4 tips for those who have already lost weight. How to keep it off?

The expert of “Championship” wellness coach Andrei Semeshov – on how to keep the result after dieting.

Sad statistics

Official medicine in Russia is guiltily throwing up its hands: eight out of ten people who lost weight under the control of doctors for a period of three months to six months, after the end of the course of treatment restore the original body weight. Among those who undergo various diets learned from magazines or from acquaintances, the statistics is even sadder. There is even a special term for such cases – “yo-yo effect”, named after a toy that always returns to the palm of the hand.

Overseas colleagues are in solidarity. “You can lose 5-10% of weight on any of the many diets, but the weight will come back, – confidently states Professor at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Tracy Mann. – We have found that most gain the weight back, and even more than the original numbers. Only a very small number of participants had sustained weight loss, while the vast majority gained all the pounds back.”

The professor’s words can be trusted. She came to these conclusions after scrutinizing 31 scientific studies. And the conclusions are as follows: it would be better if people did not start losing weight at all, because the health was undermined first by a sharp loss of weight, and then back gain.

There’s more of a sad irony here, of course. To resign oneself to excess weight, and even more so to obesity, means to deliberately condemn oneself to a multiple increase in the risk of not even reaching the “pre-reform” retirement age. Plus a serious decrease in the quality of life, plus dissatisfaction with themselves, plus complexes, plus many other disadvantages.

And there is no other way to defeat the “reserve” fat, except to limit calorie intake, better if accompanied by an increase in energy expenditure (walking 12 thousand steps and two or three visits to the fitness center per week will do). Bariatric surgery with cutting out parts of the stomach and sewing in balloons, let me not seriously consider.

You can call the process whatever you want, but the term “diet” is fine too. Although I personally prefer to operate with such concepts as diet, for example.
Anyway, giving up diets, in fact, means giving up the intention to get in shape. So we will talk about how to be among those 20% (and if you believe more pessimistic statistics – even 5%) of the lucky ones who manage to part with “sticking” kilograms for a long time, or better forever.

Tip #1. Do not hurry to lose weight

A well-known phenomenon – if a poor person suddenly won a large sum of money in the lottery, you can assume with a high degree of probability that soon he will return to the former financial hole. The explanation is simple – he is not used to such finances, is not ready to solve the problems that are inevitably attached to large capital. Therefore, he subconsciously seeks to get rid of the money and return to the state he is used to being in.

I think the analogy with diets is clear. Express-methods of shedding excess weight – a lot. Starvation, ultra-low-calorie diets, performing exercise complexes for several hours every day. You can surprise the Internet with pictures of “before and after” with a difference between them of 1-2 months. But alas, after about the same period of time, the photo “before” at best will become a reality. Or even turn into a reference form, to which you still need to lose weight.

Our fat has been accumulating for years, the body slowly got used to the changes. And then suddenly – one and such a “jackpot” in the form of abs. You may be happy, but your body and your brain are not ready for such rapid changes and will try to return to the status quo as soon as possible.

What does it look like? The simplest variant: “I suffered so much on this diet, I deprived myself of everything, but now I can afford something!”. A day, two, three – and the gluttony does not stop. A week goes by. The silhouette in the mirror is a little swollen, but in a T-shirt everything is still just fine. And every day I promise that today I’ll eat more and from tomorrow I’ll be back on cucumbers and dumbbells. Alas, not gonna happen. After experiencing such a serious stress, few people are able to find the strength for another similar circle of hell. Practice shows that after such express weight loss in the order must first bring the psyche, to return normal eating behavior. Therefore, the first advice – choose a long weight loss programs, ideally from six months and more. You need to get used to the changes. And even in this case, you remain in the risk zone. So.

Tip #2. Reached your goal? Do not get off the diet

Agree with yourself “on the shore” that the achievement of the cherished goal (in kilograms or centimeters) will be only half of the distance. Admire yourself in the mirror, fill social networks with photos, make a week’s revenue in “McDak” and… back on the diet. Only now as smoothly act with the diet in the opposite direction – a little bit by little add calories. If, for example, lost weight “on keto” or refused some products, then return to the regular menu should be dosed. You will still “roll back”, it is inevitable, but the process of weight gain should be under the same clear control as before and weight loss. Slow down the body, so you will have a better chance that it will fix the desired result for a long time.

Tip #3. more sports!

Hopefully, your weight loss strategy included vigorous physical activity. Walking, gym, swimming, skating – anything that helped you expend the maximum amount of calories.

In no case do not give up training, keep energy expenditure at the same level. On the background of a gradual increase in calories in this case, most of it will go to building and strengthening muscles. And this will make the silhouette more attractive. This applies equally to men and women. Girls, do not be afraid to overpump! You won’t be able to turn into an “ugh, like a man” without serious pharma support.

You just have to love sports at the end of the diet even more. There is more energy and strength, the weight grows, endurance increases – it is a pleasure to exercise. If you suddenly lost weight sitting in front of the TV with a glass of kefir in your hand, now it’s time to run for a gym membership.

Tip #4. Realize that obesity is forever

Back in the days when nature designed humans, the ability to rapidly store fat was a blessed function to ensure the survival of the species in the face of an unstable food supply. Times have changed, but design changes have not yet been made to our bodies. We still have the ability to theoretically increase adipose tissue without limit. And people who weigh 200+ pounds are clear evidence of this.

Worse, our bodies don’t know how to reduce the number of fat cells – adipocytes – either. Imagine that fat stores are balloons. When you lose weight, the balloons deflate and if before they could hardly fit in the room, now they can be stuffed into a bag. But the sheer number of balloons remains the same. And nature does not tolerate emptiness. The body knows that it has a stock of deflated balloons and will be happy to inflate them again at the slightest opportunity. Inflated balloons are known to be happier.

Sad? I agree, not much joy. Yes, obesity is a disease. And it seems to be a lifelong diagnosis. So, in fact, there is no such thing as a former “obese person.” It’s as much of an oxymoron as “former prince.” But the good news is that it is within your power to make obesity literally invisible. It’s like when a doctor announces that a deadly disease has been found that is incurable by medicine. But if you take one pill every day, the ailment will not bother you in any way. In our case, the pill is always available and free. It consists of two halves: “eat less” and “move more”. Unlike the movie “The Matrix”, you have to choose two at once. Take it for life, every day. And you’ll be fine. At least as far as your figure is concerned.