Lose the Clutter, Lose the Weight (72 page)

Midway through every school vacation (summer, spring, winter)

10. Think before you buy.
For the rest of your life, being mindful of what you're doing and what you're buying
must
be an element of every shopping trip. The items that you buy should meet the following criteria before you hand over your money or credit card. They should:

Contribute to the vision you have for your home and the life you want.

Satisfy a need you have. That's a
true
need, not a momentary sense of boredom, sadness, or worry. A true need means “I dropped two plates last week and must replace them in order to serve dinner,” not “If I buy these retro plates, my hipster friends might appreciate my cleverness when I have them over for dinner someday.”

Offer a real value. In your judgment, the thing you're about to buy should appear durable and should perform the function you need from it. Most important, if a low price is its only redeeming quality, you shouldn't buy it.

Be the result of a well-thought-out decision, especially if it's expensive. In my experience, people have a particularly hard time parting with costly things that they bought in a spontaneous moment. That's usually the back-story behind the unused elliptical machine and the designer clothes with tags still on them.

Work right now. New shoes must fit you today. Don't anticipate that they'll stretch out enough to become comfortable. Don't buy something if outside factors must fall into place before you can use it.

11. Lose your sense of guilt about gifts.
People keep their homes filled with things they never wanted because they don't want to run the slightest risk of hurting a gift giver's feelings. Your commitment with gifts stops the moment after you say, “Thank you so much, this is so thoughtful of you.”

Again, if a gift comes wrapped in obligation and tied with a ribbon of guilt, it's not really a gift at all. It's a punishment. It's a weight that someone expects you to carry. Learn to pass this stuff along to someone else.

Take it to Goodwill. Sell it online. Set aside a shelf in a closet or your garage for items that you'll “re-gift” to others. Before doing any of these things, check the item carefully to make sure it doesn't contain a card addressed to you.

If the gift giver confronts you later, be honest: “I loved it, but we have so much stuff in our house, I had to pass it on to someone who could use it.”

The Changes That Will Help Make Fat Stay Away

Losing a substantial amount of weight is quite the accomplishment. But keeping it off for a long time? That's something of a rarity, many researchers have noted. Even the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) commented, “It is generally accepted that most individuals can lose weight but cannot maintain weight loss.”

Researchers aren't exactly sure how many people who lose weight keep it off long-term. One reason is because studies tend to use different numbers to define weight loss, as well as different lengths of time that determine “long-term.”

But it's safe to say that the majority of people who shed pounds for their 20th class reunion don't maintain their new weight to their 30th.

A study that included more than 14,000 Americans found that about 1 in 6 adults who have ever been overweight or obese has lost at least 10 percent of the weight and kept it off long-term. The researchers noted that these numbers—which they found heartening—were more optimistic than previous studies had found. Also, they defined “long-term” as at least a year. I'm hoping you keep yours off much longer than that.

An earlier study found that people who went through weight loss programs had gained back an average of about 77 percent of the lost weight after 5 years.

However, you can find lots more encouragement when you shift your focus to the people who
do
keep off the weight for many years, even if they are in the minority.

In 1994, a club of sorts began for people who were maintaining their
weight loss, called the National Weight Control Registry. Much of what we know about keeping weight from returning for years comes from this group. To join, adults must lose at least 30 pounds and keep it off for at least a year. (I truly hope and expect that, if you incorporate this program's changes into your daily life and routines, you'll go on to maintain the weight loss for more than a year.)

Researchers studying the registry participants and other weight loss successes have found that the following habits appear useful—or even necessary—if you want to keep off the pounds you worked so hard to shed.

1. Move frequently and often.
According to the ACSM, getting roughly 200 to 300 minutes of physical activity weekly may help you maintain your weight loss. While not enough studies are available to show
exactly
how much you need, research does suggest that following a “more is better” outlook is helpful, according to the ACSM.

A study of nearly 2,900 men and women in the registry supports the importance of physical activity. Over a 10-year period, these folks started with an average of 69 pounds lost and ended with 51 pounds still gone. However, those who did less exercise regained more weight.

Doing 300 minutes of physical activity each week—in other words, 5 hours—is a substantial endeavor. If you have a full-time job, kids, or both, this is likely going to account for a large percentage of your free time. Keeping your body moving for this long, and this often, will require some scheduling, planning, and dedication.

I highly recommend that you:

Make exercise a priority. If your vision of your body is that it will remain fit, healthy, and able to function at a high level, then exercise is one of the habits that you must do regularly to achieve your vision. To create the time, cut out an activity that
doesn't
move you toward your vision (for example, television). According to the National Weight Control Registry, 90 percent of its participants exercise an average of about an hour a day. Also, 62 percent watch less than 10 hours of TV weekly.