Wow, you’re approaching a year! You have covered most of the topics, skills, and strategies you need to lose weight. You have learned about diet, food, exercise, the importance of having the proper attitude, how to overcome problems, and so much more. By working through this book for a full year, you have had the opportunity to practice your new skills through each season, during holidays and vacations, when life seems simple, and when it feels much too hectic. Each chapter was designed to help you lose weight and keep it off forever. In this final chapter, we take a more focused look at strategies to help you maintain your weight loss.
At times, it’s probably been very hard to keep focused on your plan. You will likely continue to have ups and downs. Keep resisting the lure of “breakthrough” diet plans. No doubt about it, the media and your friends will continue to announce the newest and best diet and fat-burning secrets. As you’ve learned over the last 11 months, there is no perfect diet for everyone and there are no secrets to fat burning, either. Eating well is not a one-size-fits-all plan. You can eat well and lose weight whether you are a vegetarian or a meat-lover, a snacker or not, a morning exerciser or an evening exerciser, or someone who quits eating at 5:00 p.m. or someone who doesn’t close the kitchen until 9:00 p.m. or later.
You have lost weight this year because you’ve consumed fewer calories than your body burns—that is a fact. You may have done this by eating smaller portions, filling your plate with low-calorie foods, trimming fats or carbohydrates, planning your meals, counting calories or carbs, eating more vegetables, cooking more, walking instead of driving, taking exercise classes, and doing so many other things. Most successful dieters make many positive changes—just like the ones you have been working on all year. Hopefully, by now you are comfortable with your new diet and lifestyle. Being comfortable with it doesn’t mean it is easy, however. It should be easier than it was 11 months ago, but it will probably never be effortless. If healthful eating and weight loss were easy, the entire country would be fit and slim. To maintain your weight loss, you will need to continue these new, healthier habits. Ignore the newest fad diet, no matter how tempting. Keep your ears closed to anything that sounds too good to be true. Remember that what matters is your total diet, not any one particular food. A bad diet with one or two “super foods” is still a bad diet. Likewise, a good diet with some pie now and then is still a good diet.
As we finish this year of developing new habits, it’s a good time to take another look at the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) to see the common behaviors among people who maintain their weight loss. Visit their website (www.nwcr.ws) for more information and to read several inspiring success stories. In fact, you can join the NWCR once you have maintained a weight loss of at least 30 pounds for one year.
Research has shown that among those who maintain their weight loss:
• 78% eat breakfast daily.
• 75% weigh themselves at least weekly.
• 62% watch no more than 10 hours of television each week.
• 90% exercise, on average, one hour per day.
• Participants eat, on average, less than one fast-food meal each week.
• Women’s reported intake is about 1,300 calories daily, and men’s reported intake is about 1,700 calories each day.
• Only 17% consume less than 90 grams of carbohydrate daily.
• Individuals who maintain a similar diet each day of the week and during vacations and holidays regain fewer pounds than those whose diet is inconsistent.
• Individuals who regain the least amount of weight avoid large weight gain by weighing themselves frequently and noticing small weight gains before they become an issue.
All year long, you’ve worked on developing knowledge, skills, and strategies. Once you have these three keys to success, they are yours. You own them, and you can rely on them. Motivation is the fourth key to success, but this one is hard to keep a strong hold on. For virtually everyone, motivation is an up-and-down phenomenon. Maintaining your motivation will sometimes be as much work as the shopping, cooking, and exercise you engage in. But it is critical to your long-term success, so learn ways to nurture your motivation along whenever you see it lagging. Lift the weight you’ve lost, for example. If you’ve dropped five pounds, pick up a five-pound sack of flour and remember what it’s like to walk around with that extra weight. If you’ve lost 50 pounds, visit the supermarket to see 10 sacks of flour and imagine lugging them around all day.
Remember to reach for your Motivation Kit even before your motivation wanes. Continue to review your progress and make notes on your Progress Report. Jot down thoughts about how being healthier makes you feel. Be your own cheerleader and celebrate every accomplishment with at least a pat on the back. Remind yourself that every little change matters. Review various sections of this book now and then, especially the sections on beating negative self-talk, setting reasonable goals, and breaking through plateaus. Seek out the success stories of others, and visualize your own success. Buy yourself new clothes, cookware, or workout gear. Sign up for a charity walk. If you are struggling with your motivation, commit to maintaining your present weight loss. You can tend to further weight loss, if necessary, another time. Congratulations on all of your successes!
MONTH 12 ACTION STEPS
Continue your current goals or rewrite them if necessary. Additionally, select from the following goals or steps, modify them, or create your own. Choose goals from the previous weeks or months if applicable. This month I will:
Continue the following goals: _____________________________________________________________
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Visit the National Weight Control Registry website.
Write an affirmation about getting back on track when I’ve strayed from my healthful living plan and put it in my Motivation Kit.
Continue to focus on the behaviors that have brought me success: getting adequate sleep, eating breakfast, packing lunch, and
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Review and add to my Progress Report.
Mark my calendar to review strategies in this book and to add to my Progress Report at least once a month for the next year.
Mark my calendar to weigh myself at least weekly.
Other: _____________________________________________________________