Weight loss can seem like a long, slow journey. Maintenance, when you are no longer trying to lose weight, can seem far away. It is important to remember that you won’t lose weight at the same rate each week. Weight loss can slow down or speed up for many reasons, including illness, stress, and other hormonal changes (like a menstrual cycle).
* When you are ill, try your best to get your body the nutrients it needs. Seek a doctor’s care if necessary.
* Don’t add stress to stress. Manage the challenge that is causing you stress. Avoid feeling stressed about weight loss efforts on top of this.
If you have lost 10% of your initial body weight, aim to maintain that weight for at least 6 months. This helps stabilize your metabolism and makes it easier to lose weight in the future, if needed. It also gives you time to strengthen new, healthy habits. If you haven’t reached your 10% goal yet and your weight hasn’t changed for more than a week, you may be at a plateau. This is normal. Use the following strategies to overcome a plateau.
1. Reduce the Struggle
Imagine you are driving up a long, steep mountain road in top gear. The car struggles to get there and maybe stops moving altogether. This hill can be your weight loss goal. Expecting a lot of yourself may make it steeper. What worked when you started this journey may need to change.
Change gears to reduce the struggle.
* Adjust your goals and expectations.
* Add cues to your environment that remind you to do the healthy behavior or make it easier to do it.
* Remove cues from your environment that are causing you to slip into old habits. Make it harder to do the unhealthy habit.
Try This: Close your eyes and visualize changing gears. Now imagine the car starting to move a little easier. You may have more turns ahead as you wind up the mountain, but you are moving forward.
2. Find the Missing Pieces
Look at the puzzle pieces that you have put together to get to this point. Look at your eating and exercise habits, social support, environmental cues, expectations, thoughts, and coping strategies.
What pieces are missing? List areas that may need attention. Example: I am buying healthy snacks, but unhealthy options are still available in my pantry.
Perhaps you skipped over a section because it didn’t seem to apply to you or you felt you knew the information already. Go back. Read this section and do the activities. Just knowing things is only a small part of your success. Do the activities in each section.
3. Take Bigger Steps
Small steps help to build confidence and get you moving in the right direction. Many small steps can eventually get you to your goal. However, it may be time to take bigger steps, especially if the steps you have taken so far are now easy or boring. Success can be motivating when you are proud of the work it took to get there.
* Try a new healthy food or way of cooking.
* Exercise in a new way. Choose a new activity or add more metabolism-boosting resistance training.
* Tell others about what you are doing. Seek support from those who will build you up and hold you accountable.
* Address emotions that are affecting your health goals.
Take a bigger leap. Trust that you have built a foundation that will support this jump!
List a small step you have taken that now seems easy. How can you take this one step forward?
4. Set Process Goals
Include the process of getting to your outcome as a goal. Deciding to make a change, committing to action, and enjoying foods are all worthy goals!
* Outcome Goal: I will exercise every day!
* Process Goal: I will commit to being more active each day and finding activities that I truly enjoy.
* Practice: Write a goal statement that celebrates the process.
Detach from Negative Motivation
A negative experience may have gotten you started – bad news from your doctor, a break-up, a job loss, or a feeling of hitting “rock bottom.” Holding onto these negative feelings may keep you tied to your old self and your old way of thinking and doing things.
Instead of exercising because you “should” do it or doing it to make someone else happy, do it for your own reasons. Connect the things you are trying to do to your broader goals in life. You may find purpose-driven motivation lasts longer.
5. Celebrate Your “Wins”
What is a “win” for you today? At the end of each day, give yourself credit for something you’ve accomplished. Some days, this may be meeting your basic needs or getting to work on time. It may mean taking care of someone, like an aging parent or child. Also, give yourself credit for repeating a new habit. Life can be challenging. Give yourself credit.
Find at least one part of your day to celebrate as a success. List one of your “wins” for today.
6. Reward Yourself
Any behavior that is followed by a reward is more likely to be done again. Behaviors that will help you manage your weight need to be repeated in order for them to become habits. Give yourself non-food rewards for meeting your goals. When was the last time you gave yourself a reward?
Simple Ways to Reward Yourself
1. Give yourself a pat on the back.
2. Hug yourself or wrap yourself tightly in a blanket.
3. Look at yourself in the mirror and say, “Yeah me!” or another affirmation.
4. Set aside time to do one of your favorite activities.
5. Reflect on changes in how you feel, including your mood, energy level, and physical comfort.
6. Buy flowers or a plant.
7. Buy something new to wear that fits you well.
8. Buy a new tool or piece of equipment for one of your favorite activities.
9. Buy something to brighten up your home or office.
* List rewards that are meaningful to you.
* What do you need to do to earn this reward?
Rewards and Children
Avoid rewarding children with eating in response to “good” or “bad” behavior (e.g., if you’re bad, you’re going to bed without dinner). This equates being able to eat freely with “good” behavior and limiting food consumption with “bad.” This can make it hard for children to develop a healthy relationship with eating.
