Are You Making These 7 Dieting Mistakes?

You've started a new diet. You've been good all week, making sensible meals, managing your portions, even exercising a little...then the weekend hits. You eat too much. You drink too much. You give up.

Not so fast! A couple of slipups won't undo all your hard work. The key is to know the dieting pitfalls you¢re likely to make and plan ahead to avoid them.

Here are the top seven dieting mistakes. How many are you making?

1. Skipping breakfast. Research shows that people who don't eat breakfast actually weigh more than those who do. There's a mistaken belief that if you skip breakfast, you're saving calories. Problem is you end up snacking and eating more at other meals because you're body is so starved for food. Always begin your day with a healthy breakfast. Black coffee, an egg, whole wheat toast and a half grapefruit has only 250 calories and will stave off hunger pangs till lunch.
2. Too many liquid calories. Did you know that a regular soda can pack on 15 pounds in one year? Not to mention lattes, fruit smoothies and alcohol. These liquid calories do little to satisfy any hunger and the calories add up fast.
3. Not exercising. If 30 minutes is too much to even think about, start with 10 and see how it goes. If exercising is a drag to you, try something fun like bowling, playing ping-pong, or dancing. The idea is to get moving and have so much fun you'll stick with it.
4. Using extreme diets. These don't work and can be very detrimental to your health. When you deprive your body of food two things happen: your metabolic rate slows down to make up for few calories and your desire to binge increases. In addition extreme dieting may lead to the bloating of fat cells, shrinking of muscle cells, accumulation of toxic fats and fatigue. Rather than thinking "diet" think lifestyle change.
5. Mindless munching. Even if it's not on a plate, it still counts. A couple of cheesy crackers before dinner, test-tasting a sauce, finishing food from your kids¢ plates while washing dishes, all adds up to more calories. On average figure 25 calories per bite. Do that 4 times in a day and you've just added 100 extra calories to your waistline without even realizing it.
6. Going overboard on low fat. It's psychological. You pick a low-fat snack and you justify eating more of it because it IS low fat. Research backs this up. More food, even if it is non- or low-fat still means more calories.
7. Not taking vitamins and supplements. In a perfect world, we'd get all the nutrition, vitamins and minerals from our three perfectly balanced daily meals. Truth is, few of us do. Even if you think you're eating right, modern food processing can deplete whatever nutrients were in the food originally. That's why many take daily vitamins and supplements. While it's important for everyone, it's especially important for those who are trying to lose or maintain weight. It starts with a good, high-quality multivitamin.

As quickly as the pounds add up, they can also come off. The key is knowing what your pitfalls are and how to avoid them.