5 Common Mistakes Standing Between You and Your Fitness Goals
In general most people have a basic understanding of what they need to do in order to reach a fitness goal that they’ve set for themselves. The health, fitness, and nutrition market is definitely full of different ways to achieve a super wide range of goals. However, whether someone’s goal is to lose anywhere from a few pounds to a hundred pounds, just tone up, get shredded or bulk out, I have seen these same five mistakes slow people’s progress from hitting a target that they’ve set for themselves. Here is a quick rundown of those five things so that you can be on the look out for that “invisible obstacle” blocking your fitness success.
Not Eating Enough- Regardless of the goal is overall weight loss or gain, a lot of people hoping to make a change to their physique are not eating enough calories. Yes. You read that correctly. Before working with most clients, I usually ask them to keep a food journal, which makes it simple to spot dietary issues or “holes”. Any and all body change comes down to calories in versus calories out. If you want to gain weight you need to consistently eat more than your body’s caloric needs for the day. If you want to lose weight you need to eat less than your body’s caloric needs for the day or “burn off” the remainder. While that seems obvious for those wanting to gain weight, it may feel counter intuitive for those wanting to lose weight. Basically, if you create too much off a caloric deficit, your body will go in to a “survival” state to protect itself. It usually will do this by dropping your metabolism or intensifying cravings. So if you are feeling lethargic, find that your are depending too much on coffee and energy drinks or really having a strong uptick in your cravings, then that may be a good indicator that you may want to just track your calories for a bit to make sure you are eating enough or that it may possibly be time recalculate your Basal Metabolic Rate and set a new calorie intake goal.
Not Drinking Enough Water- Hydrate! It is almost a mantra these days. We all know we need to do it. Everyone has a hydro flask. There’s usually bottled water readily available practically everywhere we go. Most of us have safe water flowing from out taps at home. Yet we all don’t drink nearly enough water a day. Water is the catalyst for pretty much all of the functions your body performs internally. That also means changing your body composition. Converting fat to energy, building muscle, flushing waste, digesting food, tissue repair, sweating and so so much more. Your body needs water to do all of it. Unfortunately modern convenience has made it super simple to “check out” when it comes to being “in tune” with our bodies. Sluggish? Grab some coffee. Lips dry? Grab some lip balm. Headache? Take an Advil. However, all of those things are also natural signals from your body that you need to drink more water. So do that!
Not Sleeping Enough- Your body does so many things while you’re sleeping. Not getting enough sleep at night will definitely set you back on seeing the changes you are trying to make. That goes for whether or not you want to lose or gain weight. Your body needs sleep to be able to repair itself. If you are not getting the amount of sleep you need every night, that means your body is not getting the time it needs to take care of itself let alone the changes you are working to achieve. Worse yet, regularly missing or shorting yourself on sleep can cause your body to produce a stress hormone called cortisol. Cortisol will cause your body to hold on to and increase it’s visceral fat stores. Visceral fat is the fat around your organs. It does this to help protect those organs from stress due to lack of sleep. Since our organs are predominately in our midsection that means your body is holding on to deep stomach fat stores. So get some rest!
Consuming Alcohol Regularly- It is fairly common knowledge that drinking effects the liver. The reason for that is the liver metabolizes toxins out of your body. What isn’t so commonly known is that your liver is also metabolizes fat out of your body as well as several functions that only your liver can perform (hence the name liver). Drinking will definitely set you back from losing weight. However it will also set you set you back from putting on muscle as well. Keep in mind that since the liver does so much for the body, it will prioritize those functions from most important to least important. Unfortunately what someone is trying to accomplish in the gym is going to be ranked as least important. Don’t give your liver extra busy work to do. It may be worth considering cutting back or cutting out drinking altogether to reach a certain fitness goal.
Being Unrealistic- The last point I want to bring up is setting goals that are realistic. A lot of people don't really have an accurate idea of what it takes to reach a specific goal. This can come in so many different forms. Are you setting a realistic timeline? Are you setting a realistic weight loss goal? Do you know what you have to cut back or cut out completely? Do you know what you need to do nutritionally to achieve that goal? The health, fitness and nutrition market are flooded with an overwhelming amount of choices. There are several healthful routes to your goal. There are also lots of snake oil and smoke and mirrors out there. Decide on a course of action and stay the course. It is just as unrealistic to trust a plan to work, but then not give it time to work. After time if it’s not for you, then switch it up. It’s also unrealistic to pick a plan but then not follow it completely. If you think a plan will work then you also have to stick to the plan. Picking and choosing what parts you want to stick to is not a realistic approach to obtaining your goal, either.
