By Alicia • 12 Comments
One of the most difficult things about losing weight is figuring out how to keep your weight off once you have lost it. Losing weight is very hard work, especially if you had more than a few pounds to lose. You do not want to go through all of that work and then gain the weight back. That is such a defeated feeling to endure. Learn how to keep your weight off once and for all with these 7 simple tips.
One of the best things you need to know about how to keep your weight off is to keep counting calories, points or following whatever strategy you were following to lose the weight in the first place. Of course, you are going to need to alter that in order to maintain instead of continuing to lose. Your weight loss program should have some guidance in how to help you with that if you followed an organized program. If you did not there are still ways you can figure that out. I know that My Fitness Pal can help you figure out how much you can eat to maintain your weight.
It is not as easy to go back into your fat clothes if you don’t have them anymore. Get rid of them as you lose weight. Also, be sure to shop for new ones to replace them so that you have even more motivation to keep the weight off. That is one of the most rewarding parts of losing weight: seeing yourself in an all new, slimmer sized wardrobe.
It is far too easy to gain the weight back if you are not monitoring yourself. Keep a close eye on your weight. One of the best ways to do this is to weigh yourself daily or at least weekly. This tells you when you are starting to veer back on the side of the scale you do not want to be on. Doing this allows you to make a change right then, when the damage is minimal, rather than allowing it to escalate to a bigger problem.
You cannot just lose the weight and sit down on the couch and go back to your couch potato ways. You have to keep moving. You have to keep active. Whatever exercise you were doing to lose the weight, keep it up. You can branch out and try new exercises too, as long as you are not giving up being active.
If you want to be successful in maintaining your weight loss, you have to look at it as a lifestyle change rather than the end of your diet. You have to keep thinking in the same mindset that you did to lose the weight. A lot of your success depends on your ability to think of this correctly. A lifestyle change means that you have changed your whole life for good. It means that you do things differently now.
Don’t go back to potato chips and cupcakes. You can have those treats once in a while, especially once you are no longer focused on losing and your new focus is on maintaining weight loss. But you have to continue to eat healthy. Keep a good supply of fruits and veggies on hand. If they are easy to access and in front of your face, it will be easier to grab them than the junk. At least then you will have no excuse to not get your fruits and veggies in.
I know so many people who have lost a lot of weight simply by changing their beverages. If we are not careful, we can drink a lot of calories throughout the day. Try to make water your main beverage. There are also other no calorie options, but water is the healthiest. Like any other treat, it is okay to indulge in an empty calorie beverage every once in a while as long as it does not become your norm.
These 7 tips will help you to maintain your weight loss if you follow them. What tips have you used to maintain weight loss? Please share with us!