So you finally did it—you hit your goal weight. You got back into that pair of jeans you couldn’t get past your hips, and you aren’t afraid to go to the beach in your swimsuit. But lurking at the back of your mind lie some terrible what-ifs. What if your underpants start to cut off your circulation again? What if the scale starts creeping back up? What if you can’t keep the weight off?
Luckily, when you experience these fears, you're not alone. Almost everyone who has lost weight must deal with these thoughts at some point or another. What's more, is that with a little careful planning, you can avoid these pitfalls and live the healthy life you were meant to. Here are some tips for making that happen.
Get rid of your fat pants.
You don’t need them huddled in a corner of the closet, waiting for the opportunity to slide back on. In fact, get rid of all the clothes that are too big for you. Give them to charity, have a yard sale, or do whatever you need to do to get them out of the house. Not only does keeping them around mean it’s easier to gain weight again, they’re a symbol of everything you’ve worked so hard to get away from.
Then, get yourself some new ones to show off that rocking new body you’ve worked so hard for. Reward yourself. Plus, now that you’ve spent all that money on new clothes, you have one more reason not to gain the weight back.
Don’t revert to your old eating habits.
Just because you’ve lost the weight doesn’t mean you can go back to eating and living like you used to. While you may not have to retain the strictness of the weight loss period, it’s still not in your best interest to lay in bed all weekend watching soap operas, eating bags of chips and bars of chocolate.
“Diet” shouldn’t just mean a temporary period of living off iceberg lettuce and lean turkey until the scale says what you want it to. Diet means the way, type, and amount of food you eat every single day. While you may not have to be as restrictive, you do need to have a new diet plan in place that will help you maintain and get the nutrients your body needs to look and stay healthy.
Stay active.
Everyone’s health plan is different, but all of them almost certainly entail exercise in some form or fashion, whether it's dancing, running, or water aerobics. During the weight loss phase, this was probably pretty intense, and it may have taken up a lot of your time. It can be tempting to abandon it all together—you get all that spare time back, and exercise isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But your body needs to move.
You don’t have to spend six hours at the gym every night, making sure you burn twice as many calories as you intake. However, you do need to keep moving, even if it’s taking a little walk around the neighborhood at night or going for a hike on the weekend. And if you get a little crazy and start eating more than you know you should, you just pump that exercise back up for a few days to make up for it or to remind yourself why you don’t want to gain the weight back.
Change your diet gradually.
If you were on a strict eating plan, your body is going to need a period of adjustment. For example, if you went on a low carb diet to lose the weight, once it’s gone you can’t just start eating bread by the loaf and having pie for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The body gets used to a certain amount of carbohydrates, or calories, or whatever it was you cut out. Overloading it with all the things you missed as soon as you can is a recipe for disaster. Keep your portion sizes in control, and retain your good sense of healthy choices.
Avoid temptation.
If you know your downfall is ice cream, stay away from it. If you know you’re going out to eat, look for a restaurant with healthy alternatives, or at least avoid an all-you-can-eat buffet. Eventually, you’ll get comfortable and used to eating right without tight restrictions, but in the time immediately after a strict diet, everything looks amazing. If you can’t say no to something, stay away from it. Lots of people find sweet stuff is easier to say no to if they just don’t eat it at all. Additionally, keeping snack food out of the house makes it easier not to eat out of boredom.
Most Importantly...
Remember how hard you worked to get here, and how good it feels. Give yourself a pat on the back. Losing weight is hard work! Congratulations!
