Losing weight is as much about what you do as the things you need to avoid doing. The latter do not only hinder your progress towards the desired body shape. These weight loss mistakes also endanger your health and can cause serious and irreversible damage.

5 Weight Loss Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs

1. Dropping entire food categories off your menu (except junk food)

‘No fats’, ‘no carbs’, and any other diets that call for removing a complete group of nutrients from your meal plan are not to be followed. Ever.

In some extremely rare cases, usually associated with recuperating from a severe disease, patients can be advised to drop a certain group of nutrients for a while. However, this must be a medical necessity and the person has to be observed by healthcare professionals.

Both carbs and fats, as well as other macronutrients (proteins and fiber) are essential for maintaining your health. The right way to control their intake for weight loss is to eliminate ‘bad’ carbs and fats. These come from foods high in saturated fats, like full-fat dairy, fat meat, processed products, etc.

One food group you can, and should, drop completely is junk food. Processed snacks that bring saturated fats, refined sugar, and ‘empty’ calories into your body are both useless and potentially harmful.

2. Purging your body in unhealthy ways or going on extended detox programs

‘Purging’ in this case means induced vomiting or using laxatives to ‘expel’ food from your body as fast as possible after ingesting it. These practices are so dangerous, they can be life-threatening. Using these ‘weight loss techniques’ also can be a sign of a severe eating disorder.

Detox diets and programs aren’t as bad (unless they call for all-out fasting or something similarly unhealthy). However, abusing them is one of the weight loss mistakes that put your health at risk. Never use a detox program that requires dieting for more than 2 weeks, or one that calls for a diet devoid of essential nutrients.

3. Taking the wrong kind of weight loss supplements

Note that this concerns only high-quality natural products produced in compliance with the FDA standards. Low-quality pills or products with dubious ingredients or dangerous effects, like hormonal correction, are a danger by default.

Natural weight loss pills, containing herbal ingredients like caffeine, coleus forskholii, citrus extract, etc., have been found both safe and effective. However, to make sure they really boost your dietary efforts, you need to take the right supplement for you. For example, weight loss pills for women are usually designed with their hormonal balance in mind. There are also pills that focus on boosting metabolism, and those that suppress appetite, as well as natural fat formation inhibitors.

4. Exercising too much

While not exercising at all definitely counts as one of weight loss mistakes to avoid, exercising too much is probably worse. The reason for this is that intense workouts burn off too much energy, so your body forces you to eat more. Ignoring hunger in these cases is extremely dangerous as your body literally has no ‘fuel’ to run on.

Note that in the majority of cases, people don’t even notice that they eat more after a heavy exercise session. You also need to know that burning off even 500 calories takes so much intense work that only pro athletes can handle this on a regular basis.

5. Eating too many ‘good’ foods

Overeating is the number one of all weight loss mistakes, even during weight loss programs. You see, switching to ‘good’ low-calorie and low-fat foods doesn’t mean you can eat more of them. Portion control remains the most important component of any weight loss diet. You have to count the calories you ingest and burn off throughout the day carefully to make sure your weight management plan is truly effective.