Mistakes I have made in my Weight Loss/ Fitness Journey

mistakes made in weight loss journey

I started my weight loss journey in August all for the wrong reasons. I would love to say that I woke up one day and realised that I had been packing on some extra pounds and decided to then make it a mission to get fit. Instead it was the break up of my ex that got my ass in the gym. Break ups are never easy, and its worse if you are someone like me that is a dweller and over thinks and analyses EVERYTHING. I was mentally exhausted with the constant thoughts about it all and decided to distract myself by hitting the gym.

I will be honest that my thoughts around that time was that if I had a fitter body, with abs and a thigh gap, then I would be considered more attractive and would still be eligible to find love. (I am an idiot I know) It wasn’t until about November when I came to my senses, lost quite a considerable amount of weight that I asked myself “Ok now what” . It was then that I scrapped the whole solely just losing weight idea and decided to go on a healthy lifestyle journey. But all that can be explained in another post. What I want to explain in this post is all the ‘weight loss’ mistakes I made prior to my realisation.

advice on weight loss

Quick Fixes

Tummy teas, weight loss tablets/ shakes, corsets are completely the bane of my life. But in the beginning I relied on them so much to getting me to achieve an unrealistic body goal image I had in my head, in record time. The reality is all I got was constant cramps, palpation’s, headaches and counting the tiles in my toilet from being in the toilet for ungodly hours. I wish Instagram Influences would stop promoting these crappy products for impressionable people who are struggling with their weight. It’s such a mental mind f*** and can be really toxic to your body physically and emotionally. Please understand marketers who promote this products are simply after your money and its all false. If you are losing weight on these, I assure you its a short term fix and you will eventually put back the weight if not even more so.

Unrealistic Expectations

You know those people who do one session in the gym and rush back home check the mirror and see they look exactly the same and get completely frustrated? Yeah that was me! I would watch countless IG exercise videos and believe that magically I could lose the weight instantly. Its not going to happen overnight, heck you might not even see a difference after a month. Personally for me I truly started the difference after 3 months. That was probably mostly due the fact I was making so many mistakes beforehand and when I finally stopped and started working out and being active the right way, was when I truly then saw a difference.

Advice for a healthy fitness journey

Not listening to my body

After binning the various quick fixes products and actually committing to going to the gym, I got into an compulsive state and started going everyday, even at times twice! Now i’m not saying this is wrong for all, this might work for some, but for someone like me who already has existing heart problems, I was putting strenuous pressure on myself and not allowing my body to rest. Also being clueless and not stretching after my session, my body would be in so much agony for days after instead of resting and giving myself a break, I believed the pain was a positive thing and would eagerly go back to the gym and work 2x harder. I burnt out BAD! I woke up one morning having difficulties in my breathing and having serious flu like symptoms. Because I couldn’t physically get myself to the gym for a week or so, I convinced myself all my hard work would go down the drain and started falling back into old habits by eating crap food all over again. I now know that my body needs rest, to be able to repair and heal the break down of my muscles. Like I said there is not a one size fits all on how many rest days you should have, but please listen to your body. If you feel tired or burnt out then don’t force yourself to workout. Your not going to pile the weight back on by missing a day or three.

Food Restrictions

Ugh, I cant lie this is one mistake I still make from time to time. Listen your girl loves her food, all damn kinds of food and too top it off I have a sweet tooth that could outdo Willy Wonka if I do say so myself. I made the mistake of going complete cold turkey and sticking straight to vegetables and soups, having carbs to not having carbs, eating meat to turning vegan… basically trying to only eat foods which the ‘gurus’ say you should eat. Pathetic! From getting bored of food choices, hormones and dealing with ‘the time of the month’ I caved in and wolfed down fast food and sweets with the promise of working extra hard in the gym the next day. The truth is restricting yourself is only going to make you want to fight back eventually and binge like a maniac. I follow a 80/20 diet plan. So I will eat 80% of healthy good food and then allow myself to eat 20% of my favourite treats when I want to. Because I am not restricting my body from what it craves, I find that I don’t even feel like having treats everyday, its like my body doesn’t want it but knows that if it does I wont deny it of it. I hate the term ‘cheat meal’ because what are you cheating against? At the end of the day even healthy foods have calories in them so it should all be about balance.

tips and tricks for weight loss

Relying on the Scales

I hate scales. When I started this journey I relied on them massively and it affected my progression mentally and physically. If your sole purpose is to lose a certain amount of weight then by all means using a scale is advisable to help you keep on track, but if you are simply trying to live a healthy lifestyle, then keep the scales at a distance. The amount of times I would think I was killing it in the gym and eating so right to only step on the scales and see that I have lost a kilo or nothing for that matter was soul crushing. I would look in the mirror and see that I look slimmer and different body parts were looking toner but couldn’t understand why the scales would tell me otherwise. You see you can lose fat loss but gain muscle mass and unfortunately the scales cant shout that out to you. So if you think your losing weight and looking toner but its not being interpreted on the scales, don’t feel discouraged and give up. If you look and feel good then that is all that matters.

