Today I’m going to address some of my most common mistakes on LCHF or any low carb diet for that matter. I certainly am not perfect every day, every day isn’t a good day like last Food Fridays have been. What triggered me to write this post? The fact that my weight loss is very slow right now, I’m more in maintenance phase but I want to start losing weight faster again.
What have I been doing wrong then? What are the most common mistakes?
1. “I work out a lot; I can afford a few extra carbs here and there.”
I make that mistake so much. Since I work out quite the bit, I think I can afford a few extra nuts or berries or teaspoons of peanut butter. And then this “a little extra” becomes well… more than a little. That brings me to my next point…
(Picture from dietdoctor.com)
2. No moderation.
You can eat things that are semi-allowed, like fruit, berries, dairy, nuts, seeds etc, but you have to keep them in moderation. I fail in moderating each and every time. I have a HUGE garden since I live in the countryside and when I approach rasperries, strawberries or any berry for that matter, I can’t leave them until I’m full. During those minutes that I’m eating, I’m like this: “I can eat them, they are allowed, normal people would never feel that berries are cheating or bad.” And 10 minutes after finishing I feel guilty and bad. Which brings me to my next point…
3. “Today was a bad day, let’s eat more semi-cheat foods.”
So I come from my garden, full of berries. Then I already feel bad about myself and let my emotions get the best of me. If we have nuts, seeds or anything like that at my house (and we do, since my family doesn’t do low carb or really approve of it), I eat them. Fortunately I don’t go ahead and binge bread, cake or pasta or anything super carby, but after semi-cheating I still can gain (water) weight. And that makes me very upset again.
4. Tasting the food I cook for my family.
My mom works a lot and also likes to do a lot of gardening so in the summertime I’m responsible for cooking, cleaning etc. My family doesn’t want to eat a meal unless it has potato, rice or pasta in it. So sometimes I have to taste those things in order to know if it needs more seasoning. I should spit it out after tasting. BUT I don’t and even the little bite of starch messes with my blood sugar. Even worse: my granny is really ill right now and needs really nutritious food since she eats like only 3 spoonfulls. So I make her really carby and fatty foods, like banana smoothie with Nutella, peanut butter and heavy cream. So I spoon some Nutella and peanut butter in the bowl and – I’m too weak and lick the spoon. Bad behaviour.
5. Baking for my family.
Unfortunately I’m a great baker if I may say so myself. My family requests for cakes, pancakes, cupcakes, deserts, pies etc etc etc at least twice a week. So I bake for them. And I have to taste the batter. Again. Sugar gets into my system and messes up ketosis and blood sugar. I shouldn’t swallow anything I taste but I’m too weak for that.
6. Having foods you can’t eat in moderation in your house.
I already talked about that in previous points. During school time I live alone. There I don’t keep anything that might break me, like fruit, nuts, seeds, berries. I just don’t because an open packet of nuts = empty packet. Even if it is a 400 gram packet of nuts. I just binge some things and shouldn’t keep them in my house. But I can’t tell my family not to have any, they want their regular foods. Sometimes they are nice and don’t keep foods like nuts in the kitchen or out where I can have them but most of the time this doesn’t happen. If you don’t have the things that mess you diet up, you can’t eat them. As simple as that.
7. Little things here and there add up.
This point sums it up pretty much. Licking the spoon here, tasting some starch there; having a bad day here, messing up a little bit there – and the weight loss stops or slows down. You just have to remember to get back into it.
So in conclusion my mistakes relate to me being just weak and giving in to some certain foods. You just need to put the bad decisions and mistakes behind you, learn from them and keep going.
What are your most common mistakes while trying to lose weight?
Nourish, Train & Flourish 