Weight Loss VS. Weight Maintenance

Something I don’t hear talked about enough is the fact that losing weight and maintaining weight are two different things. Yes maintaining weight can be difficult/a new skill to learn, but it is distinctly different than weight loss.

*thinks about dieting*

Given the amount you are currently eating (calories) and how active you are, you’re either in an average state of weight loss, weight maintenance or weight gain.

A difficult truth to swallow can be that you might think you are or really, really want to be in a calorie deficit, but you aren’t. A simple fact: if you aren’t losing weight, somehow you are not in a calorie deficit. Now, this could be due to reasons beyond your control (thyroid issues, birth control hormones, etc.) that are causing you to not be in a calorie deficit, and therefor not lose weight.

The good news is, if you focus on the things that you can actually control (sleep, stress, food, activity level), you can know for certain if the problem is you or the problem is something else.

It’s also helpful to point out that often when people start wanting to lose weight, they are either currently in the weight gain territory, or maintenance, or somewhere in between. So in order to get over to the left side of the picture to weight loss, you have to go through weight maintenance first. Like you’re moving across that image from right to left.

You Shouldn’t Be Trying to Lose Weight FOREVER

Yes, dieting and eating less is hard. But what’s even harder is dragging out the dieting process for years by not staying in the weight loss area of that picture. It’s helped my clients to know that how we eat for weight loss and maintenance are not the same things. We get to eat more when we are in maintenance. YAY!

So, the difficult-ness of dieting is not something you have to ensure for the rest of your life! *rejoice* Depending on your starting point and what your goals are, the timeframe is going to look different. Some people don’t have 4 kids and a full-time job. Everyone’s priority list looks different and that is 100% okay.

If your goal is weight loss and you want to make sure you aren’t dieting forever, I’d love to work with you!


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