If you’ve successfully lost a lot of weight recently, you may be feeling a mixture of excitement teamed with apprehension. Achieving such a goal is no mean feat, and everyone who reaches their target weight should be thoroughly commended.
However, as most of us will know, losing weight is only half the battle – the rest is yet to come. Once you’ve achieved your desired target weight, there then comes the next stage of working to keep it off, and it’s often here that much successful weight lose agendas will go terribly wrong.
Fortunately, with a little careful planning and preparation beforehand, you can maintain a stable weight, enjoying your new found look and confidence in the meantime.
Perhaps the most critical task of all, after losing weight, is to stay on a lower calorie diet plan. This does not have to mean starving yourself or never eating anything decent ever again, as most people tend to think incorrectly!
It does, however, mean being careful not to increase your calorie intake dramatically, which will inevitably lead to the weight returning once again. Look at a ketogenic diet meal plan as an example of combining a healthy but workable long-term solution.
Chances are to get to your desired new-found weight, you’ll have been exercising more than before and got into a new workout routine. Therefore, do not make the unfortunate mistake of giving this up as soon as your target weight has been reached.
Not only will remaining active keep you healthy but it will continue to burn off any extra calories that you may have to begin to take on, due to a slightly improvised diet plan, and even allow you to have the odd treat here and there without feeling too guilty!
One of the most significant problems with sticking to a new and improved healthy diet is that of a lack of motivation. If you begin to find your new schedule boring, it’s inevitable you’ll soon start to slip back into old bad habits.
Though weight takes a lot of time to shift, it can take a matter of moments to pile it all back on! Sign up for new fitness challenges or try regular new routines. Mix up your diet now and again, for example by varying the foods you eat and trying something new and adventurous every so often.
You will probably have become accustomed to setting goals to shift excess weight, so it shouldn’t be such an effort to continue to set goals once you’ve lost it.
Look to certain occasions in the year and plan a course of action to get you through to each one. Whatever goals you believe will motivate you to maintain a proper regular diet, write them up and stick them on the fridge, making sure you see them on a daily basis.
Whether you have a family get together, a beach holiday or a family wedding, set a goal to maintain a specific weight by this date and then reward yourself with a whole new outfit to celebrate the occasion.
Finally, make close friends and family around you aware of your goals and new healthier eating habits and encourage them to respect your new-found weight loss.
This way, they’ll be more likely to cheer you on with your quest, rather than try to tempt you and divert you from your path by offering you the wrong foods or dismissing the fantastic progress that you’ve worked so hard to finally achieve.