What To Do After You Lose Weight | What To Do After You Finish A Diet

YouTube, what's going on? Welcome back to the channel. Welcome to this video. In this video, we are going to be talking about what you should be doing after you've lost the weight. And by the way, even if you're somebody who's watching this and you still have 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 pounds to lose, at some point you are going to need the information in this video because At some point you are— not if, when— when you lose the weight, you are going to need the information in this video. And so why not have the information now so when you get there, you'll be ready to go? Or maybe you are there right now, you're wondering what to do. Hopefully this video is going to be able to give you exactly what you need. I feel like there's a lot of talk about losing weight, which is great because I know a lot of people do want to change their body composition, lose some body fat, get Healthier, that's amazing, but what happens when you're done? Because it can be honestly very scary, which we're gonna talk about a little bit later in the video. It can be very scary to almost kinda like think about like, well, I've lost weight, like what do I do now? In this video, I'll cover everything, so please don't worry and stay tuned. I got your back, all right? I'm first gonna cover the actual like how to do what you need to do, the very like, hey, do this, do this, do that. Then, and in my humble opinion, for whatever my 2 cents is worth to you, which it may not be worth anything to you, or it might be because you probably wouldn't be watching the video if you didn't at least somewhat care about my 2 cents. I'm then gonna give you what to expect after you've lost the weight. And again, I think from a mental standpoint, we can know what, you hear this all the time probably, you know what to do, but why are you not doing it? We all know to eat healthier, we all know to move more, this, that, and the other, But why don't people do it? So I think the latter half of the video is gonna really be where the bread and butter is. And I surely love me some bread and butter. I know you will as well, so stick around, all right? First, the how-to. Essentially what you're going to do after you've lost the weight and now you are looking to potentially maintain the weight loss that you've had. It's actually quite simple. Simple. So for you to lose the weight, what did you have to do? You had to eat less calories than what your body was burning, right? You had to create a calorie deficit. That's how you lose weight. So you needed to eat less than your maintenance calories because if you were eating your maintenance calories, you would not lose weight. You would maintain your weight. Shocking, right? So essentially you took your calories down below maintenance. Now that you've lost the weight and you are ready to now maintain your weight loss, what do we do? We simply work our calories back up to our maintenance calories. Now here's a really important part. If you are somebody who has lost 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 pounds, you are probably going to have new maintenance calories. And here's why. Because if you weighed 250 and now you weigh 200 pounds, You might've heard of something of this before called metabolic adaptation, and people probably try to scare you with it thinking like you're ruining your metabolism or something. You're not. Your metabolism just adapts. And so now that you have 50 less pounds of body fat on your body, your body might not need to burn as many calories per day because it's not having that extra body fat on it. So let's just say for example, and again, these are just random numbers, but Let's say for example your maintenance calories were 2,500 calories and you were eating 2,000 calories in order to lose body fat because you created a calorie deficit. Cool. What you will now do is you're going to have to find your new maintenance calories. So, and I'll tell you how in a second, but let's just say for example your new maintenance calories are 2,350 calories and you were eating 2,000 calories to lose body fat. Now what you'll do is you will then work your calories back up to your maintenance calories in order to now maintain your new current body weight. And we're going to touch on how here in just a quick second, but how to find your maintenance calories first and foremost. I am going to link here below an entirely free calorie calculator because there's 1,700 calorie calculators out there. I'm going to link in the description below My calorie calculator that you can use literally for free. Just type in your fucking numbers and it'll pop it out right there for you. So that's how you can find your new maintenance calories. Because again, let's say, you know, you've lost 50 pounds, just be sure to find your new maintenance calories. And again, any calculator, mine included, is going to give you a range, a rough estimate. Like beyond that, maintenance calories are a range in general. And so if you, if the calculator gives you, uh, you know, 2,100 calories, Your maintenance calorie range is probably between like 2,000 to 2,200, 2,250, something like that. It's not just one number, so you will have to kind of like play around with it a bit and see what's going on. But once you find your new maintenance calories, you're gonna do one of two things. So you're either going to, number one, reverse diet your way back up to your maintenance calories. And so what is reverse dieting? I have an entire video here on YouTube About reverse dieting if you want to check out more in depth about reverse dieting. But essentially what reverse dieting is, is dieting is taking your calories down. You know, reverse dieting is bringing your calories back up. It's just the reverse. And so again, we'll just use, um, we'll use the example of let's say again, uh, your maintenance calories, you know, were 2,000 and you were eating 1,500 calories to lose body fat. Let's say throughout the course of that period of time you had to make some adjustments, da da da. And now