Losing weight can be very challenging. But most often the biggest challenge is keeping the weight off. One of the things our clients say all the time is that they struggle with moderation. It has been noted by many nutrition studies, that if someone has a piece of cake they may crave it until they eat the whole cake.

Trigger foods or trigger situations lead to unhealthy snacking and gradual weight gain. We wanted to list some tips to help you identify your triggers and avoid them once you hit your goal weight.

Tip Number One: Do the happy dance! Take Photos! Cheer for yourself! That is a huge accomplishment. Once the dancing is all done remember to keep weighing yourself. Weigh yourself every week from this point forward for a year. It is so common for people to hit their goal weight and then stop monitoring themselves and become complacent. Before you know it, they have gained 10lbs.

Tip Number Two: Don’t buy more than a single serving of junk food. For example, If you are really craving an Oreo. Buy the snack sized Oreos that are available at the register. Don’t buy a whole pack and eat them for multiple days. Cravings will happen and eating something just once as a treat is very different than adding it back into your diet. Try not to use food as a reward. Food is fuel for your body JUST like gas is for your car.

Tip Number Three: Pay attention to when you feel the biggest need to eat food outside of your healthy diet. For example, at the movie theater, when you get gas, at parties etc. If you find yourself always buying a bag of chips when you get gas, maybe send your partner in to pay for the gas or pay at the pump. At the movie theater, consider buying water and maybe some peanuts and eat them slowly throughout the whole movie instead of a giant soda. Before going out with friends eat something healthy at home so you are less likely to crave snacks.

Tip Number Four: For the holidays or any other time where it is a large gathering and eating is on the schedule. Bring something you can eat. Make something healthy for everyone to share but plan on eating primarily what you brought with just a taste of the other foods. Limit yourself to one plate instead of getting seconds and thirds. Avoid grazing at all costs.

We hope these tips are helpful. YOU GOT THIS!