Avoid these five common weight loss mistakes

Mistake #1: Not ever-changing your calorie plan as you lose weight. The false belief of the "1200 calorie diet" plans and the like.

Most folk fix their calorie intake to a given number and expect to lose weight at the same constant rate over a period of weeks. Hence, dieters look for 1000 calorie or 1800 calorie diet plans on the internet. The fixed calorie diet plans don't work. If you burn 3000 calories a day at the start of a diet, after a week or two of losing several weight, you are no longer burning 3000 calories. Now you mightiness be burning 2800 calories. If you fix your calorie intake in the face of a decreasing calorie expenditure, your weight loss wish slow down much and much as you lose weight.

If you want to lose weight at a constant rate, you must repeatedly:

decrease your calorie intake to accommodate the calorie expenditure drop
increase your calorie output by exercise more
do several

I would-be like to note that you must set realistic slow weight loss goals. If you go for fast weight loss you would-be not be able to sustain it for a long period unless you go extreme in the calorie reduction and exercise a lot. For folk who have to lose much than 20 pounds (10kgs), the goal should be a loss of no much than 2 pounds or 1 kg per week. Folk who need to lose simply a bit of weight should go for weight loss of 1 pound or half a kg per week.

Why does my calorie expenditure drop as I lose weight? The most important factors are:

You weight less. A smaller body burns less calories several at rest and piece active
You may involuntarily burn fewer calories. Dieters often lack energy and come less
Calorie restriction suppresses the metabolic rate
You have less body fat, which may further suppress your metabolic rate

These major factors contribute to an ever-decreasing energy expenditure as one loses weight. The much a dieter cuts calories, the bigger the calorie expenditure drop. The throw the dieter, the greater the calorie expenditure drop.

Now you must understand that if you want to succeed in losing weight, you have to do changes in your nutrition plan. I recommend burning much calories, because being much active facilitates smaller calorie restriction and milder calorie expenditure drop.

It is really difficult to estimate the rate of the metabolic drop. Here is the general rule: the bigger you are, the smaller the rate of the metabolic drop. The much weight you lose, the much you have to cut calories or increase exercise. If you are overweight you mightiness need to cut simply 10 much calories for every lost pound, piece if you are lean you mightiness have to cut 60 calories for every pound lost. I picked these amount simply as an example.

Mistake #2: Overreporting the "extra" calorie expenditure of exercise

Most folk count the calories they spend exercise as "extra" calories. There is a difference between calories burned piece exercise and "extra" calories burned exercising. Here is an example: you burn 300 calories on the treadmill instead of your usual activity (watching TV at home); in reality, you have to deduct the calories you would-be have spent observation TV from these 300 calories to calculate how galore additional calories you burned. Let's say that observation TV, you would-be have burned 80 calories. In this specific case, you have gone 300 calories piece exercising, and 220 "extra" calories.

Calorie counters senselessly add the calories burned exercise as "extra" and in several cases, this practice can importantly influence the calorie calculations. Hence, calorie software system counts the part of your usual activities that overlaps with the extra activities twice.

How to estimate the "extra" calories burned exercising?

In order to do the calculations much accurate, I shall 1st introduce the conception of MET values. MET values are a convenient way to calculate the calorie cost of activities. MET values are multiples of the resting energy expenditure per time. In plain English, a MET = 3 means burning 3 times much calories than resting. A MET = 1 signifies how galore calories you burn at rest (your Resting Metabolic Rate or Basal Metabolic Rate). Any you do, you burn calories at a rate of at least MET = 1 with the only exception being sleeping which has MET = 0.9. During the day, most activities include sitting and walking which have MET values between 1.2 and 3. Your total daily energy expenditure is calculated by multiplying your Resting Metabolic Rate by the average MET of all your activities. Is your head spinning?

Let's use a real earth example. Consider a female person with a Resting Metabolic Rate of 1200 calories a day. One day has 1440 minutes. Our example lady is burning 1200/1440 = 0.84 calories per minute at rest, which signifies a MET = 1. Let's say our example woman simply returned from an aerobic exercise class, wherever she exercised for 30 minutes. General aerobiotic class training has a MET = 6. Our example lady has simply burned 30 (minutes) x 6 (MET) * 0.84 (calories per minute) = 151 calories piece exercising. Suppose our lady would-be have chatted on the computer network instead of exercise (MET = 1.5). In this example, the woman substituted chatting on the computer network with aerobiotic exercising. Remember, that every time you do thing you substitute one activity for another. In order to get the extra calories, we have to deduct 1.5 (chatting) from 6 (exercising). Now let's calculate the extra calories: 30 (minutes) * (6 - 1.5) (MET value) * 0.84 = 113 calories.

Let's consider what a standard calorie counter would-be have done. First, it wish assume an average calorie burn rate of 1 calorie per minute. Then the counter wish find that exercise for 30 minutes wish yield 30 (minutes) * 6 (MET) * 1 (calories per minute) = 180 calories. The calorie counter wish add these 180 calories to your daily expenditure without considering that a part of these 180 calories is already accounted by your usual activities.

