What Are you Hungry For? Full Life's Healthy Lifestyle Blog

Achieving Balance - Weight Maintenance Tip #5

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There are lots of low calorie products on the market designed to capture the calorie conscious consumer. None irk me more than the 100 calorie snack packs of your favorite high calorie cookies.

On the face of it, providing the consumer with a portion controlled calorie controlled option is not a bad idea. The problem with the snack packs is that no matter how you slice and dice it - 100 calories of oreos is still 100 empty calories - and it's easy to rationalize having another little bag because, after all, it's only another 100 calories.

Achieving Balance Weight Maintenance Tip #5 - Don't just count calories - make your calories count!

The key to making a healthy lifestyle change, and managing your weight more successfully, is changing your choices. Have fruit (around 16 calories per ounce) instead of cookies (around 100 calories per ounce), shakes instead of ice cream, potato wedges instead of potato chips... get more bang for your calorie buck by choosing more nutrition everytime.

Check out Full Life's Transition to Maintenance Guide for more tips, tools and strategies for long term, successful weight loss maintenance.

Achieving Balance - Weight Maintenance Tip #4

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Physical Activity plays a key role in long term health and weight loss maintenance. But the calories out side of the equation is often not enough to compensate for the calories in - especially if some of your old pesky eating habits have come back.

Using Meal Replacement Entrees is a very simple way to add structure to your maintenance plan. HMR meal replacement entrees work well because they mix with veggies easily - but there are many varieties of meal replacements to choose from in the grocery store, too. Look for those that will mix with veggies, have 300 calories or less and at least 10 grams of protein. Watch the sodium content (maximum daily intake should be 2400 mg or less) and make sure the total calories from fat is less than 30%.

Achieving Balance Weight Maintenance Tip #4 - Use meal replacement (HMR) entrees as a regular part of your weekly diet plan.

An easy way to incorporate meal replacements is to add them to your established routine. Bringing HMR entrees to the office is easy because they require no refrigeration - you can stock up your desk or file cabinet for the entire week ahead of time. And the bottom line is - it's a lot easier to build a 450 calorie lunch using meal replacements and veggies than it is to eat 1000 calories at lunch with your colleagues and have to hit the treadmill for hours after work just to balance out the day's calories. Using HMR entrees for lunch will save you $$ too, while protecting your weight loss long term.

Check out our Recipes and Tips pages for lots of great HMR recipe ideas - and be creative - your weight depends on it!

Achieving Balance - Weight Maintenance Tip #3 - Sooner is Better

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Managing your weight successfully means balancing calories in and calories out every day.  But days become weeks and weeks become months and so - not only do you need to find balance each day - but you need to balance out the days of the week and the weeks of the month.

Remember that the calories you overeat today will still be with you tomorrow - and it may take several deficit days to balance out your week.  Don't eat the cheesecake and the brownie and the ice cream and the pie just because you are starting over tomorrow!

Keeping accurate records will help you achieve Weight Maintenance Tip #3 - SOONER is Better!

If you have a high calorie day (or weekend or week!), make a plan to have a calorie deficit day as soon as possible.  You can achieve this by adding more PA, more Fruits and Veggies and more HMR meal replacements to your plan.  The sooner you get back to your healthy lifestyle the better.

Achieving Balance - Weight Maintenance Tip #2

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One of Full Life's most successful clients (who is keeping off over 100 pounds since he lost it in 2002) came to speak to our BLITZ class this week. He said that staying connected to Full Life the past 7 years has been a deciding factor in his long term weight maintenance success.

Achieving Balance Tip #2 - STAY CONNECTED. Go to class no matter what kind of week you have had. Make the call to your Personal Coach or Health Educator. Enroll in the HMR at Home Program and stay in Maintenance. And if you have been out of the loop - RESTART!

Keep the people who support your healthy lifestyle in your life.

If you want to be different, you have to be different. You can do it!

Achieving Balance - Weight Maintenance Tip #1

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Successful weight maintenance is a matter of balance. Calories in- Calories out. But if you have lost weight in the past only to put it all back on and then some - our new BLOG feature can help.

Achieving Balance is a weekly post with a Weight Maintenance Tip designed to help you keep your weight off!

Write down these weekly tips and try them. Embrace a new approach to maintenance including more of the strategies you used to lose weight in the first place.

Achieving Balance - TIP #1

Do some type of Physical Activity every day. Make it happen. If you can't fit in a full work out or a 45 minute walk - do 10. Just 10 minutes. Every 10 minutes is a 10 minute walk away from the slippery slope.

If you want to be different you have to be different. You can do it.