![]() But just plump up a few meals and snacks with a few extra calories here and there – have that extra spoonful of peanut butter or 1/2 cup of rice, for example. My practical advice is to keep your “diet” plan consistent – keep eating the same way you were when you were actively losing weight. Instead, you need to embrace that you have a “new normal.” Simply put, the amount of food that you can eat to maintain your weight will be more than what you were eating when you were dieting, but it will be less than what you used to eat. Your body can simply use the incoming food to fuel activity, instead of digging into stored energy.īut this is where many people on a weight loss journey get this confused – they mistakenly think that maintenance will be going back to their “old normal” (prior to how they ate to lose weight). Maintenance happens when you eat just enough to not lose weight. This causes the pounds to drop as you gradually mobilize more and more stored fat. This means you’re burning more calories than you eat, so your body has to dig into stored fat for energy. When you’re losing weight, you’re in a caloric deficit. It can look a lot of different ways – you can find something that fits your personality, preferences, and schedule! Concept 2: Plan a bit more food into your diet… strategically. Keep in mind that exercising an hour per day does not mean slogging it out on the treadmill for 60 minutes every night. I strength train three times a week, I run two or three times a week, and I go for a walk at least once a day. The National Weight Loss Control Registry, which researches people (including me!) who have successfully lost weight and kept it off, has found that most successful “losers” exercise about an hour a day.įor me, this tracks. ![]() Create a way to keep yourself accountable, find something you enjoy, and set goals to achieve so that you exercise most days of the week. Instead, I invite you to frame exercise as something that will remain a constant companion – something that makes your life better, more fun, and easier. I’ll only jump on the treadmill if I see my weight start to creep up.” Many people over-associate exercise with weight loss.Īs in: “I will exercise to lose weight, but I won’t exercise if I’m not actively trying to lose weight. Concept 1: Keep your exercise going full steam ahead. ![]() Today, I’m going to break down five important concepts of maintenance that will help you make a smooth, pain-free transition from steady weight loss to easy maintenance. That’s what today’s blog post is all about. “Have I damaged my metabolism through long-term weight loss?”.“I’m going on vacation – am I free to let loose now that I’m not actively losing weight?”.“Can I eat more than I used to, or do I have to keep eating the same calorie number that I was when dieting?”.You may be asking yourself practical questions, like: If you have been gradually transforming your lifestyle right along with your body, your chances are very, very good that you’ll keep the weight off without heroics or extreme deprivation.īut you may not be sure what to do. The good news is that the future is bright. You may even be wondering, “Am I doomed to re-gain?” If you have made significant inroads in improving your body composition with slow, steady progress, you may be at a point where you’re asking yourself, “What’s next?” ![]() They don’t consider the kind of tectonic change that people undergo when they develop new exercise habits, systemically change the way they eat, and do serious work on their mindset around weight and body image. Instead, they focus on quick-fix crash diets that last – at most – a few months. Statistics like these don’t take into account long, steady lifestyle change. I think this message, without context, is not only discouraging, but also terribly misleading. The overall message comes across to would-be self-improvers as, “Why even try?” Have you heard this one before? Phrases like this, as well as oft-cited studies about weight re-gain after loss, make it seem like failure is inevitable. “It’s easy to lose _ pounds, but it’s harder to keep it off.” One of the health myths that annoys me most is this one: From Weight Loss to Maintenance: How to Navigate a Tricky Transition
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