We all know that it is not an easy feat to achieve weight loss. After achieving the desired weight, it is even more problematic to keep off unwanted weight permanently. It is common to see people losing a large amount of weight only to regain more weight one or two years later. It is found that when you use calorie restriction approach only to achieve weight loss, your body will experience a drop in the rate you burn calories. Consequently, this makes it difficult for you to lose weight over time. Furthermore, this lower rate of burning calories would make it difficult for you to maintain the weight you struggled to achieve.

As a result, the use of low-calorie diets alone to achieve weight loss is not advisable, so also is rapid weight loss over a short time. Bodyweight loss of not more than 2 to 4 Kg (4 to 8 Pounds) depending on your initial weight is considered healthy by experts. More importantly, a commitment to long-term lifestyle changes is what you require for successful long-term weight loss. To assist you in achieving this, grab your copy of the resource, “My Optimal Body”.

The following reasons explain why you may find it difficult to maintain weight loss over time.

Difficulty in maintaining weight loss due to lack of commitment

Firstly, I like to challenge you to count the cost of weight loss to you and see if it is worth you committing to it as a lifetime endeavour. Make a list of the benefits and the sacrifices that go with weight loss endeavour and maintaining a healthy weight. Also, make a list of the pleasures and the associated health risks that go with keeping an unhealthy weight. Be honest to yourself, weigh your options especially in the long run. This will help you in establishing your commitment to the sacrifices that go with maintaining a healthy weight. This simple consideration will not be the same for everyone since people’s priorities are very different.

This is not to say that you will have to be in a situation whereby you barely endure life and not enjoy your life to the fullest. Therefore, I always counsel, that people should adopt the healthy eating habit and exercises they enjoy and could sustain for life. If the diet you adopt is what you barely endure and if the exercise you are involved with is not what you can commit to for a lifetime, then you are not likely going to be able to sustain your newly adopted lifestyle for long.

Wrong approaches make it difficult to maintain weight loss

As previously explained, your body’s response to your weight loss program may trigger the biological process that could facilitate or hinder weight loss. If you engage extreme low-calorie diet as a stand-alone approach, if you do not engage in any physical activity, and probably your diet is inadequate in quality protein, you are likely going to achieve a rapid weight loss. However, you will be losing the healthy weight (skeletal muscle mass) along with the unhealthy weight (fat mass). This is an undesirable situation. Furthermore, your will basal metabolic rate will reduce. Your basal metabolic rate influences the rate at which your body utilizes energy. A low basal metabolic rate means your body’s ability to burn fat reduces. Hence your body will struggle with keeping off the fat deposits when you return to a regular diet.

It is advisable to engage the services of an expert to monitor your weight loss progress and help you make the necessary dietary adjustment towards achieving the desirable and healthy weight loss. This and more has been addressed in the e-resource “My Optimal Body”.

Difficulty in maintaining weight loss due to inadequate balance of calories

Once the desired weight has been achieved, there should be a gradual adjustment of calories to achieve calorie balance. At this point, the right number of calories for your daily need must be determined to which you need to adhere. Failure to adhere to this will lead to calorie imbalance, usually, an excess calorie is often the case.

This stage requires a lot of patience and the assistance of a dietician or nutritionist for record-keeping and adjusting food intake and exercise levels. Usually, an addition of about 200 calories of healthy, low-fat food to your daily intake may be necessary to prevent further weight loss.

Binge eating as responses to stress

It is necessary to control your eating behaviour when you are stressed. Using uncontrolled eating as a coping mechanism in stress could hinder your capacity to maintain weight loss. In such a situation, you are no more in control of the number of calories you are taking in. Rather, choose other healthy options. This includes the use of exercise, physical activity, prayers, or meditation to respond to stress instead of eating.

Ignorance about food facts

The lack of knowledge of food facts may result in you taking in excess calories without your knowing it. Foods high in hidden fats such as crisps, French fries, biscuits, cookies, could hinder your ability to maintain weight loss over time. It is advisable to read labels of packaged foods so you can make informed choices about the number of calories you will be having by taking a certain amount of the food.

Lack of physical activities

After you have achieved your desired weight, you need to continue in regular physical activities such as walking, walking the stairs, gardening, etc. to balance your calorie intake with usage. If you ceased from regular activities, though you have a healthy dietary intake, you will very soon start to experience a positive energy balance and inability to maintain weight loss.

Conclusion

The difficulty in maintaining weight loss comes primarily from a lack of commitment. Also, the values you place on the benefits of a healthy weight and your perceptions of the risks of unhealthy weight will determine your commitment. Engaging the right approach to weight loss and keeping to a healthy lifestyle after you have achieved your desired weight goal will help you to overcome the difficulty in maintaining weight loss.

