Permanent weight loss requires healthy lifestyle changes and food choices. Programs such as Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers use group support to influence weight loss and lifelong healthy eating. Simple and feasible weight goals have important health benefits. To maintain a healthy weight, you need to balance healthy eating with physical activity. Physical activity and healthy food choices have health benefits, regardless of age or weight. Remember not only healthy eating, but also that regular exercise is an important part of any weight loss program or weight maintenance program.
Finding the right method for weight loss requires time and patience, commitment and experimentation with various foods and diets. Most modern diets and rapid weight loss programs will not work and they will not help you learn to maintain a healthy weight in the long term. This is especially true when it comes to making lifestyle changes to lose weight, exercise and more. Jaclyn Capalbo, a nutritionist at Mountainside Medical Center, shares some ways you can maintain a healthy weight and achieve your health goals.
For the same weight to remain the same, you need to burn the same number of calories, whether you drink or eat. As a rule of thumb, the more calories you eat and are active, the longer you can maintain your weight. The consumption of three small meals and one or two snacks keeps the metabolism going throughout the day and makes you feel satisfied.
If you eat the same number of calories over and over again, you will lose less weight and eventually gain weight again. When you stop healthy eating and exercise habits and return to high-calorie foods and do little physical activity, it is easy to regain the weight you lost. As you get older and continue to eat the same types and amounts of food and not become more active, you can gain weight.
You don’t have to wrestle with yourself for a lifetime to maintain your preferred weight. As long as you keep trying and take small steps, you can reach and maintain a healthy weight. For people trying to reduce their weight, exercise is essential. Experts recommend that at least 30 minutes of physical activity be 5 days a week and stress that the more exercise you do, the better equipped you are to maintain weight loss. Participants in a weight control survey walk for 60 minutes and burn the same calories as other activities, so they aim for 60 to 90 minutes of physical activity a day.
One study found that 78% of the 2,959 people who maintained 30 pounds (14 kg) of weight loss over a year said they ate breakfast for at least 12 hours a day. Another study of women who ate breakfast daily was more successful in long-term weight loss than those who skipped the first meal of the day. Women most successful in weight control had fewer than 1,800 calories a day and limited fat intake.
According to a study of 338 adults, those who consumed three or more servings of low-fat dairy products were more likely to lose weight than those who ate just one serving or less. A three-year study by University of Pittsburgh of 284 women ages 25 to 45 found that those who avoided weight gain ate a meal to feel full.
An analysis of data from the Nurses Health Study found that weight gain in post-menopausal adults increases the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. The main error of studies that claim that being overweight or obese reduces mortality is that only 8-9% of the normal-weight group had an increased risk of death, compared to the overweight group, which includes heavy smokers, cancer patients or other weight-loss-related diseases, the elderly, and the frail.
A definition of a healthy weight is one that maintains a normal, healthy diet and regular physical activity without medical problems. Many of us turn to food to comfort ourselves and relieve stress, which can derail a weight-loss plan. The trick to sustained weight loss is to replace high-calorie foods that are not as full as sweets with high-calorie foods like vegetables.
Many things can affect your weight, including your genetics, age, gender, lifestyle, family habits, culture, sleep, and where you live and work. Many of these things can make it difficult to lose weight or stop it. Genes do not become destiny, but some studies suggest that a healthy diet, activity, and avoidance of unhealthy habits such as drinking lemonade can prevent genetic predisposition to the risk of obesity.
If your weight is in the healthy range (no more than 10 pounds above what you weighed when you reached 21 years old), focus on maintaining your weight by watching what you eat and exercising regularly. Smartphone apps, fitness trackers and keeping a diary can help you keep track of food you’re eating, calories you’re burning and weight you’re losing. If you need help meeting your nutritional goals call Grand View Health Weight Management at 215-453-2669 to set up an appointment with our medical weight loss team.
It seems that no matter what you do, you can’t hold your weight forever. It may seem strange to focus on sleep when we talk about weight gain, but it’s important to mention. Sleep-deprived people are more tired during exercise, which reduces the calorie-burning side of the weight and changes the equation.
