Weight maintenance
If you reached your goal in terms of weight, then first of all – big well done! However, it is not just about getting to a healthy weight – It’s about keeping it in the long run. So how can we do this?
When you were in the fat loss mode, chances are, you were eating fewer calories and/or were moving more. That’s fantastic. But naturally, we don’t want to keep losing weight forever – that sure wouldn’t be healthy! So how do we transition into the maintenance phase?
You will need to find your new balance and status quo when it comes to your diet and exercise. You will probably be able to eat slightly bigger portion sizes or be generally a bit more relaxed with your food than when you were trying to lose weight. But what we don’t want is you coming back to your old habits that you worked so hard to overwrite! That would just put you back to where you started – you don’t want to be repeating the cycle of weight loss and weight regain.
What can help you in the transition? It is natural if you are a little confused or unsure of how much you should be eating after a period of actively trying to lose weight. What you can do is keep a (detailed) food diary for a few days and watch your scales as well. If your weight isn’t changing much (little fluctuations are normal), then you have found your new balance. If you keep losing weight, you can add a little bit more food on your plate. If you started gaining weight, you might need to bring the portions down a little bit again. Keeping a food diary alongside it can help you identify where you might be going wrong and where you can make adjustments. It’s a little bit like trial and error. You don’t need to keep a food diary for the rest of your life of course – you can just stop when you find your maintenance.
And how do you know if you’re still on the right track after a while? There are different ways you can check, and it depends on what works for you. Scale weight doesn’t give us an accurate picture of what is going on in the body and we shouldn’t put too much importance on it. However, it can be a quick and easy tool to check where you are at – if the information is used correctly. You can weigh yourself from time to time and if your weight is around what it should be (give or take 2 kilos), we can take it as a good sign. If it is substantially higher – don’t panic! As we said, fluctuations happen naturally – weigh yourself again over the next few days. If it is still around that higher number, again – don’t panic! You know what to do – have a think about your lifestyle over the past few weeks or months – have you been on holiday? Were you ill or injured and were less active? Were you reaching for the crisps or custard creams a little too often? Identify what might have happened to make the weight creep up. If you are unsure, not to worry – you can keep a food and activity diary for the next few days and maybe you will see what has been going on. Or maybe nothing happened but your portion sizes have been bigger, or you were snacking more. No problem, just adjust your portion sizes over the next days/weeks and make sure you are moving and exercising, and your weight will come back down.
If scales intimidate you too much or affect your mood too much, no need to use them – grab a tape measure instead or judge by how your clothes fit. Or book yourself for an InBody in one of the leisure centres. The reason why we are suggesting checking from time to time is just so that you discover the possible warning signs of your weight potentially creeping back up before you’re left with too many kilograms or pounds to lose again – the sooner you recognise it, the less adjustments you will need to make. It is entirely up to you how often you want to check – monthly, every other month, every three months?
Tips for successfully maintaining your weight
Keep up your physical activity – it is essential for your health as well as maintaining weight. Structured exercise as well as everyday physical activity – any movement is good!
Keep to a regular pattern – if you found an eating pattern that works for you, stick to it. Even when you go on holiday (more or less) – you will feel better and it will make it easier for you to maintain the good habits.
Beware of liquid calories – mainly alcohol. Remember, it’s a rich source of calories that are easily forgotten about, not to mention toxins. Keep your intake low to moderate.
Break up the old habits – hopefully you’ve identified small meaningful habit changes that you can keep up. If you catch yourself slipping into your old ones, pause and remind yourself why you changed those in the first place and what you did that worked before.
Don’t restrict yourself too much – we know what happens if you do (the cycle of restriction and overindulgence). No food is bad and you can enjoy everything in moderation.
Check where you are at from time to time – as explained above.
If you manage to keep your weight off for the first 2 years - your chances of keeping it off forever dramatically increase! So be patient and stick with it. You’ve got this!
Ask for help if you need it – if you slipped too far, there’s no shame in asking for help.