7. Do Something Right Now
What can you do to benefit your health right now? Set a self-care goal for something you can do in the next ten minutes. There is no time to procrastinate. Here are some ideas:
* Get up and move. Stretch, go for a short walk, do bodyweight squats, or do jumping jacks.
* Get a drink of water.
* Eat a healthy snack, if you are hungry.
* Write a meal plan for the week or a shopping list.
* Search for a local walking trail online. Make a plan to go there soon.
* Call a friend or write a card.
* Laugh.
List your own ideas for “Do it Now” activities.
Pick one and do it right now. Then, reflect: How do you feel?
Ten minutes may seem like a small part of your bigger goal that covers several days, weeks, and months. Success is built on what you do in shorter amounts of time-or right now. Don’t take the present for granted.
8. Build or Modify Support
It may have been enough to have one buddy to get you started. Connecting to a bigger community of healthy, like-minded people may help you keep going. You may need to go outside your current social network of family and friends to find these people.
* Have friends who like to do different things. Perhaps one friend likes to meet you for a morning walk and another friend likes to take a yoga class with you on the weekend.
* Start a club within your work place, religious group, or circle of friends. Make sure every gathering includes physical activity. If food is involved, make it the norm to eat at places that serve healthy options.
* Join a YMCA or community fitness center to meet other individuals who are also making healthy changes.
* Join an online community for weight management. Get advice from others on keeping exercise and healthy eating fresh and interesting.
* Follow inspirational fitness leaders and hashtags for daily tips and encouragement on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
* Communicate how your support needs have changed. The supportive things others said or did in the past may not be what you need now. Let them know.
Talk positively about your changes to others. Positive energy draws others toward you and makes you feel better about what you are doing.
How do you need to build or change your social support? Example: Work demands have increased and you have less time to prepare meals. To adjust, split meal planning duties with a co-worker who shares your goals. You’ll bring lunches for Monday and Tuesday, and they’ll bring lunches Wednesday and Thursday.
9. Avoid Processed Foods
There may be parts of the foods you eat that make it harder for your body to run smoothly. Just because you can chew and swallow something does not make it real food! Lifelong weight management is challenging if you eat too many processed foods.
Highly processed foods are designed to be tasty and addictive. Often, the pleasurable feeling ends when the foods and beverages are swallowed. This can lead to overeating to keep the flavor in your mouth.
Highly processed foods with lots of artificial ingredients can be harder to digest, slowing down your digestive system. This may cause headaches, sluggishness, stomach aches, constipation, diarrhea and other uncomfortable symptoms.
Think of processed foods as slow moving “sludge” in your system.
Choose foods that:
* Are not processed (as close to their natural source as possible).
* Do not contain added sugars or only contain minimal natural sugars.
* Do not contain artificial sweeteners, colors, or dyes.
* Do not contain artificial starches, emulsifiers, stabilizers, or other synthetic ingredients.
* Do not contain nitrates (often found in processed meats and “smoked” meat products).
* Contain flavors that come from the actual source. Avoid foods where the primary flavor is not actually in the food (e.g., fake strawberry bits in a cereal or bacon bits containing only a small amount of meat).
If you are used to eating these foods often, feeling tired and run down may seem “normal” to you. Choosing more natural, whole foods can open your eyes to a new way of energetic living!
10. Going “Free-From”
Some foods in your diet may be “healthy” on paper, but they are not working well with your body. For example, whole grain bread contains many important nutrients. However, your digestive system may react poorly to gluten, a protein found in wheat.
There are serious reasons to limit a food or part of a food from your diet.
Tips for trying a “gluten free” or other “free-from” way of eating:
* This is not an easy solution to weight loss. Going “gluten free” or “dairy free” will probably not make it easier for you to lose weight. If your body did not have a problem with these foods before, you may not notice a difference. You also still need to make healthy choices with the foods and portions you DO eat.
* Avoid “free-from” junk food. Read food labels and look at the ingredient list, just like you would do for any food. Processed gluten-free foods often add a lot of artificial ingredients and sugars.
* Whenever something has been removed from your diet, ask yourself these two important questions:
1. What nutrients did that food or food group provide? Example: Cutting out dairy eliminates major sources of calcium and vitamin D. Cutting out meat takes away a source of protein, vitamin B12, zinc, iron, and calcium. You’ll need to get these nutrients from other sources.
2. What other foods can I eat that provide these nutrients? Look for other sources of the nutrients you need. Find other choices within the food groups on MyPlate. Talk to a health coach or dietitian to help you modify your diet. Make sure your diet is meeting your body’s nutritional needs.
If you need to follow a “free-from” diet for medical reasons, be sure to follow your doctor or dietitian’s instructions. If you are following a “free-from” diet as a way to experiment with what works best for you, do this after you have made the changes covered in this guide. Following a restrictive diet can be hard or unhealthy to maintain over time if you don’t have to do it.
