While shedding kilos while on a strict diet can be tough, what seems daunting for many is to get off a diet and maintain weight loss. When you are on a restrictive diet, you might not be consuming many food groups, counting your calories, and monitoring your portion size. However, once off the diet, the cravings come in full swing, and we tend to give ourselves a treat now and then. What comes next? Weight gain. If you have also been having sleepless nights thinking about how to maintain weight loss after you stop dieting, here are a few tips and tricks which can make this transition easier.

Why do we gain weight after ending a diet?

Losing excess body fat, through a diet or a regime, is difficult for most people and the risk of regaining lost weight is high, states UK's National Institutes of Health. This happens due to a variety of reasons.

1. Starvation mode

When you are on a diet, you restrict your calories for an extended period. This makes your body go into starvation mode to conserve energy. This leads to a decrease in your metabolic rate, and you burn fewer calories at rest, explains dietician Kejal Shah. However, this continues even when you return to a normal diet. So you are burning fewer calories, which makes it easier to gain weight. Therefore this decrease in metabolic rate is one of the reasons that you put on weight, states this research paper, published by the National Institutes of Health.

2. Hormones

When you are on a diet, it can affect the hormones that regulate hunger and fullness. Due to this, when you get off your diet, your levels of leptin decrease, while ghrelin, the hormone that causes hunger may increase. This can lead to increased appetite and cravings, making it harder to maintain a calorie deficit diet. A study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, states that these hormonal changes may last for as long as a year, and you will experience an increase in appetite.

3. Rigorous dieting

Many diets are extremely strict and restrictive, making it difficult to maintain long-term. Therefore, once the diet is over, people return to their old eating habits, which may have been unhealthy or led to overeating in the first place.

How to maintain weight loss after a diet?

If you are at the stage of bidding adieu to your diet in your fitness journey, then you need to make sure to not gain the weight back. Here are a few tips to maintain weight loss.

1. Exercise

It is very important to continue to work out, especially while coming off a diet. This helps you to increase your metabolism rate as well as burn extra calories that you are now consuming. Half an hour of workout every day will help you maintain weight loss after a diet, states this study, published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Resistance training and weight lifting will also help you maintain your weight.

Working out regularly can help you maintain weight loss. Image courtesy: Freepik

2. Be mindful

Practising mindful eating will help you maintain weight loss after you get off your diet. While you might not as restrictive as you were on your diet, you need to be careful of what you eat. Mindful eating will help you spot and get rid of habits that will make you put on weight, states this study, published in Obesity Reviews.

3. Consume a high protein diet

Amp up your protein intake while getting off a diet. Protein helps you feel fuller, and you end up consuming fewer calories. It helps to reduce the hormone levels that indicate to your brain that you are hungry, states a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Also, protein requires more energy to be broken down and digested, and this will help you stay on track as well.

4. Check your weight

Now that you may no longer be on a diet, you must continue to monitor your weight. Keeping a check on your weight will help you monitor your success at maintaining weight loss, and you will know when to make changes. A study, published in Obesity, states that people who weigh themselves regularly, eat fewer calories during the day.

5. Don’t skip breakfast

If you feel that skipping meals is your answer to maintaining weight loss after a diet, you might want to recheck that thought. A study published in Obesity Research, observed that 78 percent of 2959 people who maintained 14kg (30 pound) weight loss, did not skip their breakfast. However, make sure to go in for a high-protein and low-carb meal.

6. Check your carbs

It is very important to be mindful of what you are eating when trying to maintain weight loss. You need to check your carbohydrate intake, as this is the primary reason for weight gain. A study, published in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease, states that people who follow low-carb diets even while maintaining weight loss, are more likely to not put on weight. Low-carb diets will also help you consume less calories. Eating more veggies will also help you stay on your weight loss journey.

Stressing out can make it difficult to maintain weight loss. Image courtesy: Freepik

7. Sleep well

Sleep deprivation can lead to weight gain. Less sleep leads to an increase in Ghrelin, which is the hunger hormone, and lowers leptin, a hormone that helps you control your appetite, states this study, published in Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care. Getting at least seven hours of sleep is a must.

8. Keep yourself hydrated

Drinking enough water and keeping yourself hydrated would help you feel fuller. You can even decrease your food consumption by drinking a glass of water before your meals. A study, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, observed a 13 percent decrease in calorie intake among those participants who drank water before a meal.

9. Be consistent

No diet does not mean that you can let yourself entirely off the hook. You need to watch what you eat, even on weekends. A fixed eating plan can help you sustain weight loss, states this study, published in The American Journal of Nutrition.

10. Do not stress

Stressing about maintaining weight loss, can lead to weight gain. Stress increases levels of cortisol, and cortisol can lead to belly fat, increased appetite and more food consumption, states a study, published in the Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism. Stress eating also makes you put on weight.

11. Find a buddy

Not only losing weight, but maintaining weight loss is easier when you have someone to do it along with. A study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, observed 3000 couples and claimed that when one spouse is eating healthy and working out, the other one will also do the same.

Summary

Getting off a diet can be a tricky phase as you might end up putting your weight back on. You might end up weighing more than your starting weight, before you went on your diet. Therefore, it is very important to make sure to be careful and maintain weight loss. Mindful eating, controlling your caloric-intake, high protein and low carb consumption can help you.

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