Once they achieve their goals, many people slip into the old, harmful habits that made them feel they needed to lose weight in the first place. While you can certainly relax more when you’re at a target weight, keeping weight off for good comes down to adjusting your lifestyle so you can thoughtlessly maintain the weight that you desire. However, while you’re in the stage between successfully losing weight and successfully keeping it off, check out this list of simple tips to work into your daily routine to help keep that weight off—for good!
1. Write down what you eat.
It can become very easy to cheat and sneak in incredibly unhealthy foods at the end of a diet regime; after all, you worked so hard, you deserve it, right? While the occasional reward is fine, eating well is an important part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Maintaining a food log is just as useful for keeping weight off as it is for losing weight. It can help you monitor what you eat and how much before it gets out of hand. Showing your food log to others helps, as you want to show that you’ve been successful, not that you’ve slipped back to eating chips on the couch all day.
2. Eat small, balanced meals.
Fad diets and weight loss pills cannot help in any long-term capacity; everything comes back to food. Eating balanced meals is essential in ensuring that your body has all of the energy and nutrients it requires to function, and not much more than that. If you lost weight without learning to eat balanced meals in proper portions, the time to learn is now. Balancing your diet will prove essential in staying healthy and well!
3. Exercise daily.
If you are able, you should exercise every day for about an hour. Build it into your day, breaking it up if you must, and turn it into a habit as straightforward as brushing your teeth. As you are likely no longer depriving yourself calories as much, your body will need to do some work to balance out the input-output for the day. There is no need for going all-out on treadmills or lifting weights if those don’t appeal to you. Things as simple as walking will do, so long as you are making your body work.
4. Weigh yourself frequently.
The best way to be rid of a problem is to nip it in the bud before it blossoms into a big deal. It may be tempting to live freely and chuck your scale into the trash, but keep it around. Weigh yourself every couple of weeks to make sure your weight is staying about where you want it to. If you find you’re straying too far from your goal number in either direction, you’ll be able to adjust your behaviors and return to your goal weight without it becoming an ordeal.
5. Don’t give up.
You have achieved something many strive for, and that’s something to be proud of. Maintaining your goal weight will not be an easy task at first. It may get tough. That’s okay. Forgive yourself for the occasional helping of rice, the secret candy bar, the rare day away from exercise. It is okay to indulge within reason. What is more important is that you come back the next day, the next meal, and stay motivated. Keep working for the body and life that you want, and soon having it will be as easy as breathing.
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