You read, you see, and you hear about all these diet fads and tricks that are supposed to help you lose fat quickly and build hard muscle. You start to follow them religiously and think your on your way to a bikini body in no time.

But when you look in the mirror or step on the scale you actually.. gulp.. gained weight! What the fudge? Frustrating, I know. So let’s blow the whistle on these tricks and find out what you really should be doing.

Your favorite foods are now low-fat and sugar-free

Research suggests that when a food is described as a low-fat or sugar free, we’ve subconsciously given our ourselves the green light to eat more. Countless studies have been done where a group of people are offered regular and low-fat options of the same food and almost always people eat considerably more of the low-fat version. People often assume that less fat means fewer calories and therefore this mentality creats the perfect storm for overeating.

Do this instead: First, get in the habit of checking food labels: fat is only one piece of the puzzle; make sure the amount of calories, sodium, carbohydrates, and sugars are at acceptable ranges as one or more may be inflated to keep fat low but keep the taste the same. But most importantly, keep an eye on your portions. Sometimes you won’t have access to a food label, but you can always control the amount of food you input into your body. You will still lose weight if you watch your portion sizes.

You eat like a pigeon for weeks leading up to a big event.

Cutting calories drastically might sound like common sense or great concept, but in reality it’s a horrible idea. In fact, nutrition experts recommend you don’t dip below 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day. Research from Harvard Medical School shows that if you crash diet for more than two weeks, your metabolism will temporarily slow down. Slowly your body is losing less and less weight over that time period as it fights to conserve energy to keep you from losing weight too quickly. If that’s not bad enough, when you cut calories drastically, you also lose muscle especially if you are not exercising. Muscle is used to burn calories so if you have less of it, your metabolism slows even after your crash diet is done.

Do this instead: Take it slow and shoot for about a pound a week. Start shaving off 200 calories from your diet and try to burn 200 calories through exercise each day. If you want to lose 10 pounds for a specific event, then start 10 weeks before. This approach ensures you lose fat, not muscle.

You set short-term weight-loss goals.

Yes, our example above is specific to a big event but why stop now? Many times after we reach our goal we think we made it to the top of the mountain and we can proceed to eat stupidly and let old habits creep back in. Wrong! Research shows that people who maintain daily healthy eating habits are twice as more likely to maintain their weight loss for good then those who slip up on weekends, at staff parties, and restaurants.

Do This Instead: Think of healthy eating as a journey, not as a diet with a beginning and an end date. Make small changes and adjustments along the way so they become long-term habits. Start by identifying problem areas in your diet, then solve them one at a time. For example, if you eat a bag of chips every night after dinner, set a goal of placing a handful in a small bowl and only eating what is in your bowl. Once you’ve made that a habit after a week or so, congratualate yourself and try to reduce or replace your after dinner snack with something more healthy.

For more ideas regarding healthy eating check out Mike Geary’s book The Truth About Six Pack Abs. You will find nutrition guidelines, eating habits and need-to-know information regarding your body and why the majority of people trying to lose weight fail miserably.

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