3 Phases of Weight Loss: #3. Maintain
Something that keeps coming up in conversation is weight loss and the process. If you think that if you move a little and eat ‘well’, you will lose weight. Essentially, this is true, but once you dive into the details of weight loss, exercise and food, there is so much to learn.
I keep a safe space where I don’t blame, shame or judge anyone who wants to talk to me about anything health related. I believe honesty is the best policy and pride myself on being me while we talk. Talking helps to promote knowledge. It illustrates what we know, what we think we know and can even highlight what we don’t know or (my favourite one) don’t know what it is that we don’t know. Confused? I’ll simplify.
I have been through the process of weight loss. It is not always easy or fun, but it is worth it. Lately, in discussions I have had, I have had to define the process of weight loss more and more to explain how each phase impacts our lives. The more I have researched, read and talked about this, I believe it something worth writing about.
The Three Phases of weight loss are 1. Gain, 2. Loss and 3. Maintain.
In each phase, there are different stages that you go through and overcome. I will discuss each phase in more depth. I have broken this down into 3 blogs for the next 3 weeks. Today, I’m going to dive into the details of the stages during the Gain Phase.
Weight Loss In General
To me, weight loss is about tweaking our habits in ways that work for us to reach our ideal weight. There are different tweaks that I believe necessary for each of the phases and in turn each stage as well. For instance, you cannot go back to the habits you had during the Gain Phase after you lost weight in the Loss Phase. If you want to maintain your newly lost weight, you have to find a happy medium or what I call balance.
Balance, to me, is understanding good and bad, it is enjoying high energy days along with rest days, massive workout sessions and easy breezy, relaxing walks or healthy meals and meals containing sometimes foods. Balance, to me, is no starvation or deprivation. Balance is all about moderation.
I focus on a balanced lifestyle. This is because I believe a little good and bad is always necessary. Should there be equal amounts of good and bad? Probably not because but everyone will have their own amounts of each that they can live a healthy life and a happy one as well. Weight loss is about finding what balance will work for you, so you are not overwhelmed or frustrated.
Weight loss is tricky but it doesn’t have to be daunting, and you don’t have to feel inadequate or overwhelmed. I know, I have been there.
To me, the Gain Phase happens when you are less mindful about your choices when it comes to eating, drinking, socialising and relaxing. These are the ‘normal life’ habits that you fall back into when you are cruising through life. You then have to undertake changes through better choices to enter into and to get through the Loss Phase. There are more dramatic changes from Gain Phase to Loss Phase. Then you tweak your habits from the LOSS Phase again for the Maintain Phase. In the Maintain Phase, you find what per cent of good and bad you need to sustain the weight that you feel great at.
As a mentor, people want to the secrets of weight loss; it seems like everyone wants a magic pill. Sorry, there is no pill. The Gain Phase is quite gradual, so you have to be mindful that the Loss Phase will be as well.
There is, however, something that can be help, knowledge. And knowledge is power. Knowledge is what helped me. Understanding what you are going through, where you are at and what needs to come next is the best way to take action. Action or change is what gets results.
After all this, I want to dive into the stages of the Maintain Phase.
Maintain Phase
Keeping all the weight that you lost in the Loss Phase off is no easy task. If it were, we would never gain weight again. It is no easy task, but in the same sense, it doesn’t have to be difficult. It is all about the way in which you want to approach this phase.
This Phase is a long-term phase… this is where you implement the healthy habits that were very beneficial to you in the Loss Phase to live a healthy lifestyle from here on out. In this phase, you don’t have to be as strict with yourself as you were in the Loss Phase but you do have to be realistic regarding which habits you carry over to this phase for long-term, lasting results.
The different stages of this Phase are as follows.
1. Finding Your Routine
If you come into this phase with an open mind about what maintain your healthy weight it, it will be easier. If you go into this phase thinking that you can revert back to your old habits from before the Loss Phase, meaning the Gain Phase, then you will most likely skip this phase and gain the weight you lost back.
This first Stage, Finding Your Routine, is about finding a rhythm where you can take the habits you learned from the Loss Phase and implement them into a healthy lifestyle to maintain the weight you are at, your goal weight. If you lost 5 kilos or 25 kilos, maintaining your weight is about your mindset, your habits and your determination.
This stage is about keeping a positive mindset where you are conscious about the decisions you are making regarding food, exercise, sleep and whatever other topic were important in your weight loss journey.
This is where the habits you implemented in your Loss Phase become more of a lifestyle. You understand how your body works, what it needs, and you are happy to accommodate it. You pick a routine you are happily giving yourself a more balanced approach to life maybe 80% good and 20% sometimes or if you can 70% good and 30% sometimes, just depends on what your sometimes foods/habits are and how you are feeling.
This stage could last as long as you are feeling good about yourself.
2. Checking In
The second stage of the Maintain Phase is to check in with yourself. There are a few different tasks you can do to check in. Some check-in choices are:
- Journal (gratitude, intentions, feelings, nutrition, exercise, hobbies, sleep…) and notice when something isn’t as strong as it was
- Take new photos of yourself (take progress photos throughout your journey)
- Take measurements of yourself (take measurements throughout your journey)
- Think of how your clothes are fitting, how do you feel in them?
As Stage one progresses, check in and see where you are at compared to where you were when you lost the weight you wanted and were at your goal. Where are you now compared to when you started this Phase?
- Have you still been losing weight?
- Have you gained weight?
- Has your weight stayed the same but your body measurements changed?
- How do you feel?
In the Checking In Stage, it is essential to see how you are, so you don’t end up back in the Gain Phase without knowing you were there.
3. Adjusting and Getting Support If Needed
Once you have checked in, the best thing to do is reflect on what has changed from your Loss Phase to stage 1 of the Maintain Phase.
- Have any old habits crept back into your routine?
- Are you aiming for 80% good and 20% sometimes?
- Are these habits something you can’t live without?
- Are these habits something you can tweak to keep the weight off?
If you have gained a little weight back, that’s ok, you can tweak your routine to find the right balance for you. This part of the Phase can be tricky and the frustration and overwhelm can catch you off guard but to know it can happen and plan for how to get around it is important.
At this stage of your weight loss journey, it is a great idea to ask for support. This means that you don’t have to figure it out alone. You can use all the knowledge you gained in the Loss Phase and tweak it so that it works for you and you have a healthy lifestyle moving forward.
If you can’t get your balance right during this stage, this is where you could go back into the Gain or Loss phase. This is where you want to try to avoid going so you don’t end up in a cyclic journey of gaining weight and then losing weight.
If you are someone who is ready to commit to your weight loss journey, then I want to let you know about the October Jump Start. The Jump Start will help you to find the last habits that will help you overcome the gain phase, lose the extra weight you want to and give you the support you need to be on track for a happier, healthier lifestyle.
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