Keep Weight Off: 4 Secrets To Keep Weight Off

Every day for months you've watched every mouthful of food, counted every calorie or carb, and stuck to your exercise program no matter what the weather. And it paid off. You've reached your weight loss goal. But now that weight is creeping back. Losing weight is one issue, keep the weight off is another. This is a common problem and a real challenge. It seems we all work so hard to lose the weight but the minute we take a breather, back it comes. It is not only difficult to maintain the loss but also to lose further weight. However, there are three secrets to keep weight off.

1. Set yourself a realistic goal. Wanting to lose huge amounts of weight in a hurry isn't practical and you could soon start feeling the strain of trying to achieve your unrealistic targets. Your body is comfortable and adjusted to the heftier weight. Unfortunately it will want to get back to that comfortable weight until it gets used to the thinner you. When that happens your enthusiasm is likely to wane and you may find it difficult to stick to the program. Try to aim to lose one to two pounds a week. This is easier to stick to and maintain. Your body gets used to the lower weight and you won't have such a struggle. Slow but steady wins the race. It took time to gain that weight. Take time to lose the weight.

2. Try to balance your calorie intake with the amount of energy you can burn. You need to make sure you burn more calories than you consume to show any tangible results. Even consuming one soda, which is about 150 calories, makes a difference. 150 calories may not seem like much but if you take that much more in every day than you burn, you can gain a pound in 3 weeks and that means you've gained 17 pounds in a year. There are supplements you can take which increase your metabolism. Even a small increase of 5% means you burn up an additional 125 to 150 calories a day, and that's without changing your eating habits.

3. Use a pedometer to calculate how many steps you take in a day. Keep adding 250 steps every day in weekly increments. Most adults who lead a sedentary life - is that you - walk 2500 to 3500 steps a day. If you add 250 steps every week for 10 weeks. You'll double your energy expenditure. Ideally try to add on 4000 to 6000 steps a day to your current schedule. If you can ultimately take a total of over 10,000 steps a day you will see a visible difference in your weight loss progress.

4. Don't wait to take action. At the first sign of weight gain, re-evaluate your eating habits and exercise program. It's much easier to lose a pound or two then wait until you have 5 or 10 pounds to lose.

You sacrificed and struggled to lose the weight. You are bound to keep weight off in this manner if you utilize these four secrets to maintain weight loss.

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