Tricks to maintaining your weight

maintaining_weight_380376333.jpg

June 18, 2010 – Losing weight is really not as easy as winking. It has to be something you are willing to work at and requires lots of patience. You can’t just sit back and wait for the weight to shed off by itself. It takes a lot of work and determination.

Now, most of us get comfortable after loosing weight and hitting our target weight. More often than not we go back to our bad pre-diet eating and drinking habits and in no time the lost weight creeps back in…and often faster than we lost it. Simply put…gaining wait IS as easy as winking.

What usually happens after the weight starts creeping back in we give up and dismiss everything as a waste of time. Some people even go into depression (we’ve seen them on popular talk shows crying their hearts out about how they are doomed to be larger than life for the rest of their lives) and sometimes it results in self hate. It is a cycle.

Well, here are tried and tested ways to keep those pounds you worked so hard to shed at bay:

Eat!

healthy_sandwich_271302805.jpg

Do not deny yourself food. Our bodies need food for energy, good health, growth and even for that goodnight’s sleep.

If you starve thyself, chances are your body will want food and chances are also that when it finally gets a hold of that food, it will be hard to stop it from getting what it wants…

Respect your stomach and do not overstuff yourself. This is not a diet so stay away from the weighing scale.

That you were able to lose weight in the first place is already an advantage, because while dieting you already reduced the amount of food you consume and your tummy capacity.

Depending on your system, you could get full very easily. So eat when you really need it to avoid having a bloated stomach or expanding your stomach again.

Eat when hungry and know your portion. Include veggies and fruits aplenty in your diet.killing_weighing_scale_855605412.jpg

Reduce your carbs (bread pasta, ugali, chapati…) intake but remember your body still needs them. Carbs give you that energy you use up on a daily hence aid in making you lively and energetic, give your breath and sweat a healthy smell, give your hair some shine and your eyes sparkle.

Eating often keeps you from getting too hungry too often.

Eat what you crave. When you deal with a craving, you will eat just enough to satisfy your craving which is good for maintaining your weight.

Eating before 8pm helps too. It helps you sleep better.

Beware of the weekend

Weekends are tricky depending on what you get up to but you can come up with a plan. Either eat very healthy meals during the week then spoil yourself over the weekend or set a day when you spoil yourself silly.

This will get your mind and body to play to your tune and you will never find yourself going out of it.

Get a buddy

By buddy, I mean jeans that are a size smaller. They are not for wearing but for monitoring your weight (to show whether you are gaining or losing weight)

Keep hydrated

Include plenty of fluids in your diet. Tea, coffee, juice and plenty of water. Sometimes we confuse thirst with hunger. Whenever you feel hungry, first try taking some water or some fluid. This will help keep the hunger off for a bit and it also helps to avoid over eating.

Fluids and especially water do wonders to your skin, hair and nails.

Avoid alcohol as it makes you crave oily, salty fried foods, so it is advisable to plan everything. Make up a plan for alcohol consumption.

Activate your lifefeeling_great_102370003.jpg

Take the stairs, join some sport like tae kwon do, take up cycling or dancing….all this is good for toning up any loose bits.

Do crunches and leg lifts whenever you can. This is good as it is hard to keep up with an exercise regimen.

Do some lifting and arm exercises…Our arms tend to get flabby especially if our work is just to laze around.

Walk for at least 10 minutes and if you can run… the better!

Clean the house, move around, simply… be active! And a huge secret…feel great in your own skin.

Above all, let this feel like stuff you do effortlessly. Don’t make it seem like a chore. Do them unconsciously and you will fall in love with the results :-).

Sponsored