"I'll Be Back" – Famous last words? Only if you're Arnold Schwarzenegger!

The Ups & Downs of Weight Maintenance & Seven Tips for Success!

 Your diet is working! Several pounds have drifted off into nothingness. Gone! Joy!  But wait! Hark! You hear it faintly in the distance, "I'll be back…"  "Come here, diet! I want to blow you away!"

  Diet Maps | Diet Motivation | Hot Off the Press

Weight maintenance, it's not easy. Why? Seven very costly reasons why something we don't want keeps returning home are:

- For one, after we lose weight we get very comfy, and sometimes a bit too relaxed. Before we know it, five pounds have slipped back on, then ten, and so on and so on.

- Two, because some of us are prone to the dreaded Yo-Yo Dieting Syndrome. We lost weight once, so we can do it again.

- Three, the Scarlett O'Hara Tout which is, "I'll think about dieting tomorrow."

- Four, we are exercising enough to make Richard Simmons turn into an exoskeleton if he were in our shoes. How could we possibly gain weight with all this movement going on? Now where's my pizza pie and my one-calorie soda?

- Five, the Where's Waldo question comes into play. We forget what we've accomplished.

- Six, the Robin William's theme song turns on inside our heads and we go completely berserk. "Nanu, nanu, nanu…." In essence, your brain is saying, "I am sick and tired of eating cardboard! Give me some real food NOW!!"

- Seven, we were able to lose weight, but now that it's gone, maintaining it is a completely new ballgame. How much should I eat to maintain my new weight? Why am I so hungry now? Why do things taste differently now than before my diet? And why can't they make a healthy treat that tastes great?

Relax! Re-square those shoulders. Good. Make a pack with yourself NOW while your thoughts are straight and your mind is clear. Pledge to yourself that you will not allow those wasted pounds to resurface. Remember how difficult they were to chisel off? Remember all the time it took to accomplish losing the weight?

If you are suddenly seized with temptation and are listing towards a binge, try the following seven tips while that red warning light is blaring in your head.

- One, before you even think about eating that triple-decker hot fudge sundae, STOP, THINK and THINK and THINK, then LISTEN to yourself. When you reach this moment, you'll have two very different voices going off in your head. One is the angel voice and the other is the little devil voice. Listen to your angel voice – and this is especially true in the case of cakes. Angelfood is eons healthier than devil's food.

- Two, sit down and write a letter to yourself, a family member, a friend – even Santa Claus! Describe how you feel at that moment and how you are fighting 'da binge'. When you are finished, either deliver it, or toss it into the trash. This reprieve may be enough for you to collect your thoughts and halt a disastrous moment. One note: I would not advise forwarding your correspondence to Santa. You may end up on his naughty list. You just can't trust men in red suits.

- Three, think about how much better your clothes fit now. Before the diet, those clothes had some pretty bad karma going on.

- Four, plan your attack! You may need to plan the day before, the week before, even the month before, but plan-baby-plan! Create a calendar and inside the squares, write down every item you intend to eat. If you end up eating everything by noon (all your calorie allotment), then it's either "Tuffy T-bone" or, everything you eat for the remainder of the day will be an excess. And we all know what happens to excess.

- Five, get your mind occupied with something that you like to do whether it's reading, watching television, working with Playdoe - just do it!

- Six, go for a short walk and take in the fresh air. Amid your walk, think about how much healthier you are since you've lost weight. If you're feeling really naughty, take a ten-mile hike while lecturing yourself. Do not allow your bad judgment to win. Willpower rules!

- Seven, hire a weight coach or counselor. Even after some people reach their final weight goal they are unable to maintain the weight. A coach or counselor will help you devise and stay with a weight maintenance program.

Some other things that some people swear by that may work for you are:

Remember - YOU CAN DO THIS!!!