How to maintain your weight loss on WeightWatchers

NOTE: If you have lost weight and are now in maintenance, these tips will help you maintain your new weight. If you are a member who did not lose weight prior to starting maintenance mode, you'll want to follow the Points® Budget tailored for you when you joined.

Once you've lost all the weight you set out to lose and find yourself at a healthy number, you might think your journey is over. So, now what? While you no longer need to concentrate on losing weight, the best way to make sure your new habits stick is to adapt a maintenance mindset. While attending Workshops can help, this at-a-glance guide will help you navigate this new phase.

• When you reach your chosen weight, your daily Points Budget will be increased by 6 Points.

• If you’re using the app or the website, your Budget will automatically update when you change your settings from “Weight loss” to “Maintain Weight”

To make sure that your Budget is on target, it's good to weigh yourself once a week (and at a minimum, once a month).

In maintenance, it may take you a little while to stabilise your weight. You may find that the increase in Points is too many or maybe not enough. It’s all about finding the sweet spot that lets you feel in control, while also loosening the reins a bit.

As a guide, after you’ve changed your settings to ‘Healthy habits’, at each weekly weigh-in, if you:

• Find that you’ve lost 500g or more, add another 3 Points to your daily Budget for the following week.

• Find that you’ve gained 500g or more, remove 3 Points from your daily Budget for the following week.

• Find that you’re the same weight, or haven’t gained or lost more than 500g, leave your daily Points Budget as it is.

You can do this by going to Settings > Food Settings > Daily Budget and adjusting your Budget +3/-3 as needed until you find a daily Budget that keeps you holding steady!

Once your weight has been steady for four weeks, you've likely found the sweet spot—the place where your Points Budget will maintain your weight while you continue with your healthy habits.

Reaching your desired weight doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll never go up again. Setbacks happen. It’s what you do about them that’s the most important. To prevent weight fluctuations from surprising you, follow these tips:

• Choose an intervention weight (the number that kickstarts you into losing mode again) and write it down. Not sure how to pick this number? For most people, it’s usually around 2kg+ up from your desired weight.

• Go back to weight losing mode. More specifically, start working with your previous Points Budget by changing your settings from 'Maintain Weight' to 'Weight loss'.

• Make an action plan. Write down up to three things you’ll do differently with your food choices, mindset and activity, as well as any other steps you’ll take to reverse your gain.

If you run into trouble, remember that WW is here for you. You can chat with a Coach 24/7 in the app and online or talk with other members who are also in the ‘Maintaining’ group on Connect.