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You Can Stay the Weight You Want
Three years ago, at the age of 24, Deborah Whalley decided to get rid of the "80-pound backpack" of extra weight she was carrying on her five-foot-nine frame. It wasn’t the first time that Whalley, a retail assistant manager in Toronto, had embarked on a diet.
"I lost 30 pounds in Grade 9," she recalls. "Not only did I gain the weight back in short order, but I also put on about 50 extra pounds over the next nine years. "
If you’ ve ever been on a diet, you’ ve probably discovered, as Whalley did, that taking off extra pounds is a lot easier than keeping them off. In fact, 95 percent of people who lose weight end up gaining it back.
Cycling back and forth between higher and lower weights is not just demoralizing, however. "There’s some evidence that yo-yoing within a 20-or 30-pound range puts more stress on your heart than carrying those 20 or 30 extra pounds," says Stephen Cunnane, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto.
So how do you maintain the lower weight you achieve after dieting Researchers and doctors who have studied the five percent of dieters who keep the weight off have found common threads in their approaches and attitudes. Here are the secrets to their success:
Listen to Your Heart
According to Linda McCargar, professor of human nutrition at the University of Alberta and one of Canada’s leading experts on the effects of yo-yo dieting, you’re much more likely to succeed if your motivation comes from within--a desire to take better care of yourself, or "a significant emotional event that causes you to re-evaluate your lifestyle choices. " Endocrinologist Ronnie Aronson, who runs three Lifestyle Metabolism centers in Ontario, suggests small behavioral changes, such as taking after-dinner walks, to get into the self-motivation mind-set.
"People who use pressure from their partner or doctor to kick-start weight loss are more likely to fail," adds Aronson.
Plan to Beat Temptation
If you know you have, say, a family reunion coming up, complete with buffet meals, you need to develop coping strategies before you’re "surrounded by temptation," says Susan Cantwell, a wellness trainer based in Fredericton. For example, you might picture yourself choosing only one serving of scrambled eggs and a single slice of lightly buttered toast from the breakfast buffet. Do this exercise for a few days in a row and your mental imagery becomes your ally.
Cantwell cautions against battling too much temptation during the early weeks of a weight-loss effort. "For the first 30 days or so, I tell my clients to say no to invitations that spell temptation, such as coffee at your favorite dessert hangout," she says. "After the first month, it becomes safer to accept such invitations--as long as you do some mental preparation for them. "
It’s more than Numbers
Cantwell says long-term success is much more likely if the goal is the new behavior pattern itself-- getting to the gym, for instance--rather than the figure on the bathroom scale. In fact, she suggests doing away with the scale altogether: "It’s a poor indicator of increasing fitness and body tone. "
Cantwell drew on her ten years of experience in getting people to change ingrained habits for her book Mind over Matter: Personal Choices for a Lifetime of Fitness. Her thesis, Setbacks plague people who are trying to change, and the key to staying on track in the face of these inevitable setbacks is to make "a daily commitment to your new behaviors, regardless of what happened yesterday. "
Take it Slow
"No more than two pounds a week and no fewer than 1,100 calories a day," is Aronson’s rule of thumb. "Extreme self-denial doesn’t work. It usually leads to an ’escape’ from the self-denial. "
Another problem with extreme caloric deprivation is that your basal metabolic rate will drop temporarily while you’re on this regimen, says McCargar. "You won’t burn as much fuel, calorie for calorie, as you would on a more moderate diet. "
Honor Your Preferences
When you’ve lost weight and you’re in the weight-maintenance phase, Aronson says, it’s important to create a regimen you can follow for the rest of your life. "If you adore chocolates, then you need to build the occasional taste of chocolate into your eating plan. Otherwise, you run the risk of not being able to stop after you have one. "
This philosophy helped Whalley eventually maintain her weight loss. Rather than give up her favorite cheesecake and fast foods, she buys or prepares lighter versions and occasionally treats herself to a serving of the real McCoy. "There’s no single food that’s off-limits for me," she says. "It’s a question of how much and how often. "
Be a Protein Pal
Calorie for calorie, protein is more satisfying than fat, so people on protein-rich diets tend to feel more full on the same number of calories, says Angelo Tremblay, a metabolism researcher at Laval University in Quebec City. "You’re less likely to overstep your caloric requirements if your diet has high protein content," he says. Conversely, fats and alcohol are least likely to make you feel sated. "You can have a lot of them and still not feel full, which increases the likelihood you’ll overeat. "
Stephen Cunnane says that fiber-rich foods also promote a feeling of fullness or satiety. So, eating more fiber should help you eat less food.
Move It or Gain It Back
Referring to a U. S. registry of successful dieters--people who lost an average of 66 pounds and kept it off for five years--McCargar says the behavior that most consistently distinguished the successful dieters was regular physical activity. Those who had embarked on an exercise program involving at least 2,500 extra calories in energy output weekly (equal to about five hours of vigorous aerobic exercise) fared especially well.
"Your body has a tendency to stay lean when you exercise regularly," says Peter Jones, a professor at McGill University’s School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition. "Even if you eat more, the energy you use for physical activity seems to more than compensate for the increased food intake. Exercise also leads to greater muscle mass, which uses extra calories to maintain itself. "
Aronson has also observed that successful weight maintainers tend to incorporate physical activity into their everyday lifestyle rather than just devote a few blocks of time to formal exercise. For example, they walk upstairs instead of taking the elevator or park farther away from the mall door.
Find a Cheerleader
"Next to exercise," concludes McCargar, "having social support from family, friends or community group stands out as key to long-term weight maintenance. "
When you’re just starting out on a new eating and exercising plan--an especially vulnerable period--Cantwell suggests asking a friend to call periodically to cheer you on. "Just make sure that that friend doesn’t let you off the hook too easily!\
According to Susan Cantwell, it is important for dieters to do some mental preparation for invitations to meals.