Losing weight is one of the most common goals in the U.S. It’s why so many retailers and advertisers focus on workout equipment, healthy food, and gym memberships in January every year.
There’s good reasoning for this. Being at a healthy weight makes you feel good about yourself, and it allows you to avoid health problems like high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. Your BMI and life insurance also go well together, with many companies giving you better rates if you’re at a lower weight.
While many people are able to lose weight, they have trouble maintaining their weight loss after reaching their initial goals. We’ll help you with some tips about weight loss maintenance and how you can make sure you don’t add the pounds back on after you succeed the first time.
#1 – Find Exercises You Enjoy
Too often people lose weight doing tons of exercises they were told by others they’d enjoy instead of finding activities more in their range of interests. Running on a treadmill or lifting weights is boring for a lot of people, so think about other fun things like sports or group exercises that will be easier to make part of your lifestyle and routine.
Fitness boxing, basketball, tennis, bicycling, skateboarding, and softball are all some of the most popular sports to perform casually. These activities encourage weight loss because they’re vigorous aerobic exercises.
Other intangible benefits to playing sports include building team camaraderie, perseverance, discipline, and other traits that will serve you well in all other walks of life. There’s nothing quite like the thrill of succeeding with your teammates and having fun on the court or pitch with people you’re friends with. It makes the hard work of exercising much easier.
If you aren’t somebody who enjoys sports, find other ways to incorporate exercise into your life while doing things you enjoy. Maybe you like working with your hands. Doing yard work is an effective way to get your heart pumping and your muscles contracting. If you’re a gamer, there are many video games out there encouraging you to move, such as Ring Fit Adventure.
#2 – Buy New Clothing
When you lose weight, you often see your clothes have become too big for your new body. Shirts are baggy, pants are falling off, and jackets have sleeves draping several inches past your wrists. If you have the money to buy some new clothes after losing weight, this can be an imperative part of maintaining your weight loss goals.
You’ll want to make sure you continue to exercise and eat right so you don’t waste the new clothing you bought. Finding different ways to motivate yourself like this is key to success. This shouldn’t be very difficult if you bought new clothing that makes you feel good about yourself when you look in the mirror.
If you can’t afford new clothes, try to find older clothes in your dresser or closet that you may have grown out of when you gained weight. Shop at discount stores like Nordstrom Rack and Kohls during big sale times such as Labor Day, Memorial Day, and Christmas. There should be something fashionable for every income level at these types of stores.
#3 – Spend Time With Like-Minded People
It’s hard to maintain your weight loss goals if you don’t spend time with people who enjoy staying healthy with you. Finding folks who can encourage you to carry on when you don’t feel like getting any exercise, maybe after a long day at work, will do a ton of good for maintaining your weight.
Spending time with people who want to be lazy or do activities sitting down will have an unfortunate effect on your routine. Surrounding yourself with people going in the same direction as you can be a great piece of advice in nearly any situation in life.
If you don’t have friends or family like this, find some new pals at the gym or the park. You have to put yourself in situations where you grow and find exciting new opportunities.
#4 – Create a Sustainable Diet
Diets are often unsustainable because they encourage you to take a bunch of stuff you love to eat. Chowing down on salads for every meal is not a very exciting diet to have for the rest of your life.
Don’t deprive yourself of having the occasional piece of cake or a candy. If you plan on when you can incorporate a treat into your day, this will make the healthy foods easier to sustain eating.
You also should talk to your doctor about going to a nutrition class. Nutritionists are professionals who are able to give dietary advice specifically tailored to your needs and health.
This can be really helpful if you have an underlying health condition. While the Affordable Care Act does prohibit higher rates being charged for health insurance for an overweight applicant, you usually end up paying more due to additional care needed for a pre-existing condition like diabetes or heart disease.
Make sure you keep unhealthy foods out of the house as much as possible. It can be very tempting to eat too many treats if you constantly fill your pantry with too much junk food.
#5 – Buy a Pedometer
Sometimes it’s hard to track your movement throughout the day. Luckily, the world we live in has many different pieces of technology that will help you track your exercise. Pedometers, Fit Bits, and Apple Watches are just a few of the most popular step-trackers on the market.
Having a way to track your steps or your miles walked in a day will also benefit your wallet when applying for life insurance. Your watch or pedometer is concrete proof to an insurance company of the effort you’re putting in to stay healthy and get exercise.
Combining this with a lack of health issues like high blood pressure or heart disease is sure to get you a policy sufficient enough to protect the people you’re responsible for.
There is no easy way to maintain your new healthy weight. It’s almost more of a mental objective than a physical one because exercise and healthy eating is such a grind on a daily basis. Finding the ways you can easily make weight loss objectives part of your daily routine will lead to long term results you can be proud of.
Shawn Laib writes and researches for the insurance comparison site, ExpertInsuranceReviews.com. He wants to help people understand the best ways to maintain weight loss.
