SlimFast Plan Consultant and Registered Dietitian, Maryann Walsh talks about her tips for maintaining consistency and persistence in your weight management journey.
Once you’ve reached your weight loss goal, you may find yourself feeling some mixed emotions. There will surely be joy and relief that you achieved your goal, but you may also feel fear that you will gain the weight back. It’s important to take a step back and look at how your lifestyle and habits have transformed. These new habits and discipline are the key to keeping the weight off. Nobody is perfect and you certainly don’t need to be to maintain your weight loss, but you should strive to be consistent with your new healthy lifestyle!
Some tips for maintaining consistency now that you are in the maintenance phase of your weight management journey:
- Use the SlimFast Maintenance Plan
The SlimFast Maintenance Plan is a great way to keep the weight off while also incorporating more of the foods you love. It’s just like the SlimFast Plan for weight loss, but now you’ll replace one meal per day with a SlimFast meal replacement, enjoy two sensible meals & continue to enjoy 3 snacks.
- Maintain your Support Network
If you already have a support network, that is great! Many may find having that support can help them maintain their success when those tough days come up or when you just want to have someone to share some amazing new non-scale victories with! You will benefit from having people cheering you on while simultaneously inspiring others! Now that’s a win-win! Get support from friends & family or the SlimFast Together Groups.
- Keep Reaching
Continue to challenge yourself with new goals to keep yourself engaged in your journey. Continuously remind yourself that you are capable of doing amazing things! Throughout your journey you likely discovered new abilities. Take this opportunity to level up! Maybe your goal was hit 10k steps each day – now go for 12k steps!
- Be SMART About your Goals
Having a plan and writing it down with pen and paper can be a major game changer! Utilizing the SMART goal system can help you create realistic goals that you can stick to. If you haven’t heard of SMART goals yet, they are:
- Specific- set a specific goal such as: “I will go for a 30 minute walk, 5 times per week”, versus “I will go for walks this week.”
- Measurable- by making the goal specific like the example above, you can measure how well you did at sticking to it.
- Attainable - Push yourself but also set realistic goals that are possible for you. For example: if you have never ran a mile before, it wouldn’t be realistic to set a goal to run a mile 5 times per week, start with a realistic goal such as “I will run ¼ of a mile and then walk the rest.” Then continue to build up to your ultimate goal.
- Relevant - It’s easy to get caught up in watching what other people are accomplishing, but only you know what is truly important and relevant to you. Maybe you want to lower your A1c or blood pressure, or lose 5-10% of your body weight so you can feel healthier for your grandkids...make your goal something that is important to you.
- Time Bound - Goals need a deadline to help you stay consistent and to stick to them. Without a deadline it’s sometimes easy to skip a few days or push things off instead of prioritizing them.
You’ve come so far and you’ve learned so much! Be proud of yourself and set yourself up for success by staying consistent with your new healthy lifestyle, you’ll reap the rewards for years to come!