Weight Loss Tips - 4 Steps To Making Weight Loss Permanent

So you’ve put in the time and effort and have had great results to show for it. You’ve lost the excess weight that you were carrying around and now are the proud new owner of the body of your dreams.
You’re excited, you’re feeling good, and you’re ready to face life in this brand new body.

But, amongst all this, you might also feel a slight twinge of anxiety with regards to whether or not you’re going to be able to maintain this new body for the time to come.

Who’s to say that that weight isn’t going to come rushing back just as soon as you stop going about your diet and being a little more lenient in what you eat?

Fortunately, if you have a plan of attack, succeeding at weight maintenance can be a lot easier than you think.  Here are some smart things that you need to know.

Be Accountable

The very first thing that you must do to succeed at weight maintenance is to stay accountable.  Now that you’ve reached your ideal weight, don’t think that this means you can eat what you want, when you want.

You still do need to be accountable. If you take a little too many ‘treats’ here and there, it’s going to add up.

If you notice that your weight is creeping up in a direction you don’t want it to go, immediately take action so you bring it back down lower again.

The sooner you can get it under control, the less work you’ll have to do moving forward.


Continue To Strength Train

Moving on, the second thing that you must keep doing is strength training.  Strength training is the absolute most effective form of workout that will help keep the weight off over time.

Why?

Not only will it help you maintain a higher metabolic rate 24/7, but it also makes it easier to add carbs back into your diet.

Unless you plan to eat a carb-free diet for the years to come, this is very important for success.


Adapt A Flexible Mindset

Moving along, the next must-do for success is to make sure that you adopt a flexible frame of mind.  Don’t see yourself as a success or failure.  Rather, view this as life.

If you eat something you shouldn’t, you treated yourself.  Get right back on with a healthy eating program.

Remember that all the good habits you developed should now become a permanent lifestyle for yourself.  They shouldn’t be something that feels like torture or that you can’t keep up for some time to come.

If you did use improper dieting methods, it’s time to learn some wise techniques that will encourage health, high energy, and that you can sustain for life.

When you do, it’ll be easier to adopt the flexible mindset because you’ll naturally enjoy living a smarter lifestyle.


Make Fitness Fun

Finally, last but not least, start making fitness fun.  If you’ve spent months in the gym and aren’t especially fond of gym workouts, start investigating some other options that you could do that you would derive more pleasure from.

Exercise to maintain your weight does not need to be more intense than exercise to lose weight, so relax a bit and do what you enjoy.

So there you have a few of the top secrets for successful weight maintenance. Stay on top of yourself and you’ll have no problem living in and enjoying your dream body.

Weight Loss Control Tips - Making Smart Alcohol Choices

If you’re on a fat loss diet program, alcohol is something that you should be strictly limiting.  Not only is alcohol very calorie dense coming in at seven calories per gram, but it’s also going to put an immediate halt to all fat loss progress going on when you consume it.
Not to mention the fact that when you indulge in a few drinks your will power to stick with your diet will also go down, therefore it could cause you to start eating foods that you shouldn’t.

That said, not everyone can cut out drinking from time to time as it is something that’s heavily linked to normal socialization, so if you feel like drinking isn’t something that you can give the boot to, at the very least it’s helpful to know which drink choices you should be choosing.



Let’s have a look at the top considerations.

The Good

Straight Liquor With Seltzer Water

The very first choice that you should consider is one ounce of your favourite liquor with simple seltzer water or plain water.  This will contain only around 70 calories per drink, so is a much lighter option.
If you can alternate this with one glass of plain water, all the better.

White Wine

If wine is your thing, the good news is that this is also a relatively lower calorie choice as well.  Most wines range from 90-150 calories per glass depending on the variety, so if you keep your total number of glasses down, it doesn’t have to destroy your diet plan.

Like the above, it’s always a good idea to alternate one alcohol drink with one non.

