What’s normally considered a warning sign for burnout can also be considered a learning experience. Maintenance is in some ways a form of a plateau achieved through intention. Once you have reached your weight loss goals, another challenge arises. That is the challenge of maintaining it. This will require much more discipline. In actuality it is more than a goal, because goals have a deadline. This is the dividing line to where fitness becomes a way of life or a way of living. The time is now to embark on a maintenance program that will keep your body that you’ve worked so hard for intact.

Tips:

Step 1: I would suggest first start out by finding out how many calories you need in order to maintain your weight. Here is a Caloric Counter. Try and weigh yourself on the same day at the same time, 1x/week. If you notice a 5lb difference in weight, adjust your caloric intake accordingly. To add a 1lb of fat you would need to add 500kcal/day in a week and vice versa to lose 1lb in a week.

Step 2: Try and do Cardiovascular/Resistance Training at least 2-3x’s a week. This will help maintain your current weight. The importance is in the consistency of the program you adhere to.

Step 3: Eat wholesome foods such as lean proteins, whole grains. Fill up on fruits and Vegetables-High nutrient valued foods to help trigger satiety and a lower caloric intake level.

Step 4: Keep a food/physical activity journal so that you can keep track of what foods you are eating and how active you have been each week. If you notice you are gaining weight, then it will be much easier to go back to your journal and identify what may have caused the weight gain.

Step 5: Plan out your meals. If you fail to plan, then my friends you have inadvertently planned to fail. Knowing what you are going to eat will keep you from indulging or gorging on high-caloric, low-nutrient foods. The unexpected growling of the stomach can be a powerful deterrent of healthy eating, therefore pack healthy snacks, eat often, eat smaller portions, and do not starve yourself. P.S. Never Skip Breakfast!! Example of healthy snacks: PB and celery, koshi bars, almonds, raisins, apples, blue berries, etc.)

Step 6: Team Work Makes the Dream work, or Rather a REALITY!!! Have friends or family hold you accountable to your weightloss maintence. Make these healthy maintenance habits apart of the culture in the household or workplace. Build a support system!

Bread

Do you choose white, wheat, whole wheat or whole grain? There are so many options today it gets confusing sometimes. White bread of course is not the best choice and is pretty devoid or nutrients not including the enrichment it usually goes through. Wheat bread is a better choice, but without the claim of whole wheat the bread doesn’t have the nutrients that are in whole grain bread. The bran, or shell, and germ are shucked off of grains to make wheat and white bread. Guess where all the nutrients and fiber are in a grain? That’s right, the bran and germ. Finally, whole wheat and whole grain are on the same level. However, whole grain bread can be composed of many different grains, which can offer more nutrients. So all in all I would recommend whole grain bread.

Milk

So many numbers are offered and even different kinds, so which is the best choice? Whole/ Vitamin D milk, 2%/reduced fat, 1%/low fat, and skim milk/nonfat milk are all the degrees of milk. There are also many different types of milk such as, cow’s milk, rice milk, almond milk, soy milk, and coconut milk. If you are drinking cow’s milk I suggest choosing 1% or skim milk. There is proportionately more fat in each step up in the levels of milk. In other words, 1% has 2.5 grams of fat and 2% has 5 grams of fat. However, are there types of milk that are better than cow’s milk? I am lactose intolerant, so I cannot drink cow’s milk, so in my case there is a better choice than cow’s milk. The difference between all the types of milk is nutrient composition. Soy milk has more protein, coconut and almond milk have more good fats (omega 3s and 6s), and rice milk has more carbohydrates. So really it is your choice as to which nutrient you want more of. Since I am currently vegan I choose soy milk to get a source of protein. Also, these types of milk are fortified with required nutrients such as calcium and vitamin D. In fact, soy milk has fifty percent more calcium than cow’s milk. In addition, there are low fat options in all the types of milk. So in a sense milk is your choice, but watch the calories and fat.

I hope these help. With all the products out there on the shelves you are now armed to face the mass chaos. Choose wisely and don’t get caught up in the false claims. These are only a few of the products I intend to discuss, so stay tuned to hear how to pick fruits and vegetables and pre-packaged goods