Do you now see the difference between 113 calories and 180 calories? If that woman spends 5 hours a week in that aerobic exercise class, the standard calorie counters wish overreport her calorie output by: (180-113) * 10 = 670 calories a week. The woman wish be fooled that her metabolic rate has born piece she simply overestimated her calorie expenditure. Enter weight loss plateau, wasted time and efforts. Do you have the time for trial and error calorie estimations?

Remember these two rules:

Report only extra activities to your calorie counter. If your walk to your office every day, do not log "walking to office for 30 minutes" as an extra activity. Consider only unusual activities that contribute to extra gone calories! Always deduct the calories you would-be have burned instead of exercising. A general rule is to deduct from 1.2 to 1.5 from the MET values. In several cases, you need to deduct a greater MET. If you substitute 30 minutes of bodybuilding (MET = 6) for 30 minutes of slow jump rope (MET = 8) then the additional MET would-be be 8 - 6 = 2.

How to find the MET values of activities based on standard tables?

In order to do the above calculations, you need to cognize the MET values of activities. Standard tables give: name of activity, duration and calories. Standard tables assume an average calorie expenditure of one calorie per minute. To find the MET you simply need to divide the calories by the duration.

Example: "Bicycling, stationary, general", "20 minutes", "140 calories"
MET of "Bicycling, stationary, general" = 140 / 20 = 7

I cognize these calculations are somewhat tedious and in galore cases the standard calorie calculations are close to correct. However, in several cases they can importantly over or under-calculate the calorie expenditure of activities and compromise your weight loss plan with daily miscalculations.

Mistake #3: Training with light weights and lots of reps

I have seen infinite number of ladies come to the gym, get the lightest possible dumbbells, crank out several hundreds of reps and go home. Most often, these women do not get the results they want. The problem with this type of training is that it does not burn galore "extra" calories unless you spend a appreciable figure of time in the gym. Hefting Ken and Barbie weights in the gym has a MET value of 3, which means that it burns 3 times much calories than resting in bed. About thing you do during the day has a MET value of 1.2 to 2. Browsing the computer network on your computer has a MET value of 1.5. Realize that about thing you do during the day (average MET = 1.5) has simply about 50% overlap in calorie expenditure with training with really light weights (MET = 3). If you pump super light dumbbells in the gym, only simply about half of the calories burned are "additional".

Of course, you can burn a appreciable figure of extra calories training with light weights but you have to actually extend the duration of this type of training. Curling 5 pound dumbbells for 4 sets of 20 reps and chit-chatting for 20 minutes in the gym is not going to burn galore extra calories.

Remember the rule: the less intensive the activity (smaller MET), the greater the calorie expenditure overlap with casual activities; the less intensive the activity, the much time you have to spend doing it to expend a nice deal of extra calories. Always deduct a MET of 1 to 1.5 to arrive at the additional gone calories.

Mistake #4: Exploitation "average person" calorie estimations

You can find all kinds of tables showing the calorie cost of several physical activities on the internet. These tables don't show your calorie expenditure. They actually tell you the calorie expenditure of an "average person". These tables assume you are an average person that burns one calorie per minute at rest. Yes, we covered this in the 1st part of the article and it inevitably repeating. Most men burn much than one calorie per minute and most smaller women burn less than one calorie per minute at rest. In reality, these standard tables overestimate the calorie expenditure of smaller folk and underestimate the calorie expenditure of bigger than average people. Combine this with the common mistake of count all burned calories as "additional calories" and you have a wide range of possible miscalculations.

Mistake #5: Going on really low calorie diets (VLCD)

Research has shown little to no difference in the weight loss rate of 1200 calorie diets and 800 calorie diets. The 1200 calorie threshold is the point wherever further calorie restriction does not yield quicker results. Diets in the range of 800 to 1200 calories a day suppress the resting metabolic rate from the really 1st day and after several weeks on these diets, the metabolic rate has born by up to 20%. This metabolic drop is simply a consequence of the calorie restriction factor; another factors such as the level of thinness may further depress the calorie expenditure.

A big percentage of the quick initial weight loss on a VLCD is water. VLCDs create an illusion of fast fat loss, piece in reality most of the weight loss is water. It is hard to continue a really low calorie diet for a prolonged time because the harsh calorie restriction does you hungrier than ever. Folk on VLCDs often lack energy and come really little. Once you finish the diet, you are prone to instant overeating. Feeding a really low calorie diet is the ticket to yo-yo dieting.

Instead of exploitation really low calorie diets, I recommend diets with a mild calorie restriction and an emphasis on exercise. Overweight folk who cognize what they are doing can employ VLCDs for a limited time. It is important to get enough vitamins and minerals from supplements, because such low calorie diets are deplorably inadequate in nutrients. Water intake should be high.

Bodybuilders, powerlifters and athletes must stay away from really low calorie diets because the large calorie restriction causes a greater proportion of the weight loss to be muscle loss.

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Hristo Hristov is the owner of X3MSoftware, a institution specializing in developing training and nutrition software. Hristo has a degree in Computer Science and passion for powerlifting. In his spare time, Hristo gives training and nutrition consultations. hristo@x3msoftware.com