Chris Powell's Choose More, Lose More for Life (53 page)

When it comes to our weight, it seems like most of us are good at two things: gaining it and losing it. If you’ve gotten to the point where you’ve reached your goal weight, congratulations! I’m so proud of all you’ve done! Now your goal should be Maintenance, which can be a whole new challenge because there aren’t a lot of guidelines on how to do it. Everyone talks about finding “balance,” but nobody has given direction on how to get there… until now.

Maintenance is about feeling satisfied. It’s also about finding a system of rewards that fulfills your needs on a daily basis. When you are losing weight, food often gets replaced with the good feeling you get from the number on the scale or compliments from your family and friends. So what happens when you are at your goal weight and the compliments slow down? We still need something to look forward to. Welcome to Maintenance… and the rest of your life.

Here’s the deal. Your body still needs real, whole, natural food. You still need to eat five times a day and drink plenty of water. This is for your overall health and well-being! However, you don’t have to deprive yourself for the rest of your life to stay lean. We have found a method that is incredibly simple yet works. In fact, it is so simple, we’ve summed it all up in three steps:

1. Select Your Cycle.

Select a cycle that works for you. Choose between the Easy and the Fit Cycle—pick the pattern that you feel comfortable with sustaining forever. This cycle will keep you eating five meals every day of good quality food and drinking plenty of water.

The carb cycle I feel most comfortable doing is: _____________.

Now let’s get to the good stuff….

2. Select Your Rewards.

Declare it ahead of time! Don’t blindly wander through the days succumbing to drive-throughs and donuts that Bob from Accounting brought into the office. You’ll quickly find yourself right back where you started. Instead, put some thought into it and treat yourself to some quality eats—because you deserve it. Maybe it’s some dark chocolate, or a caramel latte from a fancy coffee shop. Think about your five favorite reward foods and list them with the portion you feel comfortable eating.

My favorite reward foods are:

3. Select Your Lifestyle Layers.

We call these regular rewards laced throughout our week “Lifestyle Layers.” We simply lay down more and more rewards until we feel totally satisfied throughout our days and feel confident that we can make it a lifestyle. Don’t worry about rewards on high- or low-carb days anymore, just keep the carb-cycling pattern consistent and lay down rewards where
you
feel that you need them. Whatever you do, DO NOT select to reward yourself less than what will satisfy you. This will lead to feelings of deprivation and inevitably going back to old destructive eating patterns. The
right
way to do Maintenance is to keep laying down lifestyle layers until you feel satisfied!

Once a week: If you felt totally satisfied while carb cycling and can maintain that pattern indefinitely, then feel free to indulge in your reward day once a week… for life!

Twice a week: Pick two days to reward yourself. Try splitting them up, like Wednesday and Sunday.

Every other day: Similar to the reward plan on the Easy Cycle—if you can’t have it today, you can always have it tomorrow!

Once a day: First thing in the morning or later in the day, a daily reward gives us something to look forward to always.

Once you’ve selected the Lifestyle Layer that works best for you, give yourself an acceptable weight range to stay within—say plus or minus ten pounds.

My upper range limit for Maintenance is: _____________.

My lower range limit for Maintenance is: _____________.

If at any time during Maintenance you find the number on the scale creeping back up, simply remove a few of the Lifestyle Layers and carb cycle yourself right back down. If you find yourself losing too much weight, follow these steps: Once you find the Lifestyle Layer that works for you, stick with it! Don’t add more reward foods to gain the weight back—this can lead you back to the unhealthy eating patterns that made you overweight in the first place. Instead, I want you to add in one hundred calories of smart carbs each day. After a couple weeks, check in to see that you are on track toward your ideal weight.

As you embark on a whole new journey of Maintenance, take to heart the powerful and universal lessons you learned during your weight-loss journey. Keep in mind that nobody does Maintenance perfectly. However, as long as you
unite
with others around you to create a support system,
keep your promises
to yourself, and
fall without failing
, you will always succeed.