So you hit your goal weight

First congratulations! Second, what now?

There are two types of dieters, in my opinion. The first type diets to lose weight for an upcoming event, or the beach, or something. The second type, modifies their life to make healthy choices and to be healthier.

The former will more than likely gain all their weight back. The latter, on the other hand, stand a better chance of keeping it off, if they maintain their new healthy lifestyle.

For people in Weight Watchers, your leader will tell you how to adjust your daily budget to stay within plus or minus 2lbs of your goal weight. For others, the trick is to increase your budget to stop losing weight, but not gain any. Try a modest 100 calories at first. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot, but it represents an extra 700 calories a week. Watch your weight, if you go up, drop to an extra 50 a day. If you are working with a doctor, he or she should be able to give lots of information on maintaing what you just worked extremely hard to achieve.

Maintaining your new found weight is not easy, and it is easy to slip into old patterns which caused the weight gain to begin with. Being careful and always writing down what you eat should be a lifetime habit, not just while you’re trying to lose weight.