Keeping the Weight Off

Reaching your weight loss goals may be a challenging process, but it is not the only challenge that will occur. Many individuals regain weight after a period of time. When your goal is to maintain the weight loss that you have reached after a careful diet, exercise and behavioral change program, it is important to continue managing your weight

Diet and Weight Loss

Although your diet plays the largest role in losing weight, it is not the main associated with maintaining that weight after you have attained your weight loss goal. Ideally, you should continue to follow a diet plan that is appropriate for your specific needs and situation. After you have reached your weight loss goals, the key to maintaining a healthy weight is to eat proper portion sizes and focus on eating foods that have a high nutrient content. Eat regularly to ensure that you do not feel excessively hungry at meals and maintain your weight with increased activity.

Exercise and Maintaining Your Weight

Harvard University suggests that exercise is essential if you want to maintain good health. Most exercise experts agree that you should engage in up to 55 minutes of exercise at least five days per week; however, you should not do more exercise than your body can handle when you first start an exercise program.

Work up to a challenging exercise routine slowly. For example, start with walking for ten minutes per day, and then add five more minutes to the walk after a week or two. Harvard University says that you should increase the amount of exercise when it is no longer a challenge. If you are feeling challenged and the exercise seems difficult, then work on maintaining that amount of exercise until it becomes easy. Add to your routine gradually so that you do not feel overwhelmed.

After you have met your weight loss goals, the amount of exercise that you need to maintain that current weight can depend on several factors; however, you should do as much exercise as you can manage to do in order to get the best results. Harvard University recommends that you either increase the amount of exercise that you do each day or you increase the intensity by moving faster or adding more weight to ensure that your weight does not begin to increase over time.

Maintaining your weight is possible when you exercise regularly and eat a healthy and well-balanced diet. With the right combination of exercise and diet, you can improve your health and keep your weight within a healthy range.