Do you want to keep your weight at a healthy level? In order to maintain weight loss, whether it is from surgery, calorie restriction, or exercise, a lifestyle that supports weight maintenance should be adopted. It is important that you work to break old, destructive habits and create new, positive ones. Doing so can help you achieve your goals and maintain weight loss long-term. Here are four tips that will help you to adopt new behaviors so that they become long-term habits.
1. Create a written agreement between yourself and someone who is supportive of your goals, such as a spouse or your personal trainer. Be specific about any behaviors, commitments, or attitudes that is expected of you and the other person who is assisting you in creating the agreement. Both should sign the agreement, post it somewhere in clear view, and revise as goals and situations change.
2.Create a behavioral contract which has the goals that you want to achieve and a non-food reward for achieving each goal. Plan to complete goals by a certain date. Develop action-based goals such as "I will visit the gym 2 days per week for 45 minutes" versus "I want to lose weight and tone up." Update the contract periodically as you meet your goals.
3. Create an environment that is conducive to your fitness and weight loss goals. For instance, if junk foods are your weakness then remove them from your house. Another example includes setting an alarm to remind you to go to the gym. Using cues such as these will help you to stay on track.
4. If you need to weigh the pros and cons of changing a habit, then create a decision balance sheet. This worksheet helps you to consider the benefits and barriers of changing a behavior, as well as develop strategies to either initiate the change or work around the barriers that prevent you from doing so. Take a piece of paper and divide into four sections. Label each section respectively: benefits, barriers/obstacles, strategies to maximize benefits, and strategies to minimize barriers. Use this to help you to develop a fitness and weight loss plan.
So, to achieve success at long-term weight loss, it's important that you change your old habits that are keeping you unhealthy, and adopt new ones that are going to make you healthier and happier. These strategies, when implemented, are effective at helping you to adopt new behaviors. Adopting new habits is a process; however, in the long-run your body will thank you and you'll have the healthy body to show for it!
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