You’ve done it! You made the commitment to being healthier and changing some bad habits and you’ve accomplished your goals. Now what? What’s interesting about weight loss is that many people think that it’s just a process that begins when you make changes to lose weight and get fit ends when you’ve lost all the weight and are looking fabulous.
owever, if you’re not maintaining the changes that you’ve made, you might find yourself right back where you started. Instead of going up and down on the scale and swinging between “being good” and “being bad,” here are ten secrets that you can use to keep your slim figure.
1. Weight training works – Studies have shown that people that have more muscle mass will burn more calories, even at rest. Because of this fact, you will want to incorporate some weight training into your maintenance plan so that as you increase your calorie intake, you’re able to burn them off without any gain.
2. Food journaling – When you write down what you eat, you will be able to control the amount of food that you are eating. Even if you only write down your food intake for a few days a week, keeping an eye on how you’re eating can help alert you of problems before they become pounds.
3. Daily exercise – When you want to keep the weight off, exercise will need to become a part of your life. However, this doesn’t mean that you need to workout for hours each day. Work out by doing something you enjoy… dancing, hiking, kick boxing…
4. Allow yourself treats – Life isn’t about deprivation, so neither should your new figure. When you’ve lost weight, you have learned about how much you needed to eat in order to cut back on calories. Once you’ve learned this, you can also learn to have a treat every now and then, enjoying it instead of overindulging in it.
5. Look at making changes rather than dieting – When you’re looking to lose weight, the ‘sprint’ approach isn’t going to be a long term fix. You need to permanently change your eating habits in order to ensure that your weight stays at its new position.
6. Learn to make favorite recipes healthier – If you have a favorite cheesecake recipe; why not learn how to make it lower in fat and sugar? This way, you can still enjoy the foods you love.
7. Get support – You don’t have to join a weight loss club to do this, but telling your friends and family about your goals can help to get everyone into supporting your efforts. When you do this, people will start to recognize that family gatherings should have healthy options as well as not always revolve around food.
8. Keep the stress away – Many people eat when they are stressed, but when you’ve lost weight, you want to avoid this kind of trigger. Instead, figure out ways that help you deal with stress. What can you do instead of eating to help calm down and relax?
9. Watch your weight – Studies have shown that those that regularly monitor their weight tend to keep off weight better than those that don’t. You don’t have to get on the scale every day, but weighing in once a week can help alert you to when you might need to rethink that second slice of pie.
10. Recognize a slip up and forgive yourself – When you start to get angry about mistakes, you can backslide into old eating habits. You will have times when eating right will be more difficult, but you will persevere. Acknowledge that you made a poor eating choice (or several) and then forgive yourself and eat better at the next meal. There’s no need to punish your self.
Keeping the weight off can actually be more difficult than losing it in the first place, but when you’re committed to keeping trim, these tips will make sure that you do.
Consider working closely with a weight loss expert. They can provide you with a safe and effective weight loss program while keeping you motivated. There is no better time to make this decision for yourself than right now.
About the Author
Ginny Grupp is the owner of AlaskaFit, Anchorage’s premier fitness center. If you’re ready to begin your body-changing journey please call 907-783-1241 right now to receive a complimentary nutrition and fitness consultation (valued at $97).
If you’re not yet ready for our free consultation offer, please visit http://www.AlaskaFit.com and sign up for our “5 Fat Loss Tips” report to get you started on your body-changing journey right now!
However, if you’re not maintaining the changes that you’ve made, you might find yourself right back where you started. Instead of going up and down on the scale and swinging between “being good” and “being bad,” here are ten secrets that you can use to keep your slim figure.
- Weight training works – Studies have shown that people that have more muscle mass will burn more calories, even at rest. Because of this fact, you will want to incorporate some weight training into your maintenance plan so that as you increase your calorie intake, you’re able to burn them off without any gain.
- Food journaling – When you write down what you eat, you will be able to control the amount of food that you are eating. Even if you only write down your food intake for a few days a week, keeping an eye on how you’re eating can help alert you of problems before they become pounds.
- Daily exercise – When you want to keep the weight off, exercise will need to become a part of your life. However, this doesn’t mean that you need to workout for hours each day. Work out by doing something you enjoy… dancing, hiking, kick boxing…
- Allow yourself treats – Life isn’t about deprivation, so neither should your new figure. When you’ve lost weight, you have learned about how much you needed to eat in order to cut back on calories. Once you’ve learned this, you can also learn to have a treat every now and then, enjoying it instead of overindulging in it.
- Look at making changes rather than dieting – When you’re looking to lose weight, the ‘sprint’ approach isn’t going to be a long term fix. You need to permanently change your eating habits in order to ensure that your weight stays at its new position.
- Learn to make favorite recipes healthier – If you have a favorite cheesecake recipe; why not learn how to make it lower in fat and sugar? This way, you can still enjoy the foods you love.
- Get support – You don’t have to join a weight loss club to do this, but telling your friends and family about your goals can help to get everyone into supporting your efforts. When you do this, people will start to recognize that family gatherings should have healthy options as well as not always revolve around food.
- Keep the stress away – Many people eat when they are stressed, but when you’ve lost weight, you want to avoid this kind of trigger. Instead, figure out ways that help you deal with stress. What can you do instead of eating to help calm down and relax?
- Watch your weight – Studies have shown that those that regularly monitor their weight tend to keep off weight better than those that don’t. You don’t have to get on the scale every day, but weighing in once a week can help alert you to when you might need to rethink that second slice of pie.
- Recognize a slip up and forgive yourself – When you start to get angry about mistakes, you can backslide into old eating habits. You will have times when eating right will be more difficult, but you will persevere. Acknowledge that you made a poor eating choice (or several) and then forgive yourself and eat better at the next meal. There’s no need to punish your self.
Keeping the weight off can actually be more difficult than losing it in the first place, but when you’re committed to keeping trim, these tips will make sure that you do.
Consider working closely with a weight loss and fitness expert. They can provide you with a safe and effective weight loss program while keeping you motivated. There is no better time to make this decision for yourself than right now.
About the Author
Ginny Grupp is the owner of AlaskaFit, Anchorage’s premier fitness center. If you’re ready to begin your body-changing journey please call 907-783-1241 right now to receive a complimentary nutrition and fitness consultation (valued at $97) or click the Free Consult! button at the top of this page.
If you’re not yet ready for our free consultation offer, please fill out the form to the right of this article and download our “5 Fat Loss Tips” report to get you started on your body-changing journey right now!
It takes -3500 calories to loose a pound, which means you need to both burn calories by working out & take less calories in by eating in order to loose weight.
Eat fruits & veggies of course. It’s typical to eat a small breakfast and a big dinner, but my health teacher said you actually want to do the opposite. And never skip breakfast, it helps you loose weight. I stopped drinking pop and lost 50 pounds in 1 year!! Don’t drink juice. You’d think fruit juice is good for you, but its not. It has alot of sugar and extra calories. People say dont eat carbs’ not true, 60% of your diet is supposed to be from some type of carbs… just make sure you eat whole grain or whole wheat bread. And drink only skim milk, all others aren’t so great for you. Just watch what you eat and pay attention to nutrition labels!
Make sure you do some weight bearing activities along with cardio, it’ll help build muscle and burn fat! If you cant buy a gym membership try going for a walk or run outside, doing jumping jacks, jump rope, running up & down your stairs, lifting weights, doings situps & pushups.. those are just some ideas that’ll help!
Great comments Mike.
Congratulations on losing 50 lbs. in a year! That’s incredible!
We also sponsor a boot camp that covers the cardio, along with many of the exercises you added at the end of your post.
Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Ginny