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Posted on: March 12, 2010

Off the Weight-Loss Wagon

Preparing for setbacks could put you on the fast track to success

By Bev Bennett
CTW Features

Diet and exercise take tremendous willpower, and if you’ve managed to lose excess weight and slim down by an inch or two you feel great. But the little surprises in everyday life, such as late nights at the office or special celebrations, can put a crimp in your best intentions.

Don’t worry. Some backsliding is to be expected. In fact, you can count on it, say health experts.

“Things will come along that derail you,” says Wendy Rodgers, Ph.D., faculty of physical education and recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton.

However, don’t use a setback as an excuse to give up and revert to your old habits.

Instead, “plan for a relapse,” says Beth Kitchin, assistant professor of nutrition sciences, University of Alabama, Birmingham. Develop a strategy for dealing with the first few pounds you gain. When you have a course of action you can handle a slip-up. Include self-help ideas for preventing that loss and gain cycle in the future.

For example, as an aid to trimming those new pounds, you may start a food diary writing down everything you consume.

“The food record is probably the biggest help. It puts you back on track,” Kitchin says.

Figure out a physical activity routine you can sustain.

Although you need exercise, don’t expect it to be easy.

“When you’re over 30, the decline is fast and far when you drop exercise for a few weeks,” Rodgers says. “You’ll have to work harder, but don’t let that be a deterrent.”

During your initial diet you probably saw a significant improvement that motivated you to stick with your regimen. It may be harder this time.

Change your goals.

“Now you have to have goals of weight maintenance. It’s not weight loss, but the success of seeing the scale stay the same,” Kitchin says.

Despite your best diet and exercise efforts, nature may have other plans for your body.

“You may lose 100 pounds and regain 20, and that’s OK. You have to have a realistic idea of your body type and natural weight,” Kitchin says.

Keeping It Off

Maintaining your weight loss is challenging but can be done.

One in five overweight people who lose at least 10 percent of their original body weight are able to keep it off at least a year, according to a study conducted by Rena R. Wing, Ph.D. and colleagues at the Brown Medical Center, Providence, R.I.

The study’s successful losers have some traits in common.

• Most eat breakfast every day, typically cereal and fruit.

• Most exercise vigorously, about an hour a day at moderate intensity; walking is most popular.

• Most weigh in at least once a day, which is contrary to the advice given by many diet experts.

Bev Bennett, a veteran food writer and editor, is the author of "Dinner for Two: A Cookbook for Couples" and "30-Minute Meals for Dummies"