How do I stay on weight?

Many people manage to lose a few pounds. A large group, unfortunately, regresses into old habits over time and comes back on again. What can you do about this? In this article, I will discuss the risk factors that throw a spanner in the works and which methods help to stay on weight.

Risk factors to fall back

Below I will first describe the main causes of relapse.

1. The number of times you have followed a diet
People who have been on a diet more often have a greater risk of falling back again. An important explanation for this effect is probably fat cell stress. During the fat loss, the fat cell loses fat causing it to shrink. The skeleton of the fat cell must then shrink, but adjusting the skeleton takes a lot of energy. As a result, the cell suffers from stress.

The easiest way to get rid of that stress is to let the fat cell grow again. The body has several methods for realizing this. One of these ways is a reduced excretion of leptin. This is a hormone that inhibits hunger. A deficiency of leptin can lead to increased energy intake. An increased sense of hunger can last up to two years after you have lost weight.

2. Skipping meals
A less consistent eating pattern often leads you to relax and fall back into old eating habits. You often see this before and during holidays or weekends.

3. Black / white thinking
The all-or-nothing principle means that you think that it all makes no difference at all at one misstep or a negative event. This effect can occur during holidays, during a sports injury or after overeating.

4. Unrealistic or too vague plans
Too vague plans can also help you to relax or postpone activities. A solution is to set a SMART objective for yourself.

5. A lack of self-efficacy
A lack of self-efficacy is an important reason for not succeeding in sustainable behavioral change. Self-efficacy has common ground with self-confidence, but the difference is that self-efficacy is focused on that someone has the confidence that he can perform a specific behavior in a given situation. For example with a conviction like "I have enough confidence that I can leave it at 1 beer during a party". You create more self-efficacy by matching small success experiences where you achieve your goal step by step. This gives you confidence and leads to your behavior lasting longer or even sustainably.

6. Disbalance and too much stress
Stress is an important risk factor for falling back. Many people experience a strong urge during stress to compensate for this with food. It is important to continue to undertake sufficient activities that give you energy and a positive feeling. This way you can cope better with stress and keep your healthy behavior for long.

7. Do not be satisfied with the target weight
Dissatisfaction with body weight can throw a spanner in the works. The disappointment can cause you to end up in a dip and fall back into old habits.

What does help? 9 important tips!

Below are 9 important tips that help to stay on weight.

Sufficient daily exercise. It is best to move at least half an hour every day at least moderately intensive. Think of solid walking. It is important to choose an exercise pattern that you can also sustain in the future. Do you want to know more about exercise and how much exercise is healthy? Then read this article about the exercise standard.

Sufficient self-efficacy. You can increase the level of self-efficacy by achieving and celebrating small successes. The drafting of subgoals helps with this. Read here about the establishment of sub-goals.
Pay attention to your calories and regularly monitor your eating habits. Be aware of your eating habits. It may be that at a given moment you have unconsciously fallen back into old eating habits and eat more than you need.

Regularly weigh yourself and intervene on time when you arrive again. Another important factor that helps you not to fall back is to weigh yourself regularly. It is normal for your weight to fluctuate by 1 or 2 kilos. But do you notice that you have arrived more? Then intervene on time.
A regular diet. This means that you also do not completely deviate from your healthy diet on holidays and on weekends. A day is possible, but let it really last for 1 or 2 days and do not go a week off so you quickly get 2 kilos.

Prepare yourself for tricky situations. Sometimes you have a party or it is difficult to make healthy choices. Prepare as good as possible for difficult situations and make an if-then plan for yourself. Read more about drawing up a clear plan here. Here you will find tips for healthier choices at parties, eating out or drinks.

Being satisfied with the lost kilograms. Be realistic in advance about what you want to achieve. A healthy self-image is important here. Talk to your environment or talk to a coach. We can help you with online coaching.

Effective strategies to deal with stress. Another important factor is the extent to which you are able to deal with stress in an effective way. Imagine having eaten too much once, what do you say to yourself? How do you deal with guilt feelings? Or imagine it does not work as you want, how do you pick up the thread again?

How long you've sustained it to stay on weight.  Finally, the longer you have sustained the desired behavior, the less likely you will fall back. The first two to three years after you have lost weight, the most energy.