We typically focus on things to add to our lifestyles in order to lose fat.

And, while this is effective when we consider adding in workouts and healthy foods … I’ve often found it’s actually isolating and correcting the mistakes we don’t even know we’re making that have the biggest impact on shredding success.

Here I’m breaking down the TOP mistakes that stand in the way of your shred.

Let’s get ’em.

Top 3 Mistakes That Stop Your Shred

1. Not Tracking Your Progress

A popular mistake I often see in clients that keep hitting plateaus is a failure to track their progress.

Now, many people may prefer to not track, say, their weight too closely so that they don’t become obsessed with numbers, and that’s fair.

However, you have to have some type of way to track what’s going on, otherwise you will never know why a method is or isn’t working for you!

For instance, if you aren’t keeping track of your diet, workouts, and some type of progress (whether it’s tracking inches or how your clothes fit), you aren’t going to be able to see what is working and you need to continue, or what may not be working so that you can change or correct it.

And, another angle to this: if you don’t track your progress, you may not even realize how far you’ve come. Even if you haven’t reached your ultimate goal, being able to recognize specific milestones can give you a huge motivational boost to keep going!

I recommend you always track your progress, even if it’s just a brief weekly rundown of whether you lose any inches, how your diet is making you feel, etc … I also recommend writing this down so you can reference it during your journey.

2. Switching Programs Too Often

This is another common one, and I think we’ve all been here at some point in our journey. In our “instant” society, we’ve been conditioned that if anything is taking “too long” to occur, we must be on the wrong path, using the wrong approach, are in the wrong program, etc …

However, when it comes to biology, and especially weight loss, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

At the end of the day, lasting results take time. There is NO way around this.

Now, depending on the program you take and the style of training, you may get results fast(er) than other programs (this is why my Body and Burn Course uses unique, rapid-fire movements to help shred fat faster) … but we’re still talking a month or so to see visible changes!

And, while this seems abnormal to us, it’s actually not abnormal in the slightest. Our bodies were designed the way they are for a reason, and the time it takes to lose fat is a normal amount of time (UNLESS there is a medical issue or something is wrong – I’m speaking about those with healthy metabolisms who are doing everything “right”).

The point is: don’t hop from program to program every two weeks. This will never give your body enough time to start showing changes, and will never allow you to see what actually works for you and what doesn’t.

3. Not Learning From Failure

A lot of us tend to view failure as an ending.

“We tried, we failed, there goes that goal.”

I can empathize with this. For years I felt the same sort of discouragement when I would fail.

However … the only time I finally succeeded in ANYTHING was when I realized that this isn’t the point of failure. We aren’t doomed to failure just so we give up and immediately move on (in disappointment) to another goal.

No! Failure is a teacher. At it’s core, failure is presenting you with the outcome of something you tried that still has a variable that needs to be tweaked, eliminated, or fixed. It is a symptom of something you missed in the process, not a final outcome in and of itself.

Once you recognize this, you can find whatever variable it is that you missed, and correct it.

Learn from your “failures.” Find out why something didn’t work. If this means continuing to tweak your diet or regime, do that (just do it one step at a time, and give the process time to manifest results).

Between each tweak, I recommend giving your body at least 2 weeks (ideally a month) to show a sign of adjustment. If you don’t start losing anything after this point, it’s time to find another variable.

Another Crucial Tip

I had to include this here, because no matter how focused you are, or how hard you train … it’s nearly impossible to out-train a bad diet.

Now, you may think your diet is pretty clean, but if you feel like you keep plateauing, you might want to take a LONG hard look at what you’re eating.

The absolute number one thing to look for is if you’re consuming ANY excess or added sugars. You might be thinking, “No, of course not.” However, “sugars” aren’t found exclusively in pastries, ice cream, and candy, etc … I’m talking “sugars” as in how many added sugars are in your protein bars, in your flavored protein shakes, in your morning latte, in your salad dressing, and in your gluten-free, “healthy” cookie.

Sugar is found in nearly all processed and packaged foods, so your first order of business is to eliminate as many as possible, looking for protein bars with a very low sugar count, and sweetening coffee and smoothies with pure stevia.

Much of the sugar issue can be avoided by sticking to whole foods only: try to avoid boxed and packaged items as much as possible in exchange for organic meats, fish, fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds, etc …

If you’re needing in-depth guidance on your diet AND want access to the program that will get you shredded like no other, get started on my Body and Burn Bodyweight Course now (also contains comprehensive meal guides!)