The Four Pillars for long term success after a sleeve

I get asked all the time about how to keep weight off in the long term. Often people are lost, feeling like they’re not making the most of their tool, or even feeling like they’ve “failed” because they’ve put some weight back on. To help, I’ve simplified the habits needed to successful keep weight off in the long term into four key pillars. 

The way I think about it is as if you are doing four-point kneeling in a Pilates class (on hands and knees). If you have both hands and both knees on the ground you are really stable. As soon as that teacher asks you to lift one hand off, you must do more work to stay upright but can usually manage it. One hand and one knee off? Things start to get a bit tricky. And two hands and one knee off? Well there’s a reason they don’t ask you to do that in a class….  

It’s like that with your habits. I’ve broken them down into four key pillars that support our weight loss in the long term:

1. WHAT you eat
   • For example, focusing on unprocessed foods and mainly protein and vegies +/- a snack if you’re hungry and water, water, water between.
   • See this post for more
2. HOW you eat
   • For example, eating slowly, chewing well and taking 20-30 minutes for a meal.
   • See this post for more
3. Your movement
   • Moving every day, but also including some strength training 2-3 times a week
4. Other lifestyle factors
   • Think stress, sleep, mindset

PS – I explain this in more detail in the video below 🙂

If you take one pillar out, you’ll probably be okay for a while, but you’ll have to work harder to maintain. If you take two pillars out, you’re starting to get a little wobbly. Three pillars out? You’re likely to crash and find it very difficult to keep weight off in the long term.

So, do a little check… Is there one pillar you’re better at than another? Is there one you’ve kind of forgotten about or neglected for a while? This is your chance to focus on the one you haven’t perhaps been paying enough attention to.

Tell me – which pillar do you find easiest? Which do you find difficult? Comment below!

We also really dig into the four pillars in my 6-Week Back on Track course if you think your pillars might need a little maintenance.