Having reached your ideal target, how do you avoid putting the weight back on? Ciarán Brennaninvestigates.
The Christmas and New Year festivities and traditional over-indulgence will no doubt be followed by a swathe of resolutions by the population at large to lose weight, get into shape and get fit.
Achieving those goals, as difficult as they may be, is one thing, but maintaining them can be a struggle for many people. When people reach a realistic target weight, there is a tendency to go back to old eating habits and activity levels which will inevitably result in weight coming back on.
Much of it is down to the methods people use to shed the pounds to get to their ideal weight in the first place, according to sports dietitian Nuala Collins. Skipping meals or following overly restrictive weight-loss plans in the first place can make it difficult to maintain weight loss in the long term and are not realistic when it comes to maintaining an ideal and healthy weight, she says.
"It really comes back to your assessment of your diet in the first place," says Collins. "It should have the look of something you would follow in the long term. In assessing the kind of diet you go on, it should be something you would consider following without having to buy lots of new foods or cutting out lots of foods.
"Fad diets pick some element of food and dramatise it. There are lots of rules and complications to deal with and you haven't learned anything about healthy eating to take with you. They are not realistic in the long term."
Learning about portion control, healthy snacks, low-fat cooking and food labelling all contribute to sustaining an ideal, healthy weight after losing the pounds, she says.
Weight Watchers Ireland marketing manager Margaret Burke says the challenge of losing weight and reaching a goal is a strong motivational factor, compared with the daily effort of maintaining a certain weight.
The key, she says, is to develop new habits that will help sustain the new look you. "It is about developing new routines and choices that then become your norm," she says.
When a member reaches their ideal weight - which Burke says is a body mass index of 20-25 - Weight Watchers then spends four weeks working on a maintenance plan which will adjust their weight loss plan to find out what the member's daily intake should be to keep weight stable.
Weight Watchers rewards members who maintain a steady ideal weight with a gold card which gives them lifetime membership. That in itself can be a highly motivating factor along with providing the network of support that those trying to maintain a healthy weight sometimes need.
Food diaries can help you become more aware of your eating and activity levels, according to Collins, but she warns against letting them dictate every aspect of your life when controlling your weight.
"People graze and don't realise the volume they are eating, especially in terms of sweets and confectionary so a food diary is a good wake-up call as it is there in black and white for you. So a food diary can be helpful when starting out," she says.
But it is not all about diet. The best, most efficient and healthy way to lose and control weight and maintain a healthy weight is to combine more physical activity with a diet that is lower in calories.
"Diet and exercise is an equal partnership," explains Collins. "It greatly influences your chances of success if you are equally enthusiastic and committed to each aspect."
Keeping fit and toned helps to burn calories that would otherwise be stored on the body as fat and eventually lead to weight gain, according to Darren Devereaux, club manager of Jackie Skelly Fitness on Dublin's Clarendon Street. The key is managing your energy balance, according to Devereaux.
"Exercise develops lean tissue," he says. "The more lean tissue you have, the faster your metabolism and you start burning more calories and using more energy. Leaner tissues tend to burn calories as it takes more energy to keep muscle."
When you eat the same amount of calories as your body uses through exercise, your weight stays the same, he says. As well as burning calories and increasing your metabolism, exercise can help with body image problems, boost self-esteem and reduce stress which can help with weight control.
Around 30 minutes of moderate physical activity daily can be enough to sustain weight loss and Devereaux advises people to incorporate physical activity into everyday routines, such as a walk to the shop and using the stairs.
A big factor in weight management is time or the lack of it which is leading to very sedentary fat-inducing lifestyles.
"A Eurobarometer questionnaire published in November asked Europeans the reasons why they thought they were overweight and most cited a lack of time," says Collins.
"It's a common thread. We don't have the time to shop properly and read labels carefully. We don't have the time to cook. It's all about speed and convenience. Making time to be healthy is very important."