4 Essential Tips For Fat-Loss Success From a Fitness Coach

Changing too much isn't sustainable, and you'll end up giving up soon after starting your journey. "Maintain your current lifestyle," Yiannis said, and make small adjustments. Eat the foods you love and crave, just go for smaller portions to ensure you're in a calorie deficit. Add in more veggies, fruits, and water to help you look and feel better and more satisfied.

It's important to find types of fitness that inspire you, that push you to get stronger, and that you actually want to do consistently. That means you shouldn't just focus on "the best fat burning exercises," Yiannis explained, if you hate them. "Using training as a way to 'burn calories' is a rookie error. Collectively speaking, the training you do most often is going to be the best . . . not the one grueling workout that burned 600 calories, and you know you won't do again." Make fitness and moving throughout your day fun so it's easily a part of your life.

"Stop the 'all or nothing' bullsh*t; food has no emotions," Yiannis said. Don't see foods as good versus bad, because demonizing certain foods and making them off-limits will only make you crave them more.

Registered dietitian Leslie Langevin, MS, RD, CD, of Whole Health Nutrition agrees, and told POPSUGAR that "Cutting out too much" is the biggest weight-loss mistake you can make. Change your mindset to think of eating choices as "foods you should eat more or and foods you should eat less of. Simple." Choose more nutrient-dense foods and be careful with the calorie-dense, hyper-palatable foods.

Yiannis added, "Balance is essential. While it's tough to master, it's something you MUST learn if you want to make this long-term."

Don't just use the scale to measure your progress. Aside from not being a completely accurate measurement, the numbers can fluctuate and really undermine all your hard work, which can make you lose motivation to stay on track.

Some experts, including Harley Pasternak, will tell you not to have a scale and not to weigh yourself. Psychotherapist Kathryn Smerling, PhD, agrees, pointing out that fixating on the numbers on the scale can turn into an unhealthy obsession and make you forget about the importance of focusing on "feeling good in body and spirit."

Forget the scale! Yiannis said to use monthly photos of yourself, monitor how your clothes fit, and take other body measurements to determine your success.