Dieting is a consistent lifestyle; that’s if you want results. However, even when you stick with the recommend caloric consumption, some things go wrong.

If your scale seems stuck, your jeans won’t fit, or your weight drops only to rise again, you may be making any of these eight common mistakes people make when dieting:

You’re following a crash diet.

A crash diet may help you lose a few pounds, but you’ll gain them before you know it. This is because you’re eating a lot fewer calories than you should. It works but modifies your metabolism to slow down.

Since your body is now trained to burn fat more slowly, you gain your weight back when you return to your usual diet.

You skip breakfast.

No evidence disproves skipping breakfast as a weight loss strategy, but it’ll leave you hungry until your next meal. You may find yourself craving and indulging in a snack or consuming a larger lunch.

You may lose track of your required caloric intake, and repeatedly doing this will make those jeans too snug again.

Breakfast supplies more proteins and fiber, which will keep you significantly full until your next meal.

You don’t control your snacking.

Even when counting calories, your scale may seem stuck because you’ve not paid adequate attention to what you consume in-between. If there are minor dietary diversions here and there, it accumulates.

That slice of cake at the party or the sprinkle-filled donuts your co-worker brings to work should be eaten cautiously, especially when you’re dieting.

You don’t snack enough.

In the same vein, not snacking enough can bring back stubborn fat. Eating several small meals and snacks helps you control your hunger, and you’ll feel full without overeating or under-eating.

Nuts are excellent snacks for dieting because they’re protein rich.

An unchecked low-fat diet

Low fat is different from low calories, but many dieters don’t know this. For instance, you may abstain from burgers and fries, but that low-fat pound cake may contain many calories.

The best way to keep track of this situation is to read the nutritional facts before eating anything.

You’re sipping your calories.

If you’ve been faithful to your diet and are still gaining weight, it can be because you’re sipping your calories instead. It’s not uncommon to focus on your meals and overlook what you drink.

This is a mistake to avoid because the calories in fruit juices, soda, and alcoholic beverages can quickly add up.

You don’t drink enough water.

Water boosts your metabolism, which results in faster weight loss. So, when you don’t drink enough, your body won’t burn enough calories.

You avoid dairy.

Research suggests that the body needs a healthy amount of calcium to burn more fat. But when you avoid milk and its products, your body may become calcium deprived. Unfortunately, calcium supplements aren’t as potent in delivering this benefit, so you’ll have to stick with conventional dairy.

You can control your dairy intake instead, with a cup of milk, which is enough daily.