Unfortunately, the process of losing weight doesn’t only include just losing weight, but keeping the weight off afterwards.
“No one ever says, “I want to lose 30 pounds, keep it off briefly, and then gain it all back, with some extra pounds for good measure.”
How come it is so easy for months of good intentions and your investment of time and efforts to reverse themselves, and then some? It’s all psychological.
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First and foremost, when it comes to weight loss, we are always looking for the quickest, easiest way to lose the weight now, seeking instant short-term gratification instead of focusing on long-term sustainability. You can try every trendy diet in the book, and maybe lose a few pounds, but the moment that diet ends at the end of the month, the weight will come right back. This is because there is no lifestyle change or management happening.
On that note, another issue is our tendency to view our weight loss goal as a finish line – a point where we can ‘kick off our shoes’, so to speak, and the work is now done. This is the biggest mistake we can make. After only two weeks of no exercise or diet control, our muscles being deteriorating again, and our fat storage increases. Weight-loss must be viewed as a constant, life-long activity in order to see lasting results. Instead, try setting other kinds of finish-line goals – such as exercising five times a week, practicing ‘meatless Monday’, or eat 4 servings of vegetables every day.
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Setting these more specific goals can lead you to begin investing in your new holistic health lifestyle, which can serve as your primary motivation. This is one of the most positive aspects of weight-loss, because we often try to lose weight for all the wrong reasons – a wedding, class reunion, tropical vacation, etc. While these are all good motivators to lose some weight, their motivation is only temporary, as the event will pass and so will your weight loss motivation. This is again why is it so important to change the psychology around weight-loss to be an ongoing, evolving process, instead of a finish line.
The most important way to keep those hard-earned pounds off, however, is to be flexible. We have to be able to adjust to life’s inevitable curveballs so that we don’t easily revert to old, unhealthy habits. Always have a plan B!
This leads to deciding “anything goes” on vacation, skipping exercise if weather or other circumstances preempt your normal routine and abandoning healthy eating when life becomes “too busy.”
Curated article from:
The Washington Post
