5 Dietitian-Approved Tips for Effective Weight Management

Maintaining healthy weight loss is a difficult but crucial element of overall well-being. It's easy to get caught up in the fads surrounding weight loss. Losing weight quickly and easily always sounds like the best way to do it—until you gain the weight back.

“The body doesn’t like when you lose a lot of weight really fast,” weight loss dietitian Lainey Younkin, MS, RD, LDN, told Health. “It signals something is wrong and fights to return to your starting weight.”

Short-term thinking can prevent long-term changes, so it is important to think in terms of sustainable lifestyle changes instead of fad diets.

Here’s what registered dietitians say are their best tips for sustainably maintaining weight loss.

1. Slowly Adapt New, Healthy Habits

Hopping on a new diet trend or engaging in restrictive methods to lose weight is a setup for future failure.

Instead, it’s best to start small, implementing goals like adding a fruit or vegetable to a meal or increasing exercise by 10 minutes daily. The most sustainable habits are those that feel doable and don’t completely overhaul your life.

“Overhauling your entire diet overnight is usually a recipe for burnout,” Miranda Galati, MHSc, RD, a registered dietitian who focuses on simple recipes and doable nutrition tips, told Health. “Instead, focus on one meal or one nutrient at a time so the change feels doable and sustainable. When you change your habits slowly, your results are more likely to be permanent.”

2. Let Your Diet Evolve With You

Just because you’re making some lifestyle changes doesn’t mean food has to be a chore. You can still enjoy fueling your body with things you like that also make you feel good—the main thing to consider is a reasonable number of calories and the correct amount of protein.

“If you slash calories while you’re losing weight, you’re more likely to experience cravings and return to old habits when it’s time to maintain,” Galati explained.

It is more effective to start with a small daily calorie deficit that will be realistic to maintain. This may mean slower weight loss, but it will help facilitate a much easier transition to weight maintenance.

Protein is crucial for weight loss and maintenance. A high protein diet is satiating and, along with fiber, helps to reduce hunger and cravings, making it easier to stay in a calorie balance. Protein also helps preserve muscle mass while boosting metabolism.

3. Don’t Forget to Stay Active

While diet is the most important aspect of weight loss, exercise is critical for maintaining it. According to current research, 90% of individuals who maintain weight loss also exercise an average of one hour daily.

This doesn’t mean you have to do an hour of cardio every day. Younkin explained that the best kind of exercise for losing weight and keeping it off is adding strength training to consistent daily movement.

“Daily movement is referred to as non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT),” she said. “Then strength training builds muscle, and the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest.”

4. Align Your Goals and Accountability

Making sustainable changes can also come in the form of choosing the right goals. Instead of fixating on weight, choosing general, health-promoting goals can be a healthy shift in forming sustainable habits.

Instead of micromanaging the number on the scale, focus on goals like including more foods that directly promote well-being. Eat more fruits and vegetables for more fiber to influence digestive health, eat more healthy fats for heart health, and move more for improved blood pressure and blood sugar.

People often use tracking apps and tools to stay mindful of food choices during the weight loss phase. This type of self-monitoring can be just as important in weight maintenance. When people move away from these tools, it can be easy to lose awareness and return to old habits.

“Many clients find that setting and reflecting on weekly goals, keeping a mindful food journal, or continuing to weigh themselves to be helpful,” Galati said.

5. Understand When Weight Loss Becomes Disordered

Lastly, it’s important to remember that dieting and engaging in intentional weight loss is one of the biggest predictors of disordered eating.

Seeking help from a registered dietitian (RD) who will not restrict foods while you work on your weight loss goals is recommended to help you maintain a positive relationship with food. Consider reaching out to a therapist as well if you feel like your eating approach might be disordered.

Signs you are heading in a disordered direction include:

• Constantly thinking about food and exercise
• Hyperfixation on the scale or the weight affecting your mood
• Cutting out too many foods or groups
• Not engaging in social activities due to fear of food

The healthiest weight for you is whatever you see on the scale when you follow a nutritious, balanced diet and move your body in ways you enjoy.

A Quick Review

Restrictive diets or fad diets often result in people gaining back the weight they wanted to lose. Instead, sustainable habits, like prioritizing protein, are more helpful in maintaining healthy weight loss.

If you're interested in losing weight, experts recommend focusing on general health-promoting goals, like eating more vegetables, instead of fixating on calories or restrictions.