Unfortunately, weight gain is associated with some physiological complications beyond your control such as your gene, sex, and age. However, you can control your lifestyle such as your eating behaviour, and physical activity which to a very large extent influence your health.

The following are the reasons why you could regain weight after weight loss.

An unrealistic Diet makes you regain weight after weight loss

If the dietary regimen you used in your weight loss program is too rigid. This is often the case with the diet plans that prevent the intake of some foods or an entire food group such as starchy food or beans and legumes. This approach is not sustainable. Your body soon starts to crave those foods, and it is a matter of time, you see yourself going back to eating them, but this time with no consideration to portion size. Besides the fact that restricting certain foods or food group in weight loss program is unsustainable, it is often discouraged because it can result into the inadequate intake of essential nutrients.

Unrealistic workout or exercise fuels weight regain after weight loss

At the beginning of your weight loss programme, you are very enthusiastic and determined to pay the price. Out of your desperation to lose weight fast, you set for yourself a 6-day exercise plan at the gym or on the treadmill at home, or in the countryside/park jugging. While these are laudable efforts, however, sustainability is often a problem. The vigorous exercise regimen will lead to weight loss within a short time which often coincides with your inability to continue the momentum. Realistic dietary and exercise plan for a sustainable weight loss is discussed in My Optimal Body, a resource designed to guide you through effective weight loss programme.

To maintain your new weight, you only need to reduce the exercise regimen while balancing with your calorie intake. Stopping the exercise regimen or decreasing it to a lower level that creates a positive energy balance will lead to you regaining the weight.

Sedentary Lifestyle

Most people have a sedentary lifestyle. A sedentary lifestyle is a type of lifestyle that involves little or no physical activity. This often means sitting for most of the day at the desk at work, working on the computer or other electronic device for much of the day. Movement from one place to the other using one form of transportation or the other. If this is your typical lifestyle, it is a matter of time that you will regain your weight.  Additionally, sedentary behaviour can cut down your metabolism, making it easier for your body to store fat.

It is advised not to sit or be immobile for more than 1 hour at a time. Instead, break up long periods of sitting by standing and take a little walk before coming back to continue your work.

Inadequate Exercise

Inadequate physical activity is another reason why you could easily regain your weight. You need to intentionally commit to an exercise plan that you enjoy doing consistently. This includes about 60 minutes of moderate exercise on most days of the week.  Everybody requires a different amount of exercise, depending on gender, age, weight, body composition, fitness level, and genetic makeup. Moderate physical activities will do, and these include a brisk walk, walking the stairs, jumping jacks, gardening, jugging in place, and many more.

Conclusion

It is possible for you to easily regain weight after achieving weight loss. If your weight loss strategy was faulty from the beginning, this sets the stage for the unsustainability of the new status. Furthermore, a sedentary lifestyle, as well as inadequate physical activity, will lead to you gaining the weight that you struggled to drop. Unrealistic dietary plans and exercise are not encouraged in weight loss programmes. Also, a lifetime commitment to a realistic exercise plan and healthy eating with modest portion size will help you to overcome weight regain.

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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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Why losing weight

A slim figure is often associated with beauty. As a result, many of the beauty pageants give slim figures a high rating. While it is not a bad idea to desire a slim figure, losing unwanted weight means much than that. Health reasons are of prime importance in weight loss. I would like to emphasize here that the fact that a person has a slim figure does not indicate a state of good nutritional health or reduced risk for non-communicable diseases. While a person who is overweight or obese is obviously at risk for communicable diseases as a result of excess body fat, a person with a slim body may as well be carrying a high body fat percentage. This situation is called hidden obesity and equally increases a person’s risk for non-communicable diseases. This condition has been described in “What is in my body”.

Losing unwanted weight could be as easy as the way you accumulated them over the years. However, it will require your determination and consistency. Since you didn’t arrive at the weight overnight or instantly, it is logical that you will not be losing them as instantly as you may desire. My candid advice is to follow a healthy way to lose weight so you don’t end up losing your health in the process. Following these tips will help you in gradual weight loss while maintaining good health.

Check your portion size

If you are desirous of losing weight, the first practical thing is to minimize your food intake. Your intake of foods should match your physical activities. The foods you eat are used to produce energy which you need to support both the voluntary and involuntary activities that your body undergoes. If your body does not use up the energy produced from your food, the excess energy is converted into fat and stored in the body for use where there is a shortage of energy supply. If you reduce your food intake to match your physical activities, then you will achieve an energy balance and you will not have any storage of excess energy in the form of fat. Furthermore, if you reduce your intake to achieve a negative energy balance, i.e. your body needs more energy than what your food is supplying to support your activities. Then, your body will convert the deposit of fat into energy to support your activities. As this continues over time, slowly and surely you will begin to experience a weight loss. You may want to help yourself with a 7-day meal plan to help you achieve this, CLICK HERE.

