Keeping your weight stable or even losing weight becomes harder and harder if you’re caught in a few bad habits. With just a few simple changes in your routine, you can get rid of any bad influence on your body’s ability to burn fat.
Discover the bad habits that lead to weight gain and find out how to kick them for good, in order to lose weight or simply stick to your healthy weight in an easier way.
Multi-Tasking While Eating
Paying attention to what you eat is very important in order to feel full for longer. When you’re enjoying your meals, you’re less likely to overeat, as long as you don’t multi-task. Eating while standing up, in front of the TV or the computer is always a bad idea.
When you’re paying attention to something else, you’re more likely to ignore your body’s signals that should tell you when you’ve had enough.
Constant Snacking
While healthy snacks are recommended in most diets, even fresh fruit and vegetables can add up if you’re constantly munching on them. If you have hypoglycemia you need the constant intake of energy rich foods, but without it, your body will just get used to constant feeding and will never get around to burning fat efficiently. That’s why constant snacking is one of the bad habits that lead to weight gain.
Grocery Shopping When Hungry
If you’re hungry when you’re shopping for food, you’re a lot more likely to make bad choices and then having the extra food around will be a constant temptation. Eat a healthy meal or snack before you go shopping for food and stick to your list. If you’re always getting yourself carried away because of momentary cravings, you’re more likely to gain weight.
Finishing Every Portion
Few people argue that portions aren’t out of control, especially when you’re eating out. Just because you’re getting a full plate doesn’t mean you have to finish it. Start focusing on normal portions and practice self-censoring, especially if you’re not particularly enjoying the dish you’re eating. Always finishing portions and stopping short of licking the plate clean is definitely one of the bad habits that lead to weight gain.
Cooking Without Measuring
Even if you feel you’re an accomplished cook, you shouldn’t make meals without measuring what you’re putting in them. Relying on your eyes too much is definitely one of the bad habits that lead to weight gain, when all you need is a measuring cup. If you love your sugar-coated cereal every morning, you should also use a measuring cup to make sure you’re not eating way to many calories on your first meal of the day.
Not Counting Liquid Calories
Whether you love coffee or indulge in more than one or two glasses of alcoholic beverages, you can’t ignore the impact liquid calories have on your waistline. From soft drinks and lattes to wine and hard liquor, make sure you’re not overindulging in habits that actually promote weight gain.
Sticking to the Few Healthy Options You Know
Being a bit adventurous when it comes to new ingredients can actually help keep your weight stable. If you’re just eating a few healthy foods again and again, you’re bound to get sick of them and start finding junk food a lot more attractive. Try to add vegetables in two or three colors to meals and don’t restrict your fruit choices.
Rewarding Yourself for Working Out
One of the most dangerous bad habits that lead to weight gain is giving yourself a culinary reward after an exhausting work out. The reward usually tends to be disproportionate to what you achieved by working out, so you’re basically erasing its benefits and adding more calories. Don’t use exercise as an excuse to eat something you wouldn’t normally try without feeling very guilty.
Always Reaching for the Salad Dressing
With just a two or three tablespoons of a fatty salad dressing, you’re turning a healthy meal into a calorie bomb. Vinaigrette is the dressing with the lowest number of calories, but a little lemon juice can be even more useful in helping you enjoy the actual flavors of the salad.
Skipping Meals
Whether it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner, skipping meals can slow down your metabolism and reduce your body’s fat burning abilities, so it’s definitely one of the bad habits that lead to weight gain. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so it’s really important that you eat at least a piece of fruit in the first hour after you wake up.
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