So you’ve lost some weight? Congratulations! But now comes the toughest part – keeping the weight off. Believe it or not, keeping the weight from coming back can be one of the most challenging parts of the weight loss journey, and it has a lot to do with how you lose it in the first place.
The faster you lose the weight, the higher your chance of gaining it back..and fast. Look at Jonah Hill: He lost all kinds of weight and very quickly, but fast forward about a year, and he’s gained it all back. Same thing goes for a lot of the ‘Biggest Loser’ contestants. When you try and change over night, and do something drastic and unhealthy, your body is going to fight back and 9 times out of 10, it’s going to win.
By some estimates, more than 80 percent of people will regain all of it, or more, after two years. And this kind of yo-yo dieting just makes it harder to lose the weight the second time around. Recent studies have even linked the gain-lose-gain cycle to such potentially life-threatening conditions as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, depression, heart disease, and cancer.
So how do you avoid becoming just another statistic? Lose the weight the healthy way. Avoid trendy diets and diets that are too restrictive; these are just too hard to stick to longterm. “One reason it’s difficult to keep weight off is because there is a metabolic overcompensation for weight loss,” Gary Foster, Ph.D., director of the Center of Obesity Research and Education at Temple University in Philadelphia, tells MSNBC. “If you decrease your body mass by 10 percent, you would expect your metabolic rate to decrease by 10 percent, but it actually slows down more than that, by about 11 to 15 percent.”
So how do you raise your metabolism? By eating metabolism boosting foods every 3-4 hours, like protein and fruits and vegetables, and of course, exercising! Exercise should always be part of a healthy weight loss plan, and is just an important in keeping the weight off.
Some studies suggest just two 40-minute workouts per week will keep 99 percent of belly fat from coming back!
Remember, it’s okay to reward yourself for a job well done, and forgive yourself for cheating on your diet now and then, especially once the weight is off. Just don’t let yourself get back anywhere near where you were in the first place. Try and remember what you felt like 20, 30, or 50 pounds heavier, and then maybe going to the gym two times a week won’t seem like such a heavy burden.