Weight Maintenance

We will hit this one quickly and then take a few days on the diet weight loss plateau side.

This is the answer/topic many don't want to discuss.

People look at me sideways when I tell them that weight maintnenace for me is tougher than weight loss or weight gain.

Our bodies and our day to day lives are so complicated that over the course of a year staying within a 5-10 lb window up or down can be an amazing feat.

There are a few reasons behind this.  We tend to be seasonal beings and we have holidays and weather seasons which increase/decrease our daily calorie intake.  We also allows these seasons in many ways to increase/decrease our activity levels.  Those two factors alone make it very hard to have a consistent weight.

The next is the biggest issue.  We fight real hard to exercise more or decrease calories to lose weight.  At some point you hit a gola or you just don't lose weight any more at that level.  If youhave not hit your goal you may try eating a little less or working out a little more to keep the number going down.

If you have hit your goal this is where it really gets tricky.  If you have achieved your goal and now you want to stay within a 5-10lb window this is the part no one likes to hear.

You have made HUGE lifestyle changes and in order to keep the weight off those truly needed to be lifestyle changes not a diet.

This means the reason 95% of people lose weight and then put it back on is because there weight loss strategy is an event not a process....they are driving short term results not goals for their life!

Once people get a grip on the fact that if they want to lose 20 50 or 100 lbs they need to do it in a way they can live with day in and day out.  If they don't accomplish that the weight will come back on as they go back to their old ways.

This is the key to maintenance and keeping weight off if you don't understand that there is no going back to the old ways you are fighting a losing battle.