As summer approaches, many people start making changes to their diet or lifestyle to reach certain health goals. But there are some common pitfalls to be aware of when trying to reach weight-loss goals this time of year.
Before you jump into a diet or weight-loss program, there are some important factors to consider to make sure you are being safe, realistic and healthy.
Vanessa Rissetto, registered dietitian and co-founder of Culina Health, shared the top dieting mistakes people should avoid and how to healthily reach your goals instead.
Cutting too many calories
The first thing to ask yourself before making any changes to your diet is: “Is this safe?” Rissetto told TODAY in a segment that aired on April 20. If you’re cutting too many calories, it’s not.
Being too restrictive is not only risky, it’s also unsustainable and a large reason why people fail to stick to new diets, TODAY previously reported.
“Some things you can do for a day or two days and then that’s it, but you actually need fuel to function,” said Rissetto.
Instead of heavily restricting your caloric intake, Rissetto suggested using math to figure out how many calories your body actually needs.
“A lot of people try to cut calories and they think, ‘oh, my friend eats 1000 calories a day, so I should do that too’,” said Rissetto, adding that people should base their caloric intake on their own weight.
As a general rule of thumb, she suggested dividing your weight by 2.2 and multiplying that by 25. So if you are 150 pounds, it would be 68 times 25, which would give you 1700 calories a day to maintain your current weight, she explained. If weight loss is your goal and you decide to eat less than that, you should never go below 1300 calories per day, she added.
Not getting enough fiber or water
Fiber and hydration are a key part of any diet, said Rissetto, but people often forget to focus on these two factors.
In the summer when the temperatures are higher, digestion can slow down, said Rissetto. Fiber and…
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