Maintaining Weight After Losing It
A guide to understanding ways to maintain weight after losing it.
Losing and maintaining
Losing weight is hard enough, but maintaining the loss is even harder. Unfortunately, many people who lose weight end up gaining it back. The most successful way to maintain weight loss is by making lifestyle changes, which works differently for different people. The transition from dieting to back to regular eating can be difficult, but these choices will help in moving on to a healthy maintenance diet.
Eating habits
For starters, having conscious eating habits at meals will help maintain the ideal weight. This includes avoiding mindless eating, where one consumes unhealthy snacks until they do not recall the portions and intake. Mindful eating is the practice of listening to internal appetite cues and paying attention during the eating process. It allows the body to better process its signals and stop when the body says it is full. One has to savour every bite of the food without distractions, and chew food thoroughly. Those who eat mindfully may be able to maintain their weight without counting calories.
Setbacks are inevitable in the weight maintenance journey. There will be times where one will give in to their cravings for some dessert, or skipping an exercise routine because it is a moody day. However, the occasional slip up does not mean that everything is ruined. Learning how to handle dietary slips and getting back on track is probably the most essential tool for maintaining weight loss.
Limit the portion of the food intake. Eating five small meals a day rather than three large ones can keep the body’s metabolism working longer and help control one’s weight. By doing this, one will be able to limit food intakes such as white bread which is rich with carbs. Instead, one can have more protein since it helps reduce appetite and promote fullness.
Stress eating
More often than not, people fall into the trap of “stress eating”. They ignore the body’s signal to learn the difference between real hunger and stress or boredom eating. It may take some time to learn, but having the knowledge to eat only when hunger strikes is important for a healthy weight. One should know when to start eating and stop when the stomach is full. Drinking water may be helpful in these situations as it also promotes fullness as well as keeping the calories intake in check.