I’ve been busy lately creating a community and writing courses, so this is my first article in a couple of weeks.

I’ll keep this short and straight to the point.

Chances are you’ve been exercising regularly. You’ve been following fitness trends, you’ve been watching your favorite influencers online, and nutrition was practically your #1 priority…

Yet there is still fat on your waist, there’s no sign of a six-pack, and you’re wondering why you’re even working out in the first place.

I mean you put a lot of effort into fitness and nutrition for the subpart results and you wonder why is that.

Well, you’re probably making some of these 6 nutrition mistakes.

6 nutrition mistakes that keep you fat and unhealthy

Logic suggests that if you've been doing something for a long time, and you're not seeing progress... — you're probably doing something wrong.

Here are 6 mistakes you could be making. Identifying and eliminating one of these mistakes will help you finally see the results you've been looking for.

1. Eating a lot of small meals

There's been a myth for the longest time that eating a lot of small meals throughout the day is somehow gonna magically increase your metabolism, to the point where you’re almost gonna end up eating more calories, and yet lose fat because that’s how fast your metabolism is.

I can’t believe people still think this is true.

This is flat-out stupid, and it also isn't the way you make your metabolism 'fast'.

The things that are actually gonna ‘speed up’ (or increase) your metabolism, are, amongst the other things, your muscle mass and how healthy you are (on a hormonal level), not how many times you eat in a day.

(There is also a big genetics factor here, but these 2 things are generally things you can influence the most)

To build muscle and to be as healthy as possible, focus on regular exercising and eating whole healthy foods.

So yeah, while having a fast metabolism will in fact help you burn more calories (which is important because the amount of calories you burn throughout the day is what ultimately decides whether you lose or gain weight), eating 10 times a day isn’t the way to go.

Instead, as I said, what you wanna do is build muscle and eat whole healthy foods, while aiming to be in a calorie deficit (if fat loss is your goal).

That's it.

(if you wanna learn how to build muscle, check out this article)

So no, there's no need to eat 10 times a day. When it comes to meal frequency, the most optimal amount (science backs this up) is about 2-3 meals per day.

2. Hopping from diet to diet

If you were to try to find nutrition advice online, you would get blasted by all the different "science" backed diets and ways of eating.

We are talking about vegan, carnivore, vegetarian, OMAD, keto, low carb, low fat, high protein, plant-based, fruit diet, etc.

After 10+ years of experience, I can say one thing is for certain. Every single one of these is trash.

Why? The best diet is the one that's best suited for you.

The type of food you eat, how much of that food you eat, at what times of day you eat, etc. all of that varies from person to person.

All of us have different lives, different goals, different bodies... So naturally there can't be a single diet that's best for all of us.

So instead of following one strict diet some guy posted online, you should focus on having a healthy and balanced approach to eating.

I talked about this a lot, but it's worth mentioning again.

Here's how...

Focus on eating as much of healthy foods as possible (obviously).

• Meat
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Dairy
• Grains
• Fish
• Nuts

All of these ARE healthy (if you are allergic to some of these, or don't like them — don't eat them).

• Sweets
• Processed food
• Pizza
• Ice cream, etc.

Basically, anything else not listed above is NOT healthy (try to eat these as little as possible).

In short, everything in its natural form (the way it can be found in nature) = healthy.

Everything that comes in a bag or a box in its unnatural form (it's highly processed) = not healthy.

Focus on filling up your fridge with as much food from the "healthy" department, and you are halfway there.

That’s it. No need to try this and that. Just focus on eating healthy and in a way YOU enjoy the most.

That's the only way you'll actually stick to a certain 'diet'.

Imitating how other people eat is wrong.

I mean you can try somebody's diet, but if it doesn't suit you and your lifestyle, you shouldn't try to stick to it.

3. Going on a very strict diet right away (especially when 'cutting')

Contrary to popular belief, following a strict diet is the worst thing you can do.

We like to do things that we are used to doing. So going on a strict diet, something that is completely different from what we were doing previously will need a lot of willpower.

That's why so many people fail.

The better way of doing things, is to slowly, progressively over time cut out unhealthy foods from our diet.

