My Food Diary

Tuesday

How to Maintain Weight

Maintain Weight by Adopting a Healthy Lifestyle!

I have had many friends and family members who were able to lose weight quickly using various diet plans and weight loss supplements, but to be honest, I can count on one hand the number of those people who were able to keep the weight off permanently.

That said, if you are not taking the proper steps on how to maintain weight once you slimmed down, you risk the chance of gaining all the weight back, plus more, as quickly as you lost it. Weight control will have to be your number one priority if you want your weight loss results to be long term.

Unfortunately, many dieters don’t have lasting results once they get thin because of this crucial reason:

"Healthy Eating Has to be a Part of Your New Lifestyle for Weight Management"

Diets don’t work! They just simply don’t because fad diets and weight loss supplements don’t teach dieters anything about weight management and how to keep the weight off long term. To be successful at keeping the weight off for good once you slimmed down, you absolutely must change your eating habits and make eating healthy a part of your new lifestyle. Only then will you be able to have true, lasting results after getting the body you want.

Finding easy ways to lose weight fast is not the hard part. Weight management is. If you lose weight naturally by eating healthy, counting calories, and working out regularly with a fitness routine, managing your weight will be a lot easier. However, if you are losing or lost weight through fad diets or weight loss supplements, managing your weight will be more of a challenge because to be frank, you took the easy way to lose weight.

Losing weight fast, especially too fast, only provides a temporary solution to your weight problems because again, fad diets and diet pills don’t teach dieters anything about good eating habits and exercising as a lifestyle.

To maintain your weight, I suggest using a calorie calculator to determine how many calories you need for weight control. What you don’t want to do is go back to your old eating habits that caused you to gain weight in the first place. If you lead an inactive lifestyle, counting calories will be extremely beneficial to help prevent you from consuming useless, extra calories that will turn into fat and cause you to gain weight.

I highly suggest you workout regularly with a fitness routine, but if you choose not to, then make sure to not consume extra calories that you won’t burn due to inactivity. As mentioned earlier, eating healthy for weight control should be your number one priority.

Therefore, avoid foods that are processed, and high in calories, sugar and fat. Does that mean you have to give up junk food and sweets forever? Of course not. However, moderation is key. That’s the main weight loss secret on how to get thin and stay thin!

Accordingly, if you can make eating healthy, counting calories, and exercising part of your new lifestyle, you will be one of the few dieters that will be successful with weight management.

Good Luck!

Related Articles

Friday

“I Want to Lose Weight”

Want to Lose Weight? EAT!

I could never understand the concept of not eating for people who desire to lose weight. This idea is not only just plain wrong, but losing weight can actually become harder because consuming too few calories can lower the body's metabolism.

That said, if you find yourself constantly saying “I want to lose weight,” then start eating now.

Of course eating healthy should be your main goal, but my point is to eat. Ideally, you should be eating 6 small meals a day to help keep your body's metabolism elevated. If you feel that eating so many meals a day won’t help you with your weight loss goals, you should read my article How to Lose 10 Pounds.

In that article I explained how I was able to lose weight on the Special K Challenge, but my twin sister on the very same diet plan didn’t lose anything because she was not eating enough. Notice I didn’t say that my sister was not “eating healthy.” I said my sister was not “eating enough.”

In general, not eating due to deliberate starvation or being on one of those restrictive fad diets will keep any dieter overweight. As I stated in my other articles, the weight loss formula is pretty straightforward: consume fewer calories than you burn. This is especially true if you lead an inactive lifestyle.

Naturally, it’s recommended that you workout with a regular fitness routine to help you drop those extra unwanted pounds and get thin, but I wouldn’t exactly proclaim that you have to workout in order to lose weight. Exercising certainly helps, primarily if you want to build lean muscle or get a bikini body, but if you don’t have the extra time to exercise with a weight loss workout plan or maybe you dislike exercising (like I do), then the only other way to lose weight quickly is to simply eat less or count calories for fat loss.

At first counting calories may seem like an inconvenience, but once you get the gist of it, you will be able to make a "mental note" of your daily caloric intake and slim down without much effort. Also, when done consistently, not only will you lose weight naturally, but you will also be able to enjoy the foods you love and still lose weight without having to rely on diet pills or fad diets for fat loss. 

That’s the premise behind weight loss programs like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers and why they are so successful for many dieters. It’s not about being on a “diet," but about being accountable of the foods you eat and the number of daily calories you consume.

Any extras calories your body does not need leads to weight gain.

Once you take control of what you eat and learn how to portion control your meals, you will start to slim down and get the body you want. If you feel you need weight loss help to achieve your goals, I recommend joining Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers. Again, many dieters have been very successful on these weight loss programs.

Remember….if you want to lose weight, EAT!

