Experts Share Their Best Tips On How To Maintain Weight Loss
Have you ever wondered how to maintain weight loss? This article will cover tips from experts to help you learn how to maintain weight loss.
Is it possible to maintain weight loss? How can you come off a diet without gaining weight? How do you go about maintaining weight loss for a lifetime? If any of these questions have crossed your mind, you are not alone.
We have talked to experts and gathered their tips so you can lose the weight once and for all. Keep reading to learn more.
How To Maintain Weight Loss
In order to maintain weight loss, you need to continue the behavior and lifestyle modifications that lead to your weight loss. Knowing this, it’s best to choose a diet or way of eating that you can sustain forever, rather than looking at a diet as a quick fix.
The Best Expert Tips On How To Maintain Weight Loss
Match Calories Burned With Calories Consumed
To maintain your weight after you have lost weight, remember that the idea is to match the calories you burn with those you consume. You’ll want to be sure to stay active as an important part of weight maintenance and be sure to eat enough nutritious food to balance that.
— Jinan Banna, PhD, RD, registered dietitian and professor of nutrition, https://www.jinanbanna.com
Continue The Behavioral + Lifestyle Modifications That Led To Weight Loss
Ideal weight loss is achieved by continuing or revamping the behavioral and lifestyle modifications that led to the weight loss in the first place. Once you have reached your healthy weight, it is a great opportunity to reflect on the positive changes you made to get there, then create new short-term and long-term nutrition or exercise goals that can help you stay on track.
For example, if adding a serving of fiber-rich vegetables with dinner each evening helped you lose the weight, reassess if you are still doing that now, or have slacked off. You may even want to consider setting yourself up to do better now, by adding a serving of vegetables with lunch and dinner 7 days a week to help you maintain the weight you have lost while feeling nourished and satisfied.
— Eleana Kaidanian, RD, CDN, CPT-WFS, registered dietitian and owner Long Island Nutritionist, private virtual practice based in New York
Stay Consistent
My best tip on maintaining weight loss is consistency. Stay consistent while giving yourself grace. What I mean by that is, follow the 80/20 rule with your nutritional plan. Don’t deprive yourself of your favorite foods but take a portion and leave the rest. This is your 20%. Stay consistent with workouts but give yourself the grace of enjoying a day of rest when your body is calling for it. Rest periods are just as important as workout times. The body needs time to recover.
— Heather Carroll, founder A Balanced Life Training
Incorporate Intermittent Fasting
Incorporating intermittent fasting into your daily life can help you easily maintain your weight loss. Intermittent fasting may be especially beneficial if you lost weight via a diet that is not sustainable long-term.
If you’re new to intermittent fasting, start with a daily 12 hour fast. As soon as the 12 hour fast feels easy, move up to a 13 hour fast. Continue to slowly increase until you reach a daily 16 hour fast.
— Macy Michelle, certified personal trainer and founder of Macy Michelle Blog
Make A Lifestyle Change
The number one thing to [focus on] is a lifestyle change. People go through a weight loss program and lose 30-40 pounds, but return to the same old habits that lead them there in the first place. There is no reason to go through the program in the first place because over time you will always end up in the same situation.
— Dr. Demetris Elia, the mobile chiropractor with PEAKiroprcatic
Eat In Moderation
Once we reach our goal weight, we often tend to let loose. We start binging on things that were restricted. This can very easily put us in a calorie surplus, which will eventually lead to weight gain. So the best way to maintain your weight loss is to ensure you eat everything in moderation. No food is off limits, but do not overeat anything. And if you do end up indulging more than normal, try to compensate the next meal with volumetric and nutrient rich foods. This will ensure you are full, without consuming too many calories.
— Khushali Shah, co-founder www.HealthyAndKhush.com
Have A Routine
The key to maintaining weight loss is to have a consistent routine. It is difficult to control weight when there are numerous decisions to be made each day. Eventually, mental fatigue happens and instead of making the healthy choice, we make the one that is easiest or feels the best at the moment.
Having a routine helps to eliminate these decisions and form healthy sustainable habits. If you eat the same healthy lunch each day, it helps to control calorie intake and it is one less decision to make because you already know what to eat. The same goes for having a consistent workout schedule. When our routines are set to aid in weight loss maintenance it allows for the freedom to occasionally treat ourselves with something a little less healthy because we will be right back on the routine afterward.
