What Are the Best Ways To Stay Motivated During Weight Management?

Anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight knows that weight loss is a long journey. Even after you hit your weight goal, your journey will continue as you make lifestyle adjustments to maintain your weight loss in the future. At Southside Medical Center in Atlanta, GA, we understand that weight management can be a challenge, and that’s why we offer self-management classes to ensure your weight loss results last a lifetime. 

Weight management begins the moment you reach your goal weight. Whether it’s 10 pounds or a hundred pounds, getting down to your goal healthy weight has been a hard process, so it only makes sense to do everything you can to maintain your results. However, just like you need to find the motivation to lose weight, you also have to find the motivation to maintain a steady weight. 

For many people, remembering the struggle of the weight loss journey serves as good motivation for weight management. If it took you several years to finally reach your goal weight, then you probably don’t want to have to repeat that arduous journey again. This is one reason why many weight loss experts recommend keeping a weight loss journal so that you can look back and see how far you’ve come. 

Celebrating your weight loss success is another way you can stay motivated to manage your weight. Every daily choice you make to be healthier deserves positive reinforcement, and small successes should be celebrated. You can track your weight once a month and treat yourself when you stay within your healthy weight range. 

For people who were motivated to lose weight for health reasons, your ongoing motivation to maintain your weight could be your general well-being. If weight loss is making it easier to manage diabetes or cardiovascular disease, then you may be motivated to keep your current body weight so your health condition is more stable. If you lose weight simply to have better overall health, this can also serve as motivation to manage your weight in the future. 

Finally, you might want to remember your original motivation to keep you motivated in the months and years ahead. Your motivation to lose weight was either extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation, such as being able to wear fashionable clothing, can keep you just as motivated as the personal satisfaction (intrinsic motivation) you gain from every weight loss milestone you reach.

There are several things you can do to manage your weight for the foreseeable future. The best thing you can do to manage your weight is change your mindset and adopt healthy lifestyle practices that will prevent excessive weight gain of more than five to ten pounds. 

As a note, it’s perfectly normal for your weight to fluctuate by a few pounds once you reach your goal weight. Your body weight is influenced by much more than just body fat and lean muscle mass. Many people seem to “gain” a few pounds after eating carb-heavy meals because of water retention, and you can always count on a few pounds of digesting food to be in your body at all times. Women will also see their weight fluctuate throughout the month in response to hormone changes and water retention. 

Eating a balanced diet can help you maintain your weight and manage your general health. When your diet consists of ideal amounts of healthy fats, protein, and fiber, you can manage conditions like diabetes much more easily. In addition to a balanced and diverse diet, you should also pay attention to your caloric intake.

The easiest way to gain unintentional weight is by eating more calories than you burn in a day. Your body burns the majority of your calories each day at rest, while some additional calories may be burned by movement and exercise. It’s a good idea to calculate your basal metabolic rate to get a better range for the number of calories you can consume each day without gaining weight. 

Hydration is important for digestion and weight management. When you drink water with your meals, you may end up eating less food, which can make it easier to avoid overeating. It’s also important to get enough sleep every night so that you aren’t tempted by sugar cravings to stay awake during the day. It may also be easier to overeat or eat unhealthy foods if you haven’t slept. 

Staying active is another simple way to maintain a healthy weight in the future. Ideally, you should select activities that you can easily work into your weekly routine, such as 30-minute walks every day. It may also be easier to maintain your weight if you focus on muscle-building exercises. The more lean muscle mass you have, the more calories your body will burn at rest. Weightlifting two to three times a week can be an effective strategy. 

A weight self-management class can be a vital resource to help you learn lifestyle habits that can help you maintain your goal body weight. Self-management classes can help you understand your activity and nutritional needs so you can be as healthy as possible in the future. You can even meet with a nutritional specialist for specific advice about how your diet can help you manage your weight and your health conditions. A weight self-management class can also be a source of social support that can keep you motivated to manage your weight. 

Finding the motivation to maintain your goal weight is similar to finding the motivation to lose weight. Motivation to maintain your current healthy weight can be intrinsic or extrinsic. If you need specific guidance for managing your weight, you can always take a weight self-management class. Contact Southside Medical Center in Atlanta, GA for a consultation today.