Eating 6 small meals a day along with counting calories will help you with your weight loss goals.  If you want to lose weight quickly, then exercise regularly with a fitness routine at least 2-3 times per week.

Lastly, while I am not a fan of fad diets, I do like the Special K diet and I would recommend dieters to try this diet plan because it is not restrictive and it helps dieters to gradually ease into the habit of eating 6 small meals a day while counting calories with little effort.

However, keep in mind that the Special K diet is a diet plan that's  meant for people with less than 10 pounds to lose. To add, this is not a diet plan meant to be on long-term.

Once you complete the Special K Challenge, develop the habit of eating a well balanced diet and watch your daily caloric intake until you reach your desired weight. For permanent and lasting weight loss results, combine all three habits as part of your new lifestyle: eat 6 small meals a day, count calories, and exercise at least 2-3 times per week.

Good Luck!

Related Articles
Diets Don't Work!
Counting Calories to Lose Weight
The Best Ways to Lose Weight
Secrets of Thin People

Saturday

How to Lose 10 Pounds

Easiest Way to Lose Weight
Want to know how to lose 10 pounds? Well here’s a case study using myself and my twin sister where we both wanted to lose 10 pounds. Now before I begin, if you read some of my articles you will know that I’m not a fan of diet plans, or using crazy tactics like starvation or weight loss diet pills to lose weight fast.

However, one diet plan that I do like and recommend that helped me to lose 7 pounds in two weeks is the Special K Diet Plan. My sister tried the Special K challenge as well, but she substituted the cereal for oatmeal (not instant) which is totally fine. OK…here goes the case study:

Me
I started the Special K diet plan for the two weeks and as stated in the challenge, I ate 5-6 meals per day, which I had no problem doing because I was definitely hungry all the time. Also, I drank lots of water and I exercised with a weight loss workout plan on an average of 3 times per week. However, by no means do you have to a fitness routine in order for the Special K challenge to work.

My Twin Sister
She started the Special K diet plan the same time as I did. As mentioned, she used oatmeal instead of the cereal because she found the cereal to be too bland (oatmeal helps you to feel full and actually has fewer calories). My sister used the P90X as her weight loss workout plan for the two weeks and worked out every single day. However, she would only eat 2 meals per day because she claims that she wasn’t hungry.

Results
I lost 7 pounds after the two weeks. My twin sister….she didn’t lose anything (although with the P90X she lost inches and has more muscle definition)

After I got off the Special K diet, I continued to watch what I ate, I made sure I would count calories, and I exercised with a weight loss workout plan at least twice per week where I lost an additional 3 pounds. Overall, I was able to lose 10 pounds in four months.

The reason why it took me four months to lose 10 pounds is because I was not trying to lose 10 pounds in a week or lose 10 pounds in a month. I’m wanted to be realistic with my weight loss goals because I knew I would quickly gain all the weight back once I resumed my regular eating habits.

Here’s the Reason Why I Lost Weight and My Twin Sister Didn’t
The reason why I was able to lose 10 pounds and my sister nothing is because I aimed to lose weight naturally, but most importantly, I ate 5-6 smaller meals every day. Where this myth comes from that you have to skip meals or starve yourself in order to lose weight I have no idea.

Skipping meals, starving yourself, crash diets, and diet pills are the worst ways to lose weight! Whether your desire is to lose 10 pounds or lose 50 pounds, the key to shedding those unwanted pounds is to actually eat and lose weight naturally over time. I know many dieters don’t want to hear this because they are looking for ways on how to get thin fast, but the truth of the matter is that in order to get the body you want and have lasting results, you can’t try to lose weight quickly.

Would I have liked to lose 10 pounds in a month or two? Sure, but I didn’t want to stress about it and I wanted to slim down with little effort while still eating the foods I enjoy. That means, I portioned controlled my meals; I made sure to count calories of everything I put in my mouth, including beverages;  I ate 5-6 smaller meals everyday; and I stayed active with a fitness routine at least twice per week.

My sister is going to start the Special K diet plan all over again for two weeks to initially lose 5-7 pounds.  At my suggestion, she will eat oatmeal in the morning for breakfast, cereal for lunch, and healthy snacks in between meals. For dinner she will eat what she wants by making sure she portion controls and count calories, and she will drink lots of water throughout the day.

If you follow what I’m suggesting to my sister or do what I did in my Special K diet review, you too will be able to initially lose 5-7 pounds in two weeks. After that, continue eating healthy to lose weight, eat 5-6 smaller meals including breakfast, and make exercising a regularly part of your lifestyle. If you follow these tips and lose weight naturally without trying to slim down using crash diets, diet pills, or starvation, you will get the body you want and have lasting results.

Good luck!

Related Material
Are You Skipping the Most Important Meal of the Day?
4 Real Reasons Why Diets Don't Work
The Best Ways to Lose Weight
Secrets of Thin People