8 Mistakes That Sabotaged My Weight Loss For Years

Are you trying to lose weight but not finding much success? It’s possible you are making a common mistake. Juliana Crispo is a mom of 2 kids 3 and under, a Lifetime Natural Pro Bikini Champion in 2 Federations, and a former successful Silicon Valley-based tech executive and entrepreneur.
”Today, we're talking about weight loss myths. I'm someone that has made every single one of these mistakes,” she says. “These are mistakes that I made for years on my fitness journey.”

Mistake 1: Only Exercising

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“Mistake number one, I thought for the longest time that exercise was the key to fat loss,” she says. “What I would do is I would go to the gym, I'd get on a cardio machine, I'd screw around with some weights, and then I'd go home, and I would just eat like I normally did, but I would also overcompensate because I was hungry from all that cardio. Cardio just makes me ravenous.”

She Walks

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Now, she avoids intense cardio. “This is why now my main source of cardio is just walking 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day because it doesn't make me very hungry,” she explains.

Mistake 2: Not Getting Into a Calorie Deficit

“Also, when I'm just getting into a new weight loss phase, I prioritize getting my calorie deficit down first,” she says. “I'll take one, up to two weeks just to master my calorie deficit before I even touch exercise. The reality is you don't even need exercise to lose fat. Just eat in a calorie deficit.”

Also, Make Sure to Strength Train

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Don’t Overlook Strength Training. Cardio activity is just a tool to make it go faster, and strength training is what gives your body shape so you don't get skinny fat.

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Mistake 3: Relying on Intuitive Eating

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Her third mistake? “I believed intuitive eating would work for me,” she says. “Intuitive eating is a way of eating popularized by this book, and it took off in the height of diet culture because so many people have had horrible experiences with dieting.” She explains that in the boo, there are ten principles of intuitive eating, “but the general gist is to be mindful and eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full.”

Lots of Influencers Rely on Intuitive Eating

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“Many fitness influencers to this day talk about intuitive eating as a good approach to weight loss. For example, one of the first fitness influencers I ever followed was Buff Bunny, and she posted a video called This Diet Worked for Me. In this video, she talks about how she used intuitive eating to lose weight because you don't have to track anything.”

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It’s Not Great for Fat Loss

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However, there is a “flip side,” she points out. And that is, many people maintain intuitive eating, which isn’t great for fat loss. “For the longest period of time, I felt like something was wrong with me because I couldn't just listen to my body. It wasn't until I started tracking and weighing my food that I really started to learn putting a meal together with enough protein, carbs, and fats really makes me feel full, and then I'm able to do other things besides focus on food for a solid three to four hours. It was great.”

Mistake 4: Fear of Tracking Calories

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Her next mistake? “I was afraid of tracking calories and weighing my food,” she says. For example, chicken and broccoli can help you gain weight, but if you eat too much of it, you will gain weight. You can benchmark your progress with this useful Lean Body Mass Calculator.

You Can Gain Weight From Healthy Food

“I got chubbier from eating chicken and broccoli because I felt so deprived of the foods I really loved,” she says. “While trying to eat clean with this chicken and broccoli diet, I would binge on foods I actually craved late at night.”

Portion Size Matters

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“However, had I invested time upfront in just learning from tracking and weighing my food, I could have learned that there's no such thing as unhealthy or bad foods,” she says. The important thing is focusing on “healthy portion sizes, and so I could still enjoy all the things I love in moderation on my weight loss journey without creating these fear foods of anything that fell outside of my chicken and broccoli meal plan,” she says.

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You Won’t Have to Track and Weigh Food Forever

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“You don't have to track and weigh your food forever. Even a lot of fitness influencers say they'll go from periods of intuitive eating where they just listen to their body a little bit, and then when they start to get a little bit more fluffy, they'll bring it in, they'll start tracking and weighing their food. Again, it's not about being married to your food scale or MyFitnessPal. It's about learning and then unlearning along your journey.”

Mistake 5: Not Understanding Macros

Mistake 5? “I didn't understand how to allocate macros when I was in my dieting phase,” she says. “Many of you know macros are just protein, carbs, and fats. They serve different purposes to nourish your body. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is being in a calorie deficit.”

Make Sure to Fill Up

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“However, the key to sustaining a calorie deficit is just don't get hungry. That's the name of the game. Don't get hungry. As soon as you get hungry, all bets are off. The little hangry monster comes out, and it's just, it's just bad.”

