These ideas can help you keep the pounds off for good.

Weight maintenance is much like weight loss. The principles are essentially the same: Eat healthy foods, control your portion sizes and exercise regularly. And to keep the pounds off permanently, you need to incorporate the new, healthy behaviors into your routine so that they become a natural part of your daily life.

Here are 20 ideas to reinforce your healthy lifestyle and to keep you committed to permanent weight loss.

Exercise 30 to 60 minutes each day. If time is limited, exercise for several brief periods throughout the day — for example, three 10-minute sessions rather than one 30-minute session.

Eat three healthy meals during the day, including a good breakfast. Skipping meals causes increased hunger and may lead to excessive snacking.

Focus on fruits and vegetables. Top off your morning cereal with sliced strawberries or bananas. Stir berries or peaches in yogurt or cottage cheese. Liven up your sandwiches with vegetables, such as tomato, lettuce, onion, peppers and cucumber.

Weigh yourself regularly. Monitoring your weight can tell you whether your efforts are working and can help you detect small weight gains before they become even larger.

Don't keep comfort foods in the house. If you tend to eat high-fat, high-calorie foods when you're upset or depressed or bored, don't keep them around. Availability of food is one of the strongest factors in determining how much a person eats.

Plan a family activity. Get the family together to go for a bike ride, play disc golf or kick the ball around in the yard.

Eat healthy foods first. Eat foods that are healthy and low in calories first so that when it comes time to enjoy your favorites — sweets or junk food, for example — you won't be so hungry.

Pay attention to portions. Serve meals already dished onto plates instead of placing serving bowls on the table. Take slightly less than what you think you'll eat. You can always have seconds, if really necessary.

Create opportunities to be active. Wash your car at home instead of going to the car wash. Bike or walk to the store. Participate in your kid's activities at the playground or park.

Sit down together for family meals. Avoid eating in front of the television. TV viewing strongly affects how much and what people eat.

See what you eat. Eating directly from a container gives you no sense of how much you're eating. Seeing food on a plate or in a bowl keeps you aware of how much you're eating.

Vary your activities. Regularly change your activity routine to avoid exercise burnout. Walk a couple of days, swim another and go for a bike ride on the weekend. Seek out new activities — karate, ballroom dancing, cross-country skiing, tennis or Pilates.

De-stress your day. Stress can cause you to eat more. Develop strategies that can help you relax when you find yourself becoming stressed. Exercise, deep breathing, muscle relaxation techniques and even a good laugh can ease stress.

Eat at home. People eat more food in restaurants than at home. Limit how often you eat at restaurants. If you do eat out, decide what and how much you're going to eat before you start and have the rest boxed to go.

Plan healthy snacks. The best snacks include fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products. Fruit smoothies, sliced fresh fruit and yogurt, whole-grain crackers, and carrot and celery sticks with peanut butter are all good choices.

Start your day with a high-fiber breakfast cereal, such as bran flakes, shredded wheat or oatmeal. Opt for cereals with "bran" or "fiber" in the name. Or add a few tablespoons of unprocessed wheat bran to your favorite cereal.

Walk for 10 minutes over your lunch hour or get up a few minutes earlier in the morning and go for a short walk.

Plan a week's worth of meals at a time. Make a detailed grocery list to eliminate last-minute trips to the grocery store and impulse buys.

Look for a distraction when you're fighting a craving. Call a friend, put on music and dance or exercise, clean the house, pull weeds in your garden, or run an errand. When your mind is occupied with something else, the cravings quickly go away.

Reward yourself. Losing weight and keeping the pounds off is a major accomplishment. Celebrate your success with nonfood rewards, such as new clothes or an outing with friends.

下面的方法可以帮你有效减重

体重保持和减重差不多。基本的方法大体一致：吃健康的食品，控制数量并且定期锻炼。为了达到永久减重的效果，你得把新式且健康的行为纳入到日常中去，使其成为日常生活的一部分。

下面的20个方法可强化你健康的生活方式并使你永久减重。

.每天锻炼30-60分钟。如果时间有限，一天中分若干个时间段来练习—例如，用三个十分钟的时间段来代替一个30分钟的时间段。

一天中合理吃三餐，包括高质量的早餐。漏餐会导致强饥饿感和过量的零食。

多吃水果和蔬菜。将有草莓和香蕉片的谷物早餐列为首选。讲浆果和桃子加到酸奶或松软干酪中。在三明治中加入蔬菜，例如西红柿，生菜，洋葱，胡椒和黄瓜。

定期称重。定时监测你的体重可以让你知道你的努力是否起作用，还能帮你察觉体重的轻微增加，在还没有增加更多之前。

家里不要存放舒适心情的食物。如果你在情绪低落，沮丧或疲惫的时候想吃高热量，高卡路里的食物，就不要把它们放到身边。食品的可供应量是决定一个人吃的多少的一个最主要因素之一。

计划一次家庭活动。召集全家人外出骑车游玩，跳迪斯科，打高尔夫或者在院子里踢球。

先吃健康食品。当你在准备享受甜食或垃圾食品之前先吃些健康的低卡路里的食品，你就不会有太强的饥饿感。

注意吃的份量。把做好的饭菜放到盘子里而不是桌子上的饭碗里。夹菜时比自己认为能吃的份量夹少点。如果还想吃，你可以再夹。

创造锻炼的机会。自己在家动手清洗而不是去汽车清洗店。骑车或步行去商店。加入到你孩子在院子里或公园的活动中。

坐到一起一块吃家庭餐。避免看电视时吃东西。电视节目会非常影响一个人吃的内容和数量。

看清楚你所吃的东西。直接吃带包装的食品会让你忽视你吃掉的数量。看到盘子或碗里的食物，你就会意识到你会吃多少了。

经常变换运动方式。定期改变运动的方式，而避免锻炼疲劳。有时散步，有时游泳，或在周末骑车郊游。寻找新的运动方式—例如空手道，交际舞，越野滑雪，乒乓球和普拉提。

去除压力。压力可以使你吃的更多。当你发现自己有压力的时候，想想能帮助自己放松的办法。运动，深呼吸，放松肌肉，甚至是开怀大笑也能减压。

在家吃饭。人们下饭馆的次数要多于家中用餐。算一算你多长时间下一次饭馆。如果你在外用餐，在点菜之前想一想你想吃什么，能吃多少并把剩下的打包带走。

计划吃健康的零食。最有益的小吃包括水果，蔬菜，全麦低脂的日常饮食。鲜榨果汁，切片水果拌酸奶，全麦饼干，胡萝卜和芹菜蘸花生酱都是不错的选择。

让你的一天从一顿高纤维的谷物早餐开始。例如麸片，碾碎谷类食品。选择包装中含有麸皮或纤维字样的食品。或给你喜欢的谷类食品中多加几勺未经过加工的麦麸。

午饭之后散步10分钟。或者早晨早起几分钟出去散散步

一次计划一周吃的食品。制定一份详细的食物清单来代替杂货店最后一分钟采购和冲动购物。

.当和饥饿感做斗争时，找一些转移注意力的事做。给朋友打电话，听音乐，跳舞或运动，打扫家，给花园除草，或找件差事做。当你的精力被其它事情占据的时候，饥饿感就会消失了。

奖励自己。减肥成功是一种成就。给自己除了食物以外其它的奖励，例如衣服或和朋友外出约会。