After losing weight, many people face the challenge of preserving lost weight.
Returning to old eating habits and reducing physical activity may gradually break down previous efforts, so it is important that healthy habits be part of daily life.
Instead of short – term and strict regimes, it is more beneficial to adopt habits that can be maintained for months and years.
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Some simple changes can help you to bear the weight you have added.
Change your habits, not just your menu
Diets are usually limited in time, so once finished, people often become their former eating habits.
Thus, a more stable approach is the gradual change in daily habits.
A simple step may be to make vegetables part of each meal and of any meal containing a source of protein.
Such changes may not lead to immediate weight loss, but they can help improve nutrition and make healthy habits a part of everyday life.
Be Physically Active
Regular exercise is important even after reaching the desired weight.
This does not necessarily mean intensive training or hours past the gym.
The walking, cycling, training, garden work, or even cleaning the house are also forms of physical activity.
It is important to find a way of moving that is adaptable and that you can practice regularly.
About 250 minutes of moderate activity per week can help maintain body weight, which is about 50 minutes of activity five days a week.
Include Force Exercise
Besides such activities as walking or running, it is also beneficial to work on muscle strength. Force training helps to maintain and build muscle mass, which is naturally reduced by age but also during longer periods of calories.
Force training can be done at the gym, at home, or abroad, and it is important to cover the main muscle groups at least twice a week.
Pay Attention to Your Habits
It’s hard to change behavior if you don’t know what causes it.
That is why monitoring diet and physical activity can help you to understand better when and why you consume certain foods or miss training.
You can write down what you ate, how much you ate, where you were, how you felt before and after the meal, how long the meal lasted, and what you did while eating.
It’s also important to pay attention to your sense of satisfaction. In this way, you can more easily identify situations in which you are eating from habit, frustration, or emotional reasons instead of truly hungry.
Keeping a journal like this should not be a daily job. It may also be helpful when you notice that it is more difficult for you to maintain healthy habits.
Remind yourself why you started
Maintaining the desired weight is easier when you have a clear reason for deciding to change your lifestyle.
For some, it may be the desire to have more energy and to be able to spend more active time with their children, while for others, the motive may be health concerns or a greater sense of satisfaction with their bodies.
Once you have determined the reason, write it down and leave it somewhere you will often see it. This memory can be helpful when you lack motivation.
Weight maintenance is a long – term process
There is no single solution that will ensure that lost pounds become something of the past.
Keeping the desired weight generally requires a combination of a balanced diet, regular exercise, quality habits, and willingness not to return the occasional drop in surrender.
The goal should not be to adhere to strict rules for a short period of time, but to create a life – style that you can maintain long after the diet is finished. /Telegraphy/