If you reached your goal weight, take a moment to appreciate the New You! At this stage, you are officially “post-diet” and it’s time to focus on maintaining the changes you worked so hard to achieve. The following tips may be helpful to you in the post-diet stage:
(1) Give yourself credit…repeatedly. Every time you act in the interest of your health, whether it’s exercising, resisting temptations to overeat, or eating healthy, balanced meals, remind yourself that you’re doing a great job!
(2) Remind yourself of your successes. Your motivation to continue working on the New You will flourish when you feed it with reminders of how far you have come. Think about how you looked and felt before you lost weight. Consider the physical, psychological, and other benefits of weight loss in your life. Keep a list of these benefits and read the list to yourself at least every other day.
(3) Continue monitoring what you eat. Studies show that people who monitor their caloric intake lose more weight and are more likely to maintain weight loss than those who don’t keep track. You can do this either formally or informally, whatever works best. Some people have a general plan in mind at the start of each day as to what their meals will look like; others write down menus for meals and snacks in advance and follow the written plan pretty closely. You can experiment with this and see whether you are able to follow informal plans or if you need more structure. Either way, be sure to keep your menus somewhat varied so that you don’t get bored with the same foods day in and day out.
(4) Keep up your exercise regimen. Although research consistently shows that exercise is essential to maintaining weight loss, it’s easy for exercise move to the bottom of the priority list when we get busy, so it will take effort to keep it going when you enter the post-diet phase. Like eating healthy, we are most likely to follow through with exercise when we plan for it. Keep a written or electronic schedule and block off time for your exercise regimen. Give yourself credit every time you follow through, and if you find it challenging to get yourself to the gym or other activity, try pairing up with a friend or trainer for at least the first couple of weeks. Do not let more than a week go by without doing any planned exercise; if that happens, re-prioritize!
(5) Give and get support. Continue reaching out to friends, fellow participants in your weight loss program, and anyone else who has been supportive of your diet to help cheer you on, work through obstacles, and keep the New You motivated. Acting as a mentor to someone else who is in the diet stage is also a great way to keep yourself on track.
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