The Maintenance Dilemma

Something I’ve struggled with in the past when losing weight is keeping the weight off. I guess this should come with no surprise as previous statistics have shown that 90% of people who lose weight gain it back. I’ve been hearing this statistic for years!! But I have a feeling things have improved. Since I’ve joined the “Blogging world” I’ve read multiple success stories from fellow bloggers that have been able to keep off a significant amount of weight for years! One of these inspiring stories can be read one of my favorite blogs: Finding Radiance written by Lori. I encourage you to check out her blog and her story. It’s pretty inspiring! Go to: http://www.findingradiance.com/


So…notice how I underlined and bolded the phrase “in the past”. Well, that’s because I am determined to keep the weight off for the rest of my life and this time I know things will be different. Why? Because I’m changing my strategy. This time I’m making a conscious effort to keep the weight off. This is different from my previous attempts because in the past, once the weight was lost I would get a little bit too comfortable with my eating habits and my motivation to exercise would consequentially go out the window. I would then find myself back to my old habits and struggling to get back on track. Well guess what, that ain’t happening again!

Here are some of the strategies I have in mind to keep my weight off and stay within my “happy weight” forever (please feel free to throw in more suggestions in the comment section. I would greatly appreciate the input!):

-I will weight myself. You all know Im not too fond of scales! However, the purpose of this is to know which number I will be maintaining. I guess I can’t really go blindly in to this.


-I will figure out how many calories I’m supposed to eat in a day for weight maintenance (will do this through a nutritionist or will do some online research on how to figure out this number based on my height/age/weight and do my own calculations). PS: Any dieticians or nutritionist reading that might want to help me out please send me an email. I can mention you on my blog and send you a gift J . Not quite sure how expensive nutritionist consultations are. All I want to know is how many calories I should be eating daily!


-Will continue to keep a food diary (as mentioned in previous posts, this has helped me tremendously!)

-I will continue to be consistent with my exercise regime (this means cardio for 45-60 mins at least 3 days a week and fitting in weight training/toning at least 2 times per week).


-I will continue my 80/20 mentality (I want it to be okay to eat the things I love once in a while keeping in mind moderation and a healthy attitude).


-I will go through my closet and donate all my baggy clothes (not looking back!) <----This might take a while


-Will continue making a conscious effort to keep down my daily sugar intake


-Continue drinking fair amount of water per day (1-2 liters)


-Set fitness goals: IE: Sign up for 5Ks in my area so that I can work towards something


-The abs project (more on that, future post)


-Will focus my free/spare time on things that I love doing aside from eating (ie: blogging, reading magazines, sign up for a fun class, etc. The point is keeping myself busy as I can eat out of boredom sometimes)


-Will keep myself motivated to look good (ie: buying cute clothes, etc).

….So these are just some ideas that I think will help me keep the weight off. Please follow me on this journey. My short term goal is to keep my weight off for the entire year thru 12/31/2011—which will be the longest I’ve kept weight off In my life. After that, I plan to keep it off forever. But taking it one day or one year at the time! Please follow me on this journey of healthy living! J

QUESTION: What would you add to my list?