Weight Maintenance
Most people can lose weight. Most people who try to lose weight, do so. However, most people who lose weight put it back on within a few years (1).
Maintaining weight loss is a challenge. The body can actually encourage weight regain by lowering the amount of energy burned at rest, impacting hormones relating to hunger and fullness (2)(3)(4).
Weight maintenance does not have to signify the exact same weight every day . Long term maintenance of weight is defined as consistently being within 3% of weight (5).
Successful weight loss maintainers typically combine diet and exercise and may rely more on exercise to maintain body composition compared to the initial weight loss period (2).
The key to weight loss is a Calorie deficit, easiest through a reduction in energy intake. However to maintain weight loss, physical activity likely becomes more useful in conjunction with a sustained lower energy intake (2).
Weight loss - reduce intake > perform some physical activity
Maintenance - increase physical activity > maintain reduced intake
Community support can aid self regulation of diet and flexible restraint rather than strict restraint is likely to be more successful.
Eg: Have a community of like-minded people for ongoing support and learn to manage overall nutrition with flexibility, rather than following a meal plan. (6)(7)(8)
Weight maintenance is something that is not defined regularly and there is really only one main research article which is cited when defining weight maintenance as within 3% of body weight (5).
Just because one day the scales show a slightly higher number does not mean you are not maintaining your weight. It does not mean you have “regressed” or “failed”. It’s expected. Normal. Part of the fluctuations of life.
Weight maintenance does not mean the exact same weight every day.
There will be times in the year where your weight is slightly higher:
Holidays, the festive season, travels where food choices are harder to control, winter when we might be less active and seek some stodgy comforts.
These times will be offset by:
Times of high motivation for home cooking and meal prep, summer when the days are longer and we are typically more active, breaks from work when we have more control over food choices.
It will be different for everyone but the point is that life isn’t the same every day, every week or every season. We can’t expect to eat the same thing every day and burn the same amount of energy every day. Things change, life is varied and so is our food intake, choices and movement.
So what’s the point?
Give yourself some flexibility with body measurements over time but also set yourself some parameters (3%) which will signify a time to focus more on nutrition and activity. Don’t worry if there are small variations to your body and weight during the year. Recognise if the slight change corresponds to your current situation, then plan for when and how things will be balanced. It might be committing to a mini-cut after a holiday, setting a date to return to meal prep and morning gym sessions after New Years or finding a new active hobby when motivation drops.
Check in with yourself. If you notice your body changing away from what you want, take some measurements and averages. Don’t consider a daily weight fluctuation as part of weight maintenance (5). Take at least 3-4 measurements over the week and average them out. If the number on average has crept up to your 3% parameter, it’s just a reminder to make some little reductions in Calorie intake and/or make an increase in Calories burned.
Plan some steps (not just physical ones), some real steps with times, dates and locations, to ride the wave of maintenance back away from the little weight increase. “I will meal prep on Sunday in my kitchen at 2pm and I will cook Spaghetti Bolognese with zoodles and half a serve of pasta.” Make it specific, make it actionable.
Make sure you are confident in how you lost weight. Not just that it happened, but how and why and record what you did. Write down what works for you. Write it out in enough detail so that someone else could pick it up and understand without the need for clarification. You might need this refresher one day.
If you lost weight but you don’t understand how it corresponded to energy balance (Calories in / Calories out) please take steps to have this explained. There is no nutrition magic - all weight loss strategies relate to energy balance. Understanding your “how” could help with long term maintenance.
Social, community support may be a very helpful tool in creating nutritional awareness, habit/behaviour change and maintaining weight loss (7)(8).
At FNC, we’ve created an online community where all of our members belong to a community of like-minded people. The community offers educational videos and articles, meal inspiration and recipes as well as weekly opportunities to ask questions (even anonymously). It’s an opportunity to be part of an online group of like minded people, develop knowledge and ask about your “how” if unsure.
With the maintenance of weight loss being difficult, we give all of our 1-1 clients a full 12 months access to the community.
Reach out to us if there is something we can help you with in 2020!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16002825
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30801984
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5764193/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18842775
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16302013
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23265405
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3221350/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18020940