No one’s weight loss journey is perfect. You’ll almost certainly experience some setbacks and even weight loss plateaus. Unless you come armed with the right knowledge, those setbacks are more likely to knock you completely off track than they are to be a mild inconvenience. Don’t worry—we’re here to help you avoid that from happening!

Whether you’re thinking about losing weight, you’re already 20 pounds toward your goal, or you’re finally on the cusp of losing those final 5 pounds, there are some critical tips you need to be aware of to set yourself up for success. To put together this list of weight loss mistakes that are holding you back from reaching your body’s full fat-burning potential, we looked at the science and talked to experts. Remember them—then learn how to overcome them with these 21 Healthy Eating Habits That Help You Lose Weight.

If you’ve recently shed a ton of weight, you should absolutely celebrate your success—with a tall glass of water. Just kidding! Go ahead and treat yourself. You deserve it. However, if your celebrations involve many consecutive happy hours or big portions of your favorite fat- and sugar-laden chocolate cakes, odds are, you’ll see the weight creep back onto you before you know it.

Remind yourself of this sobering stat before you open a bottle of wine: Alcohol can decrease your body’s fat-burning ability by up to 73%! Here’s a smarter way to celebrate: Reward yourself with something you can’t put in your mouth. Leah Kaufman, MS, RD, CDN, a New York City-based registered dietitian, suggests making a concerted effort to not use food as a reward. “I suggest using things like manicures and SoulCycle classes as a reward for all the hard work,” she says. When you eat junk food during times of emotional eating, it “will only lead to unhealthy yo-yo dieting.”

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The most important concept to keep in mind after you’ve lost significant pounds is “metabolic adaptation.” During weight loss, your body’s metabolism naturally slows down calorie burn on a daily basis to hang on to fat. In addition, your levels of leptin, the hunger hormone that tells your body when you’re full, actually drop after weight loss, so you may feel hungry.

The key to avoiding going back to eating the same number of calories you did before you lost weight is to double down on your awareness of calorie content and the size of meals. Do this by keeping a daily food diary for at least a week after you’ve reached your weight-loss goal. Studies show that being more mindful of what you eat—and how many calories it contains—will help you make healthier food choices and reduce snacking on calorie-dense processed foods.

Most people who’ve reached their goal weight stop stepping on the scale. That’s a mistake. While keeping an eye on the scale is The #1 Thing You Can Do Every Day to Lose Weight, it’s also an incredibly important factor in keeping that weight off.

Though the number on the scale isn’t the only way to judge your continued success, research shows that those who don’t partake in the ritual tend to pack on more weight than those who don’t. Why? The scale keeps you mindful of your diet, and it will quickly tip you off to weight regain.

That being said, there’s no need to be a slave to your scale. Checking in once a week should do the trick. And here’s a tip: Since weight naturally fluctuates throughout the week, researchers say that Wednesday weigh-ins are the most accurate.

Eating enough protein can keep your muscle from breaking down, but not getting enough can slow your metabolic rate. That’s because simply maintaining muscle mass will help your body burn calories faster. That way, your body will then turn to torching unwanted fat. Without muscle, you’ll be more susceptible to unwanted weight gain. How much protein do you need to eat per day to lose weight? Protein intake differs by the individual. However, for many people, consuming 0.8 to 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight per day should be enough to help you lose weight.

While following a zero- to low-carb diet like keto can help you shed pounds when you first start, these all-or-nothing type diets are hard to maintain long-term—and they can ultimately set you up for weight regain.

Completely slashing your carbohydrate intake will leave you with some not-so-pleasant side effects that can make it hard to go about your daily routine. Your body will start to exhibit signs of exhaustion, irritability, and lethargy—all of which have also been connected with overeating. “Carbs play an important role [in our daily lives], as our brain and central nervous system require them continuously to work properly,” trainer and registered dietitian Tim McComsey, RD says. Restricting carbs completely may cause any newly added, fat-burning muscle mass to be metabolized for energy rather than carbs.

If you haven’t switched up your workout routine recently, your body’s main calorie-torching mechanism may have idled down to slow burn. Wake up your metabolic rate by shocking your muscles, suggests Dr. Sean M. Wells, personal trainer and owner of Wells Physical Therapy. “If you’ve been doing the same workout for the past few months, your body isn’t being challenged anymore, meaning it’s not burning as many calories as it otherwise could,” he explains. If you normally ride a bike for exercise, try running or tennis to give your metabolism a kick.

