YOU diet like there’s no tomorrow, yet you never seem to reach your goal. Your weight cycles up and down, and you lose the same two or three kilograms, continuously. Well, take heart. The problem is not your diet; it’s your diet “disconnects”. That’s the current pop psychology word for counterproductive habits that sabotage your best-laid plans to lose that adipose tissue (the medical profession’s euphemism for excess fat) on your body.
The experts have identified seven common diet mistakes most people make and how to fix them.
1. Underestimating how much you’ve eaten
Studies show overweight people tend to underestimate significantly how much they eat, and the bigger their portions, the more their calorie calculations go off track. One recent investigation by Dr Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think (Bantam Dell), found that people who supersize fast-food meals actually underestimate the calorie content of their burger and fries by as much as half.
2. Discounting the effects of peer pressure
Findings from the Framingham Heart Study reveal that when one person in a family or network of friends gains weight, others tend to gain weight too, perhaps because it becomes more socially acceptable to be chubby.
3. Distracting yourself from eating
Wansink’s studies show that environmental distractions, such as watching television, talking on the phone, reading while eating and eating with others, can be a big disconnect. In one study, he learned that even stale popcorn can lead people to overeat at the movies, not because they’re hungry, but simply because the bucket is there. This occurs as much due to the fact that you’re not paying attention to what you eat, as to a habit you’ve developed of multitasking while munching, he says.
4. Eating too many different foods
The more choices, the more you tend to eat — just think of all the temptations at a food buffet and the overwhelming desire you have to sample it all.
5. Not weighing yourself enough
“We have exhaustive evidence that people who weigh themselves daily lose more weight than those who don’t,” says Dr George Blackburn, associate professor of surgery and nutrition at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, and author of Break Through Your Set Point: How to Finally Lose the Weight You Want and Keep It Off (Collins). People who watch their weight are more likely to closely monitor their eating and exercise behaviours and regain control of their diets quickly if they gain weight.
6. Having unreasonable weight loss goals
Many heavy people want to lose 25% of their body weight or more — and quickly — which is difficult to impossible to accomplish without working at it hours every day and staying on a weight-loss diet for months at a time.
7. Overestimating the calorie-reducing effects of exercise
It takes a lot of effort to burn a significant amount of calories, and it’s counterproductive to assume that because you’ve exercised for half an hour, you can eat 200 more calories that day, says Bonnie Taub-Dix, a registered dietician, a national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and a nutritionist in practice on Long Island, New York. To add to the insult, exercise tends to make you hungry.
Fortunately, you fix the mistakes. Here are some suggestions:
Write down everything you eat.
Yes, that handful of chocolate raisins or peanuts counts. And when you’re “guesstimating” calories, double your best guess, suggests Wansink, even if you’re consuming healthy foods. His latest study found that people tend to overeat at so- called healthy restaurants, (in SA, Kuaui and others would count among them) because they treat themselves to higher-calorie drinks, desserts or side dishes than they do at less healthy establishments such as McDonald’s. He calls this the “health halo phenomenon”.
- Hide the sweets and chocolate treats.
Research proves that people who see more food, eat more food. For instance, in one of Wansink’s studies, secretaries ate eight chocolates a day when they had an open bowl on their desks, but only three when the bowl was kept out of sight.
- Eat smaller portions, and use smaller plates and containers.
Take advantage of low-calorie cookies and crackers, the newest trend in food marketing. Likewise, meal replacement products can keep calories in check, says Blackburn, as can serving yourself on smaller plates.
- When you’re eating, don’t do anything else.
Focus on your food and take 20 minutes, advises Blackburn, who recommends dividing your plate into four sections and taking five minutes to eat each section. Also put your fork down in between bites. You are likely to consume fewer calories since you will feel full before you finish everything on your plate.
- Eat alone whenever possible.
Wansink says most people eat more when they are with someone else than when alone. It may be that the meal goes on for a long time, prompting mindless eating and picking, while being with familiar people in a relaxing environment dampens dieting motivation. While dining with others, you may also succumb to peer pressure to order dessert , says Taub-Dix.
n Limit variety.
“The wider the variety of foods available to you, the more you’ll eat,” says Blackburn. That’s because eating more of the same isn’t as enticing to your taste buds as eating something new (a phenomenon known as sensory-specific satiety).
- Weigh yourself daily.
Some specialists advise the opposite, but Blackburn believes it’s a good idea to do it everyday. He also suggests using a digital scale, because it’s easy to read and detects even small changes in weight. Place the scale on a flat, uncarpeted floor and weigh yourself at the same time of day — preferably in the morning after you’ve used the bathroom.
- Set a 10% weight-loss goal.
It’s better to set a goal of losing 10% of your current body weight, which confers significant aesthetic and health benefits, than an unrealistic 25%, says Blackburn. “You’ll see the weight come off your face, neck and chest first, you’ll look good, you’ll have more energy and you’ll be healthier.” Once you achieve that goal and maintain the lower weight for six months you can repeat the cycle .
- Exercise for overall health and fitness.
Don’t look at exercise as a way to lose weight (although it is essential to maintaining weight loss), but rather as a way to get more fit and toned.
- Don’t discount the value of making small changes.
Wansink says that cutting back on the 200 calories we mindlessly eat each day can be a relatively easy dietary fix, while Blackburn advises leaving an eighth of each meal on your plate.
- Nancy Monson is the author of Craft to Heal: Soothing Your Soul with Sewing, Painting, and Other Pastimes (Wheatmark).
Diets do work
Current wisdom to the contrary, weight-loss diets can and most certainly do work.
In fact, they work so well that since the turn of the 21st century, many people who have had weight problems have kept their weight steady, says Dr George Blackburn, associate professor of surgery and nutrition at Harvard Medical School in Boston and author of Break Through Your Set Point: How to Finally Lose the Weight You Want and Keep It Off (Collins, 2007).
And when people set a goal of losing modest amounts of weight — 10% of their body weight at a time — they are often successful, Blackburn says.
The key is to approach weight management as a life-long challenge.
“It’s not a New Year’s resolution or a quick fix,” he says.
“You need to take a structured and organised approach and plan every night what you are going to do to manage your weight tomorrow,” Blackburn says