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A client of mine recently lost 70 pounds over the course of two and a half years. She built her endurance to walk three miles a day while listening to her favorite music, fell in love with a bootcamp class near her house and shifted her diet to include more protein and vegetables and less wine and cheese. She still enjoyed holidays with her family and outings with her friends, eating smaller portions of all her favorites, but the rhythm of her days changed from sedentary to active, and her diet shifted from high sugar, alcohol and fat to high fiber, water and protein.
While making those changes, she faced a series of hardships, including a chronically-ill family member, the death of a loved one, a toxic work environment and the pressure of raising two teenagers. Her life wasn’t simple or easy, but over the course of those two years, she systematically revamped her status quo with a wide variety of options and effective responses to stress.
When she texted to tell me she dropped below 200 pounds for the first time in decades, I asked how she planned to celebrate, to which she responded, “I’m celebrating by going to bootcamp! They always have something fun on the weekends like tug of war.”
Genetics, illness, medications, one’s home environment, physical activity, food and sleep all affect body weight. Some of those influences are beyond our control. In fact, research shows genetics can determine anywhere between 40% and 70% of a person’s predisposition to obesity. However, even if that number holds at 70%, 30% remains within our power.
If you want to lose weight and keep it off without taking medication, altering your lifestyle isn’t a quick fix. However, reinforcements in the following three areas can help you get stronger and healthier—and significantly increase your odds of maintaining a lower body weight.
Diet
Lean protein, fiber, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, small amounts of healthy fats and moderate portion sizes are the building blocks of a nourishing diet. Increasing consumption of produce, whole grains and proteins while decreasing consumption of added sugar, fried food, saturated fat and liquid calories (such as soda or alcohol) can help you feel full and fueled.
A meta-analysis of over 21,000 people following 14 popular diets found all diets effectively reduced weight and improved cardiovascular risk factors. However, those benefits largely disappeared after 12 months when people were unable to stick with the dieting routines.
Consistency and sustainability are key factors to maintaining weight loss, so whatever diet you choose must be accessible and satisfying. The best diet is one that isn’t too demanding on your time, tastes good and reflects your personal values.
A great diet isn’t an all-or-nothing plan, either.
The higher the percentage of whole foods in your diet, the less room there is for food that makes you feel sluggish. Cravings and preferences can change, but you have to give them a chance by eating a variety of foods and finding new, healthy sources of nourishment. Meanwhile, you can still enjoy reasonable portions of comfort foods to avoid feeling deprived and sidestep the whiplash of dieting.
Physical Activity
More movement advances your goal, and physical activity includes much more than traditional exercise.
Cardiovascular exercise, strength training, flexibility and balance are important parts of any fitness routine or weight maintenance program. As my client discovered, identifying ways to exercise that you genuinely cherish makes sustaining those activities much easier.
If you dig it, you’ll do it, and if you can’t think of anything you dig just yet, keep exploring until you find something that fits the bill. It can be as traditional or eccentric as you like.
In addition to formal exercise, daily activities like standing up, walking around, completing chores, gardening or climbing stairs can make a big difference in energy expenditure and agility. In physiological terms, this kind of movement is called non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), and research shows NEAT can have a significant effect on metabolic rate.
As long as you’re staying safe, any kind of movement at any time of day can do your body good.
Support
Weight loss and weight maintenance are two different things, and they require different skills.
Any weight loss plan can tell you how to lose weight (hint: eat less, move more), but to keep it off, research shows ongoing support is vital. A therapist, registered dietician or board-certified health coach can help you focus on:
- Progress you’ve already made. (Spoiler alert: It’s more than you think even if you’re just getting started or the scale hasn’t moved.)
- Benefits you’re accruing beyond weight loss. (Identifying these perks can keep you motivated.)
- Confidence that you’re capable of making new and different choices for your health (and following through with them).
- Specific plans for what to do if you hit a plateau or regain lost weight.
Fitness groups or friends on similar paths can be helpful companions as well so long as they’re encouraging and nonjudgmental.
The client mentioned above had numerous plateaus lasting two or three months when her weight stalled or increased. Through it all, she focused on how much better her knees felt, her increased energy and strength, her connections with instructors and peers in class, and her favorite new, non-negotiable exercises and snacks. By staying consistent and patient, she was able to start losing weight again, slowly and steadily.
That kind of resilience can be learned. Once you have it, you can always rely on it. However, in the early weeks, months and years of a significant lifestyle change or weight loss journey, support from a health professional can mean the difference between frustration triggering old habits and savoring the rewarding lifestyle modifications you’ve made.
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