Losing Weight for Good

There are two axioms when it comes to weight loss. First, it is darn difficult to lose unwanted pounds. Second, no matter how hard it was to lose it, you can count on it being twice as difficult to keep it off. If you’re older, say over 40, or come from a family with weight issues, it can be near impossible to both lose the weight and maintain the loss. Seems pretty unfair, but that’s human physiology for you.

Okay, so much for the bad news. The good news is that there are steps you can take to both make losing weight easier and keeping it off. If you’re looking for a secret panacea you won’t find it here because it doesn’t exist.

First, recognize that weight loss and maintenance is a lifelong effort. The only people who don’t have to work at it their whole lives are those people with supercharged metabolisms or those who exercise for hours every day and eat celery for fun. Most people don’t have the luxury to run 10 miles every day or spend half their waking hours at the gym or like to eat celery for fun.

Second, take a look at your eating and exercise patterns and honestly figure out what has contributed to your weight gain. Is it that daily burger and fries? Your lack of exercise? Is it your aversion to vegetables or love of Oreos? Are you a stress eater? Weight doesn’t pile on all by itself. It has a willing partner – you!

Once you’ve figured out the source of the problem, resolve to change your behavior. You can go on every diet known to the world but until you address the root of your behavior you will never successfully tackle your weight problem. Ever hear someone say “Oh, that diet didn’t work for me.” Diets don’t do the work, people do. There’s no such thing as a diet not working, it’s the person following (or rather not following) the diet that’s not working.
Enough of the psycho-babble, let’s discuss what you can do to successfully take off the weight AND keep it off.

To Diet or Not to Diet

You know the drill – find an eating plan you can live with and just as importantly won’t cause you to binge eat. The best diet is one where you can eat pretty much anything in moderation. Highly restrictive diets that limit you to one food group such the cabbage soup diet or the steak and grapefruit diet, and diets that restrict carbohydrates such as Atkins and South Beach, while good at initially relieving you of unwanted pounds, are extremely hard to maintain. At some point you become so starved for carbohydrates and other restricted foods that you start eating everything in sight. Before long you put back on every pound you’ve lost and then some.

The boring truth is that calories in and calories out are what works. You have to expend more calories than you are consuming. Very dull but it’s what works. Think of it as a mathematical equation.

Weight Watchers is an excellent plan that takes all the work out of counting calories. You have the option of attending meetings or following the plan online (www.weightwatchers.com) Another good option is Bob Greene’s Best Life Diet. Again, no calorie counting. It’s basically a way of life change. Like WW you can follow the program online (https://www.thebestlife.com/) Or do your own research to find a balanced program that fits your lifestyle. The key here is balance. If a diet promises quick results, look elsewhere. Quick results = quick failure, lowered metabolism and weight gain.
So you’ve decided on a plan, that’s great. Now you’ve got to incorporate a few lifestyle changes that will make losing the weight easier and keeping it off successful.

Do You Absolutely Have to Exercise?

I’m hoping that by now you’ve realized that yes, you have to exercise. That doesn’t mean you have to spend three hours at the gym every day. To the contrary find something you like to do. Have you ever wanted to learn to row? Find yourself a rowing class or team to join. Do you like to walk? Take a pair of walking shoes to work and walk everyday at lunch. Commit to walking at least a half hour every day. Are you a fish out of water? Start swimming at your local Y or take a water aerobics class. Whatever you do, stick to it until it becomes a habit.

Lifting Weights: The Magic Potion If Ever There Was One

Along with regular exercise, start incorporating weight lifting into your routine. This is one of the single most important things you can do to both lose weight and keep it off. If you’ve never lifted weights sign up at your local Y where a trainer can set you up on a weight-lifting routine.

Focus on increasing your muscle mass. I’m sure you’ve heard it before but I’ll repeat it here: muscle takes up less space than fat. Even if you did not lose a single pound but exchanged fat for muscle you would become significantly slimmer. Another benefit to having more muscle is that it increases your body’s energy needs. Generally speaking you burn approximately 50 added calories for each extra pound of muscle you carry and that’s just for plain ole body maintenance. Your body’s muscles will do the burning for you.

Why You Should Boost Your Metabolism

It’s a good idea to increase your muscle mass and metabolism not just because it will help you lose weight but just as importantly it will help you stave off metabolism decline that occurs as you get older. A lower metabolism means you burn less calories. As you age and continue to eat the same quantity of food, you gain weight. A person’s metabolism begins declining in the mid-20s at a rate of five to ten percent per decade. That loss can really add up over a lifetime, making it enormously difficult to prevent weight gain. You can stave off metabolism loss by increasing your muscle mass.

Another way to increase your metabolism is to eat foods that require extra energy to digest (i.e. metabolize) Think low fat protein. Did you know that your body burns twice as many calories digesting a high-protein food like a 100 calorie portion of shrimp or chicken as it does a 100 calorie candy bar?

Water Water Everywhere

Here’s another truism you’ve heard that must become a habit: start drinking water, lots of water. Not only does it fill you up, but it flushes your system. Don’t ask me how or why but you can diet till the end of time and exercise like an Olympic athlete but if you don’t drink the water the weight “sticks”. It’s like trying to coax a toddler that doesn’t want to do it your way.

If you don’t believe me, try this experiment. One day, follow your new eating plan without drinking a lot of water. Weigh yourself the next morning. Then that day eat again accordingly but this time drink 8-10 glasses of water (more is better) and weigh yourself again the next day. I’ll bet you see a difference. This is the only way to control the wily toddler inside.

Some Like It Hot and Why You Should Too

Finally there are a few minor things you can do to increase your metabolism. For example, do you like spicy food? If so, use that to your advantage. Small studies have shown that when people eat spicy peppers, the chemical in the peppers that gives them their heat boosts metabolism. It’s not a huge amount and certainly not enough to burn off a box of donuts but it does help a bit.

Eat Well, Eat Often

Another way to keep your metabolism at its peak it is to eat often. Instead of eating three large meals per day, break it down into six mini meals throughout the course of the day. Each time you eat you temporarily spike your metabolism. By eating every three hours you will raise your metabolism twice as much as eating every six hours. This doesn’t mean you should eat sugary granola bars and other simple carbohydrate snacks, but rather your regular meal food spread out throughout the day.

Stay Focused on the Goal

Keep the following in mind:

• Losing weight and keeping it off is doable but it takes effort. Everyday effort. You can do it.
• Set your mind on your goal and take it one meal, one exercise session at a time.
• Remind yourself that each day you are a few ounces less than the day before.
• Whatever you do, don’t make yourself crazy by weighing every day. Limit your bonding time with your scale to once a week or every 10 days.
• Eventually those ounces will add up to pounds and inches. Not overnight but then you didn’t gain the weight overnight.
• Eventually you will wake up one morning, look in the mirror and realize you did it! Then keep up your good habits and you will maintain for life.

Good luck!