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Exercise does have a lot of benefits, however, it can be frustrating spending months at the gym to gain the muscle mass you desire. Logically, there are ways to gain as much muscle mass as you desire:

1. Take adequate calories to maintain a positive energy balance during your workout sessions or even your normal daily routines.
2. Protein is essential for growth in the body. Therefore, take more protein than you break down. This is logical for maximal muscle gain.
3. Find the right exercise program that can challenge your muscles. This is perhaps, the most essential of the three. The more muscle you gain, the more challenging the program needs to get for you to further increase in strength.

The recommendations given above are the most natural way to gain muscle and strength. However, it is possible to even speed up this process and get better results by using workout supplements. I will be sharing with you some effective workout supplements that could help you build muscle. Workout supplements can be referred to as multi-ingredient dietary formulas intended to enhance energy and physical performance.

Below are five effective workout supplements that can help you build your muscle faster.

Creatine

Creatine is a very important chemical compound found in the body. It is mostly found in the muscles and the brain. Science has made it possible to synthesize this chemical in the laboratory. Creatine is also found in foods such as red meat and seafood. This power-enhancing muscle building supplement is one of the many effective supplements for workouts as has been shown by several documentations. It works by increasing the availability of creatine and phosphocreatine in the muscle. This increase helps keep energy levels regulated during high-intensity exercise routines such as in weightlifting, running and hiking.

Creatine is known to increase water quantity in muscle cells. This causes the muscles to swell slightly and appear bigger, which is a physical indication of muscle growth, and this improves your overall physique. Medical researchers have also discovered that creatine helps to reduce protein breakdown.

Protein Supplements

In the list of the methods of muscle growth, the importance of protein is highlighted. Protein is one of the substances critical for muscle growth. It is possible to get all the protein you need from various protein-rich foods. Another way to get the protein you need is by using protein supplements. There are different types of protein supplements available. Popular ones include casein, soy protein, and whey. Other types of protein supplements are those that contain protein isolated from chicken, eggs, and beef. However, protein can be sourced from a lot more sources than these.

Research has proven that protein supplements are more beneficial for muscle gain than including extra carbs in your diet. Wondering how much protein you should consume daily? If you are looking to gain muscle, 1.2 – 2 grams per kg of body weight is a good start.

Beta-Alanine as effective workout supplements

Beta-alanine is a workout supplement that you will find on the shelf of every ripped gym junkie out there. It is an amino acid that helps to reduce fatigue which subsequently increases exercise performance during intense workout sessions. Beta-alanine is an important supplement for those who follow exercise programs strictly. It can help to power you through the program successfully and significantly boost the growth of your muscles. It is a very good help for increasing muscle mass. A study showed a drastic increase in body mass when 4 grams of this supplement was taken daily compared to college athletes taking a placebo during that same period. Enough is known of beta-alanine to prove its effectiveness in increasing muscle mass when combined with an exercise program.

Caffeine

Caffeine is one of the most used and famous substances in the world. This substance is a great ergogenic aid for intense activities and endurance exercise. It give you that edge when you take it just before a work out session. However, caffeine’s use in this regard should be in moderation. Not more than your usual coffee intake is advisable.

Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA)

BCAAs contain three individual amino acids. These three individual amino acids are leucine, isoleucine, and valine. They are regularly found in most protein-rich supplements. Protein-rich foods like meat, eggs, dairy, and fish are good sources of these amino acids. This shows that everyone consumes BCAAs from food at least once a day. It is, however, not surprising to see BCCAs supplements. BCAAs are critically important for muscle growth. They make up about 14 per cent of the amino acids found in the muscular cells. BCAAs supplements are effective for you when there isn’t high-quality protein in your daily diet. BCCAs are effective in producing greater muscle gain when combined with an exercise program. As a body-builder, these supplements are important because of their ability to help you add muscle mass and strength quickly.

Credible Sources of effective workout Supplements

There are many companies that produce workout supplements which can aid your muscle growth. However, it is wise to obtain your supplements from credible sources. Forever Living Product is a brand that trumps other brands in this department. They provide high-quality supplements which will help you grow your muscles and give you the body you dream of having.

You will want to check out on some of these products. They include but not limited to:

1. Forever Lite Ultra with Aminotein: It supplies the 18 amino acids, comprising essential, non-essential and the branched-chain amino acids.
2. C9 Aloe Berry Nectar: It is a body cleanser designed to have you looking better and feeling great in just nine days.
3. Forever Calcium: It helps bone growth and muscle function.
4. F15 Beginner Vanilla Nectar Pack: It is designed to help you with your fitness and weight management journey.