you're eating, I don't know, 1,300 calories in order to lose body fat. Let's say you've now found your new maintenance calories and it's 1,900 calories, right? Reverse dieting would be like, let's say week 1 you're eating 1,300 calories, and again, your new maintenance calories are 1,900. Week 2, you're eating 1,400 calories. Week 3, you're eating 1,500 calories. Week 4, you're eating 1,600 calories, and on and on and on. This would be reverse dieting, is you're slowly working your calories back up to your new maintenance calories. Or the second option would just be to jump straight to your new maintenance calories. And so again, we'll use that same example. Let's say you were eating 1,300 calories and your maintenance calories are 1,900. You could just like week 1, 1,300, week 2, 1,900, and just jump straight To it. Is there a better or a worse? It somewhat depends. Number one, I would say if you are somebody who your biofeedback is very poor, meaning like your sleep sucks, your energy sucks, you're super cranky, you're super groggy, again, no energy, workouts suck, just like everything's terrible, I would probably just jump straight to your maintenance calories and not reverse diet because remember, A calorie deficit is eating less calories than what your body burns. If you reverse diet, week 1 to 2, you go from 1,300 to 1,400. 1,400 calories is still a calorie deficit. 1,400 to 1,500. 1,500 calories is still a calorie deficit. And so you might take 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 weeks to still be in a calorie deficit, which means— you would still have all of that negative biofeedback from, you know, poor sleep, poor energy, poor workouts. And so if that's going on for you, I would say just jump straight to your maintenance calories. Now if you're somebody who maybe you have good biofeedback and you really want to make sure you're like overly freaking out about like not putting on extra body fat, like as you increase calories, which I'm going to talk about in a second, but also later on in the video, You might be somebody who maybe you do want to reverse diet because you want to make sure you don't overshoot your maintenance calories and you want to go slow and so on and so forth. So that could be an option. The other reason people like reverse dieting sometimes is because, and again, we can talk about this a bit later in the video, but if you have weight gain going back to your maintenance calories, going from 1,300 calories to 1,900 calories in one week Can cause the scale to jump up a little bit higher. And don't worry, we're going to talk about this more in depth here in a second. Let's just say your scale spiked up 4 pounds in that one week. Let's say from week 1 to week 7 of your reverse diet, instead of going from 1,300 to 1,900, you go from 1,300 to 1,400 to 1,500 to 1,600 and so on and so forth. It takes you 7 weeks, right? Let's say in that same 7 weeks, You put on 4 pounds, but people like consciously, they're like, oh, it's been 7 weeks and I've gained 4 pounds as opposed to being like, oh, it's been 1 week and I've gained 4 pounds and holy shit, I'm going to lose all my progress. So either way you would gain the same 4 pounds. And I know you're probably asking like, oh, I'm going to gain weight. What do you mean? I'm going to talk about it in a second. So just stick with me. But for that reason, if you gain 4 pounds in a week and then you just maintain after that, or if you gain 4 pounds in 7 weeks and just maintain after Either way, you're going to gain 4 pounds. And so, you know, if you are somebody who's really freaked out about that, like maybe you could go ahead and reverse diet. But for me and a lot of my clients, we just jump right back to our maintenance calories because we understand what the scale might do and you'll understand here in a second. So those are your 2 main options. Now when we talk about increasing calories back up, I want to hit on something really quickly. What happens a lot of the time when people kind of like start to work their calories back up after being in a calorie deficit for a long period of time is we all do this thing where we're like, oh, I have more calories to play with. I am going to add in these treats. I'm going to add in going out to eat here. I'm going to add in these cookies and these chips and this ice cream. And while there are no good and bad foods and there is nothing inherently wrong with that, What can happen and what I see happen a lot of times is because you are coming from eating in a calorie deficit where, without getting too in-depth, when you eat in a calorie deficit, you affect 2 hormones in your body, your leptin and your ghrelin. Your leptin is the hormone that tells your body you are full, satisfied, you do not need to eat more food. Ghrelin is the hormone in your body that tells your body, hey, I'm hungry. Let's eat more food because you've been in a calorie deficit for a long period of time. Your ghrelin is increased, which obviously it makes you hungrier. And so what happens is when people start to increase their calories via a lot of these like highly processed, like super palatable, you know, very delicious, like processed foods, it's very easy to overeat on those because your hormones are already a little bit kind of like out of balance because you've been in a calorie deficit. And so when you add in a lot of these processed foods and they're like super palatable, you can just eat them all day long, it's much easier to end up overeating on them, which means you would end up overshooting your calories and so on and so forth. So I'm not going to sit here and say you can't have those foods. You can. But the main way I would start to increase your calories back up to your maintenance calories is by simply just increasing the portion size of what you're already eating. And so for example, If for one meal you're having a cup of white rice with six ounces of chicken, we'll use the classic bro meal. When you go into maintenance, let's say you're now eating two cups of rice and seven ounces of chicken. Let's say you're having you know you're having a