Can’t lose weight? Are you doing this?

There’s a pattern of overweight people who say they cannot lose weight, generally follow, that they may not be aware of. If you do any of the things below regularly, that’s likely why you cannot lose extra pounds.

Starving yourself. Eating too little in the morning, and at lunch, to try to eat fewer calories throughout the day, almost always backfires, since people who eat so little before 5:00pm, tend to snack throughout the day, which adds up to even more calories than a proper-sized breakfast and lunch. People who just snack, or eat incomplete meals, binge at night because they’ve been starving all day. Make sure to eat a full breakfast with protein, carbs, and a small amount of fat. A favorite light breakfast of mine is a banana smoothie blended with almond milk, protein powder, and a level tablespoon of creamy almond butter. Or, for breakfast, try scrambled egg whites with spinach, kalmata olives, sliced bell peppers, ¼ slivered yellow onion, with a side of oatmeal, topped with a few chopped walnuts.

For lunch, and for every meal, also eat lean protein, carbs from grains, beans, or vegetables, and a little bit of healthy fat, like a wedge of avocado. The reason why you want to eat all three macronutrients (protein, fat and carbs) at every meal, is to provide suffient nutrition, which helps to keep you fuller longer.

Cardio, cardio, cardio. You can exercise for hours every single day, and it does burn calories, but if you want to lose weight, exercise can only do so much. You also need to eat fewer calories, by cutting back on fattening foods. And, while cardiovascular exercise, is good for the heart, it’s terrible for muscles, and slows metabolism. Do cardio a few times a week, but aim for weight training, at least twice a week, to boost metabolism and increase muscle growth.

Take out. If you eat most of your foods at a restaurant, or get take-out, you’re going to have a hard time losing weight. Restarant portions are riduclously large for a serving, and use lots of oil and way too much salt. If you are serious about losing weight, start making most of your meals from scratch.