Weight maintenance is absolutely critical to your fitness plan and without it your weight loss achievement will soon disappear. You must set up an exercise and eating program (and goals) that are realistic for the long haul.
Here’s how:
Diet
I have found that though most people know what they should eat, their choices don’t reflect what they know to be healthy food selections. That is because most of us eat unconsciously. To eat heath-fully we must eat consciously. So I recommend recording (write it down) everything you eat and drink – everything – for a week.
Exercise
I am a huge proponent of walking for weight loss and weight maintenance. Walking is both aerobic and weight bearing, which makes it a very effective exercise. Walking is the safest and easiest way to lose weight and keep it off.
More people maintain weight loss through walking than any other exercise because it is so easily available (do it anywhere, no gym membership necessary), so inexpensive (all you need is a decent pair of walking/running shoes), and anyone can do it (you certainly don’t need a trainer, or a lot of experience). And because so many people love to walk, it’s easy to set up a supportive network of walking buddies.
Many people wonder, is walking enough? Yes it is, and there are tools to help you make your walking workout time super efficient and effective. For example: vary your walking terrain and time by walking in the hills on one day for 30 minutes, and on flat terrain on another day for 60 minutes. You can increase the intensity of your walk, too, by doing intervals of fast walking periods (walk one minute extremely fast) followed by slower periods of recovery.
Brick ONeil 