Two years after losing weight, more people end up heavier than when they started dieting. Why is this?
To lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit. Pretty simple. To do this, you must either consume fewer calories than you need in order to maintain your weight, or exercise more to burn extra calories. If it’s that simple, then surely everyone would be in fantastic shape.
Keeping weight off requires one fundamental concept…habit change. Crash dieting is handy because motivation is high, there’s an end point in sight (such as a holiday or wedding usually), but after the event, the wheels tend to come off the wagon again and you’re back to square one.
So what can you do to over come this?
1. Track what you eat 
Writing down EVERYTHING you eat on a piece of paper can be very enlightening 
Or track through an app such as My Fitness Pal. After a few weeks of seeing exactly what you eat, you’ll have a much better idea as to how your body responds to a given amount or type of food. If you lose weight over that week you’ll know what you need to do again next week, if you did’t then you’ll be able to see what’s gone wrong.
Or track through an app such as My Fitness Pal. After a few weeks of seeing exactly what you eat, you’ll have a much better idea as to how your body responds to a given amount or type of food. If you lose weight over that week you’ll know what you need to do again next week, if you did’t then you’ll be able to see what’s gone wrong.2. Track what you do 
Similar to the above point, if you know exactly how much exercise you did in the previous week (along with what you consumed), you’ll know if you need to walk a bit more, squeeze in an extra gym session or just spend a bit more time on your feet. On the flip side, if progress is good, you’ll know you’ve likely done enough!
3. Give yourself some leeway 
Your ‘ideal weight’ is the weight that you feel comfortable, happy and healthy at. Everyone’s is different. Once you are at this, we recommend taking a picture of yourself or standing on the scales once a month. This way you’ll know if the pounds are creeping back on or your composition is changing unfavourably.
4. Surround yourself with supportive people 
Having a friend that’s doing the same as you are, or being part of a group that share the same vision or mentality can be the biggest secret to keeping weight off. Joining a gym, a running club, a cycling club, a football team or anything that encourages activity and eating well. The benefits of community are invaluable.
5. Adopt good principles 
Get a protein source into most meals (20-30grams being the target), a couple of servings of veg at most meals, a couple of pieces of fruit through the day, drink lots of water, consume limited starchy carbohydrate, minimal processed food and occasional junk food and you won’t go too far wrong. Walk at least 30minutes a day, spend plenty of time on your feet, do resistance training 2-3 times a week, enjoy the outdoors and do a little bit extra where you can (such as taking the stairs rather than the lift).
In conclusion, don’t beat yourself up if you’ve tried every diet under the sun and nothing’s worked for you. Speak to someone that has had success with losing weight and ask them how they did it, or contact us at T1, we’ll be happy to help you find the best path to your ‘ideal weight’ and help you adopt the habits to keep it off for good. Just fill in the form below and we’ll get back to asap 