I recently picked up a copy of 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman’s Diet: Simple Strategies to Eat Right, Lose Weight, and Reclaim Your Health (affiliate link) by Elizabeth Somer, RD, in a used book store and couldn't put it down, so ended up bringing it home with me. I'm glad I did. It's brimming with helpful explanations of why we 'shoot ourselves in the foot' when it comes to losing weight and getting healthy.
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The author begins by saying, "think of the book as your best friend who honestly tells you like it is." She knows these habits intimately, from both her own personal experience, as well as from her more than 25 years helping her female clients recognize and address them.
Talk about a wake up call. Though I'm a lifetime WW and pretty knowledgeable when it comes to food and healthy living, I was shocked to discover I have or have had ALL TEN of the 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet (affiliate link) at one time or another.
So, what are the 10 habits that mess up a woman's diet?
Habit 1: Mindless Eating. We are masters at unconscious eating - of nibbling, noshing tasting, licking, and clearing away leftover bites that we somehow believe don't count but in reality can add up to hundreds of unsatisfying calories a day.
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Habit 2: Putting Others Needs Ahead of Our Own. Marriage, children, work, family gatherings, socializing, and eating out can all contribute to our straying from our best intentions.
Habit 3: Not Being Honest. We deceive ourselves believing we eat less and move more than we actually do.
Habit 4: Skip the Broccoli, Eat the Fries. We eat far too few fruits and vegetables and far too much of everything else.
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Habit 5: Setting Off without a Plan. As they say, "Failing to plan is planning to fail."
Habit 6: Excuses, Excuses, Excuses. We are masters of making excuses and shifting blame. The justifications, rationalizations, claims, reasons and justifications are unending.
Habit 7: I'm Moody, Lets Eat! We use food to calm, control, celebrate, commiserate, medicate, wake up and wind down.
Habit 8: Give Me the Quick Fix Now! We fall for the latest fad gimmick looking from some magical solution to our weight and health issues.
Habit 9: Drinking Away our Waistlines. The more calories we drink the more likely we are to gain weight.
Habit 10: All or Nothing Approach to Dieting. We are living in a world of extremes - alternating between going like gang busters and giving up when results aren't achieved fast enough.
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How many of these unhealthy habits resonate with you? While I hate to admit it, they all resonate with me. I've engaged in each of them at one time or another. And now as I read this book, I know I'm not alone.
In addition to helping you identify the habits that are holding you back from reaching your goals, the book provides wonderful strategies to help combat them including temptations faced when eating out, going to parties, and ways to bite back the late night munchies.
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More Reviews of 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet:
Source: 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman’s Diet (affiliate link)
Martha is the founder and main content writer for Simple-Nourished-Living.
A longtime lifetime WW at goal, she is committed to balancing her love of food and desire to stay slim while savoring life and helping others do the same.
She is the author of the Smart Start 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
A huge fan of the slow cooker and confessed cookbook addict, when she's not experimenting in the kitchen, you're likely to find Martha on her yoga mat.
This post contains affiliate links to products I like. When you buy something through one of my Amazon links or other (affiliate links), I receive a small commission that helps support this site. Thank you for your purchase!
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Originally posted 10/2012; Updated with new content, links photos 12/2019
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sangeeta khanna
So true Martha. Women take all the burden to themselves and their own interest slips off the priority list. Sharing this post 🙂
Martha
Thanks Sangeeta! So nice to hear from you. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I am.
Alyssa (Everyday Maven)
Yes, I am also embarrassed to admit that I fit the profile of some of those. This sounds like a great book - I am going to see if my library has it. Thanks Martha 🙂
Martha
Hope the library still has it, Alyssa. It's a few years old but the information is timeless as far as I'm concerned. Hope you find as helpful as I do.
Elaine Smith
Hi Martha... I was a WW member for about 3 years....I even became lifetime member...Then covid hit and they had to close the studio's...I eventually ended
up not being lifetime. I evenually dropped out. Could not afford the fee for not
doing anything with WW....These last couple months my weight has dropped to
about 120-125...(not even trying) I rejoined WW because of the great deal until
fall. Do you have any idea how I can record things so I can mainly use as a
maintenance tool. I can eat 24/7. And I don't eat alot of junk food...I'll make
the diet cabbage soup only I add extra lean ground beef and a few red potatoes.
If I figured it correctly it is still around 150 calories. maybe a little less. I will have
a bowl of that instead of chips or ice cream. 🙂 Hope this makes a little sense...lol
Love your emails.....Thanks for helping us all...
Elaine
Martha McKinnon
Hi Elaine, Are you looking for an APP to use other than WW or a manual way of keeping track?