Tips to avoid weight regain

Have small frequent meals
•Don’t stay without food for more than 4-5 hours.
•Skipping meals encourage binge eating.
•Eating 3 meals per day helps controlling your hunger.

Stay motivated
•Buy new workout gear
•Try a new gym
•Try new activities like learning Zumba and new courses like TRX cross fit

Control Sugar Intake
•Eat a bit of your craving: a small cookie or candy bar not exceeding 150-calorie.
•Chew a gum to avoid giving in to a sugar craving.
•Grab a fruit to get fiber and nutrients along with some sweetness.
•Avoid drinking any form of soft drinks. For example, 350 ml of sweetened beverage can contain about 10 teaspoons of sugar.
•Use unrefined sweeteners, such as pure maple syrup or raw honey.
•Stop your sugar addiction by cutting down slowly. The more sugar you eat, the more you’ll crave, so try to avoid adding sugar into tea and coffee.
•When you crave sweetness go for a walk. Studies find that after exercise athletes’ preference for sugary foods declines.
•Combine your craving food with a healthful one this way you’ll satisfy a craving and get healthy nutrients. For example, dip a banana in chocolate sauce or mix some almonds with chocolate chips.
•After a workout replace sports drinks and bars that are loaded with sugars and many protein powders with water and fruit.
•Select the right cereal for breakfast. Even the healthy ones are loaded with sugar, so choose one with less than 8 grams sugar per serving or preferably unsweetened.

Choose Healthier fat
•Grill your food to reduce added fat and still enjoy a good taste.
•Choose meats with less saturated fat such as lean cuts of meat, chicken and fish.
•Eat a source of omega-3 fats on daily basis. Good sources include: fish, walnuts, canola oil, soybean oil, flaxseed oil and ground flax seeds.
•Remove trans-fats! Check food labels for trans-fats and avoid fast food along with processed baked goods.
•Watch out of health catchphrase: a product labeled “No saturated fat” may be loaded with sugar, sodium and refined flour.

Boost Your Metabolism
•Have a walk! Moving around not only can help in digestion after a meal, but also increase your daily energy expenditure and boosts fat burn.
•Go for iron-rich foods! Low iron levels can slow down your metabolism.
•The calories you eat during the day shouldn’t exceed the calories you burn.
•Enjoy some green tea: it has an ingredient which can activate your metabolism.

Exercise controls weight
•Aim to exercise 30 min a day.
•Go for workouts that you enjoy most. This will help boost your morale of exercising thereby creating a disciplined routine.
•Mix up weights and cardio. Combining both will boost your metabolism during the 30 min period after your workout making you burn more calories.
•Select intervals to fire up your metabolism. It was found that doing 10 intervals of 4 min speed bursts along with 2 min of slow walking (60 min total), 3 times/week increases the ability of your body to burn fat 25% during exercise.
•Stretch out! Studies have found that stretching before running may increase calories burnt.
•Challenge Yourself! Make sure you are always exercising to your full fitness capabilities.

Christelle Bedrossian
Dietitian-Nutritionist
Beirut, Lebanon