Avoid common weight loss mistakes and master these six key tips to easily reach your healthy weight goals.

Many people struggle with losing weight only to regain it once they stop dieting, or find it impossible to lose no matter what they do. To successfully lose weight for good, you need to understand why you gained it in the first place.

Exercise but No Weight Loss

Many choose exercise to lose weight but struggle to reach their goals. Surprisingly, those who love exercise tend to gain weight more easily—even professional athletes are no exception.

People with good cardio endurance may have resting heart rates below 60 beats per minute. When you have strong muscles, they constantly burn energy, making it harder to gain fat. But when muscle mass decreases, former athletes with slow metabolism and unchanged appetites will find it almost impossible not to gain weight.

Exercise is good for health but should not be the only method for weight loss. Increasing exercise time or intensity blindly won’t necessarily boost calorie burn enough to lose weight.

Dieting is a Big No

Some people skip meals and don’t feel very hungry. These people often fail to lose weight by dieting, because only those who feel hungry during dieting can lose weight easily. Those who feel no hunger tend not to lose weight.

When dieting, the body uses energy in this order: blood sugar, glycogen, protein, then fat. If you don’t eat, blood sugar runs out quickly. After prolonged dieting, liver glycogen gets used up. Then what do you think the body breaks down first for energy—muscle or fat? High school biology clearly states that protein is broken down first. So dieting without results could also damage your liver!

If you only diet without exercise, you lose muscle mass, meaning you may feel hungrier but look fatter.

Gaining Weight Even While Sleeping

Some people heard that staying up late causes weight gain, so they try to sleep more—and end up gaining even more weight. That’s because oversleeping can also cause weight gain. Studies show that people who sleep 9 to 11 hours a night have a higher chance of gaining weight.

When you sleep, your metabolism slows down. If you eat too much before bed, this can lead to “false fat” — swelling and bloating that makes you look heavier.

Oversleeping disrupts your body clock and energy balance. If you skip breakfast, you tend to eat more at lunch, leading to weight gain.

The Despair of “Easily Gaining Weight” Body Types

Many people who gain weight easily and find it hard to lose have caused this themselves. Leptin (known as the obesity hormone or “anti-obesity factor”) is secreted by fat tissue. The more fat you have, the more leptin is produced. When leptin binds to its receptors, it signals the body that energy is sufficient and tells you to stop eating.

Recent studies show that children who didn’t get enough sleep produce less growth hormone. Besides affecting height, this also reduces leptin receptors, meaning even if leptin levels are high, the body doesn’t feel full.

Six Tips to Lose Weight — It’ll Be Hard to Gain Weight if You Follow Them

Now that you know why weight loss often fails, try to avoid those pitfalls next time. Combine that with the following methods, and you can definitely lose weight healthily.

What’s Your Healthy Weight?

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a common international standard to measure if a person’s weight is healthy or not. It’s calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in meters squared. A normal BMI is between 18.5 and 23.9. Below 18.5 means underweight, 24 to 27.9 is overweight, and 28 or above is obese.

Example: For an adult man who is 1.75 meters tall and weighs 68 kg, his BMI = 68 / (1.75 × 1.75) = 22.2, which is normal.

Going to Bed Earlier Really Helps You Lose Weight

Weight gain actually starts with a rise in cortisol levels. Cortisol is a hormone that follows a 24-hour cycle, usually peaking early morning (6 to 8 a.m.) and lowest around midnight to 2 a.m.

If you’re under constant stress, have a busy life, are dieting, or sleep less than 8 hours a night, your cortisol levels may stay high for a long time. High cortisol causes increased appetite and weight gain.

Medical research shows that good sleep helps reduce weight by regulating hormone secretion, breaking down fat, boosting metabolism, reducing bloating, and stimulating growth hormone that turns fat into energy.

Note: This doesn’t mean sleeping excessively helps you lose weight. Keep your sleep duration reasonable for best results.

Eating the Right Meat Helps You Lose Weight

“Meat” here means animal protein. Many people think eating less meat helps lose weight, but choosing quality animal protein can increase feelings of fullness and reduce fat-forming hormones, preventing excess fat gain.

Beware of processed meats like sausages, bacon, roasted chicken, smoked or cured meats. They contain lots of flavorings that trick your taste buds, increase stomach acid, disrupt appetite and energy balance, causing you to eat more to satisfy false hunger.

Recommended quality animal proteins: fish, shrimp, chicken, beef, and pork tenderloin.

Low GI Diet

GI stands for Glycemic Index, which measures how much a food raises blood sugar levels. High GI foods cause blood sugar to spike rapidly after meals, triggering insulin release. Insulin suppresses blood sugar but converts excess sugar into fat, leading to more body fat storage.

High GI foods raise blood sugar faster and cause quicker hunger signals compared to foods with the same calories but higher protein and fiber.

To lose weight, reduce intake of white rice, refined flour, and sugary foods.

Recommended low GI foods: whole grains, cereals, tubers, and fruits (while cutting down on refined grains).

Quit Fruit Juice, Drink Yogurt Instead

Fruits are on the “fat loss allowed” list, but fruit juice—even pure juice—is on the “avoid” list. Juices lack fiber, which reduces fullness and increases hunger.

Compared to milk, yogurt is better for weight loss. Studies suggest probiotics in yogurt improve gut bacteria, slowing weight gain. A healthy gut helps regulate hormones and speeds metabolism to burn extra calories.

Walk 100 Steps After Eating or Run 10 Kilometers?

Some people run many laps around a track but then sit or lie down after meals. Sitting after eating leads to belly fat buildup. For weight loss, controlling diet and taking a 30-minute walk after meals (about 8,000 steps a day) works well.

For exercise, consider both time and intensity.

Exercise amount = exercise time × exercise intensity.

For weight loss, aim for 40 to 90 minutes per session, but no more than 150 minutes.
Maintain a heart rate between 140 and 160 beats per minute during exercise, but don’t exceed 180 beats per minute.

Stick to these methods, and your weight loss goals will be within reach.