When you cut back calories radically or undertake a gimmick diet, it's generally not something you can live with for the rest of your life. You might lose weight quickly at first, but you've convinced your body that it is starving. Not only will it slow down your metabolism to conserve the calories that you do give it, but if you have a bad day and fall off your diet, it will hoard those calories and save them in case you decide to starve again. Aesop might not have been talking about diets when he said that slow and steady wins the race, but it still holds true.
Choose the Right Diet
Good diets tend to be lifestyle changes that develop healthier dietary and exercise habits. A lifestyle change is easier to maintain long-term than deprivation tactics where you're constantly denying yourself and making yourself miserable. Instead of forbidding yourself wholesale calories or whole food groups, substitute healthier versions of the foods you love, such as low-calorie or fat-free versions. Diet programs that involve buying special products also run the risk of not helping you keep the weight. These products can be expensive -- not a cost that you want to continue laying out for the rest of your life. If you stop buying, your diet changes, and you could regain your weight.
Pay Attention
After you've reached your weight goal, it's easy to slide back into bad habits, because you're not necessarily working toward a finish line anymore. Continue to keep a food diary, noting what you eat each day so you know immediately if and how far you're getting away from the good dietary habits that got you where you are. Weigh yourself regularly so you know right away if pounds are creeping back. Then you can take immediate action. It's easier to lose 3 regained lbs. than 30.
Keep Exercising
Be just as careful about slacking off with your exercise once you've met your weight goal. Continue to get in an hour of physical activity several days a week. If your chosen exercise is something that fits into your schedule time-wise and that you enjoy, you're more likely to keep up with it. Your exercise should feel like something you're doing for you, not an ordeal or punishment you must get through. If you dread exercising, you'll eliminate it from your life the first time life gives you an excuse -- and you'll start gaining your weight back again.
Get Rest
Not getting enough sleep can sabotage your weight-loss plans. When you get insufficient rest, less than five hours per night, your body increases its production of ghrelin, a hormone that increases your appetite. It also lowers production of leptin, a hormone that cues your body that more food is not necessary. To keep weight off, keep to a regular sleep schedule as much as possible, preferably close to eight hours per night.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Keeping It Off
- HelpGuide.org: Healthy Weight Loss and Dieting -- How to Lose Weight and Keep It Off
- The Diet Channel: 8 Tips for Losing Weight and Keeping It Off; Kathleen Goodwin, RD
- The Quotations Page: Quotation #24015 from Classic Quotes
- The University of Chicago Medical Center: Sleep Loss Boosts Appetite, May Encourage Weight Gain; December 2004
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