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Happy Tuesday, friends!
I’ve been spending a lot of time decluttering and organizing my home these past couple of weeks. It feels like it’s been a long time coming. I typically wait until my kids are out of school, so that they can have some input into what we donate or trash. Last Friday, my kids and I tackled their bedroom and clothes. It took us 4 hours from start to finish. I ended up walking over 7 miles in my house decluttering! That’s crazy.
Read moreMaintaining weight loss is difficult for many people. There have been times I have lost weight only to gain some of it back within a year.
It’s important to know that you must continue the positive habits that helped you lose weight and not revert back to your old habits.
The good news is that there are several strategies to help you.
Maintain a physically active lifestyle
Continue with a consistent meal pattern and breakfast consumption
Consume less energy-dense foods
Consume nutrient-dense/lower calorie foods
Flexible eating, no restrictions of food
Self-monitoring, by tracking food intake and weighing yourself
Engage in non-food coping strategies
Support system with likeminded people
What has been your number one strategy to maintaining weight loss?
Plateaus are a pain in the behind and inevitable. If you are in a calorie deficit, your body will plateau at some point. A true plateau is when weight has stabilized for at least one month.
Plateaus occur when your body adapts in order to reach homeostasis. Your body is always working to maintain an equilibrium in every aspect. This is why our body’s temperature is maintained at about 98.6 degrees fahrenheit and why we have a sodium/potassium pump. This is a good thing. It means your body is doing its job.
Now that we know we will most likely plateau at some point during our weight loss journey, let’s use this opportunity to not freak out and ditch the deficit all together, but to make a plan of action.
There are two ways to consider a plateau:
1. An opportunity to take a diet break and maintain weight loss. Consider this option if you’ve been dieting for a while.
2. Keep going and push through. Consider this if you haven’t been dieting for long.
If you decided to go with a diet break, increase your calories to maintenance. This is when you do not gain or lose weight. Continue the habits that helped you lose the initial weight. That might mean you continue to eat less energy-dense foods, maintain a physically active lifestyle, self-monitoring, etc. The mere act of maintaining weight loss is a huge challenge.
If you decided to push through, you will want to either lower your calories and/or increase exercise.
Do this:
- Lower calories by 100
Or
- Increase cardio by adding 5-15 minutes/session
Or
- Combination: lower calories by 50 and increase cardio by adding 10 minutes/session
Do this for a week and note any changes. If nothing changes, pick one of the above and try again.
What strategies do you have for busting through plateaus?
There is no secret to losing weight. It’s a well-known researched fact that you must be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. This means you take in less calories than you burn.
So, why are there many different diets claiming to help you lose weight. Well, they all result in a calorie deficit. The Keto diet restricts carbohydrates. If you normally eat carbohydrates then decide to go on the Keto diet, you have just eliminated hundreds of calories.
This is the same for all diets that require you to restrict food. They all work as long as you limit those foods.
An easier solution is to cut back on the foods you already eat without having to cut them out completely. There are many strategies to eliminating calories, but for today’s post we are going to cover calorie and protein counting.
Weigh and measure all of the foods/liquids you eat and drink. This includes the foods you sample by taking bites and licks. After a week, did you lose, gain, or maintain weight? If you maintained weight, then that is likely your maintenance calories.
If your maintenance calories are 1,600, then subtract 100 calories. If after a week you don’t lose any weight, subtract another 100 calories.
It’s important for you to track your protein intake or at least know how much protein to eat. Protein increases satiety, a feeling of fullness. It will also preserve muscle mass while you’re in a caloric deficit.
Calculate your weight from pounds into kilograms. Example: 125lbs / 2.2kg = 57kg
Protein should be between 1.2-2.2 g/kg.
To preserve muscle mass start with 1.6 g/kg. Example: 57kg x 1.6g/kg = 91 g/protein
If you would rather calculate in pounds, then convert protein needs to g/lb.
Example: 1.6g/kg = 1.6/2.2kg = 0.73g/lb (there are 2.2 kg in 1 lb)
So, 125lb x 0.73g/lb = 91 g/protein
Instead of tracking carbohydrates and fat, eat what you want of the two without going over your calories and protein goals. This will increase the variety of your foods, which will increase the likelihood of you reaching your weight loss goals. The only caveat is that you do not dip below 20% of fat intake. Eating less than 20% of fat will likely cause problems with your hormones and health.
You must have patience when losing weight. It typically takes a couple of weeks to really notice a difference. Give it time and trust the process.
In order to lose weight, you must be in a calorie deficit. There are countless different strategies that will create a calorie deficit. The trick is to figure out which one works for you and your lifestyle.
I’m going to discuss 6 strategies that do not require you to restrict specific foods or food groups. Unless you have a legitimate health condition, disease, or allergy, I don’t recommend restricting food groups. Most people that restrict food groups for the sake of losing weight typically are unable to maintain it for long.
The strategies are listed from easiest to hardest to implement. Again, reflect on which strategy you think would work for you and your lifestyle, then experiment for at least a month.
To implement a healthy habit change, record your intake for a week to see where you can make some healthy changes. Pick one super-easy habit to implement for 1-2 weeks, such as adding a serving of protein to all meals. After 1-2 weeks, add another easy habit, such as drinking ½ your bodyweight of water in ounces.
In order for this strategy to work, you cannot replace the calories you skip. So, if you fast through breakfast, you cannot add in those calories later in the day.
There are several ways to execute this strategy, but I recommend starting with 16:8 approach. This means you will fast for 16 hours and eat during the remaining 8 hours. The timeframe is up to you. When I fast, I usually do it from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. and I eat from 12:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
I know many professionals balk at using meals plans, but if it works for you then great. I have several clients that like the structure of eating from a meal plan. It takes out some of the decision making and stress other strategies can cause.
Calorie and protein tracking is a good strategy for individuals that like a mix of flexibility and structure with their intake. This is a great plan of action for individuals that are transitioning from meal plans to eventually intuitive eating.
Macro tracking is great for people that want complete flexibility in their food intake. This method requires people to track all three macronutrients: carbohydrates, protein, and fat. This strategy is also great for individuals that don’t mind tracking every detail of their food/drink intake.
Intuitive eating is the most difficult for someone to apply in a calorie deficit unless they have a complete understanding of nutrition and portion control. They would also need to completely be in tuned with their body’s signals.
I created this post after reading Alan Aragon’s AARR June/17 issue. The AARR article goes into more detail and even lists pros/cons of each strategy.
Which strategy have you used in the past?
