Tips for Maintaining your Weight over a Life-time

Do you have a weight tipping point?  That is the weight that when you “tip it”- you get your butt in gear and finally get serious about taking the extra pounds off?  My tipping point over the years has been 140lbs.  There have only been a couple times I let my weight drift that high, but every time it has- Bingo- I finally get serious!  Well it hit it 2 days ago.  At least close.  When I got on the scale 2 days ago and it said 139.4 and that internal alarm went off in my head.  It’s that time to get serious!”

Now I realize  with the way I eat- which is high in veggies and fiber and a few other water retaining items and lately dairy- that my weight can have wide fluctuations.  Regardless, something about seeing that number on the scale  gets me to take action.  It’s easy to justify carrying a few extra pounds.  It’s holiday time.  It’s winter time.  I’m building  muscle so it’s all muscle!  My energy is super high.  It’s only a few pounds that can wait til the beginning of the year.  I often become passive with weight  which is perfectly fine when it’s just a few pounds.  But something about 140lbs , or more like- how my body starts to look when I near that weight gets my mind in game.  If it was all muscle, then of course, it wouldn’t be a problem but we woman, if we gain 10lbs, unfortunately will not all be muscle.

For maintaining weight over a lifetime, I think it’s good to have an acceptable range and a  weight tipping point that kicks you into gear.  For some people that weight tipping point might be just 5 lbs.  For others it may be 10lbs.  From my time outside college, I have maintained a weight range of 130-140 lbs- and the majority right dead in the center because every time my weight started creeping up to to the higher end- I became motivated to take action.

The problem most people run into maintaining weight is that they let their weight creep up a little, listen to the same justification I use myself, but then just let it keep creeping and creeping until suddenly they are 30lbs overweight.  Then it’s much harder!  Most of us know how to diet.  It’s really a matter of motivation.  I finally got it two days ago!

What did I do?  Well I made a conscious  effort to stick to an exact pre-written plan and with that  lost 4.3 lbs in two days.   This morning I was back to 135.2.  Call it crazy but I feel much better even though I know quick losses  are mostly water weight. Still,  quick results is what I needed to motivates me to stick with a diet for more than two days.  My plan is to stick it out for a while with minor adjustments and get through the holiday season a few pounds lighter.

Here are my tips for maintaining weight for a life-time.

1.) Have an acceptable range for your weight and a tipping point of which you don’t ever allow your weight to go over.

2.) If you hit your tipping point, get into immediate action.  Make a plan that suits your lifestyle and eating habits.  It’s not really complicated.  For all the time I focus on macronutrients, and they do play a part in weight-loss, for most people with normal metabolisms just cutting back on calories will almost always result in weight loss.

3.) Make a plan and stick with it.  If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  I know this firsthand because I hate to track calories too.  I don’t ever do it until I need to.   I just don’t want to plain know how many thousand of calories in nuts or peanut butter I just ate.  Every time I’ve been successful in dieting though I’ve tracked calories and followed a plan.

4.) Go public or share with someone to make you accountable.  Nothing like a buddy for support and to check in with!  And with the internet- you go public, then you have major egg on your face if you don’t follow through.  That’s a good motivator!

I’ll keep everyone posted on how I do this week.  My first 2 days were pretty easy.  Today, (day 3) my bike ride went fine- but no second work-out for me!  No one can convince me energy is not adversely affected cutting calories and/or carbohydrates!  By going public with you, i’m sure I’ll be more encouraged to stick with it until I get back to 130!