How to Avoid the Weight Loss Mistakes That 90% of All People Make

Here’s a hard truth to swallow: The odds of you actually losing weight are not good.

Consider that about 80% of new gym members will cancel their membership within 5 months, while approximately 95% of all attempts at dieting will fail. This means that success stories are hard to come by, and failure seems to be the norm.

Why is this? Is it because the vast majority of people are lazy and unmotivated? No, not even close. It’s simply that most people make the same mistakes.

They Don’t Know What Success Actually Looks Like

Let us ask you this. If someone plans to lose 30 pounds in 6 months, and they get stuck at the 22-pound mark, is this a failure? Of course not! But, some people feel like they’ve failed or let themselves down.

Once you’ve found out what your body can reasonably look like after 6-12 months of living right, be happy! From there, if you’re still not quite where you want to be, you can consider a body contouring treatment or a liposuction procedure to take care of those last few pounds or inches on your tummy. If you want to see what’s possible, check out some lipo before and after pictures.

The reality is that most people have never lost a significant amount of weight before. They can read all of the fitness magazines and get the best diets, but they don’t know how their bodies will react to it. But they still set a steadfast goal anyway.

They think they know what success looks like—they assume it’s losing those 30 pounds. But it’s not that myopic. Success comes from staying committed and staying the course. Failure comes from giving up. If you were disciplined in your diet and your exercise, but you fell just short of your goal, you didn’t fail. You simply didn’t know what your goal should be.

They Base Their Success on What Other People’s Success Looks Like

Fitness magazines and Instagram accounts can be a fantastic source of workout tips and motivation. However, they can be terrible for expectation management.

Yes, you can feel inspired by so-and-so’s journey to losing 30 pounds in 4 months. However, you’re equally likely to feel discouraged when you follow the same diet and exercise plan, but you’re only down 15 pounds.

You should never feel discouraged by the fact that you don’t look like the after pictures. And you should definitely not compare yourself to the fitness models you might be following. Remember, diet and exercise weren’t the only things that got them that body. In fact, even Victoria’s Secret models have been known to get a body contouring treatment before their big shows.

If you want to beat the odds and actually become a weight loss success story, you can do so by doing what very few people do: Know what success actually looks like, and don’t be so quick to declare failure.