3 Ways to Maintain Weight With the Hacker's Diet

1. Keep Using Your "Eat Watch"

John Walker accurately assesses that weight loss is only part of the solution to obesity. This condition also needs to be "managed." Managing or maintaining weight is usually the biggest problem dieters encounter. Statistics show the majority of people who lose a significant amount of weight tend to put it back on within a few years' time. Walker believes that to maintain your weight, you need to keep your "eat watch," the imaginary watch that tells you when to eat and when to stop, strapped to your wrist indefinitely. This means continuing to log calories daily and reviewing trend charts to adjust caloric intake before significant gain occurs.

2. Gradually Increase Calories to Maintenance Level

You will, of course, need to increase caloric intake to keep from continuing to lose weight once you have reached your goal. If you add in all the extra calories needed to maintain a certain weight immediately, you may cause wild oscillations in your weight pattern. This is due to your body's inability to adapt so quickly to this extra influx. Walker recommends adding calories slowly to allow for the body's adjustment. For example, if you need to add back 400 calories to your daily diet, you could put in an extra 100 per week for 4 weeks. This slow increase should keep your body from reacting by gaining weight. Keep tracking and use your feedback to adjust as necessary during your maintenance.

3. Keep a Picture

John Walker has a "before" picture and recommends you keep one too. This picture is simply one taken of you before you started the Hacker's diet. Take a picture of yourself--make it full length and a profile shot if you dare--on the day before you start dieting. This picture can serve as a record of where you do not want to regress. Anytime you consider abandoning your daily calorie counting, take out the picture and remind yourself of how much better you look and feel without the extra weight.