What Not to Do When You're Trying to Lose Weight

At some point or another you've tried to lose weight, burn fat, build muscle and tone up, or you just said the heck with it and sabotaged your friends and family till they looked worse than you did.  

It's OK, you can admit it. In fact, every time I feed Carrot the dog, she gets 1/4 cup of bacon grease on her food.   

Now I'm the prettiest girl at dog beach. 

If you're anything like me, you've wanted to or even have given up a time or two.  Failed diets. Mindless workouts. Completely falling off the wagon and landing in a pile of your roommate's German chocolate cake (he was not happy, by the way). 

Bottom line, I've been there: not knowing what to do, buying into all the latest fitness fads, getting frustrated when they don't work. I've done the crash diets, the fat burners, the gizmos, the gadgets. I'm not above any of the difficulties when it comes to getting fit. This stuff is tough and I feel your pain.

So what do we do? With all the hoopla and endless “how-to” information on the web, how do you know what works and what doesn't? Most importantly, why are you are taking advice from a crazy blonde who's secretly sabotaging her dog's chances of being the first one to gain the affection of a very handsome German shepherd named Bubba?  

Because I've been right where you are now. I never thought I would do this, but I'm going to share some personal secrets that nobody was ever supposed to find out.   

Below are seven things that I have personally discovered to be huge factors in getting myself to being 90 percent stoked about my body. There's always room for improvement, right? So feel free to steal my ideas, I hope they help. 

Learn From My Mistakes

• 1. Eating Breakfast 

Dumb: I used to train on an empty stomach thinking that I was burning pure fat. The truth was I felt like garbage, didn't have as much energy during my workout and was overall rundown. Come to find out, my body was in major starvation mode. Read more about it here. 

Smart: I always eat about one to two hours before a workout. I feel better and can train harder and longer because I'm not thinking about my growling belly.

• 2.  Cutting Back on Booze ... Just a Little

Dumb: I grew up in Chico. Attending frat parties was considered an elective in junior high and high school. Music, art or frat? By the time you're 21, you're either a professional drinker or need a liver transplant. In college we were going out three to five nights per week, and that was considered light. The entire time—and this is no surprise—I was killing my workouts and could never achieve that much-sought-after lean look.  

Smart:  Instead of three to five nights, I cut back to just one or two nights. Huge difference! I'm never one to tell my clients that they can't drink, but weigh it out with the goals you want to accomplish.

• 3. Stop Diet Soda

Dumb: When I was bartending, I got in trouble constantly for being too sassy to the customers. They never got the humor in me telling them to pour their own drinks. Perhaps it was the no-smile, straight face that did it. So I had to load up on caffeine just to ensure niceness. I drank way too much diet soda. I can't say that this was the only thing that did it, but when I stopped the diet soda, the last 5-10 pounds came off.    

Smart: I quit the diet soda completely, along with bartending.

• 4. Focusing Less on Cardio

Dumb: For some reason, I felt that unless I did 45 minutes on the treadmill, I didn't get a workout. I was desperate to burn fat, so this was all I did. Guess what? Nothing changed.  

Smart: I changed it up. I took boxing for a few semesters in school—loved it! I also took a weight-training class to see what that was all about. Guess what? Everything changed. Stronger, leaner and more toned, finally! 

• 5. Portion Control

Dumb: My family has always considered me the human garbage disposal. I ate all my food and then whatever anyone didn't finish. As if I were the dog under the table, my sister's kids would feed me their scraps. I knew I had a problem when I found myself burying steak bones in the backyard. 

Smart: After my meal, I immediately got up and brushed my teeth. It kept me from wanting to go back and pick off any leftovers. Nobody wants to eat with minty-fresh breath.

• 6. Stopped Buying Bad Snacks

Dumb: I started grocery shopping at age 7. My dad sent me with a list of essentials, and away I went. We never had sugar in the house, but somehow cases of Pepsi and Costco boxes of Snickers bars were allowed. As I got older, I ditched the candy and soda, but found myself buying other snacks like chocolate trail mix, jerky, bags of popcorn, cookies, crackers, chips—basically all the stuff you grab when you're bored. 

Smart: I discovered that by not filling my cupboards with bad snacks—imagine this—I stopped eating bad snacks. Miracle! Now I keep my shopping list very basic: whole grains, dried beans, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, lean meats and low-fat dairy.  That way I have to do a little work in order to get my meal or snack and less likely to mindlessly chow down. 

• 7. Stop Obsessing

Dumb: I noticed that when I used to obsess over goals too much, little was happening to get me there. I would get down on myself for having a beer, or missing a workout or eating a cookie. It was not fun. The more I obsessed, the less I accomplished. It was like I was going backward. Out of desperation, I would try a quick fix like Hydroxy Cut or Atkins or whatever. So stupid.  

Smart: I adopted a way of life that totally works for me. I eat things that make me feel good and not want to just kill myself from disgust. I don't overeat because I don't like to feel uncomfortable. If I splurge on a meal or drinks, I don't just throw in the towel. I make it a point to counter that with a healthy meal the next time. I only workout maybe three days a week, but I make it count. The rest of the time I'm an active human being, I move a lot. I get outside and do things I enjoy. When I became less obsessed, I became a happier, healthier person. What a concept. 

This stuff is not science-based, it's Jaime-based. Works for me and maybe it will work for you.