Losing weight is generally considered to be the toughest thing about getting fit. Once someone loses weight, however, the next stage starts: keeping that weight off without constantly being on a diet. Yash Vardhan Swami, founder and transformation coach at TrainedByYVS, knows all about this journey because he had to undergo it himself.
After having struggled with obesity for 18 years, he managed to lose 44 kg. This experience showed him that losing weight and keeping it off are two completely separate stages of a journey to good health.
Reasons why maintaining your weight is tougher than losing it
When you’re trying to lose weight, you have a plan. They may be consciously monitoring their food, exercising regularly and following a structured routine. The problem often starts when that plan comes to an end. According to Swami, people may stop tracking what they eat, exercise less and gradually return to their earlier routines. This does not necessarily mean they have failed. Instead, it can indicate that the lifestyle they followed while losing weight was too difficult to sustain over the long term. The goal, therefore, should not be to remain on a strict diet forever. It should be to create an approach to food and exercise that works with your actual lifestyle.
You can enjoy your favourite foods
Maintaining weight does not mean giving up everything you enjoy. Swami says people can eat out and enjoy their favourite foods without feeling guilty. What matters is what happens afterwards. One indulgent meal does not have to turn into several days of overeating.
This way of life will help one have an easier time with healthy living because they do not consider some foods as entirely forbidden; instead, they try to create a habit that is sustainable.
Exercise does not always mean hours at the gym
The same principle applies to physical activity. Maintaining weight does not require spending hours in the gym every day.
Walking more, incorporating strength training and simply staying physically active can become part of a person’s routine. The key is finding activities that can be sustained as part of everyday life rather than following an exercise routine that feels impossible to maintain.
Don’t panic over every change on the weighing scale
A small increase on the weighing scale does not automatically mean that you have regained body fat. Swami points out that weight can fluctuate because of factors such as water retention, digestion and what a person ate the previous day. In this way, it becomes essential to take a broader perspective rather than responding to every little change. It could also help avoid the tendency of doing everything or nothing based on a slight variation.
The biggest mistake after losing weight
One of the biggest mistakes, according to Swami, is assuming that losing weight means you can completely return to your old lifestyle. If the habits and lifestyle that contributed to weight gain are resumed, they can eventually produce the same result. Maintaining weight therefore requires continuing to live differently, even after reaching the desired number on the scale.
Sustainable habits matter more than perfection
The real measure of success is not simply reaching your lowest weight. It is reaching a stage where healthy choices no longer feel like a punishment.
Swami emphasises that people do not need to be perfect every day. Instead, they need a routine they can realistically live with for years, rather than one they can follow for only a few months. His own 44 kg weight loss changed his body, but learning how to live differently helped him maintain that change.
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‘One cupcake won’t hurt’: Woman who lost 30 kg warns against people sabotaging your progress
