Pre maintenance is crucial to getting your weight under control for good, but it is also about far more important things, the first of course being your health. To reduce your long term risk for conditions such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension and diabetes there is nothing more effective than maintaining a healthy weight. But im also thinking about such things as your ability to make choices that are right for you. When you realise you can be in charge of what you eat how you look and how healthy you are, it empowers you in all the other aspects of your life.Instead of worrying about looking good to please other peopleyou are likely coming to realise that what matters is how you feel about how you look and feel.You are learning the skills that allow you to change your life.

When you were doing Ongoing Weight Loss, you learned to increase your carb intake in increments of 5 grams. In this phase you can shift into a higher gear increase your daily carb intake by 10 grams each week so long as you continue to lose. See power of ten below. If you introduce new foods slowly and increase your grams of carbs gradually, your ccll should increase gradually. This new and higher ccll will reflect the fact that you are now losing weight more slowly.

As you continue to make 10 gram incremental additions, you will rather quickly reach a point at which you will find that you are no longer losing. If you are at your goal weight, stay at that level for a month or so before you increase your daily carb consumption by another 10 grams to see if you can consume that level without gaining.Once you do begin to gain, drop back 10 grams and you should have established your critical carbohydrate level for maintenance ( cclm ).

On the other hand, if after an incremental increase you find that you are gaining or are not losing and you are not yet at your goal weight, you need to back down to the previous level. The line between gaining, maintaining and losing is a thin one and you may have to play with your ccll and cclm for a while to understand what your body can handle.

While it may take as long as 3 months to drop the last few pounds and clearly establish your cclm, I reiterate: this leisurely pace is critical to your ultimate success. Continue to add new foods slowly and carefully so you’ll be learning good eating habits at the same time.

Some variations on the rule.

Another approach to pre maintenance is to continue eating as you were at the end of Ongoing Weight Loss and to allow yourself a 20 gram carb treat 2 or 3 times a week. Add a piece of fruit or starchy veg, a serving of brown rice or sweet potatoes, for example. You can also have a glass of white wine, a light beer or the white spirits.

Still another way to do pre maintenance is to average out your carb intake for the week.