This is a long-term game. Don't think in months — think in years or decades. Your goal should be to eat as healthy as possible throughout your whole life.

Plus going from eating whatever you want to a strict, healthy diet with a huge caloric deficit in the hopes of losing as much weight as possible, is unhealthy and dangerous, regardless of how healthy you eat now.

This is almost always the case in these situations because you can't eat as much of healthy stuff compared to unhealthy.

This is because healthy foods are more nutrient-dense. Plus, unhealthy foods tend to have more calories in general, so going too strict with your diet right away is going to put you in a severe caloric deficit, and thus cause unhealthy weight loss.

Losing too much weight too fast will result in a weak immune system, headaches, low energy, having trouble thinking straight, etc.

So yeah, you're far better off doing it gradually. Not only it has lower health risks, but it's also a more sustainable way of changing your diet. You're more likely to stick to it.

4. Having cheat days

90% of people have cheat days planned out before they even start their ‘diet’.

This is a recipe for disaster.

If you’re like this, you're better off not going on a diet in the first place.

The whole cheat day idea is stupid. Either you are eating healthy or not. Obsessing over one day where you gonna stuff your face with everything you lay your hands on isn’t something I would call ‘healthy’.

No successful, good-looking person has a cheat day planned out regularly (except maybe those tren-blasting IG models… but who takes their health advice seriously?).

Is it ok to eat something unhealthy from time to time? Of course. Everybody does, I do too. So can you.

But, with that being said, your overall diet should be healthy, with no hedonistic sprees planned in advance.

So yeah, make sure 80% of the things you eat are real foods (things like red meat, eggs, fish, veggies, fruits, dairy...). The 20% that’s left you can fill out with whatever you want (pizzas, ice cream, burgers, cookies, pancakes... whatever you like).

5. Drinking a lot of smoothies

You probably drank smoothies at least a couple of times in your life. I did too, and so did every single person who has ever stepped foot into the gym.

Are smoothies bad? No.

Can they be beneficial? Yes.

Should you replace every single meal you have with a smoothie? HECK NO.

First of all, when you drink a smoothie, you can easily down 1500 calories, without even noticing.

That’s because it’s easier to drink something than to eat it.

When you blend something, your brain has a hard time figuring out how much of that something you ate, hence why it is so easy to consume a lot more calories when you drink a smoothie than it is otherwise.

Second of all, foods are made the way they are for a reason. Every single food in its natural form has a perfect balance of macro and micronutrients, water, fibers, vitamins, etc.

That's why eating food in its most natural form is both healthier and more beneficial.

Plus food is made to be eaten, not drank. There’s a reason you have teeth. Use them.

So yeah, if you wanna drink smoothies, it's ok to do it occasionally, just don't replace smoothies for real meals.

6. Confusing powders for real food

Powders are SUPPLEMENTS to your diet, not your actual diet.

They're not food. I don't understand why so many fitness influencers act as if they are.

Mixing liquid egg whites with whey protein, and then microwaving it ISN’T A MEAL.

Why some people do it beats me...

I hope that I won’t have to talk about this anymore.

Food is food. Nothing can replace it. Does the abomination of the ‘meal’ from my previous example have a lot of protein? Yes.

Should you eat it? No.

If you want to consume more protein, then eat more meat, fish, or eggs.

Just don’t ‘eat’ powder for the love of God…

Also, taking those green powders for your optimal 'greens' intake, won't make you healthy.

Do you know what will? Eating actual vegetables. Not some cheap, synthetic powder made to somehow replicate actual vegetable consumption.

I don’t think I should talk about this anymore.

If you feel like your protein intake, for example, is low (which is rarely the case btw, but that's the topic for some other time) and that you should supplement it with some 'whey', by all means, do it. Just make sure that the staple of your diet is real, actual food, not powders...

So yeah, these are the 6 mistakes that I saw people make over the years on the internet. What’s worse I saw fitness ‘experts’ preach a lot (if not) all of these.

If you made any of these mistakes, now you know you should stop. You’ll see the results once you do.

That’s it from me,

Djosa

 

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