Common mistakes you’re making with your diet and exercise. By Natasha Stokes.

So you’ve been power-walking, eating right and visualizing really hard about losing weight. But your skinny wardrobe remains elusive. What gives? It seems it’s all down to dieting and exercise.

Food: How you’re eating it all wrong

Mistaking low-fat for low-calorie. It’s the total calories that count with weight-loss diets. While high-fat diets are not recommended, fatty foods do provide a feeling of satiety, which may help with restricting the actual amount eaten.

Quick fixes. One mistake people often make is thinking they can use quick tricks such as manipulating the metabolism with certain foods, or with diets like the Atkins. People often lose weight on low-carb diets, but it’s mostly fluid loss. This is because when the body is deprived of carbohydrates, it gets it by converting glycogen from the liver or the muscles, a process that results in water loss.

Mixed juices and power shakes. These are marketed as “healthy” and in fact may be quite nutritious, but they’re also often very high in calories.

Nuts and avocados. These foods are nutritious, but also high in fat. If you want to lose weight, limit your intake of these.

Not eating when you’re hungry. If you don’t eat when you’re hungry, the metabolism drops. So eat more often, in smaller portions, but stay within your day’s calorie budget. However, metabolism depends largely on genetics and this method doesn’t work for everyone.

Not eating before exercise. Eat at least an hour before to let the food digest but make sure you eat enough. If you don’t, you’ll end up really hungry after exercise and eat more than you should. Rule of thumb—you must burn more than you eat, otherwise no matter how hard you exercise, you’ll gain weight.

A Recommended Diet

What: A diet should comprise 60 percent carbohydrates, less than 30 percent fat and the remainder protein. Sneaky calorie sinks: Soft drinks, juices, teas and coffees from diners, which can reach 200 or more calories.

When: Four to six times daily, in small portions—the key word being small.

Exercise: Things you’re doing all wrong

Not working hard enough. High-intensity cardio or weight-training is the best for burning calories, as your body continues to burn them after training. And 30-40 minutes at high-intensity is more beneficial than lower-intensity for one hour. Meanwhile, things such as walking and relaxation exercises are less effective for weight-loss.

Working too hard. Don’t exercise to the point of fatigue, which will cause you to lose technique. If you don’t do exercises according to form, they are substantially less beneficial, not to mention possibly injurious.

Not exercising long enough. Fifteen minutes of exercise doesn’t help you lose weight. Twenty minutes twice a day can be effective for maintaining weight, but 30-45 minutes a day is best for weight-loss.

Not lifting weights. Many people, especially women, are intimidated by resistance training as they think it will build muscle and make them look heavier. In fact, one kilogram of fat takes up the same space as around five kilograms of muscle. Muscle also requires more calories to maintain, hence, burning more calories even while at rest.

Doing the same thing all the time. Weight loss often plateaus when you’ve been doing the same exercise for a long period because the body adapts. So try different exercises to make it tougher, anything that gets the heart rate up and isn’t part of your day-to-day.

A Recommended Workout

Lift: Two to three sets with 12-20 reps at half-intensity each for endurance; three to six sets of four-eight reps on high intensity and a long rest for strength. For weight-loss, start with endurance training. You should feel fatigued only towards the end of each set; if not, adjust weights or reps accordingly.

Burn: Cardio should be done at least three times a week and you should get your heart rate to 120-140 bpm (depending on your current weight) to lose weight. The best cardio training in the gym is circuit classes, cross-trainers and treadmills.