But when energy is too little to sustain important metabolic and other processes like breathing, the body will begin to use muscle tissues as energy source rather than burning fat as what crash dieters would expect. Crash dieting may work for some people but this will make the person weaker and less efficient to function properly. In addition, the weight achieved through crash dieting is less likely to be sustained than other healthier weight loss methods.

Skipping Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and there is never a good reason to skip breakfast even if you are trying to lose weight. Depriving yourself of the first meal in the morning will only make your craving for food stronger later in the day. So it actually defeats the purpose of dieting. Researchers from the Imperial College in London had found that skipping breakfast delivers a message in your brain to make it think that you want to eat foods with higher calories; these can be the foods that can ruin your diet or make you gain more weight. The study was published and presented at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in Washington DC.

The researchers used fMRI or functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine the effects of certain feeding habits on the brain activity of 20 non-obese and healthy individuals. The study participants were asked to skip breakfast and look at a set of pictures of high calorie foods like chocolates, cake and pizza, and a healthier variety that included salad, fish and vegetables. They found that the brain had the strongest reaction to the high-calorie foods; this explains why a person can have stronger cravings for high-calorie and possibly fattening foods when deprived of breakfast. On the other hand, the study participants who took breakfast had shown no significant brain excitement upon seeing the high-calorie foods.

Totally Avoiding Snacks

Frequent snacking can increase the amount of calories you take in a day. And for some people, the snacks they take for the whole day may have higher calories than their standard meals. But avoiding snacks altogether may not help you lose weight. Remember that the body will continue to crave for food just in between each meal. The right approach is to choose healthier snacks.

There's a variety of healthy snacks that you can bring with you in the office or eat at home a few hours before a meal. Fruits and vegetables will always be your healthiest options. Grapes, for example, have enough sweetness to satisfy your cravings but with lower calories than other sweet foods like cake or chocolates. Having a few calories to spare for one or two snacks will help you manage your calories better. You can choose low fat dairy products like yogurt to make you feel fuller. The variety of healthy snacks that you can have will depend on your creativity. Just remember to always avoid foods that are high in fat, sodium and sugar.

Drinking Less Water

Drinking less water to lose weight is a myth. The body's water weight only stays there temporarily and it is then excreted from the system as waste. In fact, depriving your body with water can make you eat more. Thirst can easily be misinterpreted as hunger. The insufficient amount of water in your body will deliver a message to the brain similar to that when the body has a depleted supply of energy. It may be thirst but you may sometimes understand it as a craving for food. In addition, drinking water before and after a meal can make you feel fuller.

Weighing Yourself Everyday

Losing weight needs a lot of patience. It's important to keep track of your progress with the help of a bathroom scale but weighing yourself everyday can make you feel frustrated at times. Certain body types need more time to shed off excess weight than others. And weighing scales can only tell you if you have lost a pound or so but it wouldn't be able to tell you the little progress that you are having. So if you have lost less than a pound for a day or so, you won't really see the scale moving. Avoid giving the scale a visit every day. Simply work and focus on your weight loss plan and reward yourself with great results at the end of the week.

Setting Unrealistic Goals

Burdening yourself with big and unrealistic goals will only make you feel frustrated if you fail to reach them. A better way of setting up a goal is by exercising and dieting for a few days and you will notice how this affects your body weight. If you were able to lose 5 pounds, for example, in a week, you can either keep this as your goal or raise the bar a little higher.

Avoiding Exercise

Exercise is key to losing weight. Keeping a healthy body weight requires lifestyle change that touches both your eating and exercise habits. Some weight loss products may promote weight loss without the need for exercise. But your weight may just hop back to where it was before you took the procedure or medication after a few months or weeks that you stopped taking it. Exercise can result to a more permanent effect. The habit of going to the gym or simply jogging or brisk walking around the park in most days of the week will not only help you lose weight more effectively but it will also influence you on maintaining a healthier lifestyle.

Sources
eatatease.com
webmd.com
ehow.com
ehow.com
exercise.about.com