bagel for breakfast, but you're only having half of the bagel and having half the next day. Maybe now you can have both halves of the bagel for breakfast. Let's say you're doing. You know, you're having a, uh, 1 scoop of protein powder. You can do 2 scoops of protein powder. Let's say you're doing 2 eggs. You can do 4 eggs. Like what you're already eating, keep eating all that stuff and then just increase the portion size of what you've already been eating because that will help you increase your calories in a way where it's going to not overly mess up your hunger hormones and you won't end up overeating and it won't like all these super high palatable foods. Um, that can just make it a little bit easier for you to stick within your maintenance Because remember, you're going to get some more flexibility. Like, you know, you might be able to go out to eat, for example, and maybe you, maybe in your deficit you were not ordering the appetizer because you wanted to make sure you stay within your calories. Maybe when you go out to eat you can order, you know, an appetizer and have some of it, or maybe you do have some of the dessert or whatever the case may be. Yes, you have more calories, but remember, it's not a free-for-all. It's not just like all the things that— and this is why losing the weight in a sustainable manner in the first place is the way you're actually going to maintain your weight loss. Because if you do something very unsustainable to lose your weight, it's going to be very hard to then sustain that weight loss because what you did to lose it isn't the same thing you're going to do to maintain it, if that makes sense. And not in the sense of calories, because again, you can have more calories and maintain your weight, but the way your habits that you formed along the way That's what's really going to allow you to maintain your weight loss. And so just keep that in mind. Then last thing on this over here, which kind of transitions well into the next point, which is remember maintenance calories. You cannot gain body fat if you are in your maintenance calories, just like you can't lose body fat unless you're in a calorie deficit. You do not gain body fat unless you're in a calorie surplus For an extended period of time. And I really need you to understand this because again, you may see some scale weight increase. And here is why. Because remember I just said you cannot gain body fat if you're eating your maintenance calories. And I say if, and I'll tell you why in a second. But if you see some scale weight increase, it's not because you're gaining body fat. It's for 2 main reasons. Number one, you just have More food in your stomach. Like, your actual organ, your stomach, has more food inside of it, which means when you step on the scale, your person, your human being, weighs more. You have to remember, the scale dictates more than just muscle and fat. The scale dictates the entire weight of your body, your bones, your organs, everything. So if you increase your calories and have more food in your stomach, You're going to weigh more on the scale. And then number 2, when you increase your calories, you are typically increasing your carbohydrates as well, which for every 1 gram of carb that you eat, you're going to store 3 to 4 grams of water weight, mainly glycogen inside of your muscles. And so if you increase your carbs by 50 to 100 to 125 grams per day, you're going to add some water weight because you're storing more glycogen in your muscles. And for those of you who don't know, Muscle glycogen, just think of it as like energy for your muscles. And so for those couple of reasons, your scale may increase, which honestly it might not. And like, that's fine, but your scale may increase. I'd say roughly anywhere between 2 to 5 pounds. And then you'll maintain around those 2 to 5 pounds. And when I say maintain, like when you're in maintenance, your weight fluctuates still. You're never going to weigh just one number. Your entire life. I need you to like understand this as well. You will never weigh just one number your entire life. A maintenance range is usually a range of like 5 to 10 pounds. And so if you're weighing 150, for example, 145 to 155 is usually a range. I personally like having a range of 10 pounds. So if it's 150, 140 to 160, maybe somewhere in between that range. Everybody's different. So I mean, pick, you know, whatever your range you want yours to be in, but Somewhere around that range, your scale will fluctuate and that is okay and normal. There is nothing to freak out about. You're not gaining body fat. Remember, it's all good. The second thing to expect is your workouts. And I just told you about how you will have more muscle glycogen inside of your workouts, which is more energy for your muscles. And so you're going to have better workouts, man. So if you think you have good workouts right now, or maybe you're not having good workouts because you've been in a calorie deficit for For, you know, since the Vietnam War. You will have much better workouts and you'll have more energy, you'll have more stamina, you'll have more endurance. And so just keep that in mind because people, you know, it's often sometimes scary, right? To like kind of like transition out of a calorie deficit. But remember, if you're somebody who takes your workouts very seriously, you're going to have some kick-ass workouts, my friend, because you have more muscle glycogen and you just have more calories in general. Food is more than fuel, but in all honesty, Food is fuel. It's literally energy for your body. So if you're giving your body more energy, you're gonna be able to put out more energy and have more kick-ass workouts. And so look forward to that as you increase your calories. The third thing to expect is you may like feel heavier or feel more bloated. And this is, again, I kinda mentioned this earlier, but if you have more food in your stomach, you're just gonna feel like you have more food in your stomach because you do. You do have more food in your stomach. This is not a bad thing. It doesn't mean you're doing something wrong. Again, I