Without a routine, then splurging once in a while can turn into a consistent habit as there isn’t the structure to pull you back on track. The less you have to think about what you’re going to eat or when you plan on exercising the better. Just like you brush your teeth before bed, a healthy lifestyle habit should be a regular part of your day that you just do and there is no debate about.
— TJ Mentus, member of the expert review board at Garage Gym Reviews
Eat Less Sugar
After losing 110 pounds, I found that eating less sugar really kept me going for longer. Filling up on fiber, proteins and fats, such as nuts, olive oil and avocado, helps me stop or reduce snacking in between meals. Reducing sugar doesn’t mean eliminating all sweet food, it mainly means reducing added sugars, such as the ones in pre-packed meals, snacks, and cereals, often considered healthy, but that actually give you a sugar high, followed by a sugar low, which makes you want to eat more to get your energy back.
— Elena Padovan, author of Spice And Life
Carb Cycling
The best success I’ve had in maintaining my 30 pound weight loss is by understanding how carb cycling impacts your metabolism.
— Ellen Christian, author of Confessions Of An Overworked Mom
Track What You Eat
Maintaining a healthy weight can be tough when you have a sweet tooth like me! The biggest tip that has helped me maintain a healthy weight is tracking what I eat using an app. I’ve learned I don’t have to cut out certain foods entirely. I can definitely still enjoy a scoop of cookie dough when the mood strikes if I make healthy choices the rest of the day. It’s all about finding the right balance. And drinking a big glass of water before meals and snacks really helps keep portions in check!
— Micky Reed, author of Three Snackateers
Weigh Yourself
Some people aren’t a fan of the scale, but the scale can be a great tool to monitor yourself. If you use the scale as a tool, rather than letting it dictate your emotions, it can be an extremely helpful tool for maintaining your weight.
— Macy Michelle, certified personal trainer and founder of Macy Michelle Blog
Keep Moving Forward Even If You Have A Bad Day Or Week
Don’t feel like you need to throw in the towel on your goals if you’re having a bad day (or even a bad week). This is a journey and tomorrow is a new day. Also, it’s a great idea to check in with a registered dietitian if you’re struggling with healthy weight maintenance.
— Summer Yule, Registered Dietician and author of SummerYule.com
Monitor Your Portion Sizes
I have maintained a 70 pound weight loss by keeping portion sizes in check and indulgences in balance. I have a 10 pound range that my weight naturally fluctuates within and if it starts to go up past that I get back on track, eat lighter, smaller portions, increase my water intake until it comes back down. Eating nutrient rich meals with protein and healthy fats helps keep me satisfied and reduces the urge to snack.
— Andrea Leigh, professionally trained Chef & Pastry Chef and author of My Pocket Kitchen
Eat Food That Looks Like Food
When in doubt, eat food that looks like food. Food without a label like fresh fruit and vegetables are almost always going to be healthier for you and easier for your body to digest than processed food with a long list of ingredients. Not only that but you’ll flood your body with vitamins and minerals when you eat vegetables instead of deplete it and make it feel tired after eating processed junk food.
— Kelly Page, Certified Transformational Health Coach & Meditation Teacher
Focus On Healthy Substitutions
Maintaining weight is easier when you focus on portion size, healthy substitutions, and limited snacking between meals.
Use MyPlate To Track What You Are Eating
After the birth of my second son, I lost 50 pounds. In order to maintain my weight loss, I try to eat healthy foods and track my calories with an app called MyPlate. It helps me see how many calories I can eat per day and also notifies me if I go over my salt or sugar intake. Eating healthier, using MyPlate, and jogging have been the best ways to maintain my weight loss.
— Sarah, author of I Heart Frugal
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I maintain my weight after losing it?
After you lose weight, you can maintain your weight by self-monitoring and sticking to the behavior and lifestyle modifications you put in place to lose weight. Self-monitoring may mean using a journal or an app to track what you eat so you are aware of what you are consuming. Sticking to your behavior and lifestyle modifications that helped you lose weight will help you keep the weight off, rather than welcoming back poor habits and choices.
How do I maintain my weight?
You can maintain your weight by choosing nutrient-dense foods, being active and monitoring your behavior and habits.