Mythbuster: Keeping it off is the Easy Part; 7 Secrets of Weight Control
by Sonja Rose on Jun. 03, 2011, under Health
Eat healthy foods
Weight loss is not something that happens and then you’re done with it. There have been over thirty studies done on dieters that have lost weight; the majority gain it back. Read “Yo-Yo Dieting; Stop the Insanity!” because I was one of the people who did that, until eleven years ago.
Here are 7 secrets that can turn weight control into a lifestyle, and help turn those hard-earned lost pounds into forever-lost pounds:
1) Weigh yourself daily. (read: The Bathroom Scale: Friend or Foe?)
2) Exercise. Walk for 20-30 minutes, 3-7 times a week. Add some weight training, even 20-30 countertop push-ups on a regular basis. More is even better. Just stay active.
3) Stay accountable. Have a weight maintenance buddy. Keep a food journal. Whatever works for you.
4) Stay motivated. Think about yourself in that bikini. Those tight jeans. Naked. Whatever works.
5) Eat breakfast. Mine is 60-calorie yogurt and 1/2 grapefruit. Every day.
6) Adopt Lifelong Weight Maintenance Methods (live thin!). Read all my blogs. Choose the ones that work for you.
Mackie's graduation, May 2011 (proud mom, Sonja)
7) Don’t fall back into unhealthy eating habits.
Throw out the Little Debbie Nutty Bars and Jeno’s Pizza Rolls. They just don’t fit this lifestyle anymore!
Traci Mann, UCLA Associate Professor and lead researcher who studied all the studies of people who lost weight, says the truth is that the majority of people who lose weight on a diet will gain it back. Sometimes gaining even more weight than before. Oh, the insanity!
According to one study, from the Archives of Internal Medicine, subjects who had slimmed down still need to exercise every day, and continue to closely watch what they eat, to sustain weight loss.
A 2009 Finnish study published in the International Journal of Obesity, tracked 16 same-sex twin pairs (chosen because they had the same genetic makeup) for decades and found that the twin who had been more physically active over a 32-year period accumulated 50 percent less belly fat than the twin who didn’t exercise.
I watch what I eat every day of my life. If I’m up on the scale, I get back down — immediately. It’s called “living the thin lifestyle,” and it’s what this blog is all about. Easy? No. Worth it? Yes! (read: Nothing Tastes as Good as Thin Feels).
