Do you ever get discouraged about losing weight?
What’s the point in all that work if you’re just going to gain all the weight right back…
When I lost 10 pounds in 10 days, I was worried the weight would come right back on as soon as I stopped the elimination diet I was doing. But I managed to keep it off!
Let’s look at why some people have rebound weight gain, what others are doing differently to keep the weight off, and how I was able to avoid rebound weight gain after weight loss.
1. Keep Healthy Habits
If you want to maintain your weight loss, you have to maintain healthy habits.
So many people have the mentality that you only have to eat healthy and workout when you need to lose weight. Then when you’re a healthy weight you can stop. This is not true.
Just like you were good at a certain sport when you were younger—if you haven’t maintained that skill you will not be able to play at the same level 10 years later.
If your previous eating habits lead you to become overweight, going back to eating that way will get you the same result as before. You’ll eventually put the weight back on.
Or if you went from a sedentary lifestyle to putting in the work in the gym and then you stop–you’re going to lose all the progress you made in getting stronger (which aided in your weight loss efforts).
This is why so many people preach about a lifestyle change. It sounds cliche, but it’s true. You have to change your habits for good–not just temporarily until you hit your goal weight.
Also, don’t be afraid to lose weight quickly. Keeping that extra weight on longer isn’t healthier. It is possible to maintain your weight loss even if you lose the weight quickly.
This is a hot take, but there’s nothing dangerous about losing weight quickly – what makes it “dangerous” is that you haven’t trained yourself in the healthy habits it takes to maintain it.
You need to form the necessary habits and lifestyle required to maintain it. You can’t go back to eating the same foods and having the same habits that made you overweight in the first place.
This doesn’t mean you can never eat anything bad for you ever—it just means that as a lifestyle you have to mainly eat healthy. Or you will regress and put the weight back on.
2. Stop Unsustainable Diets
Now that we established that you can’t go back to your old eating habits–what kind of diet are you supposed to follow?
Maybe you lost weight with a strict elimination diet that wasn’t meant to be permanent. Or maybe you’re like me and lost weight while only drinking shakes and no real food.
The solution is to stop doing unsustainable diets. If it helps you lose weight but you can’t maintain it as a lifestyle, you probably shouldn’t be doing it. (Just like I had no business doing this shake diet–and no, it didn’t last long term.)
If keto isn’t something you could see yourself maintaining, you shouldn’t do it. Some people thrive on it, while others feel nauseous eating that much extra fat.
When I lost 50 pounds and maintained it, I did Whole30. It’s a strict elimination diet meant to last 30 days plus a period of reintroducing each food group after the 30 days to see what your body responds well and not so well with.
I didn’t follow the reintroduction period instructions, but I was still able to tell what my body could handle well. Whole30 taught me how to prioritize high quality ingredients and real food.
I lost 10 pounds in the first 10 days of Whole30, and about 14 pounds total (it was the last bit of weight I had to lose). I was nervous the weight would come back on as soon as I stopped the diet.
But I was able to maintain this diet 80% of the time. So I am a big believer in the 80/20 lifestyle. Where 20% of the time you can have whatever you want, but 80% of the time you are strict.
But I felt so amazing when I did Whole30 that it wasn’t hard to maintain that for me. I didn’t want to go back to eating highly processed foods that made me feel crappy.
But I did enjoy the freedom to eat out or have food at family events guilt free for my 20%.
My solution is to just eat real food most of the time. Things without an ingredient and nutrition label. Fruits and vegetables, eggs and meat.
If you prioritize nutrition over empty calories, you will easily be able to maintain your weight loss. Eating food with no nutritional value leaves your body looking for that nutrition. And you’ll find yourself eating more and more until you give your body the nutrition it needs.
3. Pick A Sustainable Fitness Routine
If you want to stay the same, you actually have to work hard for that.
If you do nothing, you will not stay the same–you will get worse.
Think about what happens to abandoned houses. It could be a brand new home. But if someone doesn’t maintain it—it starts to deteriorate.
You don’t have to do anything destructive for it to deteriorate. You just have to let it sit. Do nothing.
If you want to maintain your home, you have to use it.
On the other hand, if you use your home but never clean it, never change the filters on your AC, or anything else you have to do to maintain a home– this will also lead to destruction. Have you ever seen an episode of Hoarders?
If you do nothing and don’t use your body you will deteriorate in a similar way. Your muscles will get weaker. You will become frail. Your bones will be brittle and break easily. Just like a house on Hoarders grows more and more with clutter–you can gain more and more body fat.
You also can’t expect to live in your body and never take care of it. You have to maintain your body in the same way you maintain a home.
You can’t be careless and let yourself go back to your old ways. What got you there won’t get you here.
So you need a fitness routine the same way you need a cleaning routine.
I have heard people say, “You don’t even need to workout,” because the person is already at their goal weight or they are fit. But how do you think they got fit in the first place?
