Written By: Tania Tarafdar | Updated : December 9, 2014 10:59 AM IST
You've lost weight after sweating it out in the gym for months and reached your set goal. However, it does not mean you can go back to your older eating habits. Weight loss is not the end goal, maintaining your ideal weight is also necessary if you wish to stay fit forever. For many of us, maintaining weight might seem a really daunting task. But it is not that difficult. It simply means switching over to healthier eating plans and regular physical activity. The key to maintaining weight is adapting a healthy lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle boosts your energy and enhances your quality of life. It also keeps conditions such cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure and obesity at bay.
Exercise regularly
Sedentary habits will lead to weight gain. For maintaining weight, make exercise a part of your lifestyle. Fitness expert Marika Johannson recommends exercising for 45 minutes to 1 hour per day. 'Make sure you work out 3-4 times a week. It is a good idea to include cardio for 20 minutes 3 times a week. This will keep your body in shape. You should also perform an overall body workout with weights and functional exercises even while maintaining weight. If you completely stop performing some exercises, there will be an imbalance in your body and it will make you put on weight again,' she says.
Strength training is also very essential for sustaining weight. This is because, even after your workout session in the gym, your body will still burn fat as the muscle cells start repairing and recovering to rebuild themselves during that period. Strength training will help you get physically stronger and will also help to prevent injuries, bad posture and faster ageing.
Mind what you eat
A healthy diet helps control calorie intake and maximise vitamin and mineral intake. Besides, when your body has all the essential nutrients it requires, your energy levels stay high. Focus on eating fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, and fat-free or low-fat milk products. If you are a non-vegetarian include lean meats, poultry, fish and eggs in your diet.
Always consume foods that are low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt and added sugars. Though you are not necessarily counting calories anymore, it still becomes important to limit your fat and sugar intake for your overall health and a healthy weight.
Fitness expert Marika Johannson says, Stay within your daily calorie needs.' She recommends a woman an average of 2000 kcal and a man an average 2500 kcal per day. It can be above or below depending on your weight, height, physical activity and age. 'Try to eat smaller meals within smaller time span as it keeps the metabolic rate high. One should ideally have 4-6 small meals a day, each within a time span of 3 hours,' she advises.
Also, clean out junk foods and other unhealthy options from your fridge so that there is mostly healthy food to eat whenever cravings occur.
Fitness expert Marika Johannson gives a sample diet plan:
This plan needs to be supported with a good workout regimen to help you maintain your ideal weight and figure.
Image source: Getty Images
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