Get off the ‘maintenance’ rollercoaster
When it comes to long term success, weight loss goals are a tricky area for most people. Think of how many people you know or have previously seen lose a bunch of weight, look and feel great for a few months, then regain all the weight back – and then some. I find more often than not that when people set a weight loss goal and achieve it, their first thought after is ‘maintenance’ – holding onto how they are now, rather than pushing towards another goal. This is where the rollercoaster begins, and how many people can become disheartened and un-motivated with coming into the gym and working on their health and fitness - as well as losing the progress they just made.
The reason for this is simple – maintenance doesn’t excite most people! It isn’t a strong enough motivating factor for you to keep doing the things that got you to where you are, as they’re thing things you’ll need to keep doing to hold onto your results – the exercise, the food preparation and all the other daily/weekly habits you built over your time working towards your weight loss goal.
So what’s the answer then? More weight loss?
Not necessarily, no. One of the best things I’ve found when helping people hold onto their results from their weight loss has been helping them reset goals in different areas of fitness that challenge them. They don’t have to be the classic ‘Squat Bench Deadlift’ goals that a powerlifter has – it’s important to choose something that interests you personally.
The world wife-carrying championship awaits.
Here are some of the top goals I’ve helped people with once their weight loss focus was over – if any of these interest you, set one as a target and start planning how you’re going to get there:
Increasing your 5 Rep Max (RM) in 1-2 lifts (i.e. Squat and Bench Press)
Getting your first strict chin-up (or setting a new PB)
Doing 10 strict push-ups (or setting a new PB)
Running 5km without stopping (or if you’re already past that, completing a running event like a half-marathon)
Switching goals to muscle gain
Whatever your fitness goal is that you focus on, it must be something that excites and challenges you personally. This is how you hold onto the weight loss results you worked so hard for – by setting new goals that keep you showing up to the gym, training hard and eating well. Having a positive goal to work towards (i.e. I want to run 5km without stopping) will feel much better than setting a maintenance goal, which many people have framed to me as “I just don’t want to gain weight again”.
As well as the mindset benefits of working towards a positive goal, there are the physical benefits - to work on a goal that challenges you, you will have to progressively increase your training intensity over time and ensure you are eating enough to both perform and recover from hard training. In this way you can get some relief from the calorie deficit period you’ve had to remain in with your weight loss goal - indeed, being in a slight calorie surplus may even be needed at times to help fuel big sessions, or when coming to the end of a particularly intense peaking phase of a program.
Carb-loading was arguably one of my fondest memories of my marathon days.
Can I ever just have any weeks where I can relax?
Absolutely! Its perfectly normal to want some time after an intense weight loss phase to let your hair down a bit and enjoy the fruits of your labour – we just don’t want to let it go for so long that it erases the results you’ve worked so hard for. After a focussed weight loss phase, I’d recommend having 1-2 weeks where you take some time to relax, slightly reduce the intensity/frequency of your training and take the opportunity to enjoy some of the foods you may have missed.
If you hit your weight loss goal and still want to see how lean you can get, an advanced goal like competing in a physique show may be the challenge you’re looking for. If this is the case, I would recommend still taking 1-2 weeks downtime as detailed above, as the structure required for a physique show can become quite intense – but that’s something we’ll cover in another article :)
So if you’re coming the end of your weight loss phase, start thinking about where you want to go next with your health and fitness. Reset your goals now to avoid the relapse into old habits later.
Talk soon,
Alex