That’s like saying, “You don’t need to clean,” because someone’s house is currently clean. But if they want it to stay clean, they will have to keep cleaning it.
You don’t need a deep cleaning every day to maintain a clean home, but you probably have to tidy it up daily. Dishes, wipe counters or spills, pick up toys and other used items to put them back where they belong.
What does this tidying up routine look like for fitness? Maybe it’s as simple as going for a walk daily. Getting in your daily step count.
Just like you have heavier cleaning days in your home, you can have days where you put more effort into your fitness. Maybe you lift weights 3-4x a week.
If you set your timer for 10 minutes and clean your kitchen as much as possible in that timeframe, you’d be surprised how much gets done.
The same goes for fitness. You can do a lot for your fitness in just 10 minutes. I have several short workout ideas in my post 7 Easy Workouts for Busy Moms.
You don’t have to do a routine where you workout for an hour every day of the week. If you want to, great!
But if that’s not sustainable for you–it’s not necessary to get results.
You don’t even have to commit to a rigorous routine temporarily. You can just show up for the 10 minutes a day or the daily walk or step count. And that would be enough to maintain your weight loss.
But pick something you can stick to. Don’t go back to a sedentary lifestyle that is deteriorating your health.
4. Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting (IF) is also a game changer for weight loss maintenance. There have been times that I didn’t maintain the 80/20 healthy diet or workout, but was still able to keep the weight off because of intermittent fasting.
If you’re skeptical, check out my post on Overcoming 8 Objections to Fasting.
I definitely recommend adding IF to your arsenal and not solely relying on it. But if you are going on vacation or have a week filled with events or even just a busy week where you’ll be eating on the go a lot, IF will be your best friend.
It’s not only about the lack of calories you’re not consuming while you’re fasting either. It’s also giving your body a break from digestion and working on healing and cleaning up any damaged cells.
I have a post detailing all the benefits of fasting in my post about The Magic of Fasting.
I have also followed a 5:2 IF routine and lost weight (not just maintained) while not following a strict diet or working out. This is where you eat regularly 5 days a week and fast for 2 full days of the week (not in a row). I did Mondays and Thursdays as my fasting days for this.
But if you simply limit your food consumption to 8 hours a day, this will help you maintain your weight loss results. Even when you aren’t being strict. For more ideas on fasting routines to try out, here’s a post on How to Fast that also includes ways to make fasting easier.
5. Have the Right Mindset
Your mindset will really make or break you for maintaining weight loss. Really, it’s going to be difficult to lose weight in the first place without the right mindset.
I have a post about 7 Mindset Shifts for Weight Loss if you want to go further into this topic.
For instance, do you think your weight is determined by genetics? Obesity has run in your family for generations, so you’ll probably just gain the weight back eventually, right?
If you believe this, you’re setting yourself up for failure. The reality is that your family has been in the same environment with the same habits for generations.
Maybe they didn’t prioritize a healthy diet, a fitness routine, maybe they have a sedentary lifestyle.
Your family didn’t pass on obesity to you. They passed on the habits that caused obesity. And guess what? You can change your habits!
Through the study of epigenetics they have discovered that your genes aren’t fixed either. They can change. So there’s really no reason to fear anything that runs in your family. But that’s a topic for another post.
You need to have and maintain the identity of a fit person.
If a smoker wants to quit smoking, they can’t identify themselves as a smoker anymore or they will fail. If offered a cigarette, it is more powerful to say, “No thanks, I am not a smoker,” than it is to say, “No thanks, I’m trying to quit.”
When a fit person turns down junk food, they don’t say, “No thanks, I’m on a diet.” They say, “No thanks, I don’t eat that.” (Even if the, “I don’t eat that,” part is internal and not something you say out loud.)
So let’s adopt the identity of a fit person to avoid rebound weight gain. A fit person eats healthy foods and they have a workout routine. They have healthy habits. So that’s what we do as a fit person as well.
Summary
Let’s summarize all the ways we can avoid rebound weight gain.
- Keep Healthy Habits
- Stop Unsustainable Diets
- Pick a Sustainable Weight Loss Routine
- Intermittent Fasting
- Have the Right Mindset
Eat healthy foods 80% of the time.
Do a short workout 3-4 times a week. Get in a daily walk or hit your daily step count.
Get a good intermittent fasting routine that works for your schedule.
Identify yourself as a fit person and maintain that identity with your habits.
These are all the things I did to avoid rebound weight gain after losing 50 pounds. If you follow these guidelines (even imperfectly), you will have no problems keeping the weight off.
Because of laziness the building decays,
And through idleness of hands the house leaks.Ecclesiastes 10:18
Disclaimer: The information provided on this blog is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or any personal health concerns. Reliance on the information presented on this blog is at your own risk. The content is not intended to provide medical guidance or recommendations, and the author is not responsible for any actions or decisions made based on the information provided. It’s important to consult with a qualified healthcare professional for individualized medical guidance.
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