How disappointing it would be to reach your weight loss goal only to pile it all back on again. You worked really hard to lose the weight and it’s such a relief that you have reached your target, you now just want to take a break, after all you feel you deserve it. But what does all that hard work account to, if you let things slip and end up where you began, overweight and unhappy because of it.
That’s why weight loss maintenance is just as important as losing weight. Learning how to lose weight and keep it off for good should be part of your diet and weight loss plan.
U.S. News Health posted an article that provides some really sound advice to help you avoid disappointment from piling the pounds back on, for when you have reached your ideal weight.
Tips On How To Lose Weight And Keep It Off For Good
Diets do work. Weight maintenance is what’s broken. That’s why obesity researchers are now focused on studies looking at the metabolic and hormonal differences that occur once you lose weight. Recent studies of those who have managed to keep pounds off for several years reveal that how we lose and how we maintain require very different approaches.
Here, five ways to stop weight regain:
Move More
Research shows that people who have successfully kept weight off exercise 60 to 90 minutes a day. More exercise is essential for successful weight maintenance because it helps counterbalance the drop in one’s metabolic rate that occurs when you lose weight. If you’re not that active right now, strive for 30 to 45 minutes a day, most days a week. The best type exercise for helping you stay slim is a combination of aerobic exercise, high-intensity interval training, and strength training.
Aerobic exercise helps burn calories, interval training results in greater boosts to your metabolic rate compared to lower-intensity exercise, while strength training helps build muscle tissue, which burns more calories at rest compared to fat tissue. Since our muscles and cardiovascular system adapt to exercise workloads quickly, be sure to change up your routine frequently.
Monitor Your Weight Weekly
One of the other major habits of highly successful dieters is once-weekly weigh-ins to avoid letting pounds creep back. (It’s not necessary to weigh yourself more than once a week, as doing so may only drive you crazy.) Once dieters reach a goal weight, they often believe they can put their bathroom scale away once and for all. Not so fast. Remember, pounds come off slowly but are quick to pile back on. As soon as you see the needle headed north, do what you did to lose the weight in the first place, so you can quickly correct course. Get the other 3 ways here.
It’s not quite rocket science, but I think the advice is valuable nonetheless. As weight loss dieters we are so focus on losing weight, we forget about the maintenance stage. Sure we are focus on losing weight right now, but I think having a plan prepared and acknowledging what is expected of us once we reach our ideal weight will make things a lot easier and a whole lot more rewarding.
Do you ever think about what it’s going to be like when you reach your target weight, do you think about the things you’ll need to do to maintain your weight loss?
Or maybe you have reached your target and maintaining your weight loss, what tips would you share? Please comment below, and click like if you found the article helpful.
No comments yet.