We’ve all been there – it seems like you’re doing everything right, but still the weight doesn’t come off. You’re focused, you’re determined, you have a plan, but still the results are fleeting at best. Are you being punished? Is it some kind of cosmic retribution for a lifetime of nutritionally-challenged indiscretions? Happily the answer is no, but you just might be dragging yourself down without even knowing it. Sometimes our best laid plans can actually pave the road to dietary destruction. Here are the four top reasons you could be sabotaging your own weight loss.

1. The Whole Grain Trap

You’ve read that whole grains are a great way to not only get the fiber you need, but also to safeguard the health of your heart. The problem is that every snack food manufacturer has been reading the same articles. And even though your favorite snack food may have swapped out white flour for whole grains, there can still be high levels of fat, sugar and sodium present that no amount of whole grain will ever counteract because, after all, a whole grain cookie is still a cookie. Rather than looking for whole grain versions of your favorite snacks, try looking to other sources of whole grains like brown and wild rice, oatmeal, bulgur, spelt, quinoa, whole grain breads and even whole grain cereals (be careful of high sugar versions however).

2. Cheating on your Diet

We all know that iron-clad willpower is difficult if not impossible to muster up for any meaningful length of time, so it makes perfect sense to build some cheating days into you r diet – you’re only human after all, right? Research has shown that those who maintain a Spartan diet during the week and give themselves a free pass for the weekend easily regain the weight lost during the week by the end of the weekend. Instead of giving in to the desire to binge, monitor your calories. If you want that slice of pizza on Friday night, just be sure you’ve made room for the extra calories by making lower calorie choices throughout the day. If you can maintain a relatively consistent caloric intake over the entire week, research has shown that you’re 50% more likely to succeed.

3. Cooking for Yourself

Again, this one seems like a good idea – and it is – if done right. Restaurant portions are sometimes four times the size the USDA recommends, so cooking your own meals certainly gives you control over your portion size. The problem arises when you sample the food as you cook. Or when you add more oil, more sugar, more salad dressing… The temptations are many and most of the time invisible to you as you prepare the meal – you are in a cooking mindset and not an eating mindset, so your defenses are down and you can end up ingesting hundreds more calories than if you had just eaten what you had prepared. Be careful to use measuring cups, measuring spoons and even a food scale so you know the amounts of the ingredients you are using – and resist the urge to lick the spoon!

4. You’re not Resting Enough

It seems counterproductive to sleep when you could be spending that time at the gym, but sometimes that is exactly what you need to do. Researchers have found that a night of poor sleep can increase your appetite for high-carb snacks the next day – to the tune of an extra 200 calories or more if you’re not careful.  Be sure that you are getting at least seven hours of sleep. If you can get eight, all the better. You will have more energy to pour into your workouts and your willpower will benefit as well.

Related Articles
	Common Dieting Mistakes Dieting isn’t easy and if you’ve ever tried to follow or stick to a diet, you know what a challenge it is to follow the rules. Many times dieters break the rules and make mistakes without even knowing it. If you’re thinking about pursuing the diet path to aid in weight loss or to improve your health   ...Read more		Easy Diet Choices that will Help you Lose Weight I can still remember watching my mom diet when I was a kid. She would load the tuna fish onto her kitchen scale to keep her portion sizes and calories in check. I don’t know why that image has stuck with me for so many years, but perhaps it has something to do with the great challenge that we seem to   ...Read more