Find out the reasons why your weight comes back when you start eating normally and how to lose weight to prevent this from happening. Recently, many people are starting to pay attention to their health. To do this, first of all, you need to change your lifestyle. In such a situation, it will be much easier to maintain the required body weight. On the Internet, you can easily find a large number of different dietary nutrition programs. However, if you managed to lose weight, then this was only the first step.
Many people are more interested not in the diet programs themselves, but in the answer to the question - how to maintain weight after losing weight? According to official statistics, only 10 percent of people manage to maintain the results obtained after losing body weight. This suggests that not everyone can stay within the desired weight in the long term. Today we will figure out how to maintain weight after losing weight.
Why does the weight return after a diet?
Before answering the main question of this article, you need to understand the reasons for what is happening. Agree, when the reasons are known, we can eliminate them and achieve the desired result. In our opinion, the most common and relevant reasons for weight gain are three.
Shifting to old eating habits
It is quite obvious that weight alone cannot return. If this happened to you, then first of all you need to blame yourself and find an explanation for what happened. The most common bad eating habits are:
- Frequent overeating.
- Eating a lot of simple carbohydrates (sweets).
- Violation of the diet (abundant and rare meals).
When you start using any dietary nutrition program, you follow its rules. Many diets are rigid and involve not a simple decrease in the energy value of the diet, but also the rejection of various foods. All this leads to the fact that in the absence of sufficient calorie content, the body is forced to spend its own fat reserves.
Slow down metabolism
We have already said above that most dietary nutrition programs require you to give up various foods. Although this ultimately leads to the desired result, as an artificial energy deficit is created, in the long term you harm the body. When the calorie content of the diet drops sharply, the body begins to readjust to a new mode of operation.
First of all, this concerns the slowing down of all metabolic processes. As soon as the period of using the dietary nutrition program has come to an end, the person begins to use the old diet. The body receives more food, but the metabolism remains at the same low level. It is quite obvious that excess energy leads to the accumulation of new fat stores. You must remember that strict dietary nutrition programs will never be effective in the long term and you need to avoid them.
Lack of physical activity
This is one of the most common mistakes people make when trying to lose weight. Without physical activity, it is not only difficult to lose weight, but also subsequently maintain a normal body weight. You should choose the sport that you enjoy doing. If you decide to change your lifestyle and lose weight, then you must adhere to it constantly.
How to lose weight in order to maintain weight?
Based on all of the above, we can conclude that it is necessary to lose weight correctly. We already know about the dangers of strict dietary nutrition programs. The desire to lose weight quickly is, in fact, the main reason for your failure. For most people, the process of losing weight is an extremely unpleasant procedure, but at the same time it is short-term.
Almost everyone agrees to starve and play sports for a couple of weeks. However, few people want to follow a healthy lifestyle all the time. Therefore, we are attracted by the promises of fast weight loss, which are given by the creators of diets or various drugs to fight fat. You must remember that the process of losing weight can be compared to a marathon. Only in this case you will not be interested in the question of how to maintain weight after losing weight.
All this suggests that you should consciously and purposefully approach the upcoming weight loss. It is necessary to be patient and competently plan the daily regimen and nutrition, physical activity, as well as an indicator of the energy value of the diet.
It is very important to start by calculating the calorie content of your eating program. To do this, we recommend using the Harris-Benedict formula. However, remember that it does not apply to athletes and obese people. In the latter case, you must definitely contact a specialist. Athletes, in turn, use special nutrition programs that are not needed by an ordinary person. In order to calculate the required indicator of the energy value of the diet, you need to be aware of two parameters.
Basic Metabolic Rate (RMR)
This indicator determines the calorie content of the diet, which is necessary to maintain the normal functioning of the body. Throughout the day, you can not eat fewer calories. This indicator is calculated as follows: RMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age).
As an example, take a woman whose body weight is 75 kilograms with a height of 165 centimeters, and her age is 45 years. As a result, we get the following figure: RMR = 655 + (9.6 x 75) + (1.8 x 165) - (4.7 x 45) = 1460 calories.
