• Maintaining Weight Loss after a Diet

    Maintaining Weight Loss after Diet

    Many people find that they can lose weight during a dieting process, and these results are often encouraging. However, as we have said time and time again on various articles on health and fitness website such as carrievisintainer.com, it is the post-diet practices and attitudes which usually have the most effect on whether or not you are able to keep the weight off in the long run.

    For this reason, we have decided to dedicate an entire article to the cause, so that we can provide tips on keeping the weight (which you have worked so hard to burn) off.

    Switching From Diet to Normal Eating

    The most dangerous period in the dieting and weight loss process is when you finally decide that you have lost enough weight, and that it is therefore time to stop the dieting and return to normal eating.

    The risk here is that the normal eating (normal, as in a proper diet consumed by the averagely healthy person) is often interpreted as being "normal" in the sense that you can simply eat exactly what you were eating before the diet, regardless of how unhealthy that food or habit was.

    In this sense, the post-diet period is actually a diet in itself for many people, requiring a change in eating habits versus the diet, and also a change in eating habits versus the previous eating patterns that the individual indulged in.

    The Diet after the Diet

    So, what does "return to normal eating" actually mean in the way that we intended it to be meant? Take a look at the following points, and see if your post-diet nutritional regime is equal (or better) than the one described:

    • Ensuring a balance between carbs, fat and protein
    • Cutting down on refined foods - especially sugar
    • Refining eating times - i.e. 6 small meals a day, and a sugary burst after exercise
    • Incorporating exercise in to the post-diet routine

     

    If you are not doing ALL of the things above after you have completed a weight loss program - you are almost certainly not going to maintain the weight that you have worked hard to reach. Hence, your weight loss objectives will be ruined, and all of that hard work will simply be down the drain.

    The key point here? Treat your post-diet like another, more relaxed diet! This way you will maintain your weight well in to the future.