Well done, you have successfully managed to lose the weight you wanted. It was a battle, but in the end you came, but the greatest battle is yet to come. How do you maintain your weight loss?
Most people I know are ecstatic when they’ve lost a few pounds and are impossible to bother with when they’ve reached their goal weight, yet these same people, less than a month later, feel more miserable than ever because the weight they struggled with so much. hard to lose has come back with a bang, often with an extra pound or two to boot!
Why? Resorting to the old lifestyle is the culprit.
The battle for weight loss is being fought on two fronts; diet and exercise. What happens when someone reaches their weight loss goal is that they stop their diet and exercise programs with which they reached that goal and go back to their old lifestyle and diet. Needless to say, this ancient lifestyle and diet is the same one that made them overweight in the first place!
Why people think that once they’ve lost weight they can go back to their previous lifestyles and not lose the weight is beyond me, but millions of yo-yo dieters do exactly that and then complain about they cannot lose weight effectively.
The problem is that people enjoy their lifestyle and also want to be slim; something has to give and the constant indecision is what leads to the yo-yo effect. People’s misconception about losing weight is that once they’ve lost it they can stop dieting and exercising, the truth is that to maintain your weight now you have to find the right balance between calorie intake and fat use. calories.
To have lost this weight, you must have been burning more calories than you were eating, so you can afford to relax a bit without gaining the weight back. For many, who don’t like exercise, it would be the gym workouts that they found exhausting and miserable, now that in itself isn’t that bad as long as you have a replacement that can burn enough calories for you to be able to maintain your weight; and walking is ideal for this.
Here are three things to consider before you start walking:
1. Always consult with your doctor. You may feel perfectly fit and healthy, but as a precaution, always check with your doctor, they can advise you on a good structured schedule to follow.
2. Get yourself a pedometer. A pedometer is a device that counts the number of steps you’ve taken and then calculates the distance you’ve walked, a brilliant little piece of equipment, and a very cheap one at that. But don’t go setting a minimum walking distance, look to set walking goals and goals that extend as you get fitter and fitter. You never know, you could start losing even more weight!
3. The right attracts. Once you commit to walking for weight management, make sure you are always as comfortable as possible by wearing comfortable shoes and clothing, an ill-fitting pair of shoes or clothing that causes discomfort are the most likely reasons people stop walking as a healthy activity.