There’s tons of information online to help you lose weight, but where is the information telling you what to do when you’ve reached your weight loss goal? This is just as important as losing weight because gaining it back can be demoralizing, not to mention unhealthy.

{Being physically active can help you maintain weight loss.}

Learning how to maintain your weight loss can be the difference between keeping those pesky weight-related illnesses at bay or taking tons of medications to treat them. Keep reading to learn 6 steps to maintaining healthy weight loss.

Don’t Skip Meals

Avoid the temptation to start skipping meals when you reach your goal weight. You lost the weight by eating regular healthy meals, so don’t change what worked to get you to your goal in the first place.

When you skip a meal, especially if you’re doing it to keep your calorie count normal, almost always has the unintended consequence of overeating. If you skip lunch to keep reduce your calorie intake chances are good that at dinner you’ll eat far more than you should and end up regretting it later.

Not only does skipping meals lead to overeating, but generally you are so starved after skipping a meal that you can easily justify grabbing a sugary nutrient deficient snack like donuts or candy bars. If you truly don’t have time some days for one of your meals, pack a banana and an apple so you can satisfy your appetite until you can eat a proper meal.

If not, the calories from donuts and candy bars will add up and you’ll be in weight loss mode again rather than weight maintenance.

Go To Sleep

Since you were a child some parent or doctor has been telling you how essential sleep is to a healthy and happy you, yet you continue to sleep very little during the week and far too long on the weekends. And guess what? This has a huge effect on your ability to maintain recent weight loss.

A study published in the journal Sleep found that sleeping less than 6 hours and more than 9 hours is a reliable predictor of future weight gain. Those who slept too much or too little had an increased risk of obesity, in fact they were 27% and 21%, respectively, at an increased risk than those who slept 7 to 8 hours each night.

Keep Moving

One of the most important things you did to reach your weight loss goal was to get physically active and the best thing you can do to maintain that weight loss is to keep moving. Be sure that you’re still making exercise a priority. Remember that even as little as 30 minutes of exercise each day can help you burn calories while also increasing your resting metabolism.

If you struggled with traditional exercise during your weight loss, then make an effort to get more physical activity in your daily life. Do non-traditional exercises like hiking and sports to help burn calories and keep your metabolism working hard. Just don’t forget how important physical activity is to maintaining healthy loss and keeping you heart healthy.

Indulge Yourself

Although your weight loss happened because you counted calories and were diligent about your diet, maintaining healthy weight loss means allowing yourself small indulgences so you don’t have big indulgences. Enjoy a glass of wine with dinner or have that scoop of ice cream for dessert.

The key to a healthy indulgence to keep your portion sizes small and to indulge occasionally. Dessert every night or 3 cocktails with dinner every night will have you consuming more calories than you can burn. Allow yourself some of what you love on occasion and it’ll be easier to maintain a healthy lifestyle with plenty of physical activity.

Have Fun In The Kitchen

If you want to enjoy some of the high calorie foods you love, or used to love, get in the kitchen and learn how to make low calorie variations. This allows you to feel as though your life hasn’t changed that much while also maintaining healthy weight loss.

Embrace cooking even if you can’t learn to love it, because it is the key to healthy eating to maintain weight loss. When you cook for yourself you can control the quality and the calories of the food you cook. Feel like tacos? Grab some ground chicken breast or turkey and reduce the calories while still eating a taco or 2!

{This is a sweet, healthy and nutritious snack to maintain healthy weight loss!}

Plan For Snacks

Planning snacks is a good way to make sure your hunger is satisfied all day long while also giving you necessary nutrients. Besides, planning snacks means you can plan for healthy snacks rather than the always available high sugar, high fat snacks. By planning your snacks you can keep your calorie count low and make smart food choices without the pressure of hunger pangs.

If you struggle getting enough fruits and vegetables in your diet, a fruit salad or vegetable sticks & dip make a perfect snack. Choose healthy snacks so that you’re getting enough of the essential nutrients you need for a healthy and functioning body.

Bonus Tip: Dine Out RIGHT!

This is probably the hardest obstacle to tackle for dieters and those who are lucky enough to be at their goal weight. Learning how not to go overboard when dining out is an important part of maintaining healthy weight loss.

Don’t think of eating out as a reward, just think of it as a night you don’t have to cook and eat as you would if you were cooking at home. Forget appetizers and order a salad or soup with your meal to make sure you’re not indulging in deep fried junk that will add hundreds of calories to your daily intake.

Have a cocktail rather than an oversized dessert so you get what you like without regretting it later. Choose an entrée that you don’t have the kitchen skills to make instead of ordering an appetizer and dessert. Make smart choices when dining out so that you can maintain the healthy weight loss you worked so hard to achieve.

If you find it difficult to stick with the healthy eating plan you were on while you were losing weight, see if Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat can help you get back on the right track.