How to Maintain Your Ideal Weight With Good Eating Habits

Maintaining your ideal weight can prove to be a more difficult challenge for those who have already achieved their ideal weight loss. The sad truth is that most people will always be on some kind of diet.

If you have achieved your ideal weight loss, you will most likely not be able to return to your former eating habits, because those very habits—like eating way too many super-sized fast food meals and being inactive—created the weight in the first place. So you always have to examine your food choices to maintain the weight you’ve lost. Here are some tips to keep the weight off and maintain your ideal weight for the rest of your life:

Be a Breakfast Lover

One of the best eating habits you can form is to eat breakfast every single day. On most diets, people starve themselves in the morning so they can eat more for lunch and dinner. This doesn’t work. Eat breakfast!

You really do need to eat breakfast. You say that you’re not that hungry in the morning? Okay, but eat anyway, because research shows that eating first thing will make you feel more satisfied throughout the entire day, and you’ll consume fewer calories, all told. Even on the weekends. What’s more, I’ve personally found that most people who skip breakfast become ravenous by 10:30 that morning and often find themselves eating whatever is on hand, even if it’s really fattening junk food.

Get on Good Terms with Salad

Have a salad when you dine out or eat at home. According to a study at Penn State University, starting dinner with a large salad may help lower the number of calories you’ll consume at that meal. No, not a few leaves of romaine underneath a mountain of cheese and croutons. I’m talking about salad veggies topped with one tablespoon of light dressing.

Exercise Portion Control

What’s the major dietary blunder of the last 10 years? Ginormous portions of rice and pasta and boulder-size potatoes and yams. Large portions and rich food in restaurants are a major source of extra calories for Americans, a fact not likely to change soon. It’s important to recognize this and to continue to choose well when out, and control portion sizes. Pay attention to portion sizes, and don’t reach for seconds.

Practice the Three-Bite Rule

Practice my “three-bite rule” if you cannot wave off the temptation of desserts. If you truly want that chocolate turtle cheesecake, go head and have it, but limit yourself to a taste. Take three bites and then set it aside for a few minutes. You’re less likely to come back to it. You might even discover that those few bites of a great dessert can be very satisfying, and might be all you really wanted in the first place. After your three bites, you can ask your server to take it away, unless your dinner mates want to scarf it down.

Avoid Overboard Syndrome

Never binge. Translated: No pig-outs. No stuffing your face until it grows to the size of a basketball. Get your eating under control. Decide that this way of eating is going to change.

Make lists of trouble foods that might make you binge. Deep down, you know what these foods are, so it’s best not to include them in your weekend treat meals.

Plan your week’s meals in advance, so you’re programming your brain and stomach to expect food. It will help you stop eating out of habit. Enjoy your favorite foods on the weekends, but use your head. Go ahead and include pizza in your nutrition plan—just choose a single slice, not the whole pie! Maintain that consistency, and you’ll be thin for life.

How do you maintain your ideal weight? Please share your tips and comment below!