How to avoid gaining weight back?

After you’ve reach your weight loss goals, your challenges aren’t over yet. If you’re not careful, you could easily regain your weight in no time. It doesn’t need to happen to you though, if you keep the following in mind.

- Be on a sustainable plan to begin with.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to losing weight, is choosing a plan that’s not designed for them to succeed over their lifetime. Most plans fail, because they aren’t designed to arm us with the tools that’ll prepare us for “life after weight loss.” We also seem to always look for the “quick fix” too, and the guidelines are so strict, that we possibly can’t stick to it over our lives. How many times have you been on a plan that you had to cut out your favorite foods? How long did that last? We usually go back to those foods, and end up eating more of them, because deprivation often leads us to being out of control. On the other hand, if we put together a plan that takes our individual needs and desires into account, weight loss wouldn’t be so hard, and it would be sustainable over our lifetime.

- Don’t revert back to the old you.

The road to weight loss should teach you the lessons necessary to keep the weight off for good. We can’t be one way while losing weight, and then suddenly forget that all, and go back to our old ways. If we want long-term results, we need a strong follow through, and it’ll take a plan that has sustainability. Many weight loss plans are so strict, no wonder you’re not able to stick with them for long. If you can manage to put together an action plan that’s built on what your individual needs are, you’ll be able to prevent your weight from coming back on.

- Live by what works.

If you’re doing everything right, you’ll know exactly what’s working for you. You’ll feel wonderful when you do certain things, and it’ll find a way to make a positive influence in other areas of your life. When we have everything going good for us with our weight loss, it becomes an extension of us in some way. We don’t want to be that “old person” hiding behind our hurts, or insecurities. If we lose weight the right way, we don’t want to go backwards anymore, because we change not only on the outside, but on the inside. You should be following those same tools that have been working all along. If you’ve been setting a schedule each day or journal writing, you shouldn’t stop doing those things. If you’ve been walking each morning, don’t ever stop after you’ve reached your goals. You must stick with those things that have worked for you all along in order to have continued weight loss success.

- Continue to be in tune with your needs.

The moment we forget to “take care of ourselves,” we can lose control, and gain the weight back. For many, their weight struggles to begin with are due to self-neglect, or self-punishment. A lot of times people don’t get past their issues, and the moment they go back to forgetting about their needs, the weight comes back on. Weight issues involve a lot of things, including emotions. Overeating, is emotionally driven. We can’t forget to take care of ourselves, or remembering this can be a battle for the long-haul. It takes a great deal of work to “stay on top” of the situations that surround us. From me, I’m highly aware of my emotions and my weight issues. The battle never goes away. I am too happy today, to go back to the old me. I’m to excited about life each day and living, to want to be the fat, miserable me again. The only way to keep the weight off, is if we work hard to remain in tune with our needs. Sometimes we may slip up, but that happens less and less, when we connect with ourselves on a deeper level. I haven’t had a slip up in years, because I’ve been in tune with myself. I haven’t abused myself with food, because I have a better understanding of myself, and I walk to my own beat of the drum. You can find this weight loss success to, if you pay attention to what works for you.

- Treating yourself well.

We need to be just as important as we think of others. We need to do things for ourselves, just as we do for others. Weight loss is not as simple as for me to say, “do this, this, and this, and your weight battle will go away.” The only way weight loss will work, is if you make a commitment to “you.” You’re deserving of great things, but how often do you think of yourself? How often do you rely on someone else for your happiness? How often do you allow yourself to be disappointed? These things all have to do with us treating ourselves well, because it begins with us. We should never rely on anyone else to take away our insecurities, or make us happy. We need to take responsibility for our own lives and weight, and stop waiting for someone or something else to make it all better for us. We also need to have respect towards our body; In fact, we need to have respect for ourselves as a “whole person.” We’re often afraid to be selfish, but sometimes it’s the only way for us to put our well being first.

The best way to assure that you won’t regain your weight, is by choosing a plan that offers simplicity, freedom, and various tools that deal with the mental and emotional aspects of weight loss. When you have a plan that puts more of your individual needs into account, you’ll find it easier to stick to, and you’ll keep the weight off for good.