11 Sustainable Weight Loss Tips

Once you lose weight, you have to sustain your weight loss and the lean body you've worked so hard to build.

Hopefully, you lost weight the right way by burning fat and consistently losing weight. If so, you are already sustaining your weight loss. Keep it going!

Even those who do quick weight loss programs or fad diets (which I don't recommend) can build on the momentum and start doing things that will lean out their bodies. Its never too late to build muscle and eat right.

What about your weight loss? Can you sustain it? Or, will you weigh 40 pounds more in 2 months than you do today? Sure, you can starve yourself and lose 25 pounds in 2 weeks. But, when you begin to eat again, you will put the pounds back on.

Those who have succeeded at transforming their bodies from fat to lean have health and fitness practices that they do on most days. It becomes a sustainable lifestyle.

Here are 11 Tips to Sustain Your Weight Loss:

1. Identify your fitness goals and determine why your fat loss and weight loss efforts have failed or succeeded in the past. You also have to get your motivation right for your exercise program to work for you. This step takes you being "very honest" with yourself! Sometimes it is a painful process.

2. Its good to eat small meals every 3-4 hours to sustain your energy and keep your metabolism humming throughout the day.

3. How much do you eat? Research shows that people will underestimate the amount of calories they eat.

According to the True Results Health Honesty Survey, 46 percent of those surveyed are not honest with family members and 32 percent admit to lying to doctors. True Results is a team of leading weight loss experts based in Texas.

"Lying about your health and fitness, if even only a few times per year, can signify a fundamental issue in your ability to achieve your health goals," said Jessica Diaz, nutritionist and exercise physiologist for True Results. "Numerous studies have shown, the key to achieving any health or fitness goal is support from those around you and that cannot happen if you're not honest with yourself or others."

Its a good idea to journal your eating habits until you have a handle on what and how much to eat. Figure your daily caloric needs here.

4. Have an active lifestyle. This is a critical step to help you lose and manage your weight. Keep your fat-burning enzymes working during the day by standing and walking as much as possible. All movement burns calories.

5. Don't eat empty calories. Loading up on sugary drinks or foods are not very nutritious and they leave you wanting to eat more in just a short time.

6. Drink more water to help you eat less. Drink daily about a half an ounce of water for every pound of body weight (150 pound person would drink 75 ounces). Since your muscles are comprised of about 70% water, don't dehydrate yourself. During exercise, drink about a cup of water for every 15 minutes of exercise.

Water-based foods such as fruits and vegetables count toward water consumed. When you don't drink water, try beverages such as unsweetened tea. Limit the sodas.

7. Get adequate sleep. You must get enough sleep or your body won't work properly. Researchers have found that the less sleep the test subjects got, the higher their body mass index. The shorter sleep time altered the subjects hormone levels, energy decreased and appetite increased.

8. Strength training is critical to lean out your body. Do strength training 3 days a week. Do full-body strength training to burn total body fat and build muscle mass to boost your metabolism. "Spot reduction" strength training won’t work and you must do more than cardio exercise to transform your body.

It is crucial that you improve your body composition (less body fat % vs. more lean mass %). Where are you fat? Excess abdominal fat has been shown to be a precursor to diseases such as cancer.

You need to know your body measurements (chest, arms, neck, hips, waist, etc.). Consistently strength training your total body will help you burn fat and shrink your body.

9. Interval cardio will burn fat and not waste away your muscle mass. Top interval cardio routines are sprints, jump exercises and running uphill. All it takes is 20 minutes per session, 2-3 days a week.

10. Eat a balanced diet based on the macronutrients (healthy fats, carbohydrates, protein) before progressing to more advanced eating strategies like carb cycling. Eat enough to burn fat and build muscle. This will eliminate starvation diets.

For instance, you should eat protein with every meal. Protein is critical for rebuilding muscle tissues after workouts. Protein also helps you control calorie intake because you stay fuller for longer.

11. Get the help you need from other people. Get an accountability partner such as a spouse, friend or personal trainer. You can challenge each other to exercise and make good food choices.

Consistency is the key to sustaining your weight loss and lean, healthy body.