Many types of weight loss techniques seem drastic, but very rarely are they permanent. Here’s how to maintain weight loss and keep it off for good.
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In this article:
- Stay Active
- Keep Carbs Low and Proteins High
- Cook Your Own Meals
- Avoid Cheat Days
- Make Breakfast a Habit
- Weigh Yourself Regularly
- Gain Muscle
- Commit to Hydration
- Be Consistent
- Get Enough Rest
- Prepare for Failure but Don’t Feel Bad
Maintain Weight Loss with These Easy-to-Remember Tips
Tip 1: Stay Active
Regular physical exercise is important in maintaining your current weight. Not only does it burn off extra calories, it also helps speed up metabolism, both of which are crucial in achieving the right balance of energy.
With the right energy balance, you are likely to burn the same number of calories you gain by eating. This way, your weight reading remains consistent.
Studies show those who keep to at least 30 minutes of exercise a day after weight loss are more likely to maintain their current weight. Some studies go as far as recommending at least 1 hour of physical exercise a day for maximum success.
Tip 2: Keep Carbs Low and Proteins High
Making the necessary lifestyle changes to accommodate a healthy diet with fewer empty carbs and saturated fats and more healthy fiber, proteins, and healthy fats is ideal.
Loading up on protein, for example, won’t only help maintain weight, but also reduce cravings, promote fullness, reduce body fat, and feed muscles starved from exercise. Protein helps raise certain hormone levels which lead to the feeling of satiety or fullness, lowering the number of calories consumed per day.
Holding back from consuming too many refined carbs is also helpful in weight maintenance goals. Foods like white pasta, white bread, white rice, and sugary fruit juices undergo processes which strip them of their nutrients and natural fiber, a lack of which has links to weight gain and obesity.
Tip 3: Cook Your Own Meals
Cooking your own meals can help maintain weight loss because it gives you complete control over your own diet. Meals from restaurants, for example, may seem healthy but can contain hidden ingredients like saturated fat and excess sugars to taste more appealing.
Preparing your own meals can also help you keep to a more sustainable lifestyle without having to subscribe to unrealistic diets and meal plans. It also helps you keep track of the things you’re putting into your body (like more fruits and vegetables), as well as practice mindful eating.
Tip 4: Avoid Cheat Days
It’s common to see fitness enthusiasts and athletes indulging themselves on massive binging sprees they call “cheat days.” But the truth is, it’s only ever effective for those specific people whose lifestyles are built around strict fitness and dietary regimens.
For the rest of the population, cheat days just aren’t sustainable, especially if you want to maintain long-term weight loss. These cheat days can also lead people to indulge in junk food, leading to more unhealthy habits which will only lead to the lost weight being regained, sometimes even more than before.
Tip 5: Make Breakfast a Habit
Breaking your fast each morning can have benefits to your weight maintenance goals. Studies show people who eat breakfast generally have healthier habits, like consuming more nutrients and fiber, as well as exercising regularly.
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Tip 6: Weigh Yourself Regularly
While your weight isn’t a direct reflection of your success at maintaining weight loss, it’s a decent standard to measure progress. Weight normally fluctuates due to natural factors such as hormonal changes, water retention, and even muscle gain from exercise.
Studies show those who weigh themselves regularly for monitoring purposes stayed on track with their weight management goals. Your weight can also tell you if you’re progressing in a healthy way, or if you’re losing or gaining weight too quickly.
Tip 7: Gain Muscle
Weight loss may sometimes come with the loss of muscle mass. While it may look good on a scale, losing muscle mass can be detrimental to maintaining your weight, as it lowers your metabolism.
Lifting weights and doing resistance training can help prevent muscle loss, improve your metabolic weight, and burn more calories even when you’re not exercising.
Tip 8: Commit to Hydration
Drinking water isn’t stressed enough for its multiple benefits. Helping maintain weight is one of those benefits.
Drinking 1-2 glasses of water before meals help you stay full and prevent you from consuming more calories than you need. Studies also show regular consumption of water slightly raises the body’s thermogenesis rate.
What is Thermogenesis Rate? The number of calories burned throughout the day
Tip 9: Be Consistent
As with any road to success, consistency is always key. The failures which come as a result of those attempting drastic diets and fitness routines are usually due to lack of consistency.
Making any changes to your lifestyle won’t be easy at first, and it can often be overwhelming. But being consistent will eventually turn it into a habit, which in turn will become second nature.
Tip 10: Get Enough Rest
Rest doesn’t just mean sleep. It also means taking the time to control your stress and finding a support network as a respite from outside factors.
Inadequate sleep has been shown to be a risk factor for obesity and can interfere with successful weight maintenance. This is because sleep deprivation produces high ghrelin levels, which increases the appetite and intensifies cravings.
What is Ghrelin? Also known as the hunger hormone, ghrelin is produced by the stomach and the small intestine. It stimulates appetite, urging the body to store more food and fat.
Tip 11: Prepare for Failure but Don’t Feel Bad
There is no one perfect path to weight loss and weight maintenance. Failures and setbacks are common, even inevitable, so you should be prepared to expect them.
But just because you hit a setback doesn’t mean you should completely discontinue your journey. Manage your expectations and learn to move on and make better choices in the future.
This also helps you prepare for situations which may call for some unhealthy habits, such as vacations or holidays.
Weight loss is a common goal for many, which explains why there are so many diets and exercise trends going around. Tackling weight loss or weight maintenance can be overwhelming and intimidating at any point, which is why making small but achievable goals can help.
Have you ever lost weight and managed to successfully keep it off? Share your experience with us in the comments section below!
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