Let’s face it - the amount of choices for weight loss and finding a way to lead a healthy life are staggering. And despite how frustrating it can be, you’re far from alone in your experiences if you are feeling sluggish, unmotivated, demoralized, or just plain unhappy with your relationship with your body and the foods you eat. Also, lots of companies are out there to take advantage of your unhappiness and offer you everything from the next “quick fix” miracle pill to the scary crash diet that wreaked even more havoc on your metabolism. There are thousands of strategies out there you can try, but there’s only one you! 

You might have had your own experience of finding some programs that were great until you were “over”  your diet. Some might have seemed to be going great until they weren’t, some that demanded that you keep buying expensive products, and some strategies that were, mehhh … not so great.

So, dear reader: are you (unintentionally!) making a common weight loss mistake you could easily avoid? 

Without further ado, let’s debunk four of the most common mistakes I see most often:

1. Focusing on carb intake instead of calorie intake 

This crash diet mindset can make you get it all wrong. Carbs get an unfairly bad reputation, landing extreme carbohydrate-restricting diets as one of the most common mistakes in weight loss. Many fad diets, such as Keto and Atkins, put carbs on the no-fly list.

Ultimately, though, cutting out carbs is one of the most damaging things to undermine a long-term healthy relationship with food and with your body. It’s bad for your mood, and it’s ultimately bad for your energy balance and greater overall health. After all, such extreme restrictions not only try to make your favorite foods become top enemies, but (let’s be real!) make you want them more because they’re “off limits!” Does this sound familiar? 

Here’s the truth, though: you can lose weight while still enjoying carbs! With Strong with Sarah, what we do is develop patterns to make sure that you are keeping your calories in check and that you’re creating a calorie deficit overall in a way that is healthy, balanced, and in tune with your own personality and preferences… While still enjoying some carbs! 

2. Getting judgmental instead of getting curious

This is a more subtle but also important common weight loss mistake. It’s easy to berate yourself for your choices around food and exercise. After all, isn’t that what we’re bombarded with all the time, where suddenly it goes from “treat yourself” to “you should feel guilty?” 

To put it another way, has this thought ever crossed your mind: “Dang it! I screwed up and I ate way too many cookies. I am such a failure, and now I’m never going to lose weight. I’m destined to be trapped like this!”  Sound familiar? 

If so, it’s time to start getting curious instead of guilty!
Instead of berating yourself only to go back to a quick “guilt trip fix”, with Strong with Sarah, we can help you replace shame and hopelessness with curiosity and accountability. 

So, instead of getting mad at yourself for overeating or making another excuse for avoiding a workout, start to ask yourself why you didn’t stick with your goal or respect a boundary. 

Finding your motivation is a skill that can pay off big time. This is about creating a mindful habit for all those next times when there are cookies sitting in front of you or when the couch sounds comfier than a workout mat.

3. Focusing on perfection instead of consistency. 

This common weight loss mistake ties closely to point number two. After making one choice that you’re not proud of, it’s easy for that “screw it!” mentality to take over and lead to a downward spiral. This stems from the fad and crash diet culture, too, where there’s an all-or-nothing mentality that says you’re either with “our program” or you’re against yourself!

So, instead of focusing on perfectly executing your plan, because nobody is perfect, focus instead on hitting your nutrition and exercise goals consistently. With the Strong with Sarah coaching method, consistency over perfection means striding to make healthier choices 80-90% of the time. That remaining 10-20% is where you still have room to indulge and enjoy your favorite treats (and maybe even skip a workout or two).  

4. Relying on motivation instead of building momentum.

This point goes directly back to point number three, because fun fact: NOBODY is motivated to eat healthy and exercise all of the time. 

Not me, not my team of coaches - and guess what! - not even our most successful clients. It is such a common mistake to think weight loss means relying on external validation for whenever you “get it right.”

This is where Strong with Sarah makes a difference. My team and I are big on motivation, but it’s the kind that comes with developing your own accountability muscle. These are changes that don’t happen overnight but will create the kind of momentum that you can keep building on to create lasting new habits. 

More precisely, this means committing to taking one action that will lead you closer to your goals, regardless of how motivated you feel at the time. Wanted to spend 30 minutes on your phone instead of a quick jog? Decided to sneak a cookie because “nobody is looking?” 

We’ve all been there, but when it’s a habit rather than a one-off, it’s time to replace those old behaviors with one conscientious choice at a time, so that your “not today” responses to workouts are true “rest days” for more active weeks, and indulging your sweet tooth is a special occasion than a main food group. This is another case where crash diets aren’t the answer, because deep down, it’s about changing your mindset, not which “magic” pill you take or food group you eliminate.

So, Strong with Sarah community: Have you ever made any of these four common weight loss mistakes? If you’re ready to learn sustainable ways to keep the weight off with new healthy habits, contact me here to start your weight loss journey.