Have you ever seen someone make a miraculous transformation only to regain it all back? Losing weight means very little if you can’t KEEP it off. I’d rather see a client lose 5 pounds and KEEP IT OFF for 6 months than lose 15 and gain it all right back. Anyone can put themselves through a severe calorie restriction for a time, but our bodies simply can’t sustain this. The more weight you lose, the more your body will eventually want to compensate by eating more, because our bodies will always be fighting for maintenance. In addition, severe calorie restriction leads to muscle loss which can cause our metabolism to slow, which makes that rebound weight gain surge, long after your “diet” is over and you’ve returned to your typical eating pattern.
As a society we are hard wired to expect everything to come quickly, but fat loss is anything but that. When it comes to fat loss, slow and steady wins the race.
A few tips to avoid rebound weight gain:
- Learn about food. The more knowledge you have regarding macronutrients and micronutrients, the more likely you are to implement changes that will last. Read Macros for Beginners to give yourself a look into these important topics that will set you up for long term success.
- Solidify healthy habits. Once you do the learning and implementing, repeat. Research shows it takes 59 days for a new habit to become automatic. Check out Habit Stacking and Macro Counting to learn practical ways to make macro counting become habitual.
- Focus on muscle building VS weight loss. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn on a day to day basis just by existing. If your goal is purely scale related, motivation will fizzle out long before you reach an arbitrary number on the scale which may or may not correlate with actual fat loss and real body composition change. Building a healthy, strong body is about so much more than weighing your lowest weight ever. Read more about how you’re actually protecting yourself from sickness and disease while macro counting HERE.
Doing the RIGHT thing consistently is NEVER the wrong thing regardless of how seemingly slow the process is. Be patient in your weight loss process. The longer you take to lose the weight, the more opportunity you give yourself to solidify healthy habits that last!
Check out Client Spotlight Alexis who has managed to keep the weight off for 5+ Years while macro tracking with a coach on and off with Stay Fit Mom. She shares her story as well as practical tips to help you do the same!
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