Pay Attention to Your Macro Breakdown

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“Having a general idea of the macronutrient distribution you're consuming is very important to make sure that you stay feeling full, and if you stay full, you're more likely to adhere to your calorie deficit,” she says. “A macro breakdown that works for me to keep staying full, feeling satiated, and adhering to my calorie deficit is having about 30% of my calorie deficit coming from protein, 30% coming from fat, and about 40% coming from carbohydrates.”

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If You Don’t, You Could End Up Binging

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“What happens if I'm not in the ballpark generally of hitting these macros over a period of a few days is on like day three, I'll start to get really hungry, and then all of a sudden I find myself like wandering into a seven 11 and just buying donuts and eating them, and I don't know what happened.”

Mistake 6: Overcompensating

The next mistake is “huge,” she says. “I would try to overcompensate when I had one of my 7-Eleven freakouts. This was mainly more so in my bikini competitor days because you had to be so black and white about your diet. What would happen is when I messed up somehow, I just like ate a donut or three, I would try and overcompensate the next day by doing more cardio or trying to eat fewer carbs and fats, and this was just a recipe for this horrible cycle of binging and over-exercising and feeling horrible, and that's just no way to live.”

Don’t Fall Into the “Binge and Restrict” Cycle

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“Now, if that happens and I overeat on my diet for the day, I just stick to what I would normally eat on my daily diet, almost as if that 7-Eleven incident never happened. I just learn from it, and I move on. So whatever you do, if you ever have a mess up in your diet, don't ever, ever, ever try and overcompensate by doing more cardio or eating less. Just eat as if you would normally eat so that you don't fall into any binge and restrict cycle,” she suggests.

Mistake 7: Fear of Building Muscle

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Her next mistake? “I was afraid of building muscle,” she says. She explains that building muscle is great because “the more mass and the more muscle that I have, the more I weigh, the more I can eat and not gain too much fat,” she says.

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You Can Reshape Your Body with Exercise and Nutrition

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“It took me years of focused effort in the gym and being methodical about my nutrition to put on the muscle mass I was able to achieve here. The cool thing I've learned through bodybuilding is that you can use training to emphasize certain parts of your body and de-emphasize others,” she says. “You can literally reshape your body with the right training and nutrition, and that's what I love so much about lifting weights.”

Mistake 8: Not Stacking Habits

“If I were to stack priorities when it comes to actually losing fat, it would go like this. Very foundational sleep. Get your sleep in order. Second thing, get your calorie deficit in order. Third thing, do some strength training. Focus on maintaining as much muscle mass as you have, and then maybe consider adding in some cardio,” she concludes. And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.

Have you tried every diet out there but still can't seem to keep the weight off? You're stuck in a cycle of restrictive eating, temporary results, and inevitable rebound. But according to one expert, the problem isn't your willpower—it's your blood sugar.

Jessie Inchauspé, known to her followers as the Glucose Goddess, is a biochemist who's challenging everything we think we know about weight loss. With over 1.3 million YouTube subscribers and a New York Times bestselling book, she's revealing why traditional dieting advice might be making your weight loss journey harder than it needs to be. Read on to discover the science-backed approach that could finally help you break free from the dieting cycle.

The Weight Loss Industry's Billion-Dollar Mistake

The multi-billion dollar diet industry has built its fortune on quick fixes and restrictive eating plans. "When I wrote my first book in 2022, even though my focus was never to help people lose weight, my publishers wanted me to put weight loss or lose weight on the cover because they know that it sells," Jessie reveals in her video podcast. But this obsession with quick results is exactly what's keeping people trapped in the weight loss cycle.

The Hidden Reason You Can't Stop Eating

What if your food cravings weren't about lack of willpower? "When we are on a glucose rollercoaster, after every glucose spike, there is a glucose dip, and this dip activates the craving center in our brain that tells us to go find some cookies, some chocolates, some chips," Jessie explains. This insight reveals why traditional diets often fail—they don't address the underlying blood sugar issues driving your hunger.

Why Your Body Fights Against Weight Loss

The real problem goes deeper than calories. "The reason that fat burning is important is not because it's going to make you lose weight. It's because if you're able to burn fat for fuel, it means that you are metabolically flexible," Jessie emphasizes. Without this flexibility, your body remains stuck in a cycle of constant hunger and energy crashes.

The Truth About Constant Hunger

If you're always hungry, there's a scientific reason: "People who are not very metabolically flexible, who rely mostly on glucose for fuel all the time, they're hungry every two hours. They get what's called low blood sugar. And if their meals are delayed or if they don't have a snack with them in their car, they can get really shaky and nauseous," Jessie explains. This constant need for food isn't normal—it's a sign your body isn't working efficiently.

