Lose Weight and Keep It Off

Proven Strategies to Keep Weight Off for Good

If 2011 was a successful year for slimming down, now comes the tricky part: maintaining your weight loss. Here, we reveal the secrets of those who have shed 30 pounds or more and kept if off
By Hollis Templeton fitbie
 

Limit Variety in Your Diet

It’s no surprise that members of the NWCR adhere to diets that are low in calories and fat. According to one study, successful weight maintainers consume about 1,385 calories per day with 24% of those calories coming from fat. These numbers are reflective of the fact that more than half of NWCR members are trying to lose more weight.

An additional step that registry participants take is limiting their exposure to diet-wrecking foods. Upon entering into the registry, people complete a questionnaire about how frequently they eat foods from various food groups. When responses from 2,237 members were reviewed for a study published in Obesity Research, researchers concluded that NWCR members consume a diet with little variety in all food groups, especially within groups with the highest amounts of fat, like meat and dairy.

Related: Can You Bore Yourself Skinny?

Registry participants reported consuming between 12% and 47% of the foods within each food group, with the greatest amount of variety occurring in lower-fat foods, like breads, pasta, and rice, as well as fruits and vegetables.

“Our environments are filled with delicious, high-calorie foods that are available to us all the time,” says Thomas. “And studies show that the more variety that is available, the more food we are likely to eat.”

Study authors suggest that eating the same foods over and over makes weight loss easier to sustain because it provides your eating plan with structure and simplicity, making it more possible to consistently stay within daily limits set for calories and fat. The researchers also suggest that as a food is consumed more frequently, it loses a certain pleasurable quality, meaning you’re less tempted to overindulge.

More: Get your free five-page guide to cutting 500 calories per day!

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