Conclusion

The path to fitness and the desired body composition can be a long and arduous one without the necessary support to ease that journey. Forever Living has designed effective workout supplements for muscle building and these would help you get there faster. To obtain these products click here. Once on the Forever Living Products website, remember to select your country from the country dropdown at the top of the page. Feel free to share with me your experience and/or questions and I will be very glad to help you further.

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My background

I am 55 years of age, a wife, mother, and a career woman. I have quite a busy daily work schedule mostly sedentary with home chores. Nevertheless, I need a concerted effort to achieve and maintain a consistent and adequate physical activity lifestyle of between 5000 and 10000 steps of moderate-intensity every day. Typically I am 1.57 meter tall, 59kg by weight and BMI approximately 24kg/m².

Previously

As a result of the strenuous advanced studies I undertook between 2012 and 2016, I lost a significant amount of weight. My weight came down to 52.5kg. I needed to regain my weight, but it has to be a healthy weight. In the process, I discovered that you equally need deliberate effort to gain healthy weight as you do to lose unwanted weight. What did I do?

• I increased my food intake. This time academic exercises had greatly reduced. I still do a lot but without the stress of timelines, examinations, presentations and the rest.
• I had more resting periods and more sleeping hours.
• I embarked on a daily routine of physical activity; jogging in place.

Results after 3 years

After 3 years; beginning of 2019, I have increased my weight from 52.5 to 56.6. Good news isn’t it. Yes, it is, however, let’s have a look at the statistics.

Results in February 2019

Necessary improvement to gaining a healthy weight

Since I am yet to reach my goal of 59kg weight, I needed to put more effort towards the desired weight by achieving a reduced fat mass level while increasing the skeletal muscle mass. I embarked on the following:

• I increased the intake of foods rich in proteins such as milk, beans, chicken and fish. Lean meat is also a good option in this case, but it is not my favourite.
• I added the weekly Parkrun jog and walk with my daily jogging in place.

Let me recount my first experience on my first Park run in July 2019. It was at the Botanical Garden Parkrun centre in Pretoria and it was winter. The 5km Parkrun has two hills making the exercise a heavy work through.  I started with my jacket; however, about 8 minutes into the exercise, I had removed my jacket because of sweat. As I finished climbing the second hill on that first day, I felt like fainting. I thought perhaps this exercise wasn’t for me. However, the consequent visits became bearable and I climbed the hills with fewer difficulties. This was an indication of improved muscle strength in addition to increased muscle mass as I found out from my body composition results shown below.

Results in September 2019

Insights from the literature on how to gain a healthy weight

My experience is substantiated by the views of the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. It is recommended that adults should have adequate protein intake also with daily physical activity such as resistance training or aerobic exercise for as long as possible to sustain muscle strength and physical functioning into older age.

The ageing process is connected with a gradual loss of muscle mass associated with lowered strength and physical endurance. This condition is known as sarcopenia and it is commonly observed with ageing in sedentary adults. Regular aerobic and resistance exercise greatly contribute to reducing the effect of sarcopenia. Additionally, good nutrition, particularly adequate protein and energy intake, can help in minimising age-related declines in muscle mass, muscle strength, and functional abilities. Protein nutrition of not less than 1.0–1.2 g protein/kg body weight per day in combination with exercise is considered ideal for maintaining muscle function.

As you can see from the difference in my body composition results between February and September 2019; there were desirable improvements.  Muscle mass increased, the fat mass reduced, the visceral fat reduced and the basal metabolic rate improved. The improvements were as a result of the adjustment I made by adding the weekly aerobic exercise to my daily jogging on the spot as well as increased intake of foods rich in protein.  As I continue with my lifelong regime, the statistic will continue to get better and better. My regime is not cumbersome to me, as a matter of fact, it is enjoyable. This is why I counselled in my previous post that for your weight management endeavour to be sustainable; you must enjoy it and be ready to practice it as a lifelong commitment.

Conclusion

I believe you already have some vital insights on how to gain a healthy weight from my story which could assist you in achieving and maintaining the desired weight whether you are aiming at gaining weight or otherwise. Ensure you track the changes that are occurring in your body by checking your body composition every other month.  Following the results obtained from your body composition, make the necessary adjustment. Be consistent at your efforts in the right direction and see your desired body composition gradually fall in shape. I look forward to reading your story, please feel free to contact me through the email at the end of this article. I will be happy to communicate with you and assist you further not only on how to gain a healthy weight but other related issues you may have.

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