“In order for a weight loss outcome to be maintained, the habits that produced it must be flexible, healthy, sustainable and enjoyable.”
Kim
After four decades of dieting and being steeped in diet culture, I have made many mistakes, celebrated many successes and observed many people’s journeys. Finally, I have learned a few things! One of the most important things I have learned is how to maintain my weight loss.
As someone who has gained and lost over 100 pounds, fives times, plus many other 25+ pound gains and losses, my own track record clearly shows that there is a disconnect between weight loss and weight loss maintenance. The more I interact with others who have battled weight for a lifetime, or who have had to lose at least 40 pounds, the more I have seen this theme of Maintenance Perplexion emerge.
I have watched countless times as someone breezes to their goal weight, only to completely lose control and gain it all back, plus some. It’s the classic dieting yo-yo. According to research from 2019, successful weight loss maintenance is elusive for a large majority of people, regardless of what method they used to lose it. “Substantial weight loss is possible across a range of treatment modalities, but long-term sustenance of lost weight is much more challenging, and weight regain is typical1–3. In a meta-analysis of 29 long-term weight loss studies, more than half of the lost weight was regained within two years, and by five years more than 80% of lost weight was regained 4. Indeed, previous failed attempts at achieving durable weight loss may have contributed to the recent decrease in the percentage of people with obesity who are trying to lose weight5 and many now believe that weight loss is a futile endeavor6.” 7
We’ve all heard disheartening statistics like these, so why is there not more focus on maintenance? Maybe it’s because weight loss is a multi billion dollar industry. I know that’s a cynical take on it, but the love of money is the root of all evil. Thankfully, the why is irrelevant for this conversation. Let’s just look at what we can do.
In my experience, the secret to maintaining weight loss is this: focus on maintaining healthy habits, rather than maintaining weight loss. During the weight loss process, there is a constant pay off for seeing the number on the scale go down – at all costs. I’ve witnessed people surviving on 500 calories per day and injecting hormones lose lots of weight, only to gain it back because the habits failed to meet maintenance criteria. In order for a weight loss outcome to be maintained, the habits that produced it must be flexible, healthy, sustainable and enjoyable. All of those criteria need to be present to cultivate a lifestyle of true and lasting change.
In extreme methods of weight loss, even the outcome is not actually desirable, because body composition has been changed for the worse. This is what perpetuates yo-yo dieting and makes us feel like each subsequent attempt at weight loss is harder. It is harder, because we have less muscle. Muscle is more metabolically active and requires more fuel to sustain. It is imperative to maintain as much lean body mass as possible, while losing fat. For long term weight loss success, we need to change our goal to fat loss and muscle building, not simply weight loss. This makes the process look far different, both during the weight loss phase as well as during maintenance.
Our bodies need to be nourished to a healthy weight/body composition. The strict deprivation, extreme calorie deficits, excessive activity and endless rules associated with most diets set us up for failure, over and over again – even if we do manage to reach that magic number on the scale for a minute or two. Think about it, if we are always afraid of breaking a rule, falling off of a wagon, being off track or simply relying on someone else’s plan, we will always have a reason to stumble. If normal, daily, weekly and monthly fluctuations in weight have the power to throw us off of our intended trajectory, we are allowing the external to guide us in a very unhealthy way.
Successful maintenance and a lifestyle change are cultivated over time. I am fully persuaded that the reason most people regain their weight is that they never take full ownership of their own journey. As a Christian, for me that means being led by the Holy Spirit to what is best for me, personally. That is the only way to make sense of the endless, contradictory advice from experts and overcome Maintenance Perplexion for good. Here is what that looks like for me:
FLEXIBLE:
I have learned that no particular food philosophy fits me at all times and under all circumstances. I am knowledgeable about many plans and philosophies and am no longer afraid to use what works for me and give myself the freedom for that to change. A change in a season of life almost always has me shifting gears, but always continuing toward my goal of being healthy, strong and lean. There is not a simple path that is always perfect for everyone under every circumstance. I am no longer dogmatic about “plans” and “programs”, but I am dogmatic about my goals and glorifying God in my body.
HEALTHY:
What does that even mean, really? So many food and exercise philosophies claim to be the healthiest and tell us that if we are doing anything else, we are killing ourselves, or at the very least, missing out on some panacea of health. But here’s the thing, there is so much conflicting information out there – all supposedly backed by science – and I have decided that I am more successful when I look at myself – my experiences and outcomes. Anecdotal evidence in my own life and journey will help lead me to what is healthy for me. (Especially if I am bringing God into it and asking Him to lead me.) I pay attention to how I feel physically and emotionally in response to different foods. Am I satiated? I pay attention to how I sleep. How is my gut? Do I have energy? Are there things I eat and do that have a positive or a negative impact? Whatever I am doing must yield health for ME, not just the majority of people. Sometimes, whatever keeps me walking this path is “healthy”, even if others might not judge it that way.
SUSTAINABLE:
Successful maintenance, is by definition, sustainable. That’s what it means to be in maintenance. You are maintaining and sustaining – protecting your progress. That means that you have to find what habits you can actually live with long term, which is why I said “healthy” can mean whatever keeps me walking toward my goals. A lifestyle that does not allow me to celebrate with foods that some would declare as “unhealthy”, is not sustainable for me. It’s also not flexible. My definitions have changed over time, and the ways I celebrate with food have changed, as well as the foods themselves, but I gave myself the space to grow in that, rather than living in this place of black and white, good and bad, when it came to my food choices or my activities and activity levels. I have periods of time with a LOT of activity, but I can’t maintain that all of the time. I had to find a rhythm that worked for me and have the freedom to throw in some syncopation from time to time! Sometimes rest is the priority. Having the freedom and confidence to adjust brings sustainability. Ideally, we are always learning and growing, so when we know better, we can do better. Sustainability comes from remaining willing to try new things and get better at maintenance, while sometimes shifting back into weight loss mode. A big part of getting better for me was learning to find the balance between healthy and enjoyable! I gave myself grace and time to practice this skill. It’s a life long process.
ENJOYABLE:
This is the driver for my other points. If we focus on cultivating a healthy lifestyle that is enjoyable, we are building a solid foundation for maintenance. For some of us, that means we simply cultivate a heart of gratitude. I have learned to enjoy vegetables, walks and weight lifting. I am thankful for things that used to be things that I felt forced to eat or do. How? I shifted my focus to the goodness that God has provided. I focused on my blessings, instead of what felt like restrictions. Plus, I learned to be flexible and live in a sustainable way that included all of the things that some diet plan or another had taught me were bad. The journey became so much more enjoyable when I stopped letting so-called experts tell me what to do and applied available knowledge with the help and leading of the Holy Spirit. I also stopped saying anything to myself that was condemning, judgmental, critical or discouraging. Basically, I shut up the voice of my past and began telling myself what God says about me and my life in His Word. That has definitely made everything more peaceful and enjoyable!
Maybe you lost your weight in a way that does not meet the four criteria I have shared. That’s OK. It’s just time to get them aligned, so that you can protect your progress and continue to improve. How do you need to address or change your daily habits to make them flexible, healthy, sustainable and enjoyable?
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