It's a story as old as time (modern time).
- how to lose weight and then not gain it back.
Let's take a look at 5 ways you can hit your goal and then live there, for good.
One.
DO NOT try to lose the weight quickly.
Typically when weight loss is rapid new habits have not been formed and as soon as the goal is reached there is a tendency to go straight back to what you were doing before.
When we slow the process down, new habits can be formed a long the way (also see no five).
Two.
The diet should be sustainable.
If it is a quick hit (eg. 6 weeks to lose 20kg) then it is completely unsustainable and will end as soon as your motivation ends. In order to lose the weight and keep it off, the diet should be very achievable - ie. you can be hungry, but not constantly starving and unable to function properly. It should also include a maintenance phase for the 'end' of the diet in order to establish how much you need to eat in order to stay at your new weight.
Three.
Prioritise protein intake.
Maybe this should have been number 1 as it is so important.
Protein will help keep you feeling fuller for longer. Most people are eating enough to keep them alive, but not anywhere near enough to thrive. Try to hit 70% for your bodyweight in lbs as grams of protein per day (when losing weight you can use you goal weight in lbs or somewhere in between).
Four.
Change eating habits.
This is fairly obvious. But if you do not break the habits that gained you the weight then as soon as you stop following your diet, you will likely revert straight back to where you were and what you were doing before.
Habits take a while to set in, so choose one thing at a time and dial it in before moving to the next one. I suggest you start with protein intake, then fruit and veg intake, then cutting back on processed foods.
Five.
Soul searching.
If you want to move forward once you have lost weight, you might need to spend a bit of time exploring what got you there in the first place. It is normal for people to wear excess bodyweight as armour. A protection from something in your past that you have not delt with yet. Nearly every client I see has had a tough back story. If you don't address this it is unlikely you will fix anything by losing weight (not impossible though - so if you are living a great life now you have lost weight, that is absolutely awesome :)
Sometimes it is simply the habit of a lifetime - maybe from a 'feeder parent' who showed love through food. But if you think back to when the weight gain started, what does that reveal?
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