Discrediting my Progress

Instagram is the “looking glass” devil. We all know full well people post on that app the best part of what they want to share on that site, but still we get suckered into thinking its real life and depressing over our own lives. The amount of times I would spend on Instagram scrolling through one to another account off absolute Instagram fitness babes, wallowing why I cant have that body and worshipping theirs while despising mine, that even when I was losing weight I wouldn’t champion myself and be happy. Instead I would complain that it was not good enough and I look nowhere as good as the oil covered, abs popping IG girls. Easier said than done, but stop relying on someone else journey and concentrate on yours. Do I still scroll and look at IG fitness pages? Of course I do, but its now more in admiration and curiosity rather than comparing and lessening myself.

Seven mistakes made on weight loss journey

Treating it like a Chore

Finally the last mistake I made, was treating getting fit a chore. There was times I didn’t want to go to the gym and would force myself to go and put in a half assed effort just to say ‘At least i went’. There is no point. If you don’t want to go the gym or workout, then believe me its your body telling you it just wants to rest. You don’t have to workout everyday and after some time you will start to work out what your body wants and needs. Once I stopped seeing working out as a chore and started to enjoy getting healthy and incorporating it as a part of a daily routine, I saw more progress and I felt more proud about my accomplishments and goals.

 

What mistakes have or are you making in your fitness journey?

 

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Disclaimer: What works for me may not necessarily work for you. I am merely documenting my lifestyle to share and not at all insinuating that you have to do exactly what I do to get near or the same results. I am not an expert.
All images taken by Stacey Louise White. More of her work can be find on her photography page here.

21 thoughts on “Mistakes I have made in my Weight Loss/ Fitness Journey

  1. Loved this post! I think for me major mistakes I’ve made has been 1. In diet – I thought carbs were evil so would eat a plate of BBQ spare ribs for dinner and feel satisfied that I had no rice with it lmao! 2. Comparing myself to others, feeling “embarrassed” to not look like person X even though I’ve/I’d be working so hard in the gym.

    Might reflect and write something similar on the blog (of course will credit you for inspo!) I started my heath / fitness journey in July 2017 and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made for sure!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Oh girl I know that carb one all too well. By the time I realised it actually benefits you I was too too happy! 🤣… ooh would love to see your post on your experiences. Thank you for reading Hun xx

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  2. Found this post super helpful! I used to always start strict diets and end up failing and I was just being way to strict and it was too hard to keep up with.. Lately I have been taking a much better approach: allowing treats sometimes when I feel like it and not expecting fast results. Getting fit can be tough. When you said don’t treat it like a chore, that is so true! & is something I will try to think about more 🙂

    Btw, you are looking amazing – you should be proud of yourself girl! xx

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thank you so much Jasmin, it definitely is not easy and I am still learning new things now. I enjoy working out more now because I’ve made it fun and part of my daily life. I’m so glad you found the post helpful 😘💗

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  3. First of all, you look killer 🙌🏾 LOVE this post, I was nodding my head at every point you made because I have felt close to if not exactly the same on my journey and it’s comforting knowing others have felt or feel the same. The mistakes I’ve made on my journey are mainly diet based, e.g. restricting things I enjoy because I’ve heard a fitness blogger say it’s bad but I’m realising that every persons body is different and what works for them may not work for me. And to use others workouts, dietary choices with a pinch of salt. I meal prep occasionally and gym 5 days a week but I don’t extreme meal prep or workout everyday and thats completely fine 🤷🏾‍♀️ I still compare my body to the likes of GracefitUK on Instagram but we have different body shapes and genetics so we will never have the same body and that’s okay. My body looks good and I feel confident, happy and healthy. You’ve inspired me to showcase my body on my blog/Instagram and talk about the negatives of my journey rather than always talking about the positive, people want to know these things that we often keep private.

    Fran | http://www.franciscarockey.co.uk

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I love this Fran! Be very proud of how you far you come in your fitness journey. Ah I used to get serious green eye envy for Graces body but no matter how much I train or healthy eat I don’t have graces body structure so it’s unrealistic for me to ever think I will look like her. I do watch her YT for my exercise workout to try but I’ve stop idolising. Meal prep is good for me because it makes me stick to what I’m going to eat and not find myself in McDonald on my lunch break lol. I’m enjoying seeing your progress and I can’t wait too see what else you achieve! You got this girl! 💗

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  4. Great post!
    These are super common mistakes I see all the time at work, especially food restriction and getting too tied up in what the scales say.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. Yes to all of this!! I have made all the wrong fitness choices in the past and tried to find the easy way out. Finally one day I woke up and realized there is no easy way out! I worked on everything I hated. My weaknesses became strengths and made me feel like anything is possible! Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing!

    Liked by 2 people

  6. Congrats girl!! You look AMAZING!! I too am on a weight loss journey and I go by ladyboss lifestyle that I mention in my blog and I am down several inches already!!! I think different diets work for different people. Some rather do keto, some atkins, some weight watchers, etc. I think the ladyboss lifestyle is a more better fit for me though. Pretty simple and I don;t feel deprived. Congrats again!! STUNNING!!

    Liked by 1 person

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