Light Beer

Light beer is another choice that you may want to consider.  If you’re a big fan of beer but don’t like what it does to your weight, light beer is almost half the calories so will be much less devastating to your diet plan.

Light beer is also lower in total carbohydrates, so that’s definitely a plus as well.



The Bad


Creamy Liquors

Now we move on to the less than optimal choices.  Creamy liquors are one drink to beware of as they contain alcohol, fat, and sugar in one, so will really be a doozy as far as sticking with your diet is concerned.

Often these are mixed with milk as well, so while the milk is healthy, it will add extra calories.  Most creamy liquors will come in around 120 calories per ounce, so it will add up quickly.

Frozen Beverages

Frozen slushy beverages are also something to be very careful about. These can easily contain upwards of 400 calories once everything is added in and will do a real number on your waistline.

They contain far too much sugar as well, which will be very bad if you’re trying to prevent a hangover.  The combination of so much sugar plus alcohol entering the body is a sure-fire recipe for body fat gain.  The sugar will spike the insulin levels and since there is no carbohydrate oxidation taking place (as the body will be 100% focused on burning off the alcohol calories), this means that sugar will move right into body fat stores.

Cocktails

Finally, the last beverages to avoid are any fancy cocktail like drinks.  These also contain higher amounts of sugar and will often contain more than one different type of alcohol as well.

Most come in at around 300 calories or more, so will put a big dent in your diet if you have two or three that evening.

So be sure that you keep these points in mind if you do plan to drink on your diet.  Alcohol does tend to hinder your progress so you really must make a choice as to what is most important to you – weight loss success or indulging in your favourite drinks.

Weight Maintenance Tips: Succeed With Keeping Weight Off

One of the most important things that you must do after you’ve finished your fat loss plan is move into successful maintenance.  Really, a diet is not successful unless it allows you to keep the weight off that you’ve lost for good.  Otherwise, you just found a temporary fix to a long-term problem.

Many people do often struggle with maintenance which is why they find themselves back in the diet seat shortly after they come off their diet plan.

Fortunately, with a few key tricks you can succeed with maintaining your new body and enjoy all the hard work that you put in.



Let’s have a quick peak at some of the top maintenance tips to remember.

Keep A Tight Weight Range

The very first thing that successful maintainers do is set a narrow weight range that they will allow themselves to fluctuate between.  For instance, if your goal weight is 125 pounds, you might only let yourself get up to 128 before you start taking action.

Remember, it’s far easier to shed 3 pounds of weight gained with a few simple diet modifications than it is to shed 20 that you’ve let yourself gain back.

As soon as you see yourself creeping upwards, take action and tighten up your diet or a week.  It’ll be gone in no time.



Diet During The Week

The second thing that you might consider to help you with maintenance is to maintain a lower calorie intake during the week.  What this does is creates a mini-calorie deficit that you can then use during the weekend when you are more social and the chances of you consuming more calories are greater.

Since most people do struggle with the weekends a lot more than weekdays, this gives you some leeway for going out to social functions or just treating yourself to something that you desire.



Maintain Your Exercise Levels

Another key thing for successful maintenance is making sure that you maintain your exercise levels.  Exercise is one of the biggest factors that will predict long-term weight maintenance so stick with that workout program.

This will help you maintain a higher metabolic rate overall to prevent fat gain and also help you maintain lean muscle mass, which naturally burns more calories all day long.



Indulge Once Per Day

Finally, if you decide that you do need to treat yourself on any given day, make sure that you limit yourself to just one treat per day. If you let yourself get too out of control and are treating here and there all day long, it will add up to weight gain.

If you’re craving chocolate, have a small piece, enjoy it, and then put the box away.  A 100 calorie treat really won’t have much influence on your weight but six or seven of them will.  Remember that and you’ll keep yourself in check.

So there you have the top things to note for successful maintenance.  If you work hard at it and make sure you keep yourself accountable, you can maintain your new body for years to come.