4 Diet Mistakes I Just Made 4 Diet Mistakes I Just Made

I recently made 4 diet mistakes. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, I don’t think it’s any secret to anyone that over these last few months I have floundered when it comes to weight loss and consistency. Then, when the calendar rolled over to November, I decided to take on the 1st of the month as though it was the 1st of a new year and get my act together…and I still struggled, even with the resolve of a fresh start.

Man, weight loss is hard sometimes, no matter how long you have been at it. Change truly is a process, with both ups and downs. It takes time, and mistakes are an inevitable and necessary part of the journey. Fortunately, I don’t get down on myself for my missteps anymore…for the most part. I mean, I am only human! It’s totally normal, and okay, to feel discouraged from time to time.

But after I make a mistake now, I learn from it and move forward. This should be your goal, too – to know you’re never failing, only learning. Now that I have made this mindset shift, I am truly unstoppable. Here’s why this mindset is so powerful. It gives me the opportunity to reflect on what went wrong and fix it moving forward, rather than pretend it never happened. By doing this, I can (hopefully) keep myself from making the same mistake again down the road.

My recent struggles weren’t as epic as previous ones, as I still had lots of good days. But my progress still stalled, I felt less confident in my abilities, and I was increasingly frustrated with myself and my behavior. I racked my brain wondering why? Then it dawned on me. The root of all my weight loss problems came down to these 4 crucial mistakes. I’ve identified them and worked through them, and now I can move forward and do better, knowing what I did wrong.

Mistake #1. I lowered my calories.

Fed up with my stagnant weight graph, I decided I must need to shake things up in the calorie department. I let myself get in my own way when I started thinking. Eventually, I came to the [false] conclusion that I wasn’t losing weight because I wasn’t logging as many runs but was eating the same amount of calories as I did when I was running more often. Surely this was the culprit.

If I had practiced some self-reflection sooner, I would have easily seen the problem was not my current calorie target, but my sloppy and inconsistent tracking. That caused me to overshoot my calorie target on a regular basis. Those days threw my calorie average for the month well above the weight loss range. Looking back I feel like such a dope for placing blame on my carefully calculated, proven calorie target.

Hindsight is 20/20, and I know all this now. Unfortunately, in the heat of the moment, I made the depressing decision to drop my calorie goal by 100 calories to “make up” for fewer runs. Losing that 100 calories was brutal. Seeing the smaller number crushed my spirits and made me even less motivated to work toward my goals. And it was all so unnecessary! If I had evaluated my behavior a bit more honestly, I would have just kept my current numbers and carried on. At least I know that now!

Mistake #2. I tried to only eat healthy food

I decided to cut out inflammatory foods in hopes it would alleviate the pain I’ve been experiencing from a shoulder injury. So, no dairy, sugar, or grains. Come to find out, that leaves basically just the worst food groups to choose from.

I started eating lots of foods that aren’t my favorite, like broccoli…I was eating broccoli…(shudder), and not eating the loves of my life: things like bread, chocolate, and pizza. I felt wildly unsatisfied, and ravenous. I need pizza. Literally NEED it. So eventually, what do you think I did?

Yep, I BINGED

On the pizza I needed but told myself I couldn’t have, among numerous other things I’d been depriving myself. As sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, Mom is sure to binge when she restricts herself. I ate candy – SO MUCH CANDY. And pizza. Then more candy. Plus Nachos. Candy, pizza, and nachos are my junk food trinity. (If this sounds familiar to you, check out my friend’s blog post about why a “bad” diet day is actually a good thing.)

I wish I knew how many pounds of candy I ate in the course of 24 hours, for no reason other than to impress you with my abilities. I went for a 3 mile run smack dab in the middle of this fatty, sugary feast. The whole time I was running my belly felt like it was full of cement. I wanted to puke so badly, but the cement had hardened in my stomach and wouldn’t budge. Somehow I still managed to run those three miles with under 9 min splits. Pretty impressive, I’d say.

