Maintaining your weight loss
August 30, 2017,
Elaina Bird
Achieving your target weight is a challenge but maintaining those results can be even harder. In fact, only around 20% of people manage to keep weight off for at least a year after reaching their target weight (1).
Are you struggling with keeping the weight off? Read on for some helpful tips on sustaining your weight loss plan this autumn.
Maintenance Tips
Isagenix products and systems are a great starting point to help you succeed in your weight management journey. We’ve also come up with a few tips for continuing your healthy lifestyle. After all, you worked so hard to get here!
- Develop Healthy Habits
At the start of any successful nutrition plan and exercise routine, developing healthy habits is crucial. Even before you have reached your weight-loss goals, you’ll need to start changing your routines and adapting to a healthier lifestyle. This will make maintaining your weight much easier, especially when it comes to sticking to the best dietary choices.
One key to success is ensuring that you have a good protein intake both during and after your weight-loss periods (2). This is because protein rich meals are known to have a greater thermic effect than meals rich in carbohydrate or fat, which means more energy is required to digest, absorb and metabolise the protein-rich meal (3).
Be sure to space out your protein intake throughout the day – don’t rely on getting 100% of your protein intake from one of your daily meals!
- Set Firm Goals
It’s important to establish goals. You can’t reach a goal if you don’t have one. When it comes to maintaining body weight, keep that goal in mind and hold yourself accountable for staying within that range.
Don’t fall into the guilt trap! Not everyone can follow the system perfectly all the time, and that’s okay! If you slip up occasionally, don’t let it sabotage your results or make you quit. Get back on track when you can, and continue to work towards becoming your best you.
- Customise Your Diet to Fit Your Lifestyle
It’s important to have flexibility when you are in maintenance mode.
An Isagenix System with Shake and Cleanse Days* is still a great way to go, especially with a few modifications. While a normal 30-Day Weight Loss System calls for between 1,000 – 1,400 calories per day, you may need to increase the amount by a few hundred calories depending on your size, gender, physical activity levels, etc.
The key to successful weight loss and management is to find the right balance that works for you. Events such as holidays, birthdays, and evenings out will always come up and these are occasions that should be enjoyed! Try to keep your overall diet healthy and practical for your lifestyle.
Shake and Cleanse Days* are a great tool to fall back on when you start to feel that you aren’t maintaining your ideal weight as well as you’d like. During maintenance mode, one to two shakes per day and up to four Cleanse Days* per month (no more than two consecutive Cleanse Days*) is ideal.
- Exercise
Exercise and nutrition go hand in hand. Exercising is a great way to break through weight-loss plateaus and help you manage your weight, even after you’ve reached your weight-loss goals. Whether you prefer a leisurely walk around the park, an intense weight-lifting workout or something in between, any exercise is great!
Snack & Meal Options
We’ve come up with a few options for snacks and meals to help you manage your weight and satisfy your taste buds.
Snack Ideas:
| Up to 50 kcal | Up to 100 kcal | 100 – 260 kcal |
| 3 Isagenix Snacks | 125g low fat yogurt with berries | Up to 1 IsaLean Bar |
| 100g melon | 25g hummus with carrot sticks | 30g almonds + 30g sultanas |
Meal Ideas:
- Salad with lots of fresh vegetables – try grated carrot, tinned sweetcorn and a variety of leafy greens. Include a portion of lean protein such as salmon, haddock, chicken or chickpeas. Top with chopped nuts, dried fruit, ¼ avocado, crumbled feta cheese, cooked rice or quinoa.
- Bake a fillet of fish with lemon juice and your favourite herbs and spices. Serve with roasted sweet potato cubes and plenty of vegetables.
- Black bean chilli – serve with rice and a green salad.
Example meal plan:
7am: Breakfast – IsaLean Shake
10am: Snack – any of the above snack ideas
1pm: Lunch – nutritionally balanced 400-600kcal meal (see above suggestions)
3pm: Snack – any of the above snack ideas
5pm: Workout
6pm: Post workout – IsaPro
8pm: Dinner – nutritionally balanced 400-600kcal meal (see above suggestions)
References
- Wing R and Phelan S. Long-term weight loss maintenance. Am J Clin Nutr 2005;82(suppl):222S-5S.
- Westerterp-Plantenga MS, Smeets A, Nieuwenhuizen A. Sustained protein intake for bodyweight management. Nutr Bull 2007;32 (suppl 1):22-31.
- Skidmore P. Macronutrient intake and their role in obesity. Nutr Bull 2007;32(suppl 1):4-13.
*A Cleanse Day is a nutritionally supported fast that nourishes and energises your body’s own detoxification systems. For further Cleanse Day information, visit https://www.isagenix.com/en-gb.