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The Three Keys to Natural Weight Loss

When you focus on blood sugar stability, three powerful changes occur: "The reduction in cravings, the reduction in hunger, and the increase in burning fat for fuel," says Jessie. These changes create the perfect environment for natural, sustainable weight loss.

Why Quick-Fix Diets Make Everything Worse

"I think if your main focus is losing weight at all costs as quickly as possible, that often leads to very habits that are not sustainable, and that can actually be worse for your health and cause damage," Jessie warns. "Do not succumb to any of the crazy diets promising you fast, 10-pound in two-day weight loss. That's not what we're here for."

The Simple Changes That Transform Your Body

Instead of strict rules, Jessie advocates for easy, sustainable habits: "The hacks that I share are sustainable, easy partners that you take along with your days and your weeks and your months and your years and do whenever you can," she explains. "They don't ask you to count any calories. They don't ask you to cut out any food groups. They just teach you about what molecules are in your food and when, how, and what combination to eat your food."

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How to Break Free from Food Guilt

The beauty of this approach is its flexibility. "I like to say that they're a little bit like drink water and brush your teeth. If you can't do them one day, one week, one month, it's not a big deal," Jessie shares. "The point is not you do everything right or you're not doing it at all. It's purely take the principles with you and do them when it is easy."

The Science-Backed Results

The proof lies in the research. In a study of 2,700 people following Jessie's method for just four weeks, "90% of participants were less hungry, 89% reduced their cravings, 77% had more energy," she reports. Most importantly, 38% of those wanting to lose weight succeeded—without following a restrictive diet.

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Your Path to Sustainable Weight Loss

The most profound changes go beyond the scale. "What they had been after for a very long time was not necessarily weight loss, it was actually just to feel good in their body, to have a clear brain, to be happy to wake up in the morning with energy, to not feel so addicted to sugar all the time," Jessie reveals. By understanding and stabilizing your blood sugar, you can finally achieve the sustainable weight loss that has eluded you—without the struggle of traditional dieting. And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.

Do you want to lose weight but aren’t sure where to start? Danni Renn is a social media influencer and weight loss warrior who lost a whopping 22 pounds in 12 weeks by making a few changes to her routine. In a recent viral video, she details exactly how she did it. At her heaviest, “I wasn't ever truly happy with the way I looked, but one day I didn't recognize my body. My usual sizes didn't fit me anymore, so I got more and more frustrated at myself for letting it get to this point,” she says at the start of the clip. Now, she is 22 pounds lighter and “healthiest I've ever felt in my life,” she says.

First, I Looked at Why Most Diets Failed

Danni underlines the importance of looking at why most diets fail “rather than jumping straight into what exercises to do or meal planning for the week,” she says in the post. “Your experience may be different from mine, but I always failed my diets when I gave into ‘bad’ food, like sugary snacks, bubble tea, chips, anything. When you indulge in bad food, usually it feels pretty good at first, but then it follows with this chain of emotions that you usually bring upon yourself, like self-pity, guilt, disappointment, and even self-forgiveness.”

I Realized That I Was Setting Myself Up for Disappointment

“When you start a diet, usually either consciously or subconsciously, you have an idea of what foods you should be saying no to, and usually those are the foods that you really enjoy. So, a diet for me was always a constant test of my willpower not to eat those delicious foods, but the longer I go without the food that makes me happy, the less happy I'll feel for one. Maybe one day I will crave it a lot and then give in, therefore failing my diet. You get the wave of emotions, the cycle repeats, but then your patience starts to run thin for yourself,” she says.

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She Discovered Ways to Ease Herself Into Weight Loss

“How do we stop food from calling our name on our weakest day? Since when did food become a hundred percent no bad food and a hundred percent food straight from the ground? How do we not get tempted by all the food around us?” she asks.

“Now that I'm on the other side, I recognize how those internal conversations kept me and potentially many others in a very vicious loop. So in today's video, I'm gonna be sharing my tips to ease yourself into your weight loss journey and lead this healthy and balanced lifestyle that everybody talks about,” she says.

The Emotional Eating Trap

“One of the biggest challenges that I didn't know I needed to face at the start of this weight loss journey is actually emotional eating,” she reveals. “I tend to turn to food when I'm feeling stressed, accomplished in need of comfort, or even when I'm bored. And while there's nothing inherently wrong with enjoying food, it can become a problem when it becomes a coping mechanism. Breaking out of this has been difficult, and it's taken a lot of mental fortitude to overcome my dependence on food to feel good. I thought that if I could stop the cycle of cravings and just break that entirely, then maybe I can actually be successful at my diet for once.”

