Maintenance- The Secret to Long-term Weight Loss

This is a post I've been meaning to write for a while, ever since one of my nutrition lectures opened my eyes to the 'facts' about weight loss. I was up extra early this morning. I've had breakfast, dressed, applied for 4 jobs and checked out week 8 for the 12WBT. Now I still have an hour until my gym class, so I figured now was the time to get writing. It's true what they say. A healthy diet and exercise really does give you more energy. Who would have thought?

So I will stop rambling and get to the point.

A few weeks ago I learnt a rather depressing fact: Almost everyone who loses weight will eventually put it back on. Apparently losing weight is the easy part. The hard part is maintaining the loss.

In America they actually have a registry for people who have lost at least 13kg and kept it off for over a year. Long-term weight loss is so rare that they want to keep track of and study the people who succeed in order to work out how they did it and what makes them different from the people that fail.

Here's what they have found out from people who have achieved long-term weight loss:

• 45% lost weight alone while 55% got help and support from a program. I think this just tells us that joining a program may help, but it is definitely not the deciding factor between success and failure. 
• 80% eat breakfast everyday. While the time of day that you eat ultimately doesn't make a lot of difference to weight loss, eating a healthy breakfast gets you off to a good start for the day and prevents you from bingeing or seeking out energy dense 'quick fixes' later in the day. 
• 75% weigh themselves at least once a week. While it is never good to obsess about the number on the scales, weighing yourself weekly is a good way to keep track of things, even after you have reached your goal. You are then able to notice small increases in your weight and make the necessary lifestyle modifications to get on top this before it becomes a big increase!
• The majority watch a lot less TV (less than 10 hours per week) than the national average. Watching TV is one of the most sedentary activities you can do, so chances are, if you are not watching TV, you are doing something less sedentary. You are probably not mindlessly snacking either! 
• 90% exercise, on average, for 1 hour per day. While diet is definitely the major factor in weight loss (you have to be very active for exercise to significantly impact your weight), exercise plays a big role in weight maintenance. Even when people do regain weight, those who are active do so at a much slower rate.

Overall, I'm not sure how useful this information is. I mean there's not really much information there that isn't common sense.

Ultimately I think we all know what the secret to permanent weight loss is, whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not. The answer is consistency; sticking with a healthy lifestyle for the long haul. 

Most people start on their weight loss journey looking for the 'quick fix' or the 'easy way'. For some people this might be a magic pill or miracle diet. For others it might involve a halfhearted attempt to be healthier. I spent years looking for the easy way to lose weight. I ate healthier, but didn't exercise. I joined a gym then never went. I tried the latest diet again and again. I even tried prescription medication, convincing myself that if a drug could help me lose the weight, the maintenance would be easy. After that last attempt I ended up bigger than I have ever been. I did all this despite all my nutrition education, which just goes to show, while educating yourself about health is important, it doesn't automatically lead to weight loss! 

It seems that the change and the success comes when you finally realise that it is not going to be easy and that it will not happen overnight. It did for me anyway. You need to stop looking for the quick fix and finally decide that you are willing to do whatever it takes, for however long it takes. Decide that this long term goal means more to you than any immediate gratification that comes from eating or drinking. When you become determined to do the hard work and to make a permanent change, you just do what it takes, and eventually it's not as hard as it was all those other times. You literally JFDI! 

The fact is, every diet will work if you follow it. Now, I'm not saying that every diet is healthy, because there are some shockers out there. But every diet will make you lose weight if you follow it, because every diet follows a few basic principles and ultimately they all involve calorie restriction through one means or another. 

But the most successful approach will always be to follow an eating plan that is not excessively restrictive, that suits your tastes and your lifestyle and that you can maintain in the long-term. Basically, if you are going to stick to something, it needs to be realistic.

We need to stop the hype with diets and start talking about healthy lifestyles. Diets don't work because they have a start and a finish. Even if you have enough willpower to eat only cabbage soup, or fast every second day, or go gluten, dairy and sugar free until you lose enough weight, there is still the mentality that "this will eventually be over and I can go back to eating normally". For successful weight loss, you need to adopt healthy habits and keep them for life. Sure, you can eat some more calories once you are no longer trying to lose weight and sure you might be able to relax a little bit, but if you relax too much, you will just end up back where you started.

It's hard, it takes time and it's a long-term commitment. But it is totally worth it. 

Thanks for reading :)

Katie. 

P.S. I bought a bikini when I was 16 that was about 3 sizes too small. I bought it to inspire me and motivate me to lose weight. Last night, 10 years later, I tried it on and it fits! Food will never make you feel that good. Trust me!