Minimize the intake of foods high in fats and sugar

Foods and drinks high in fats and sugar quickly provide you with high calories you don’t need. While it may not be sustainable that you go off such foods some of which are your favourites, it is possible to minimize your intake. These foods include French fries, cakes, pastries, confectioneries, sweet dessert etc. Also, drinks such as fizzy drinks, carbonated drinks and even fruit juices contain a high amount of calories. You should reduce the intake by reducing the amount you take at a time and the number of times you take them in a week. Instead of fruit juice, take real fruit.

Eat foods rich in proteins

When you are trying to lose weight, it is important to ensure you prevent muscle loss while shedding the unwanted weight i.e. the fat mass. You will achieve this by ensuring adequate intake of foods rich in proteins. The body needs protein to build and repair tissues and muscles. Evidence shows that protein prevents loss of muscle mass while the body loses fat. If your body experience calorie restriction coupled inadequate amounts of protein, this will lead to undesirable loss of muscle mass and fat mass at the same time. Therefore, I counsel that you have an adequate supply of proteins in your diet as you embark on a weight loss program. How much protein is adequate is discussed in “My Optimal Body”.

Keep unhealthy foods out of reach

This is a very logical thing to do to avoid the unnecessary temptation to eating unhealthy choices of foods in excessive amount. You don’t have to keep foods like cookies, chocolate bars, candies, and cakes in your fridge or pantry. Instead, stock your fridge with wholesome fruits and vegetables and snack on these whenever you crave food or need snacks or refreshment. Remember, that when trying to achieve weight loss, you may not need more than a serving of fruit per day. Examples include 1 medium-size apple, ¾ cup grapes, 1 medium-size pear etc. Vegetables such as 6 spears of asparagus, ½ cup of cauliflower, broccoli, sweet corn, butternut, carrot etc. are healthy choices to eat as between meals or as snacks.

Eating fibre-rich foods is one of the easy ways to weight loss

Foods rich in fibre help you to feel full for a long time. Besides, you will benefit from the other health benefits of fibre which includes helping you to achieve easy stool as well as cholesterol-lowering benefit. Foods rich in fibre include beans, oats, green peas, sweetcorn, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread, barley and rye.

Easy ways to weight loss include drinking enough water

The recommendations for healthy eating include drinking adequate clean water (about 6 to 8 cups) daily. When your body is adequately hydrated, your basal metabolic rate (BMR) will improve. The BMR is the rate at which your body utilizes energy at rest. The better your body can utilize energy at rest in performing basal metabolic functions, the better your body will burn calories. As a result, you will easily lose unwanted weight. Conversely, if you are inadequately hydrated, your BMR will decrease and your ability to lose unwanted weight will reduce. Furthermore, your body will benefit from the numerous health benefits of water in the body. Drinking adequate water daily will allow you to have easy digestion. Your bowel needs water to work properly. Adequate intake of water will prevent dehydration and will contribute to reducing many digestive problems.

Practice mindful eating

As you work at shedding unwanted weight, enjoy your meals but be mindful of your intake. It helps to look forward to the next meal by desisting from unnecessary munching which you may regret. Also, endeavour to count calories of what you eat by estimating every meal. This will ensure you keep within the limit of your calories intake per day.

Eat slowly and chew your food thoroughly

Leptin is the hormone responsible for reducing the appetite thereby making you feel full. The hormone is produced by the fat cells. As a signalling hormone, leptin communicates with the hypothalamus in your brain and regulates your appetite and food intake. Your brain needs enough time to signal that you have already eaten enough. Therefore, by taking the time to eat and chew your food, you are more likely to be satisfied with your reduced portion size even before you finish the meal.

Conclusion

By following these easy ways to weight loss, you are on the path to consistent and healthy weight management. Remember, it is an unhealthy weight that you aim to get rid, be sure to maintain the healthy weight; the muscle mass. Also, following these tips will help you not only to shed unwanted weight but to sustain it and continue with healthy eating as a lifestyle.

For further assistance, please feel free to ask your questions in the comments section. You may want to check the eBook “My Optimal Body” a practical guide for sustainable weight loss with a 7-day meal plan.

