We all experience the many obvious ways to gain back the pounds we have lost. These include growing tired of a calorie restrictive diets or diets that prohibit certain food groups or certain ways of cooking. Certain cravings set in and before we know it, we are off the diet. We simply need to plan each days food choices in order to avoid these obvious pitfalls.

With that being said, there are hidden ways to gain weight that are not as obvious which we must navigate through. The following are several weight loss pitfalls that we need to recognize and avoid.

Since we are overweight our \”normal\” activity level becomes much more sedentary than the activity level of a person who\’s weight is appropriate for their height. What we must do, is to learn new habits that will increase our physical activity.

First, let\’s take our activity levels during our work day. First, when we arrive, park further away from the office than we usually do and enjoy the extra walk. Use the stairs whenever we can. Impress co-workers and the boss by running their errands for them. During lunch, use a portion of it to walk around the office. These are just a few of the many easy and simple choices that we can make to increase our physical activity during working hours. You can think of some yourself. So now go and implement them.

Second, while eating, we need to avoid the temptation of going back for seconds. We should develop the habit of drinking a glass of water before each meal. This will help us to feel full sooner. Then fix our plate with an appropriate amount of food, slowly eating and chewing each bite completely. By doing this, we enjoy the taste, texture and smell of our meal. Also, by taking our time, we give our stomach time to tell our minds that we are full.

By going back and getting a second helping, we our drastically increasing the number of calories consumed. Just by taking our time and allowing our stomach to tell our mind were full, we avoid one of our biggest and most damaging pitfall.

Thirdly, and what I am guilty of, is skipping a meal and then eating an enormous meal later. It is much better for us health wise and metabolically to eat several small meals during the day.

When we eat an exceptionally large meal our bodies react by causing us to feel lethargic which usually results with us taking a nap and or watching television. This large meal, our bodies reaction and our lethargy is not good for our health.

Gradually feeding our bodies through out the day helps to increase and maintain our metabolism. By skipping meals, our bodies believe that we are starving and will try to store fat rather than burn it.

A fourth hidden pitfall is eating at buffets. Today\’s \”all you can eat\” restaurants are an enormous temptation to anyone who eats there. It is just human nature for us to want to \”get our money\’s worth\”. With that frame of mind, we will pile on and pile on more food while the calories we eat skyrocket.

These type of restaurants provide us with heavily processed foods loaded with sauces, sugars and cream. The healthy unprocessed foods are usually off to the side and not prominently displayed.

If you do eat at an \”all you can eat setting\”, plan your meal, select healthy choices, get single helpings and make only one trip through the line. You can also ask your server for a menu and get an entree without the buffet.

Our fifth pitfall is what we do to an already healthy food choice. We can start off with a healthy salad, but by the time we add fat laden dressing, cheese, nuts and croutons, these condiments have tripled the amount of calories.

Many menu calorie counters are for the dressed down version of the entree. So when we add our favorite condiments, the caloric value goes way up.

The sixth pitfall on our list is junk food. As the name implies, this choice usually contains lots of calories with very little nutritional value. Junk food is also called \”comfort food\” and our desire for it is driven by our mood and emotions.

Junk Food is what we reach for when we are anxious, angry, depressed or upset. What we are doing is \”feeding a feeling\” not our \”hunger\”.

The seventh pitfall is the habit of drinking alcohol. Alcohol is \”empty calories\”, in other words no nutritional value only calories. There is the issue that alcohol is a drug and alters our state of mind. In my case, it lowers my ability to resist temptation and making it is easy for me to throw caution to the wind and start eating. If you are serious about losing weight, it is best to avoid alcohol.

The eighth and last pitfall I want to bring to your attention is eating while we are watching TV. If you do this, you develop the habit of eating because you are watching TV and not because you are hungry. When we eat a meal, always prepare a setting and concentrate on the food and act of eating. Do not develop the habit of eating as an afterthought.

As you can see, these pitfalls cause us to develop habits resulting in weight gain. These are subconscious habits and we do them without realizing it. We must take the time to take note of our food habits, how we relate to food and how we consume it. Probably, we have been doing these activities for years by \”remote control\”. Take stock of these habits that bring excessive calories into our lives. Avoid them and replace these bad activities with healthier behaviors.

Once we create new healthy eating habits and recognize our relationship with food, we will be on our way to weight loss and can take back our health.

There are many obstructions that stand in the way to weight loss. Most of them have to do with the way we think and our belief system. One of the best tools that I have found for dealing with my self sabotage is at \”Awakening Yourself\”. David Duane Wilson also invites you to look the information available at his site http://HowCanILoseWeightChallenge.com

There are many obstructions that stand in the way to weight loss. Most of them have to do with the way we think and our belief system. One of the best tools that I have found for dealing with my self sabotage is at http://SelfHelpSelfReflection.com Also visit http://HowCanILoseWeightChallenge.com

Author Bio: There are many obstructions that stand in the way to weight loss. Most of them have to do with the way we think and our belief system. One of the best tools that I have found for dealing with my self sabotage is at \”Awakening Yourself\”. David Duane Wilson also invites you to look the information available at his site http://HowCanILoseWeightChallenge.com

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: how can I lose weight,weight loss,lose weight,how to lose weight,David Duane Wilson,diets,diet