26 Nov 4 Secrets to Maintaining Weight Loss

One of the most important aspects of my work isn’t just helping people to lose weight, but ensuring they maintain it too. I regularly see clients who have tried different diets in the past but when the diet stopped, they reverted to old habits and the weight came back. No one wants that! Losing weight is really just the beginning of the journey. Learning how to maintain weight loss long term is the real sign of success.

Working with clients over the last 10 years I have found that there are some simple things we can all do to help maintain a healthy lifestyle. Here they are:

FIND A STRATEGY THAT FITS YOUR LIFESTYLE

For a plan to work long term, it has to fit into your lifestyle. If you’re the kind of person who is never going to prepare your lunch to take to work, that’s fine. Where can you get a healthy lunch on the high street instead? If you have to eat out a lot, how can you make the restaurant menu work for you? Some of my clients have found that healthy meal delivery companies have transformed their lives. Have a think about how you can make healthy eating fit into your lifestyle. The more realistic your strategy, the easier it will be to stick to it long term.

ENJOY YOUR FOOD

Feeling as though you have to choose between eating healthy food or eating food you actually enjoy sucks. Finding healthy food you love eating is the key to making a nutritious diet last. Think about your favourite meals or foods and how you could adapt them to make them healthier. Look at recipe books or social media for meal inspiration. Get excited about the food you’re eating. There are so many delicious healthy foods to enjoy!

DEVELOP HEALTHY HABITS

Getting into good habits in your day to day life is will what will ensure long term success. Consider what habits might have caused your weight gain in the first place and how you can replace those habits with new, healthier ones. If your colleagues are forever celebrating birthdays with cakes in the office, is there a healthier alternative you could keep on standby for when you’re tempted? Instead of meeting friends at a bar, is there a new exercise class you could try out together? It’s a combination of all the little habits that can make the biggest difference.

HAVE A PLAN FOR IF YOUR WEIGHT STARTS TO CREEP UP

Of course, it would be great if we were all able to maintain our ideal weight year round. The fact is there are holidays, there’s Christmas and there are periods of time when, for one reason or another, things just don’t go to plan. If you know your weight has begun to creep up the best advice I can give you is – take action to nip it in the bud early. Don’t ignore it only for the small issue to turn into an ‘Oh no, none of my clothes fit me anymore’ kind of issue. Is there a more focused diet plan you can revert to for a short while? Perhaps keeping a food diary on MyFitnessPal will help get you back on track? Perhaps you need to book an appointment with me?!

When I work with clients to help them reach their ideal weight, I always make sure that they have a maintenance plan in place to ensure they maintain their happy weight. This doesn’t just mean a nutrition plan. It means a tailored strategy for making healthy living a part of their life as well as a plan for what to do if their weight does ever begin to creep up again.

If you’d like our help with reaching, or maintaining your ideal weight, please do get in touch.