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My Optimal Body – Preview

This resource is an evidence-based hybrid weight-loss plan that is built on the principle of continuous calorie restriction, intermittent fasting and exercise. These principles have been shown to contribute to effective body fat loss, improved body composition and better health outcomes. It is designed to help you achieve the following:

• Develop a lifelong healthy eating,
• Develop and enjoy a healthy lifestyle,
• Drop unwanted weight permanently,
• Maintain a healthy weight afterwards,
• Improve body composition and overall health

What you need to know 

Excess body weight puts you at increased risk for a range of chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, and psychosocial syndromes which could considerably reduce your quality of life.

Seven days meal plan towards my optimal body

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Good nutrition and activity are the key strategies for healthy weight loss. This is not referring to crash diets or simply starving yourself or working out at the gym. The strategies have to do with eating healthy and making sure your portions match the number of calories you need daily. It is believed that if you can create a 500-calorie deficiency every day between exercise and nutrition, you can lose up to a pound (0.45kg) a week.
Dr Debbie addresses nutrition issues for daily living and well-being “7 simplest ways to healthy eating”

Your calorie intake

Those calories should not be subtracted off of your recommended daily amount. It should be taken from the number of calories you eat daily right now. For example: If you were an adult male eating 3,500 calories per day you can drop 250 calories from your diet and increase your energy consumption from exercise by 250 calories. If you can do this every day, you will create a 3,500-calorie deficiency over the entire week – and that is the equivalent of one fat pound (0.45kg).

To lose weight you need to find a 500-calorie deficiency every day. Do it through exercise and reducing what you eat.
Minimum calorie intakes as one of the strategies for healthy weight loss

Women should not consume less than 1,200 calories per day or 1,000 less than your maintenance value (how many calories you need to keep your weight steady). A dietitian or nutrition expert can help you to calculate your maintenance value. Men should not consume less than 1,800 calories per day or 1,000 less than your maintenance value.

If you try a crash diet, where you are only consuming 1,000 calories per day and working out, or getting exercise, sure, you will lose weight. But, it isn’t going to stay off for long. When you don’t give your body enough fuel, it starts to consume the muscles in your body, whereas the muscles are an important part of being able to metabolize your foods.

Eating too little is not consistent with the strategies for healthy weight loss. You will lose weight but it may not be sustainable in the long run. You risk burning muscle of your crash diet by not eating anything. Your body will consume your muscle tissue, actually making it more difficult to keep the weight off down the road. Eating much less slows your metabolism. You aren’t eating enough food to keep your metabolism running on sufficient energy.

Tracking your calories

It might take a bit of effort, but each food has a written caloric value on the packaging. If you take the time to notice what is on the package you will be able to monitor what your calorie intake is. Then you will see that you actually take in far more than the calorie you need per day. When you can do this, you will be able to keep track of what you are eating and whether you are meeting your target intake levels or overshooting it.

If you want to be serious about losing weight, then you need to take the matter into your own hands. Don’t just grab a portion of lasagna, burger or a bowl of rice with steak and start chowing down. Calculate how many calories are in a reasonable serving and go from there. Remember there are probably high-fat salad, dinner rolls, and probably another vegetable on your menu list. You are going to have to monitor each of those to come up with a good caloric value from your meal. You wonder if this is not a task on its own. The step by step practical guide to weight loss by Dr Debbie is now out.
Most meals will have you in between 300 and 800 calories. This is a good target area. If you can calculate where you fit in there with each particular meal, you will be able to get a better idea of your plan for losing weight.

The types of food we eat

Aside from the actual caloric intake of a person, the type of food we are eating plays a large role in how we can lose weight. First of all, 100 grams of broccoli has far less fat and calories than 100 grams of doughnuts.

Some foods are high in fat, high in calories, processed, natural and more. Each one of these is going to affect your ability to lose weight. It doesn’t mean that you can’t eat a lot of these things, and you have to give up your favourite foods, you just need to be aware of how much of it you are eating. Details are described in the book “Natural weight loss revealed” which is offered you free. GET IT HERE

Why shed unwanted weight – Health concerns

You have no doubt heard the numerous health-related problems that come from being overweight. Even being 20 lbs (9kg) overweight can start to cause hidden health problems. Instead of that lower back pain being from yesterday’s squash game, it’s because your body isn’t used to carrying an extra 20 lbs (9kg) on the front end. Imagine right now if you were to strap a 20-pound (9kg) weight to your belly and walk around with it all day long.

Extremely high weight can put considerable stress on your joints, especially if you do not have the height advantage to handle that sort of weight. The biggest part is the high risk for non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure etc. These are pretty serious players in the health world. They are among the largest killers of human beings.

Why shed unwanted weight – Physical appearance

For many people, physical appearance is linked directly to their self-esteem. If they believe their body is undesirable to others, they can become depressed or stressed and it causes serious emotional problems. Worse yet, in some, it can trigger the impulse to eat, even more, making the problem worse. The emotional side of being obese is only just being charted in the medical world. It is already understood that a person’s self-worth and self-confidence can be shattered if they gain excess weight. But the emotional toll it can take over an extended period might be considerably more damaging.

Conclusion

Effective strategies for healthy weight loss are not far-fetched; however, they are entrenched in discipline and determination. The value you place on the outcomes of excessive weight will determine your motivation level. Consistently practising good nutrition matched with an appropriate activity level will get you there. Dr Debbie has developed a step by step weight loss plan to practically guide you through. Access the E-book here.

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Several unfounded stories surround food intake and practices. These stories could be referred to as myths. A myth is a commonly held but false belief. When these beliefs get repeated well enough people who know the truth invariably accept the view as a norm. However, the important question is which do we take with a pinch of salt and which do we take as fact?

Listed below are some myths about healthy eating.

1. Food myth: Eat many mini-meals instead of three regular meals for weight loss

Healthy eating fact: Some dieters have the belief that eating frequent, smaller meals all through the day will speed up metabolism and burn more calories. However, research evidence has shown no significant metabolic difference between participants who had six mini-meals with those who ate three regular meals. When you eat smaller but more frequent meals, you are more likely to be hungrier and take in more calories than you need.

2. Food myth: Nuts are as bad as junk foods

Healthy eating fact: While it is true that nuts contain a relatively high number of calories per unit weight, it doesn’t mean nuts should be restricted from your diet. They are high in protein and monounsaturated fats which are good for the heart. For example, almonds contain 6 grams of protein and 14 grams of healthy fat per serving (about 28 grams). Additionally, nuts offer many health benefits and have been associated with the reduction of risk factors for chronic diseases. It is demonstrated that nuts consumption has beneficial effects on heart health, decreased risk for diseases such as arterial disease, inflammation, and type 2 diabetes 1, 2, 3, 4.

3. Food myth: Frozen fruits and vegetables are less nutritious than fresh ones

Healthy eating fact: This is not true if you grow and harvest fruits and vegetables on your own, and freeze them for later use. However, foods found in the produce section may have spent days, weeks probably, in shipping and storage and as such, it is natural for them to lose nutrients. When fruits and vegetables are frozen immediately after harvesting at peak freshness, the loss of vitamin and mineral content is reduced to minimal.

4. Food myth: Drinking milk when you have cold increases mucus

Healthy eating fact: Your body needs calcium and vitamin D to build strong bones, and milk is rich in both. There is no evidence to prove that milk increases mucus production when you have a cold or suffer from flu 5. In this study, almost half of the participants believed dairy products were bad for colds and the majority held the view that milk produced more mucus. However, no correlation was found for the production of more mucus with milk intake. Also, no study has linked the intake of milk with the congestion often experienced during a cold or flu ailment. Milk is an important source of calcium and vitamins. The myth that milk intake increases mucus production needs to be disproved by healthcare workers

5. Food myth: Thoroughly wash raw meat before cooking to eliminate bacteria

Healthy eating fact: Food regulatory bodies of countries recommend not washing raw meat before you cook them. The reason for this recommendation is to prevent cross-contamination during handling and preparation into meals. While some bacteria can’t be simply washed off no matter how hard you try, some might end up getting into your sink, onto other foods and accidentally ingested. When pathogenic bacteria are eaten with food it could result in food infection or food poisoning and cause health problems. If you cook the meat at the right temperature, all the bacteria will die, so there’s no risk of contamination by washing it. However, this recommendation may not be relevant for situations where strict hygiene procedure from the abattoir to the point of sale is absent. Therefore, it is advisable to wash such meats to reduce the dirt load. Washing should be done in an isolated place to prevent the spread of the food borne pathogens that are on your meat all over the rest of your kitchen.

6. Food myth: Eating late at night makes you gain weight

Healthy eating fact: The idea of not eating after a certain time has been around for a while. However, there is no basis for this as our body burns calories 24/7, even when you’re asleep; so though it is advisable to eat dinner several hours before bedtime to allow the body to digest the food, and to also make it the smallest meal of the day. It remains that the total amount of calories consumed matters more than the time of eating. Any extra calories above your need will end up as stored up fat whether it is a morning treat or a midnight snack.

Conclusion

Sometimes unfounded stories do have some element of fact but with considerable distortion. While I have respect for your sentiments regarding your food practices, it is important to help you understand the facts and the myths about healthy eating.

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