Shay Sorrells was a contestant on season eight of Biggest Loser. I got to hang out with her last spring at the Biggest Loser reunion – she’s definitely on my list of favorite losers! She’s hilarious, amazing and fun to be around. She wrote a great post the other day on the biggest mistakes she made since leaving Biggest Loser – I think I identify with all of them! I’ve copied a few of my favorite parts, but you can read the whole thing here.

You could easily call these the seven deadly sins of weight loss as well. I learned them after losing a tremendous amount of weight, but it could help any who are just starting or who are in the middle of their weight loss phase…

2. I took a break… A great person, who meant well, and had very great intentions gave me some really bad advice. They advised me to take a break after finale. To give my body a few weeks to heal from all of the intense grueling workout sessions. Believe me, those words were honey to my ears and I gladly welcomed a day where my body didn’t ache as if I had just fought a whole army alone. By the time Finale of Loser had come my body had stopped losing weight for over a month. I had tirelessly tried changing up my workouts and upping the intensity to get the scale moving again. Which is why logically taking a break made sense. But what I should have done was slow down. Kept a regimen but decreased the intensity drastically upped my calories a few hundred (2-3) and kept an eye on my healthy fat intake. By taking a break it lead to sedentary hours and that led back to old habits which led to longer breaks and eventually weight began to creep back on. When I decided I had enough of a break.. it was devastatingly hard to get back into the groove. In fact I am still trying to find that groove. Guess I need to star in “ how Shay got her groove back…” or maybe not. So this lesson also applies to those of you out there who have hit a plateau or have reached a maintenance phase. Whatever you do don’t abruptly stop! Slow the pace an intensity down, find alternatives workouts that aren’t so intense and enjoy the active moments.

5. I thought I would be okay on my own…This is a mistake that I have often made in many areas of my life. WIth the emotional baggage that I continually am working on and trying to shed I have trust issues and I also have issues asking for help. I stopped reaching out to others- including my BL family and friends. I decided that I needed to walk this walk alone and that I needed to figure everything out before I reached out. Boy was I wrong. By doing this I cut off accountability and I cut off people who understood what I was facing and could have helped me. Accountability is one of the most important things you can do in your journey, wether that is joining a program like WW with weekly meetings or an online group of friends or joining a local running club etc. Your accountability group should be there to offer advice, listen, and call you out if necessary. Having accountability can help to push beyond your comfort zone and give you a kick in the butt you may need.

6. I started caring more about what others thought of me… As I started slipping into my dark hole I stopped going to events, even with my personal friends and family, I just couldn’t face anyone because I was terrified to let people down or disappoint anyone. I refused public appearances and I denied that I was even on TBL. I didn’t want anyone to know I was a failure. I had botched up a super awesome gift that I had been given. I started comparing myself to others and their successes. This is possible one of the worst things to ever do. I knew that and couldn’t stop myself. I was so down and all I could think was… I failed. I let everyone down. When you begin to compare your self and worry about what others think you WILL NEVER MEASURE UP, YOU WILL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH. A journey of weight loss is a personal journey and while you may run with others no one runs for you. You cannot compare your journey with another or you will always see fault.

Read the whole thing here.