Physical Activity Metabolism (AMR)
This figure reflects the amount of calories the body needs to maintain its current body weight. To determine it, you must use the following information:
- Passive lifestyle - RMR x 1.2.
- Sports activities are held from 1 to 3 times a week - RMR x 1.375.
- Trainings are carried out from 3 to 5 times during the week - RMR x 1.55.
- Classes are held from 6 to 7 times - RMR x 1.725.
- Daily training and high physical activity at work - RMR x 1.9.
In our example, the selected type of woman, with low activity, needs to consume - 1460 x 1.375 = 2007 calories. It is necessary to start reducing the energy value of the diet gradually. Reduce the calorie intake of the food program by about 10 calories each day. As soon as you reach an energy deficit, which will be between 200 and 300 calories. Only then will you start to lose weight. After reaching the target body weight, you should consume the number of calories that corresponds to the AMR.
Is it possible to maintain weight after losing weight?
It's time to answer the question of today's article - how to maintain weight after losing weight? To achieve this goal, we suggest using several recommendations.
Weigh yourself regularly
This procedure must be carried out every week. It makes no sense to do this more often, since throughout the day the body weight varies from one to two kilos. Choose any day of the week and weigh yourself on an empty stomach in the morning. We also recommend entering all the results in a diary. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to track the dynamics of changes in body weight. If you find that you have gained a couple of kilos in a week, then do not panic. It is necessary to establish the cause of the incident and eliminate it.
Observe the correct diet
Nutritionists recommend eating five times a day. Moreover, three receptions should be basic, and two snacks complement them. It is quite obvious that you should pay great attention to the indicator of the energy value of the diet. The essence of losing weight is quite simple, and you need to spend more energy than you consume.
We have already talked about calculating the calorie content of the diet. However, not everyone will do it. If you do not want to waste time on calculations, then for every kilogram of body weight, on average, you need to consume about 30 calories. If you lead a passive lifestyle, then this figure will be 25 calories. When you exercise three times a week or run daily, you can consume 35 calories for every kilogram of body weight.
Diet
We have already said above that you should not follow strict dietary nutrition programs. The body needs all the nutrients, and it is only necessary to give up sugar, flour products, semi-finished products, fatty and fried foods. With fast food, everything should be clear and without explanation. As a result, your diet should be as balanced as possible and contain all macro- and micronutrients.
Be sure to consume enough complex carbohydrates, because they are the main source of energy for the body. To do this, vegetables, cereals and pasta should be present in the diet. Protein compounds make up all the tissues of our body and without them it is difficult to be healthy. Eat fish, meat, milk, and legumes. Sometimes you can afford to eat dark chocolate or sweet fruits, replacing them with cakes and candies.
Physical exercise
We already know that it is impossible to lose weight without playing sports. The fact is that with a decrease in the energy value of the diet, metabolic processes slow down. To speed them up and continue to lose weight, physical activity will be required. We're not talking about hard training, and especially if you haven't trained before. You can start with a 25-minute run three times a week. Gradually increase the duration of the training to 45 minutes. You can also start going to the gym. If you slightly increase muscle mass, and women cannot achieve great results in this matter, then even at rest the body will have to spend more calories.
Maintain physical activity at home
Exercising is definitely beneficial. However, if you train three times a week, and spend all your free time in front of the TV, then you will not be able to achieve positive results. Try to walk to work, stop using the elevator. Scientists have proven that even this activity is essential for weight loss.
Change your lifestyle and the question of how to maintain weight after losing weight will no longer interest you. You should find a hobby like knitting or modeling. Instead of renting discs with films, go to the cinema. Moreover, it is advisable to go to the cinema and walk back. You may find it difficult to accept all the innovations at first. But gradually you will get used to it, and you will no longer be able to return to the previous way of life.
For more details on how to maintain weight after losing weight, see the following video:
