- Skipping meals: We recommend planning 5 meals and trying your best to stick to the scheduled mealtimes. Patients who skip meals miss out on the nutrition and protein that a particular meal could have offered. People tend to overeat at their next one because of this, enlarging the pouch and thus over time eating more. Rather than skipping a meal, replace it with a protein shake.
- Eating solids and drinking liquids at the same time: Once solid foods are flushed down by liquids, hunger kicks in a lot sooner and leads to grazing. Avoid drinking liquids 5 minutes before your meal and resume drinking at least 30 minutes after. Avoid having a glass of any liquid next to your meal.
- Grazing, mindless munching, and nibbling packs calories without you being aware of it: Common snack foods tend to have more calories and fewer nutrients than main meal foods. People who snack a lot are often unaware of the extra food they tend to consume while preparing meals, cleaning the kitchen, sitting at a meeting, attending a social event, or standing in a checkout line. It is best to establish an eating pattern and stick to it.
- Drinking calories: This is the surest way to add up calories without nutrients. Avoid calorie-filled liquids such as natural and commercial juices, sports drinks, energy drinks, gourmet coffees, V8 vegetable juices, vitamin and protein waters, among much more. Drink water, infusions, tonics, or herbal teas (without added sugars). Keep in mind that alcohol sabotages all weight loss and weight control efforts.
- Eating the wrong carbs: Filling your body on “empty carbs” such as refined flour, bread, and pasta limits the stomach’s capacity for nourishing foods. These foods usually lack nutrients that stimulate the body’s ability to work on fat burning. Be aware of protein bars, fruit juices, and alcohol, as these are a concentrated form of carbs.
- Not meeting protein needs: Ideally weight loss should come from fat tissue, not muscle. If daily protein intake is not enough, your body will use your own muscle as a protein source, further reducing its capacity to burn fat. Therefore, it is crucial to reach your individual protein needs.
- Eating processed food: These increase toxic load, add burden to the liver, and make it hard to metabolize the extra fat. Chemicals, colorings, and additives can alter gut function and therefore nutrient absorption which is necessary for overall metabolism.
- Pureed food syndrome: Foods with a pureed consistency (e.g., puddings, mashed potatoes, or creamy soups) tend to empty your pouch much faster, shortening the duration of satiety and making you feel hungry sooner. Put an effort into chewing solid foods properly and preferably from lean protein sources and produce.
- Sleeping less than 8 hours a day: Sleeping is a physiological need. Studies have shown that people who sleep less than 6 hours will most likely have excess weight.
- Being sedentary: Being sedentary greatly impacts weight as our body needs to move and exercise to eliminate toxins, regulate hormones, burn fat, and build muscle. All these activities are extremely relevant to weight control.
