How to Maintain a Healthy Weight

By Nicki Anderson

To maintain a healthy weight, you gotta kick it up! – Nicki

It isn't at all unusual for clients to call my studio and say, "I've been exercising consistently for years and I'm starting to put on weight, I don't get it. Can you help?"

You've heard me say it before but I'll repeat it, with exercise you have to keep it fresh, and include variety. I believe the body "settles in" if you will, and gets used to the same type of exercise and that means your body doesn't have to work as hard. Less work translates to less caloric expenditure, right?

Further, many people think walking is enough. Although it is a great activity to keep up (make sure you keep challenging yourself with intensity), adding strength training and perhaps some biking or another activity will help with weight maintenance and in some cases weight loss.

So the bottom line is, keep your exercise program challenging and full of variety. For me, I usually change it up every 6 months or so. I might be heavy on weight training and light on cardio for 6 months and then, cut back a bit on weights and kick up cardio or add yoga or plyometric training. This keeps my body guessing and keeps it challenged. Remember, the harder your body has to work, the more calories you're burning. So for those of you that have been "strolling" for years, time to kick up your pace! :-)

Since intensity and frequency of exercise are commonly asked questions, I thought I'd share the article below. Good stuff.

Exercising harder keeps weight off longer! (From IHRSA Wellness Report)

People who consistently engage in high levels of exercise over the long haul are the most successful at losing weight and keeping it off, a new study shows.

Among a group of overweight men and women participating in an 18-month weight loss program, those who were still getting 75 minutes of exercise daily a year after the program ended had lost 26 pounds, compared with 1.8 pounds for people who were exercising less.

But only 13 of the 154 people who completed the study were able to sustain this level of activity, Dr. Deborah F. Tate of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and her colleagues found. "Strategies are needed to help participants maintain high levels of activity over the long-term," she and her colleagues conclude in a report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The researchers initially assigned 202 people to either a high physical activity group who aimed to burn 2,500 calories per week (equivalent to a 75-minute walk daily) or standard behavioral treatment, including 30 minutes of exercise daily, equivalent to 1,000 calories per week.

Twelve and 18 months later, people in the high activity group had lost significantly more weight than those in the lower activity group.

Although the participants in the high activity group were able to sustain the 2,500 calorie per week exercise goal during the 18-month study, their activity level declined once treatment ended, which resulted in no between-group differences in activity or weight loss at 2.5 years.

O.K. so don't panic, I know that 75 minutes is a heck of a lot. The idea is this, if currently you've been walking 30 minutes 3-4 times a week, it's time to kick it up to 45 minutes and increase intensity. However 2 of those four days, just kick up intensity, keep the time the same, but add on 15 minutes of strength training. If you're been walking 45 minutes 5 times a week, kick it up to an hour and increase your intensity OR kick it up to an hour 3 times per week and 2 times per week keep it at 30-45, kicking up intensity and adding 2 days of strength training for 15-30 minutes. Make sense?

Bottom line, kick up intensity, add strength training and simply shake it up. You should notice a difference in how you feel.

Oh yeah, once more thing, does this mean in twenty years you'll be exercising 10 hours a day? Hardly, by switching things up and around and back again, you're challenging your body, that's all you need to do!