five dieting mistakes that caused me to gain weight

Last year I ballooned to a weight that I had never hit before, and it scared me. But the shocking thing is that I had been trying to eat healthy, had been exercising, etc. and I was still gaining weight. Eventually, I was able to figure out the issues I was having, and once I did, I lost 30 lbs easily in just a few months. But before delving into those details, it’s worth listing some of the misconceptions I had that caused me to gain weight.

So here are the top dieting mistakes I made when I was gaining weight.

1. I thought fat was bad. You know how when you’re looking at the nutritional content of food, and “fat” is near the top of the “bad stuff” list? Well, in my opinion, it should be at the bottom. When I was gaining weight, I was worried about fat. The moment I stopped worrying about fat and started focusing on other things, I started losing weight. Fat is, for the most part, not the problem.
2. I ate a lot of fruit. So yeah… fruit and I have a complicated relationship. Obviously, fruit has a lot of health benefits. But it makes you fat. Why? One word: sugar. And lots of it. I’m not saying you should cut out fruit entirely; many fruits do have a lot of health benefits. But if you’re trying to lose weight, fruit is not your friend.
3. I drank a lot of juice. Juice has been mislabeled as a health food. It’s not. It’s a junk food. Want to lose weight? Then cutting out juice should be one of the first steps you take. “But what do I replace my orange juice with?” you ask, despairingly. My suggestion: hot tea (without sugar). And don’t get the cheap stuff. There are plenty of good teas out there that taste great.
4. I ate carbs (often complex carbs) at every meal. They said grains were good. They said complex carbs were even better. And they were wrong. After doing some research, I realized there was really very little reason, health-wise, to eat carbs. The food pyramid might as well be a pyramid scheme because, after it’s all said and done – cereal, bread, rice, potatoes, oatmeal, etc. – you realize that nothing you’ve done (or eaten) is going to help you in the long run.
5. I didn’t drink enough water. The easiest way to put on pounds is consume a bunch of calories in your drinks. Beer, soft drinks, and even some wines (sorry, merlot drinkers!) can set you back before you’ve even thought about your meal. Water is what your body needs to metabolize everything properly anyway. So replace those sugary/carby drinks with water.