Why your diet may not be working ‘and ways to drop extra pounds.

You already know that mindless munching and too much time on the couch make weight easy to gain and difficult to lose. But unexpected offenders could also be sabotaging your efforts to maintain a healthy weight or shed those extra pounds. Stay on track with this advice, which is based on the latest research into how and why we lose weight.

 Overindulging on the weekend

To combat overindulging on Saturday and Sunday, pay attention to portion size, weigh yourself daily (or on Fridays and Mondays only) and watch your alcohol intake, which provides empty calories and lowers your food inhibitions. Researchers have found that people don’t realize they eat markedly more on weekends, particularly on Saturdays, when they tend to consume more fat. Those extra calories slow weight loss.

Not eating “good” fats

Eating foods rich in unsaturated fats-such as nuts, avocados and olive oil-may help you eat less overall by sending your brain the message that you’re full. These fats appear to trigger the production of a compound in the small intestine called oleoylethanolamide. It reaches nerve endings that carry messages to the brain to curb hunger, and activates a brain circuit that makes you feel full. To avoid weight gain from healthy fats, limit your intake to two to three tablespoons (30-45 mL) a day-a handful of nuts or one sixth of an avocado.

 Being fooled by snack-size treats

If you can’t stop after eating one mini portion of chips or cookies, separate them so you have a treat in your car, office desk and gym bag. In a 2008 Dutch study, 59 students were given either nine small (45-g) bags of potato chips or two large (200-g) bags to eat while watching TV. Participants who were encouraged to think about calories were almost twice as likely to eat chips from the small bags and, if they did, to eat twice as much as those munching from the big bags. “Small bags seem innocent, so people let their guard down and don’t monitor how much they eat,” explains lead researcher Rik Pieters, a marketing professor at Tilburg University.

Eating the wrong amount of carbs

Consuming a diet containing a moderate amount of calories from carbohydrates may help you maintain a healthy body weight. A study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Associationexamined Canadians’ dietary patterns and observed that people who ate 47 to 64 percent (290-310 g) of their calories per day as carbohydrates were less likely to be overweight or obese, compared to those consuming a lower percentage of carbs. Diets that are too low or too high in carbohydrates are harder to maintain, says lead researcher Anwar Merchant, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Carolina. (The study’s findings are in keeping with Health Canada’s recommendations.)

Following a treat-free eating plan

Allowing yourself an occasional treat, such as a special dessert or french fries, may protect you from overdoing it on the wrong foods because you’re always feeling deprived. Having access to some tempting foods, such as candy, rather than banning them outright, may help you avoid temptation. (Just don’t keep your personal trigger foods in the house.) A study in the Journal of Consumer Research examined the differences between real and abstract food temptations. It found that when women were exposed to candy (such as M&M’s) but were asked not to eat it, they were more likely to exhibit self-control when offered the same candy a second time. However, women who were only shown ads or pictures of candy were less likely to show restraint with the real thing.

You’re 40 or older

That daily muffin might have been okay once, but skip it now if you want to prevent middle-aged spread. “As we age, we lose lean muscle mass, so our metabolism slows down, especially if we don’t exercise every day,” says Larry Tucker, an exercise sciences professor at Brigham Young University in Utah. In a recent study involving 192 middle-aged women, Tucker found that the women who became more restrained in their eating habits were 2.4 times less likely to gain 6* pounds or more over three years compared to those who didn’t become more careful. On average, women who developed greater eating restraint consumed about 200 fewer calories a day than their counterparts.