Top Reasons People Fail When Trying to Lose Weight

Whether you need to lose five pounds or fifty, chances are you’ve probably started and given up on a weight loss plan at least once before.

What’s stopped you from being successful in the past? What changes do you need to make to actually achieve your fitness and weight loss goals?

Read on to learn more about why people tend to fail when they try to lose weight and what you can do to avoid falling into these same traps.

They Don’t Make Time for Their Workouts

When your schedule’s fairly open, it’s easy to make your workouts happen. But, if you’re like most people and your calendar is jam-packed more often than you’d like, you need to prioritize your workouts and treat them like any other appointment.

Write them on the calendar, block out the amount of time you need, and dedicate a pre-set amount of time solely to your workout.

If you find that you don’t have enough time to exercise, even after writing it on the calendar, look for ways to shorten the duration of your workout. Or, consider exercising at home to save yourself the commute to the gym.

If nothing else works, find ways to increase your movement throughout the day — walk on your lunch break or invest in a treadmill desk.

They Focus on Calories More than Nutrients

A clean diet is essential if you want to lose weight, and the easiest way to eat clean is to focus on consuming fresh, whole foods and steer clear of highly processed snacks like chips, crackers, and cookies — even if they claim to be low in fat or low in calories.

Many people make the mistake of buying these kinds of foods and assuming that they’ll aid in weight loss. The problem with these foods is that it’s very easy to overeat them. Eating a whole bag of low-calorie cookies isn’t going to do you any favors, and you’ll still most likely end up consuming more calories than you needed.

To make matters worse, these low-calorie processed foods aren’t particularly satisfying, so you’ll likely feel hungry soon after eating them. This further sabotages your weight loss goals.

Instead of making calories the end-all-be-all, make things easier on yourself by prioritizing nutrient-dense, whole foods first. Often, simply eating real foods is all people need to finally start losing weight.

They Take on too Much and Get Injured

When you set unrealistic expectations for yourself to try and lose weight quickly, you’re more likely to get burned out or hurt yourself.

Taking on too much sets you up failure. While you might see some progress early on, that progress likely won’t last, especially if you end up hurting yourself badly enough that you need to take weeks or even months completely off from exercising.

Start slow and focus on mastering the basics. Don’t do a sprint-based workout if you haven’t figure out proper running mechanics. Start with walking, then add in short bursts of jogging.

It’s also important to learn the most common causes of workout injuries like ankle sprains and take steps to prevent them. If you understand the cause of sprains to prevent them, you’ll have an easier time staying safe during your workouts, especially when you start to increase the intensity.

They Strive for Perfection Instead of Progress

While a certain amount of discipline is required if you want to lose weight and keep it off, it’s also important to avoid letting “perfect” be the enemy of “good.”

Another common mistake people make when they’re trying to lose weight is giving up just because of one minor slip-up, such as overindulging in a high-calorie meal or skipping a few workouts.

If you have one bad day and skip a workout or overeat, that doesn’t mean you should stop trying.

If you’ve made a mistake, figure out what caused it and then move on. That might mean re-evaluating your schedule to better fit in your workouts or heading to the grocery store to buy some fresh fruit and vegetables.

Do what you need to do to prevent future slip-ups, then forgive yourself and get back to your routine.