13 Top tips on maintaining post-diet weight loss

By Heather
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One of Fat Creep's fans has recently come to the end of a diet and she wants to know how she can stay at her current weight. She doesn't want to lose weight anymore and especially doesn't want to gain any: she has a wedding dress to fit into in four months!

Having competed three 'lifestyle changes' myself I know that counting calories becomes near impossible when you reach your target weight. You feel there is no point in it and importantly, the time strain required to efficiently keep a calorie record becomes especially onerous.

I call diets 'lifestyle changes' because I know that my weight gain is for the most part a result of my incorporating undesirable habits into my diet and that I need to make a concerted effort to regulate my consumption and to stay fit.

That is the crux of the problem: when the diet is over you cannot revert to the previous norm, your norm has to change. I got within my 'happy weight range' about six months ago and so far, I have stayed relatively stable. These are my top tips for staying slim after a diet:

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1. Weigh yourself regularly, at least a weekly weigh-in is recommended. This is key for me. Knowing your weight is the single biggest factor that will influence your habits. If you witness a rise, you will immediately be more health-conscious. Download the Fat Creep app to iPhone, iPad or Android to help with this
2. Get smaller plates. Larger plates will usually lead to higher food consumption. However, if you get smaller ones it is unlikely that you will go for second helpings. Psychologically, second-helpings are perceived as such a fat-habit that most people simply don't do it except under special circumstances.
3. Keep a food scale in the kitchen and weigh your carbs. I find it very easy to weigh out my cereal in the morning or my rice/pasta/potatoes in the evening. You don't have to weigh everything, carbs are the key culprit that's why I only weigh the carb element of any meal. On other food items e.g. chicken I have rules: e.g. unless it's a small chicken, I have only one piece - the thigh or a drumstick - I don't need two. You can make up your own food rules. I love the Rosemary Conley scale because you can put a dinner plate on it and still see the LCD screen.
4. Continue to maintain an exercise routine. You can reduce exercise slightly but you certainly cannot stop. Regular exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. A minimum of 30 minutes three times per week is ideal. Each 30 minute session needs to take your heart rate above the minimum target heart rate.
5. Continue to make wise food choices. You know what bad food is - fried stuff, processed foods, large quantities etc. - be conscious of what you are eating.
6. Don't stock processed or ready-cooked meals. Do you buy: pre-cut chips, ready-made mash, microwave meals, sauces, ready-made eggs(!!) etc? Why? Honestly, it does not take long to make these foods, even sauces. If you don't have 30 minutes to make yourself a meal every day you have a bigger problem to solve. Cooking does not take long. Yes, it takes longer than a microwave meal but it's cheaper and allows you to be more healthy. I find microwave meals disgusting and haven't had even one since 2005.
7. If you start to forget the calorie-content of food, do a week's worth of calorie counting to remind yourself. This will result in better food choices.
8. Be conscious of how often you are eating out. You can't regulate the calorie content of ready-made or restaurant food, even sandwiches can be very high in calories, in fact, they usually are. 
9. Schedule a bad food allowance into your diet. Some people have amazing powers of resistance, they can shun all bad foods indefinitely - I am not one of those people. To allow myself some leeway, I either have one bad food day in the week (on which I eat whatever I want) or I have a bad food allowance per day (a max of 200-250 calories per day). Choose one or the other, you can't do both within the same week!
10. Keep drinking a lot of water. Thirst frequently comes through as hunger. If you feel hungry, drink some water first. I always drink two glasses of water, 500ml, before every meal even breakfast. As a result, I find that I eat more slowly and I eat less than I otherwise would have.
11. Influence your friends to eat better. Do your friends have unhealthy food and exercise habits? If they do, you will almost certainly eat worse than you would if they were healthy types. Eating is very frequently a social event and we are all very vulnerable to peer pressure. If your friends and work colleagues are healthy living enthusiasts you will follow suit, if they are not you will give in at times. Solution? Sell the benefits of healthy eating to them.
12. Eat oats regularly. Oats have many benefits. I always wondered why oats make me fuller than other breakfast cereals and I recently found out that they absorb water in the stomach causing them to expand and thus making one feel fuller. In addition, as they move along the gut they attract molecules of fat, sugar and toxins thereby purging your body of this unnecessary stuff.
13. Golden rule: never go hungry. When you're hungry you get attracted to high calorie and high-fat foods. To curb hunger, I personally ensure I have a snack every three hours or so.

If you have any more tips, please comment below. 

​Although your personal finances and your business success are my primary interest, I believe you only operate at peak efficiency when you're fit and healthy. If you feel good, it filters through to your work. To help you with that, click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy
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