You’ve put in all the hard work and it’s starting to pay off. You are noticing positive changes in your body and the scale is going in the right direction . . . downward. How do you maintain this trend and not go back to your old lifestyle which, believe me, can happen very easily and quickly.
Researchers point out that we spend billions of dollars on weight loss products each year. And although many lose some excess weight most will return to their pre-diet and old activity habits.
Reasons for not maintaining your weight loss
There are several reasons why we reach a point in our fitness program when things are going great and then we sabotage our progress. We have all been down this road. Your friends compliment you, your feel good, and you can feel your body moving differently. And then you back-slide.
Sometimes life get in the way, causing you to miss days here and there and before you know it several weeks have passed when you didn’t workout and . . . even worse, went back to your old eating habits.
Some of the reasons my routine got interrupted in the past are –
Injuries – these have caused me to miss quality time from my work outs.
Extended vacations – after a ten-day vacation it’s hard to get back into a routine
Job and family obligations – we have all been here. Maybe a death in the family or a bad break-up or after several late nights at work . . . you might not feel like working out.
Reached a set goal – many of us start the New Year by going the gym to get rid of the holiday excess. After we reach our target goal we revert to our old lifestyle.
Passing familiar eateries every day – I worked in The City for many years and everyday I walked pass the places where I use to eat regularly. It was challenge to pass them and not walk in to order the same foods I did in the past.
I addition to visiting familiar restaurants, maintaining the same company can cause you to pickup old habits. Friends do have an influence !
Back to your old cooking style because you fail to plan ahead.
When you are depress the last thing you want to do is exercise.
Being in a stressful state for extended periods will affect your desire to take positive actions.
Bored of doing the same things day after day week after week for months on end can be a turn-off.
And last but very crucial – illness. If you have suffered any kind of extended illness it will take a serious effort to get back to your old routines.
Maybe you can identify with some of these.
It doesn’t take long for your body to get out of shape, especially if you can’t control your dieting habits.
After a month of going back to your old life style your body will once again start feeling comfortable at being out of shape and you will need to get back on track.
How can we break this trend?
To avoid falling into one of the traps mentioned above, we must learn to follow a lifestyle-change we can live with for the rest of our lives. There will be periods of backsliding along the way but we can’t get stuck in our old thinking and way of living.
Balance is the answer. Everyone who looks like the picture of health have had their ups and downs as it relates to their fitness but they didn’t get stuck in the down stage. Because it is a long-term lifestyle change their down times were kept short.
Don’t be fooled by the fitness magazines showing pictures of professional fitness models in various poses. It takes these people years and lots of dedication to look the way they do. Most of them, and especially bodybuilders, must eat lots of food in their of-season in order to bulk-up. Then weeks or months before going on stage or doing a photo shoot they must spend hours in the gym to get that look.
Learn how to maintain your weight loss
Maintaining weight loss take a conscious effort. You must make the right choices everyday as to what you eat and how active you are. We must also learn to control stress by doing relaxing exercises.
This is a lifelong endeavour and we must go about it in a determined way. Always keep the mind-set that this is a battle to defeat weakness and the result of weakness, in our case – pre-diabetes, from getting a foothold in our bodies.
Here are somethings I do to stay within my weight boundaries –
To avoid boredom with my workout routines I switch-up the exercises I do regularly. For example instead of doing squats with the bar on my shoulder I do lunges or goblet squats and calf raises.
It’s very easy to injury yourself in the gym or at home while exercising. Getting proper advice from a personal trainer will help with using the correct form and how to do a wide variety of exercises.
Nothing wrong with keeping you same friends but to maintain a healthy lifestyle you will make new hangout buddies. These are the partners you want to associate with regularly because they are of a similar mindset.
Start a food journal to track your daily calorie intake and make a 5 day food plan so there is no guessing as to what’s for dinner.
Practice intermittent fasting where you schedule your meals during a set window each day for a period of time. This is a great way to kick-start your new routines.
I have develop the habit of doing my workouts in the morning. I find that by doing this I am more energized during the day and especially in the morning.
There are several other things you can do but these are the important ones that have helped me in the past. Maybe you can identify with some of them.
Find out more at How to Prevent Pre-diabetes.