5 Strategies to Avoiding Gaining Back Weight
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<p class="slide-count desktop-hidden">1 of 6</p><img width="1109" height="614" src="/uploadfile/2025/0106/20250106102145543.jpg"><p class="photo-credit">Fertnig / Getty</p>Return of the Gut
Some of the Biggest Losers ended up bigger than they started. According to a study published in the journal Obesity, only one of the 14 Biggest Loser contestants studied weighs less today than when the competition wrapped.The culprit appears to be the contestants’ metabolisms, which slowed down as they lost weight rapidly for the show, according to the research presented. So how can you avoid that fate if you’ve lost a bunch of weight yourself? Here are five approaches to keep the weight off after making great strides.
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Think Long Term
Once you hit your goal weight, do you take the pedal off the gas?“Okay, I lost this weight, now I’m going to go back to doing what I did before.” You need to abolish the short-term diet mindset, and focus more on making this a permanent lifestyle change that’s part of your identity.You may lose weight slower, but the results will likely be more sustainable. Most weight-loss programs recommend that people lose about one to two pounds per week.Take home point: Exercise and eating right should form a part of your identity and be a habitual part of your daily routine.
Geber86 / Getty
Make it Fun
Find a type of exercise you enjoy. Ideally, that’s resistance training, but it truly can be anything. If it’s swimming, if it’s playing a sport, whatever it is that you enjoy and can build into your weekly routine, do it.Take home point: If you can get to a point with exercise that it’s a habit, it’s not a chore to go and do, then you’re going to be far more successful than the guy that goes really hard for two months and burns out and quits.
Getty
Prepare Ahead
When you’ve got a balanced lunch prepared, you’re less likely to swing by the drive-thru at break or buy something out of a vending machine.Prepare meats that can be combined with some carbs and veggies to make a wholesome, complete meal in minutes. You can cook up your carb choice for the week, like a pot of rice or sweet potatoes, simply by setting aside an hour on a Sunday. Your dinner preparations might involve some cooking, but then you have left overs for tomorrow’s lunch.Take home point: Simply match up your carb of choice with veggies and leftover protein from the night before, and you’ve got yourself a balanced lunch.
John Lund / Getty
Set Some Ground Rules
Where do you struggle the most with diet adherence? Maybe it’s at work when that loud co-worker starts going off and you need a donut to calm your nerves? Maybe it’s at night when you’re binge watching Game of Thrones?Find your trouble spot and eliminate temptations at that time. Avoid your trigger foods. I avoid the lunch room at work – choosing to eat my bagged lunch at my desk. Even at a gym, there are always sweets and other delectable treats left over from meetings which end up congregating in the lunch room.Take home point: Avoid your trigger foods at the times you’re most vulnerable.
PeopleImages / Getty
Enlist Support
Think back to your childhood. I’m sure you have warm, fuzzy feelings from something you did as a kid with your parents, and it may very well have involved junk food.
But the warm, fuzzy feelings aren’t coming from the junk food. They are from spending time with your parents, right? Here’s a recent comment from a client of mine, Craig:“Every Sunday, we take the kids to Tim’s [Tim Horton’s] and get donuts and then watch TV with them. I don’t want to exclude myself from this weekly ritual. What should I do here?”
My response: Why not involve the kids in your fitness pursuits? Instead of Tim’s and the boob tube, you could take the kids to the local park every Sunday with a soccer ball, pack a healthy picnic lunch and burn some calories that way.If you don’t have kids, maybe it’s enlisting a workout partner who has the same goals as you. Asking for help shouldn’t be seen as a sign of weakness, but a moment of strength to help you continue your fitness pursuits without a relapse.Take home point: Involve your friends and family in your fitness pursuits. Try to avoid “rewarding” yourself and others with junk food and inactivity, and instead replace with fun, healthy activities.
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<h3 class="gallery-item__caption-title">Return of the Gut</h3><p>Some of the Biggest Losers ended up bigger than they started. <span style="line-height: 1.6">According to a study published in the journal </span>Obesity<span style="line-height: 1.6">, only one of the 14 </span>Biggest Loser<span style="line-height: 1.6"> contestants studied weighs less today than when the competition wrapped.</span></p>The culprit appears to be the contestants’ metabolisms, which slowed down as they lost weight rapidly for the show, according to the research presented. So how can you avoid that fate if you’ve lost a bunch of weight yourself?
Here are five approaches to keep the weight off after making great strides.
Think Long Term
Once you hit your goal weight, do you take the pedal off the gas?
“Okay, I lost this weight, now I’m going to go back to doing what I did before.” You need to abolish the short-term diet mindset, and focus more on making this a permanent lifestyle change that’s part of your identity.
You may lose weight slower, but the results will likely be more sustainable. Most weight-loss programs recommend that people lose about one to two pounds per week.
Take home point: Exercise and eating right should form a part of your identity and be a habitual part of your daily routine.
Make it Fun
Find a type of exercise you enjoy. Ideally, that’s resistance training, but it truly can be anything. If it’s swimming, if it’s playing a sport, whatever it is that you enjoy and can build into your weekly routine, do it.
Take home point: If you can get to a point with exercise that it’s a habit, it’s not a chore to go and do, then you’re going to be far more successful than the guy that goes really hard for two months and burns out and quits.
Prepare Ahead
When you’ve got a balanced lunch prepared, you’re less likely to swing by the drive-thru at break or buy something out of a vending machine.
Prepare meats that can be combined with some carbs and veggies to make a wholesome, complete meal in minutes. You can cook up your carb choice for the week, like a pot of rice or sweet potatoes, simply by setting aside an hour on a Sunday. Your dinner preparations might involve some cooking, but then you have left overs for tomorrow’s lunch.
Take home point: Simply match up your carb of choice with veggies and leftover protein from the night before, and you’ve got yourself a balanced lunch.
Set Some Ground Rules
Where do you struggle the most with diet adherence? Maybe it’s at work when that loud co-worker starts going off and you need a donut to calm your nerves? Maybe it’s at night when you’re binge watching Game of Thrones?
Find your trouble spot and eliminate temptations at that time. Avoid your trigger foods. I avoid the lunch room at work – choosing to eat my bagged lunch at my desk. Even at a gym, there are always sweets and other delectable treats left over from meetings which end up congregating in the lunch room.
Take home point: Avoid your trigger foods at the times you’re most vulnerable.
Enlist Support
Think back to your childhood. I’m sure you have warm, fuzzy feelings from something you did as a kid with your parents, and it may very well have involved junk food.
But the warm, fuzzy feelings aren’t coming from the junk food. They are from spending time with your parents, right? Here’s a recent comment from a client of mine, Craig:
“Every Sunday, we take the kids to Tim’s [Tim Horton’s] and get donuts and then watch TV with them. I don’t want to exclude myself from this weekly ritual. What should I do here?”
My response: Why not involve the kids in your fitness pursuits? Instead of Tim’s and the boob tube, you could take the kids to the local park every Sunday with a soccer ball, pack a healthy picnic lunch and burn some calories that way.
If you don’t have kids, maybe it’s enlisting a workout partner who has the same goals as you. Asking for help shouldn’t be seen as a sign of weakness, but a moment of strength to help you continue your fitness pursuits without a relapse.
Take home point: Involve your friends and family in your fitness pursuits. Try to avoid “rewarding” yourself and others with junk food and inactivity, and instead replace with fun, healthy activities.