| It's been a hard grind the last few months. You've maintained a strict regime which has seen you get up before sunrise to work out. Some of you may even have worked out twice a day so that you've got your body in the shape you've wanted. You've deprived yourself of some of the treats of life but you've finally got to the weight, or even shape that you've targeted. |  |
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So what now? Do you simply just keep going on a strict regime until there's not much left of you? or do you relax a little and enjoy the fruits of your hardwork in the past months.
Losing weight is easy (ish) but keeping it off is one of life's greatest challenges. Some of you may have lost 5, 10 or even 20kg to get your current figure so it's important to know how to handle the new you so that you're not tempted to gain the weight again. Here are a few strategies you may want to consider to help you maintain your current shape. |
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| Balance.
The key to successful weight maintenance is to balance calories taken in with calories burned. As you exercise, you burn more calories. When you increase your muscle mass, your body burns more calories all the time-even when you sleep. Over the past months you've been working to increase your muscle mass so you can afford yourself treats now again as your body will likely to be more efficient at burning energy. |
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| Although working out and eating more healthily has been a focus of your life, don't make weight loss the center of your life. It needs to be a key part, but not the center. Have fun, take holidays, and participate in other activities outside the gym.
Set realistic goals. You don't need be perfect at your diet or your exercise all the time. Allow some flexibility so you can stick with it in the long run. If your reason for dieting was for a bodybuilding contest, then think to yourself is it realistic for you to maintain your contest weight all year round? The answer is no. So perhaps the goal you need for yourself is a goal weight which you'll allow yourself to get to.
If you've dieted or trained for your own personal satisfaction, then you may need to set yourself more challenging goals so that you keep yourself focused on maintaining your health and fitness lifestyle. This can include training for an event such as triathlons, fun runs or maybe a bodybuilding contest.
Again, while it is important to have goals, we shouldn't be obsessive about reaching them and restricting enjoyment of life. If you "fall off the wagon," don't be too hard on yourself. Relapse is normal, and when you learn from it, you become stronger. Just jump back on the wagon. |
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Motivation and Support
If it helps, find a weight loss or gym buddy to get each other through the good and tough times. But the key to permanent weight loss is doing it for YOU. You are more likely to succeed if you do this for the right reasons. Are you are losing weight because your spouse or doctor wants you? It's best if you lose weight because YOU want to do it. |
 Above and Below: My pal Nat and I earning our treats. Darn, she bet me at Wallsit |
| Research supports this. This process takes a lot of effort, and you will have the desire to keep it up if you really want this for yourself. Keeping a log of your efforts of exercise, food intake, or weight will help you stay on track. Be good to yourself. Praise yourself for the hard work you put into your weight loss efforts. |  |
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Roll with it. There will always be bumps in the road that you haven't prepared yourself for. Something's come up at work and you can't get to the gym or you've had to miss a few days gym training due to family commitments. Don't stress! your weight isn't going to come back overnight or over a few short nights. As long as you maintain a good eating plan and don't let yourself wander too much it will take you no time to get into your routine again.
It's also good to plan ahead during your busy times. For example, if you can't get in your 30min cardio per day, maybe you can get in 15min twice a day. If you've forgot your packed lunch, do you know of a good healthy eating place you can pick up something. If you've been asked to a social function, plan for the calories especially if you like a glass of wine or 2! It's ok to indulge but make sure it's in moderation as you don't want to blow out your calories too much. |
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| Summary
Give yourself the OK to change your plan and don't be so hard on yourself.
Life is about living and being healthy so focus on the overall goal, not the specifics. Vary your exercise routine so that you don't get bored or overwork a specific muscle group. Role-play difficult situations. Practice how you will respond to people who pressure you to eat more or sabotage your efforts. The more prepared you are, the better you will handle these bumps in the road. |
 Nat earned her hot chips that day! |
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