However, she discovered the book Breaking Free From Emotional Eating and learned “practical tips and strategies for overcoming emotional eating,” she says. “I love that the tips are all taught through the experiences and reflections of people who are also going through the same struggles. One of the most important things I've learned is to stop using food as a reward,” she said. “Something else I've realized is that if I stop putting my favorite foods on a pedestal, I actually end up thinking about it less and therefore craving it less,” she continues. “Another strategy has been to practice mindfulness and self-awareness when it comes to my eating habits and my emotions.”

Why Insulin Matters

“When dieting, I always focused on cutting calories and increasing my cardio, but I realized that there's another really important factor to consider, and that is insulin,” she says. “Insulin is a hormone that helps our bodies to store energy from the food that we eat. When we eat, our bodies release insulin to help move that energy into ourselves. But if our bodies are constantly bombarded with food, our insulin levels can remain elevated, which can make it harder for us to burn fat or enter the burning zone.” In order to avoid this, she recommends staying away from carb-heavy meals “that can spike your insulin and then cause a sugar crash or a food coma,” and sticking to nutrient-dense foods “that will keep your insulin low and steady.”

Intermittent Fasting

“The idea of restricting myself and calorie counting just seems so exhausting for one and unsustainable. I just wanted to eat whatever I wanted and still be skinny. And that leads us to our next tip, which is intermittent fasting,” she says. “I think some people might view intermittent fasting as some sort of diet that's on the same playing field as these diets, but it's more of a long-term diet that doesn't actually limit the amount of food or the types of foods that you can have. Instead, it's just a little bit more restrictive in terms of when you can eat.”

She explains that she can still eat what she wants, but just between a specific window of the day. Her window is between 12:00 PM and 8:00 PM. “The idea is to limit the amount of time that your body is producing insulin. To be honest, at first, I was skeptical after understanding a little bit more about insulin. It sort of makes sense to keep it around only for a portion of the day rather than sporadically throughout the day by sticking to my eating window and allowing myself to eat whatever I wanted. Within that timeframe, I found that I was able to satisfy my cravings in moderation without feeling deprived. And because I was only eating during a limited window of time, I found that I wasn't constantly thinking about food,” she points out. “Intermittent fasting has truly been a game changer for me. You can eat the same thing, but if you just timed it differently, it could be the difference between you continuing to put on weight or losing weight.”

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Nutrition vs Calories

She also recommends putting a stronger focus on the nutritional value of food over the numerical value of food, like calories. “Calorie counting is a very easy and common way of tracking the amount of food that you've had,” she says. However, “not all calories are made equal, so it can be misleading. If you just relied on the number to determine what you can and can't eat, especially when we are busy and on the go, I feel like it's quite easy to lose sight and pick convenience over health.”

For example, fast food may be in your calorie range, but it isn’t nourishing your body the same as healthy food. She recommends “paying more attention to things like fiber, protein, healthy fats, and generally making sure that you're getting a good balance of everything is much more sustainable and important for your long-term health. The great thing about this method is that it allows for so much flexibility and variety in your diet. You can still have fast food, just have it in moderation, but more importantly, focus on things that will make you feel your best.”

Show Up For Yourself

“One thing that has been key to my weight loss journey is the art of showing up and the power of a routine. When we make healthy habits part of our routine, it's more likely to stick with us over the long term,” she says. “Of course, building a routine is easy. It takes time and effort to build new habits, and sometimes, we are gonna fall back into our old patterns. And that's why I've found this book, Atomic Habits, by James Clear, to be incredibly helpful. Clear's approach to habit formation emphasizes the importance of small incremental changes that will add up over time.”

Hit the Gym

Her next goal is to “simply walk up to the gym,” she says. Just get there. That's my next goal. The point is not to look too far ahead; just focus on what's next that will help you get to where you need to be,” she says. “Can you imagine the amount of progress you'll make in anything that you do if you just mastered the art of showing up and the power of a routine?” I am up for making better decisions.

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These Steps Will Help You Move Forward

“I hope that these tips are helpful for you and that you feel inspired and motivated for your weight loss journey. It will take some time, but if you implement each of these steps and get good at them, you are moving forward with the best mindset possible and the best environment for you to thrive without your cravings holding you back,” she concludes. And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.