Inadequate sleep can slow your metabolism and pile on the pounds. In one study, researchers analyzed more than 500 participants’ weekday sleep diaries and found that losing a mere 30 minutes of shut-eye increased their risk of obesity by 17%! Even mild sleep deprivation causes ghrelin—the hunger-stimulating hormone—to go into overdrive while simultaneously reducing levels of leptin—the hormone that suppresses appetite. In turn, this stimulates hunger even when you’re full, which can lead to overeating and weight gain. Solve your problems by understanding these 17 Reasons You’re Overeating (And How to Stop!)

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It was easy to put the blame on “2020” but now we are here in a New Year…so how long are we going to use that line? While the turbulence of last year certainly shook things up, it’s not a license for us to no longer hold ourselves accountable. At the end of the day, choices and perspective can make a huge impact on the trajectory of our lives. So…is it time for you to assess whether or not your decisions are the ones actually holding you back? 

The first step begins with an honest look at behavior. After all, if you can identify self-sabotaging behaviors that are fighting to take up permanent residence in your life – you can also kick them to the curb. The key here is recognizing what is happening and taking action to change the pattern – which will lead you on a different path – and not keep you stuck in an endless cycle of delivering exactly what you don’t want.

The Self-Sabotage game is a vicious vortex that keeps pulling you away from the success you desire, moreover that you deserve, despite your dreams and goals because it’s habitual and in habits we find comfort. Why do we do this to ourselves?  Chalk it up to our subconscious desire for drama or the fact that change comes with a degree of discomfort which pushes us to retreat right back to the vortex. 

“Self- sabotage is the smartest thing you can do if you’re sabotaging a self that is not really you.” – Armand DiMele

We stay in the familiar – even if it isn’t what is best for us – to avoid the pain of change – which is almost always what we need to get to the next level. The wrong hard wiring can – without a doubt – steal your future. So the sooner you can understand what self-sabotage is, how to spot the behavior, and how to address it head on – the sooner you’ll step into living the life you desire.

Here are 8 ways in which you may be self-sabotaging yourself and your goals: 

1. Do you make social media comparisons to your love life, business life, home life, and compare your real life to the highly unrealistic, overly photoshopped, and aggressively managed messaging on social media posts?
2. Are you a perfectionist who often feels everything isn’t “perfect enough” to move forward towards your goals? 
3. Are you triggered by past traumatic experiences in your childhood, that you subconsciously allow, which control your actions in your present adult life?
4. Are you so busy managing day to day life and feel like you need an abundance of time to work towards your goals but don’t have it so you quit them completely?
5. Do deadlines put you in a tailspin so much so that you wait until the very last minute to get started? 
6. Do you allow one bad moment in the execution of your goals to change your total outlook on your plans and micro-goals for the day…ultimately causing the whole house of cards to crumble? 
7. Do you take any constructive criticism as a failure, and “a sign” to stop trying to achieve your goal?
8. Are you a master of the blame game? Do you blame everyone else for things you should actually be accountable for?

If this sounds like you – any part of it – this is your wake-up call. It’s time to take control back from your alter ego who has been calling the shots. Sustainable change begins with recognizing behavior – and is then followed with intentional choices that allow you to remain on a positive and productive path.

“Self-sabotage is when we say we want something and then go about making sure it doesn’t happen.” – Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby

If you are ready to create real change – here are three simple steps you can take to put an end to self-sabotage and leave it in the “2020” file – for good.

First, don’t run every choice you make or step you take by others. Learn to trust your gut. Don’t look for validation from others – they aren’t you and they don’t have the perfect playbook on how to get you where you want to go in your journey. You do. Trust that. Second, eliminate the dream killers and naysayers from your life. They will find a problem for any solution you have. Add in mentors that you look up to, positive friends that support your goals – and clap LOUDLY when you achieve them. 

Your circle is largely your success factor. Lastly, focus on progress, not perfection. You are striving for growth and as long as you continue to move forward, you will continue to grow. If you try to hold yourself to unrealistic ideals of perfection you will continually feel as though you have failed on one level or another. Take risks, make discerning choices and be excellent in how you execute them as the execution – not the perfection – is what will help you rise higher. 

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