How to Maintain Weight Loss: 11 Expert Tips

You spend a lot of time focusing on losing weight and getting healthy. And once you’re there or almost there, you discover that a new challenge arises: How to maintain weight loss.

Maintenance can be make-it or break-it time for many people. Sometimes, after completing a weight loss program, people can return to old habits, and leave their ‘healthy option and portion control’ mindset behind.

But here’s the good news: Studies by the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), which follows a group of people who have lost 30 pounds or more and kept it off for more than a year, have found that the more conscientious you are about following all the good habits you’ve learned, the better your chance of staying slim for life.

And even better news: With Nutrisystem you didn’t lose it alone and you don’t have to manage your new weight, either. With Nutrisystem Success, you can gradually transition from Nutrisystem meals to flex meals and snacks you prepare for yourself.

Staying on track will also take some personal effort. The successful losers (average loss: 66 pounds) of the NWCR have a number of habits in common. Most of them:

1. Eat breakfast.

2. Weigh themselves regularly.

3. Maintain a consistent eating pattern all week (i.e. don’t get calorie crazy on the weekends).

4. Watch fewer than 10 hours of TV a week.

5. Exercise on average about an hour a day.

To those five tips, here are six more from Nutrisystem experts that could help you stay the course:

6. Eat consistently throughout the day so you don’t get hungry and overdo it or binge.

7. Remember that vegetables are your friend. You can munch on them between meals and use them to add more bulk to your meals.

8. Make workouts a regular part of your routine. Mark them on your calendar or day planner. Even better: Add them to your cellphone calendar and set up alerts so you can’t forget.

9. Avoid menu boredom by finding healthier versions of your favorite meals and ways to spice up your meals. If you are not enjoying what you are eating, it can be very hard to stick with it.

10. Carry around a large water bottle with you to make sure you’re getting enough. Remember, it’s easy to mistake thirst for hunger since we get much of our fluid from the food we eat.

11. Use those measuring cups! Don’t let those portions get out of control. Continue to measure and portion out your PowerFuels and SmartCarbs to stay in line with your Flex meal guidelines.

Ready to try Nutrisystem Success? We’ve got you covered! Learn more here >