Why It’s Difficult to Stay Slim After Weight Loss
Have you successfully lost weight once or twice (or more) but can’t seem to keep it off? You’re not alone. Most of us don’t have a weight loss problem as much as a problem keeping weight off.
Many people embark on a weight loss journey feeling extremely motivated, only to hit a wall of burnout or revert to old habits once the weight is off.
Sustainable weight loss requires ongoing improvements to behavior, emotional regulation, activity level and much more. Let's explore four big reasons why weight tends to creep back up.
Implemented Methods That Felt Like Punishment
Achieving lasting weight loss will require a pretty significant personal transformation. There is no quick fix to weight loss. If you don’t enjoy the journey, there is no way you’ll maintain the results.
Before implementing any strategy to help reach your weight loss goal, ask yourself if it’s something you can realistically maintain for the rest of your life. If the answer is no, it’s likely best to rethink your approach.
This explains why everyone's journey will be unique, and what works for one individual may not work for another.
While weight loss will present challenges, it’s essential to find something you enjoy enough to stick to for life. Your best diet and exercise routine are the ones you genuinely enjoy and can remain consistent with. Find what fits almost effortlessly into your life and you’ll achieve results that stick
Ate Less and Moved More
Skipping breakfast and killing yourself at Orange Theory every day, believe it or not, won’t lead to lasting results.
First off, you likely don’t even enjoy it (I know I wouldn’t).
Insufficient energy intake and excessive physical activity places immense stress on your body. When your body experiences this level of stress, the last thing it wants to do is burn fat.
Consequently, you may notice an overall dip in libido, energy levels, mood, etc. This is your body’s way of efficiently coping with stress to ensure survival.
Find methods that are easier to maintain and work closely with your body’s natural rhythms. This can look like prioritizing three meals a day, cutting down on snacking, increasing protein intake, adding a 10 minute walk in after each meal or including strength training into a workout routine.
For lasting results, focus on habits and practices that work with your body, not against it.
Didn’t Consider Coping Mechanisms
As mentioned above, lasting fat loss will require a pretty radical shift in personality. You’ll need to take a serious look inward and alter the ingrained habits and behaviors accumulated over the years.
For many of us, food can symbolize emotional comfort, and without addressing the underlying emotional triggers, sustainable fat loss will remain difficult and frustrating. It’s crucial to identify your stressors, establish new boundaries, and develop effective coping mechanisms.
Fat loss isn’t a race; it’s a lifelong journey of personal growth and development.
Ultimately, at the end of the day, our actions and reactions are all in our control.
Life will always be serving us both positive and negative stress - this is unavoidable. By improving coping strategies, we can better navigate life’s challenges without derailing our progress towards our goals.
Little Improvement to Behavior Change
Along with emotional regulation, behavior change is another big mover, if not the most important!
Its not just about knowing what is/isn’t healthy - most of us have that understanding. It’s about applying this knowledge in real-world scenarios, amidst social events, tempting & triggering environments, and addictive food being marketed to us everywhere.
It can be easy for most of us to find fat loss success when we have 100% control over our environment. But what about those inevitable moments outside our control? Dining out, holidays & celebrations, work happy hours, social gatherings, etc. Avoiding these occasions will be impossible and undesirable.
Strengthening skills like saying “no” to another drink (or drinking at all), avoiding the bread at dinner, standing farther away from the food table, etc will be extremely helpful in finding lasting success in your fat loss journey. After the first opportunities to flex your willpower muscle, you’ll find it gets much easier.
