It's time for a "check up" or maybe a "check in" with ourselves. How are your resolution goals going? Weight loss tops the list for New Year's resolutions. Statistics show that most people don't stick with their chosen resolution even after one month. We've heard it before; most dieters usually regain the weight they've lost and even add a few more pounds.
The problem is not with losing weight, the difficultly lies with maintaining this new weight loss. Taking the weight off is the easy part. Traditional "diets" do a great job setting boundaries and creating the plan, but most forget to tell us what to do after we have lost the weight, too many of these plans focus on instant gratification and immediate results. When we finally decide to lose weight we stay committed and we follow the rules with 100 percent accuracy, but once the infamous number on the scale has been reached, most people unfortunately return to the old eating patterns that made them overweight in the first place.
Believe it or not, some people have actually been successful in both weight loss and weight maintenance, so what's their secret? To answer this question, I checked in with the National Weight Loss Registry. This group polls those who have lost an average of 30 pounds and kept it off for at least one year. The answers are as follows:
- 78 percent of "successful losers" eat breakfast every day
- 75 percent weigh themselves at least once a week
- 62 percent watch less than 10 hours of TV per week
- 90 percent of "successful losers" exercise minimally one hour per day
To be among this group of "successful losers" you also must:
Become an Avid Label Reader
Continue your weight smarts when you first arrive in the grocery store. Bring your shopping list of healthy foods/recipes for the week, tally your fiber count to 30 grams daily and stay mindful of appropriate serving sizes, and most importantly, do not go hungry.
Stay Consistent
Continue your healthy eating patterns, even on the weekends. Once your weight goal has been achieved most people find it difficult to stay motivated and keep making healthy choices. The occasional indulgence and allowance of a "cheat meal" is acceptable but if occasional turns into daily or "all day on Saturday," weight re-gain is inevitable.
Stay Balanced
To maintain your new weight, remember to balance your intake of calories with the calories you burn. Just 100 additional calories every day may add up too potentially 10 pounds each year. Commit to one hour of moderate exercise every day, walking even one mile each day can help to stave off those extra 100 calories or 10 pounds.