would just make sure the calories you are increasing is like good quality, nutrient-dense whole foods and not just like if you feel heavier and like all you're eating is like Twizzlers and Oreos, like you're, yeah, you're going to feel like shit. Um, but as long as you're increasing your calories by a lot of good nutrient-dense whole foods with maybe some treats here and there, you're going to feel heavier and that's normal because you have to again keep in mind in the same way you were just in a calorie deficit and your body kind of like got used to that to a degree. When you start to increase your calories back up, your body and your stomach and your digestive system are like, oh damn, we have more calories. It takes a little bit to kind of get used to, but your body will adapt and it will say, okay, we're continuously getting more food. Your digestion will then kind of like correlate right with that as well. So, you know, if in the first 1 to 4 weeks you like feel a little bit heavier and again, you're, you know, you're following kind of what we talked about over here, it's normal. Your body will get used to it. You will start to feel less heavy and it will kind of be just normal for you to eat that many calories and still feel really good. But don't get discouraged if that's how you feel because a lot of people like think they're doing something wrong or like, oh my God, I'm gaining fat again and I got to go back to my deficit. No, it's okay. Remember, there's a difference between being fat and feeling fat. And what I mean by that is actually like gaining body fat versus feeling like you're gaining body fat. Those are 2 different things. And so don't let your emotions get the best of you. All right? The 4th thing to expect is you might feel bad. And I don't mean like physically because you're actually probably gonna feel really good. Your biofeedback will be really good. But I see a lot of times when people transition from like losing weight, it's almost like they don't allow themselves to like embrace the fact that you've lost the weight. Because, you know, whether you've tried for so long and it's been so hard and all these things, it's almost like people don't embrace the fact that like you've lost the weight and it's okay to not have a goal of losing body fat. I think for a lot of people, for your entire life, your like only goal was to lose body fat. That's like all you really knew. And so when you get to this point, it's okay. Like you don't need to feel bad or think you need to like lose more weight. I see this a lot too. People will get down to the last like 5 pounds, like, oh, I got to lose 5 more pounds. It's like, no, you don't have to fucking lose 5 more pounds. Like it's okay to not have a goal of weight loss. It's okay to not see the scale go down even more. Like, If you're in a really healthy place and you feel really good and you're, you know, you're living a healthy lifestyle and, you know, we could all always be leaner, but if you're in a really healthy spot and you feel good and it's not worth it for you to cut more calories or do more cardio or stress out about food that much more, it's okay to not have a goal of continuing to lose weight. I promise you, don't feel bad. I want you to embrace it. And that leads me into the last point. One of the number one, if not the number one fear in people when they lose the weight is you don't want to gain it back. And what I'll say to that is, again, this is the reason why it's so important to lose the weight in a sustainable manner, because then you are going to be able to maintain your weight loss. But as long as you've done that and you've lost it in a healthy way and you feel really good about it, remember, you're a different person with different habits And a different mindset. And I want you to again embrace this about you because you've probably waited your entire life to get here. Embrace it, enjoy it now. Like be able to say, holy shit, I did it. And of course we all always want to get better and so on and so forth, but you've like waited for this moment your entire life. Embrace the fact that it's okay to be in maintenance. Embrace the fact that yes, you have worked very hard to lose the weight because again, You're not going to gain the weight back because you've actually changed your habits. And like I said, maintenance calories, it's maintaining your weight. You cannot gain body fat in maintenance calories. So as long as you are in your maintenance calories and as long as you're doing all of that good stuff and as long as you've changed your habits and lost the weight in a healthy manner and you didn't do some like crazy detox or don't eat more than 15 grams of carbs per day, As long as you've done it in a healthy, sustainable way, you can increase your calories up and you're not going to gain your weight back. All right. Last but not least, really quickly, I just put a bonus in here in terms of if you are somebody who did want to focus on building muscle, one of your options as well is to head into— after you've done maintenance and found your maintenance and you, and you like that, one of your options is going into a calorie surplus. A calorie surplus is very in-depth, so I've done an entire video on a calorie surplus. If you want to check it out, I will link it here in the top left-hand corner. So it's on my YouTube channel, so just feel free to go ahead and check it out if you want to. But essentially, a calorie surplus is actually going into eating more calories than what your body burns in order to build more muscle and optimize your muscle building. So that could be an option for you as well. I know it probably sounds kind of weird, but I've coached a lot of people through it and they always love it every single time. If you want to check it out, check it out, top left-hand corner. Don't know what that just was. I apologize for that. I just want to say thank you for watching the video. Hopefully it helped you. If it did, please feel free to give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, and let me know below. Other than that, we will chat soon. Okay?