How To Maintain Your Weight
While there are hundreds of resources for those who are looking to lose and gain weight, there are very few books and online materials dedicated to individuals who’d like to just maintain their current weight.
Maintaining weight takes a lot of discipline, especially in terms of avoiding some bad eating habits you may have grown accustomed to. Don’t fall into the same old traps. Now that you have gotten your healthy target weight, you can’t just waste your efforts. Here are some effective weight maintenance tips you can try:
Do the Math
You don’t have to be a member of Mensa to understand that weight stability is all about losing and gaining pounds. If you want to keep your weight, you need to eat the same amount of calories that you get to burn everyday. Should you desire to exercise less, you have to regulate the food that you consume and eat less.
To get an idea of the amount of calories you burn on a daily basis, use a Daily Calorie Needs Calculator. Several factors are involved in terms of the amount of calories you burn each day such as your age, weight, height, sex and daily activities.
Count the number of calories you are eating everyday. Do this for three straight days and take the average. Make sure that you are on your regular diet so don’t include days wherein you overindulged in food.
You will then get both the amount of calories you burn and the number you eat on a daily basis. Now, match these two numbers. You have a lot of options available. You can increase or decrease your activity level or the number of times you go to the gym, brisk walk or join in team sports. You can also alter your diet a bit and increase or decrease the amount you eat depending on the computation. You can also do a combination of both depending on the time and effort you can devote in maintaining your desired weight.
The key here is consistency. Don’t be too conscious in trying to make your daily intake and expenditure match every single day. Focus on your goals on a weekly and monthly basis since this will prove to be easier.
Eat Only When You’re Hungry
Sometimes, you may get tired and stressed from the daily routine of your workaday world but it is never advisable to turn to food to solve your problems. Most people will eat anything — from pasta to pizza to sweets — just to get comfort from the daily grind of work or school.
You should also avoid eating in front of a television set because you tend to be less conscious of the amount of food you stuff in your mouth while busy being entertained by your favorite reality show or sitcom. As much as possible, do not eat while driving or while engaged in a stressful conversation since it will also lead to overeating.
Instead, eat a hearty breakfast so you’ll not get hungry right away. You can also drink a fair amount of water. Aim to drink around eight glasses of water if you want to stay on course.
Be Ready on the Battlefield
If you are dead serious in maintaining your weight, you should take note of upcoming events such as office gatherings, birthday parties, reunions and the like.
Big eating events such as these are aplenty especially during the holiday season so you better be prepared for battle numerous times during the course of one month. Before going to any gathering, eat something so you won’t feel too hungry. You can eat bread or a large salad before leaving your house so you’ll get filled somehow.
When getting your food on the buffet table, try to survey the area first. Don’t fill your plate mindlessly. Choose food items that you really want to eat and resist to experiment on your every visit to the food pile.
Weight maintenance is all about consistency. The longer you persevere in your task, the more successful your weight maintenance mission will be. Good luck!