*The Run From Candy 5k was a BAD choice*

During this run from Halloween candy hell, I decided I’d learned my lesson and vowed to cut the crap. Then immediately upon walking in the door proceeded to devour 3 of the brownies I’d baked mid-binge. Three. Then, because that obviously wasn’t enough, I walked to the pantry and ate a number of pre-packaged rice krispie treats. In my defense, they were “fun” sized, but it was anything but fun opening one little package after another during my feeding frenzy.

Speaking of frustrating wrappers, how about those fun-sized Twizzlers? They’re filled with some kind of super static cling technology, and stuck to my hands and clothes like badges of dishonor. I washed it all down with a swig of nerds, for good measure, then balanced out the sweet with a good dose of salty fast food fries, with real pop and pizza on the side. Yes, you read that right – a side of pizza. FUN TIMES!

The restriction approach did not serve my body and mind well, however, it taught me an important lesson.

A lesson I should know already: don’t change too much at once. I’ve read that, rather than eliminating certain foods or drinks from your diet on your quest for health, you should, instead, focus on adding healthier choices into your diet. This will be my next approach. Wish me luck. I’m fit, but I’m not fueling my body properly to reach my goals. This is my next great challenge.

Mistake #3. I slacked with tracking

Like I mentioned before, I became pretty lenient when it came to weighing and tracking my food. A bite here, half a cookie there, or a harmless taste of this or that just doesn’t cut it. Especially when you’re already walking the fine line between caloric maintenance and deficit, with the goal to lose weight. You must meticulously track your intake, or you risk going over on calories and going absolutely nowhere when it comes to progress.a

Mistake #4. I stopped weighing myself

The scale is my accountability partner. It keeps me grounded. For about five days leading up to my feast, I didn’t weigh. Then the morning after the binge, I weighed myself. Why? I don’t know. But I didn’t like the number I saw (obviously), and I was frustrated that I didn’t know where I’d started. Was I up 5 pounds? 2? Who knows?! Who cares?! Might as well keep it rolling.

This made me frustrated, and my feelings got the best of me. I ate my feelings that whole day, then I weighed the next morning. I was certain my weight would spike even higher, but guess what? It didn’t. My weight barely budged, so the previous day’s weight was a total fluke – a false high.

As soon as I weighed and logged it, I was able to get back on track.

Had I been regularly weighing myself, as I’m accustomed to and like works for me, I’d have known that and snapped right back to my regularly scheduled programming. I could’ve saved myself a full day of binging out.

So What Now?

I’m going back to the basics over here. Back to logging everything, weighing-in daily, eating the foods I love often, and allowing myself as many calories as possible while still seeing results. My only goal this month is to log everything. Yes, I will try to stay in my calorie range, but even on days I go over I will log it. This is the habit that made me drop weight this year.

Back to staying the course, regardless of what illogical emotions my stupid, brilliant brain tries to tell me. Staying the course on the high calorie, all foods allowed road works. I wouldn’t have lost over 20 pounds this year alone if it didn’t. It is, hands down, the best way I have ever chosen to lose weight.

I thought I was out of my funk a few weeks ago, but it hadn’t fully run its course until now. The truth is, a weight loss journey can be dark and horrible sometimes, but it is also incredibly satisfying and worthwhile. I won’t give up, because quitting would result in a far worse reality than any place I’ve been on even the darkest of dieting days.

I won’t quit

I’ll keep going, and it might still be dark and horrible once in a while, but at least it’s not lonely anymore. I’ve got Mom’s Kids in my corner (along with my Insta besties). I’m grateful for safe places to collapse and vent when I’m overwhelmed by my weight loss and fitness journey. There’s always someone willing to help me up after I fall, and remind me who I am and what I’m capable of.

Now, I’d like you to consider your own journey. Have you made these same mistakes, or some of your own? Maybe you just don’t know where or how to start? I’ve learned from experience that drastic, unsustainable changes will not get you where you want to go. It’s time to stop taking big, impossible leaps that go against who you are and everything that brings you peace, and start taking manageable baby steps towards real, lasting change.

If you don’t know where to start on the slow sustainable path, start here. And if you need someone who understands your struggles, join my weight loss support group, Kid’s.

Follow me on Patreon as I continue on my weight loss journey.