Good health is forever, right? No, not if you return to your old ways.

Before you start anything new, ask yourself this VERY important question:

Can I do this for the rest of my life?

If the answer is no, don’t do it! Don’t even bother!

This might sound very pessimistic, but it’s true…

If you start a new routine believing that it’s only temporary, then your results will be temporary too. Once you go back to your old ways, your old look and poor health will return. Change produces change. New eating habits and fitness means a new image and new you. Old habits mean your old image will return with a vengeance.

This is why 95% of dieters gain the weight back! 95% thought they could stop exercising when the summer season started. 95% thought they could return to junk food again. 95% thought their new figures and health would stick around no matter what.

Are you in that 95%? Answer the following questions to find out.

1. Are you on a diet?

Diets involve severely restricting calories e.g. 1000 calories a day, cutting out food groups, leave you starving, etc. Depriving yourself LOWERS your metabolism, so you end up burning less calories. Then when you start eating more food again, you gain and gain and gain. It could take months for your body to repair itself from the damage caused, but it WILL happen. Just remember that prevention is better than cure. Don’t starve yourself and you won’t have to suffer the consequences.

2. Are you over-exercising?

Over-exercising means you burn hundreds of calories per day, thousands each week, but don’t eat enough to fuel your body. If your weight loss stalls, try eating more food to see what happens. Sometimes people start losing again and get to eat even more! You don’t have to eat approx 1200 or less to over-exercise, so keep an eye on the amount you eat and burn each week. Even eating 1500-1700 could be too little, depending on how much you exercise.

3. Have you thought beyond a specific goal?

Aiming to lose before a special occasion can be great motivation, but very often people fall off the wagon when the big day passes. Set long-term goals e.g. lose and maintain weight loss for a year. The longer the better. Keep setting new goals so your interest is maintained.

4. Are you losing at a safe rate each week?

5lbs per week would feel great, but the healthy rate of 2lbs or less is the best option. The slower you lose, the slower it returns. The faster you lose, the more likely it is that your body will burn muscle as well as fat. Less muscle means a lower metabolism, which means you’ll burn less calories throughout the day AND during exercise sessions. Obese and morbidly obese can safely lose more then 2lbs per week, because they are very far away from their goal weights, but this rate of loss should slow down to the safer 2lbs.

5. Have you considered weight maintenance?

Meeting your goal weight is not the end. It’s just the beginning. Everything you did to lose or gain must be maintained FOR LIFE. This is why it’s important to only do exercise and prepare food you are willing to continue with forever. If you slack off exercise or return to your old eating habits, get ready to be unfit again.

After reading over the questions and my responses beneath them, it should be clear whether you are heading towards being one of 95% who regain, which includes many who regain ALL the weight lost and sometimes even more. If you answered YES to the first two questions and NO to the final three, please visit the BODY section of this website ASAP. It is not too late to turn things around.