You already know what happens when you give up on weight loss

You already know what happens when you give up on weight loss. Are you ready to find out what happens when you don’t?

If you’ve spent a lot of time trying to lose weight and you’re not getting anywhere it could be because you’re doing it all wrong. Lots of people do it wrong.

You wouldn’t even need to lose weight if you hadn’t let yourself go, so now a rigid, painful diet is the price you must pay, right? You know it’s what you need to do. You have done it more than once in the past with varying degrees of success, but you’ve never had the complete success you wanted.

Somewhere, sometime between the start of your diet and reaching your goal, you quit. Maybe because…

  • Your life became too stressful
  • You had no support
  • The people around you openly sabotaged you because they were jealous you were losing weight and they weren’t; (they denied it but they kept saying, “you’re no fun anymore.”)
  • You failed to make adequate progress

Whatever the reason, you decided to quit or you didn’t make a conscious decision to quit but your weight loss behaviors kept getting weaker and less important until they disappeared from your life altogether.

You know what happens when you give up on weight loss. You stop losing weight. You gain back the weight you lost and sometimes (no, make it most times) you keep on gaining.

What would happen if you didn’t give up? I think we both know the answer. The question isn’t really what would happen if you didn’t give up; it’s what can you do to ensure you don’t give up?

To get expert advice about how to build a weight loss plan that is flexible, versatile, and easy to stick with, I turned to a world-renowned expert. Karen Miller-Kovach, M.S. R.D. and retired Chief Scientist at Weight Watchers International, Inc. offers this advice.

  • There is no expiration date on your goal

You wanted to lose a reasonable goal of 50 pounds before your high school reunion next fall and now it’s next week and you have only lost 16 so far. Don’t punish yourself by skipping the reunion. Wear something that makes you feel great and go have a super time reconnecting with lost friends and acquaintances. After the reunion get right back on track and recommit to your 50 pounds lighter goal. It’s going to feel just as good whether or not you get there on your original timetable.

  • Practice flexible restraint

Miller-Kovach shares the importance of flexible restraint. “I’d like to see more people learn “the skill of flexible restraint.

Dietary restraint refers to how tightly a person regulates her or his food intake. “People who count every bite are highly restrained eaters. The opposite are people who lack any inhibition when it comes to eating. They open a bag of cookies and eat the entire thing. If you want to control your weight in a society in which food is ubiquitous, you have to use some restraint,” she says. “But you also have to have some flexibility so that when you go out to dinner or to a social event you can eat a fair amount and go back on track with your regular eating and exercising plan the next day.”

  • Don’t go it alone

“Recognize that you need a supportive atmosphere to be successful with weight loss,” said Karen Miller-Kovach. “So turn to co-workers, family or friends for help.”

If you’re thinking, “my family friends and co-workers are not supportive. I can’t expect to get help from them,” you can join a supportive network of people who share the same goal. As much as you consider yourself an independent, goal-oriented, capable individual there are some things you can do better with support. Let’s face it, when it comes to weight loss, it has been something you can’t do by yourself. You know that because you have tried and failed.

It’s my personal experience and opinion there is no better support network than Weight Watchers meetings. Meeting attendance has helped millions of millions of people all over the world lose weight and keep it off. Weight Watchers isn’t the only supportive network available to you, but independent studies and research keep showing it’s the best one.

You do have other options, and I encourage you to explore them all to find the one that is the best fit for you. That’s going to be of primary importance if this weight loss journey is the one that will finally take you all the way because no matter what happens, you’re determined to keep going to get your answer.

What happens if I don’t quit?

Jackie Conn

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.