Tuesday Tip: Preventing weight regain

Tuesday Tip: Preventing weight regain ✋🏻

Preventing weight regain starts from the moment you start trying to lose weight in the first place. Believe it or not the most important aspect of weight loss isn’t actually weight loss – rather it’s maintenance. Most people underestimate the importance of both maintenance and learning to live at your new goal weight (maintenance).

Maintenance is harder than losing the fat in the first place and it’s one of the main skills people ignore. The reality is the habits and behaviours that help you lose weight are the ones that will help you maintain it as well. You can’t expect to keep the weight off if nothing has changed. I often tell my clients they need to behave like the ‘slimmer’ / ‘fitter’ / ‘stronger’ (whatever THEIR goal is) version of themselves . What would that person do? That person probably can’t get away with 3 takeaways a week, or boozy lunches at the weekend etc. It’s about finding things you enjoy (both food and exercise) that fit into your goal/maintenance lifestyle. Swapping behaviours and habits for new ones. For example – not restricting foods you enjoy, but learning to include them as part of your eating plan, trying to be as physically active as possible for you generally and doing exercise you enjoy etc

In addition research shows that for each kg of weight lost there’s an increase in appetite and a drive to consume an extra 100 cals per day that a person that hadn’t lost the weight doesn’t experience. This means you are dealing with not only trying to establish new habits to help you maintain a lower weight, but you’re also experiencing more hunger than a similar weight person who hasn’t lost weight. It’s important to be aware of this – recognise that a little hunger isn’t always a bad thing and be prepared for it.

So don’t waste your money on fads and quick fixes. Instead look at how you’re approaching your fitness and diet goals and ask yourself – is this something I can maintain for the long term? Because if it isn’t, you’re going to struggle to make (and later maintain) progress.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx