You may stop observing certain rigorous activities after achieving your weight loss goal, but the truth is that there is no exit strategy to the whole thing. You should not be aiming to lose weight to return to pick up an unhealthy body weight a couple of months later. Your weight loss routine is meant to help you take a new lifestyle and become more conscious about healthy living. In light of this, you must weigh in on some post-weight loss observances – what you do after a weight loss program is equally important as the program itself. So, what must you do to maintain healthy body weight after your weight loss routine? – The ensuing discourse will give you a clear answer about this.

Regular exercise shouldn’t stop

Achieving your weight loss target does not mean you have to stop some of the activities you engaged in during the (weight loss) program. Even if anything is to be discontinued at all; it shouldn’t be your exercise – maybe not at the same intensity though. A sedentary lifestyle should not be encouraged in any way once you’ve gotten the healthy bodyweight you were vying for. More so, regular exercise will help keep your metabolism up, ensuring that you burn a significant number of calories daily. Doing an exercise routine for half an hour every day should suffice as a viable weight maintenance undertaking.

Mindful eating is the way to go

Mindful eating can be described as a way of consuming foods attentively, and this is to primarily let you know when you get full. The idea is that spend more time chewing your food – thoroughly – before swallowing. This kind of eating habit will considerably aid the digestion of foods, and also prevent you from overeating or binge-eating. Summarily, you should be mindful not to rust your foods, and also avoid being distracted while at it – you should be very intentional about this.

Daily breakfast matters

Daily or regular breakfast has been vastly reported as a valuable weight management measure, and this may not be unconnected to how it promotes a healthy lifestyle. On the other hand, a good number of studies have shown that individuals who skip breakfast are more prone to gain pick up unhealthy eating habits and gain weight in the process. Although there seems not to be a hard-and-fast rule about this since there are yet reports that showed how skipping breakfast helped some persons maintain their body weight. You should, therefore, listen to your body and go with what works for you.

More protein, more fiber, less refined carbs

You will certainly have to also watch what you eat to keep as you anticipate keeping a healthy body weight. For one, you should imbibe the habit of eating protein-rich foods; this is because protein is known to enhance the activity of the hormone that regulates satiety while reducing the activity of the hunger-causing hormone. Protein can also have a significant impact on your metabolism, ensuring that the rate at which you burn calories is maintained at a pretty good mark. You can consider having a third of your daily calorie consumption from protein – by the way, you will get 4 calories for every gram of protein you consume. Similarly, you should also consider consuming foods with appreciable fiber content, as well as fruits and veggies to keep that healthy body weight you’ve gained. On the other side of the divide, you will need to limit your intake of foods with refined carbs. Generally, you should be mindful of your food intake – foods with saturated fats or bad cholesterol are definitely no good.

Check your weight regularly

You don’t have to leave things to chance so, you must take some minutes to check your weight – may be at the end of every week – and have the value recorded in your weight loss/weight management journal. This will ensure that you keep good track of your bodyweight and promptly make the necessary amendment if a spike [in bodyweight] is observed. That said, it’s usually better to use your BMI to determine how healthy your body weight is. As such, you will have to use your weight [and height in square meters] to derive your BMI.

Take setbacks into account

It is not unusual to see oneself seldom sliding into old habits, but you don’t have to be overwhelmed by it. So, you should prepare your mind to face these setbacks, and know how to navigate your way out of them. That you miss an exercise routine or indulge in unhealthy eating occasionally does not mean you have lost it all. Just pick up yourself and stay focused on the bigger picture – keeping a healthy body weight.

Drink water habitually

The findings from various studies have shown that staying hydrated can greatly contribute to the attainment of one’s weight management or weight loss goals. This is down to the fact that regularly drinking water can ensure that an individual does not consume calories excessively, and it even increases your calorie-burning rate to some extent. Because of this, you should learn to drink water habitually – not until you are thirsty.

Practice good stress management

Stress can do your weight loss goal a huge disservice as it increases the chances of binge-eating, and also promotes the activity of the hormone that induces hunger. So, you’ve got to implement good stress management strategies to keep the gains from your weight loss program – meditation, relaxation, and exercises can be highly effective in this regard.

Get quality sleep

It has been well established that individuals who deprive themselves of quality sleep, especially at night are more likely to gain weight. This is due to the increased activity of ghrelin – appetite/hunger-inducing hormone – and reduced activity of leptin, which is known for regulating appetite. Hence, you should work towards getting a quality night's sleep – say, for 7 – 8 hours.

Connect with a support group

Though not so necessary, linking up with a support group can also boost your weight maintenance goal significantly. For one, it will ensure accountability, and also motivate you to keep “keeping on”. More so, you will be able to get new weight maintenance tips from the group from time to time.

References

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Blundell J.E., et al. (2015). Appetite control and energy balance: Impact of exercise. Obesity Reviews: An Official Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity 16(Suppl 1): 67 – 76.

Affinita, A., et al. (2013). Breakfast: A multidisciplinary approach. Ital J Pediatr 39: 44

Wyatt, H.R., et al. (2002). Long-term weight loss and breakfast in subjects in the National Weight Control Registry. Obes Res. 10(2): 78 – 82.

Pesta, D.H., and Samuel, V.T. (2014). A high-protein diet for reducing body fat: Mechanisms and possible caveats. Nutr Metab (Lond) 11: 53

Clifton, P.M., et al. (2014). Long term weight maintenance after advice to consume low carbohydrate, higher protein diets – A systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 24(3): 224 – 235.

Dennis, E.A., et al. (2010). Water consumption increases weight loss during a hypocaloric diet intervention in middle-aged and older adults. Obesity (Silver Spring) 18(2): 300 – 307.

Boschmann, M., et al. (2007). Water drinking induces thermogenesis through osmosensitive mechanisms. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 92(8): 3334 – 3337.

Beccuti, G., and Pannain, S. (2013). Sleep and obesity. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 14(4): 402 – 412.