Weight Loss

In No Time, Flat, Step 4: Maintain Your Losses

[ Updated: Jul 14, 2008 - 5:08:46 PM ]

Congratulations. If you've made it this far, you've shed a few pounds, tightened your midsection, and started on the road to long-term weight management. You've done the hard part. But here's the rub: Most guys don't do the easy part, which is keeping the pounds off once they're gone. We say easy because it requires far less effort to maintain weight loss than to effect it. The first 2 pounds, for example, required you to create a weekly calorie deficit of 7,000 calories. "To maintain a 2-pound weight loss, you have to cut out just 112 calories per week," says John Peters, cofounder of America on the Move, a national initiative to help people avoid weight gain by making small changes in their daily lives. That averages out to roughly 16 calories less per day.

We're not going to bore you with a plan to cut 16 calories. Instead, we'll pose a challenge: Why stop there? With a little more effort, you can lose a pound a week for as long as you like.

"Stick to the same workout routine," says Murphy. "Just do it a lot less often." Four days per week instead of 7, to be exact: two strength workouts, a cardio workout, and an interval workout. Even if you cut down on your workout and add another 250 calories' worth of food every day, your weekly calorie deficit will still total 3,500-just enough to lose 1 pound every 7 days.

There is something to be said for slow and steady, after all-it's the best way to maintain long-term results after you've created a short-term foundation.