The 300-Calorie Secret

After months of hard work you’ve finally reached your goal weight. The tough part is over! . . . Except that it’s not. About 40 percent of dieters regain their lost weight within 4 years, UCLA research shows.

One possible reason: It takes a very different skill set to maintain weight loss than to achieve it, finds a recent survey of more than 1,000 successful losers. Case in point: The respondents listed “following a consistent exercise routine” as a strategy they used for maintaining weight loss, but not for slimming down initially.

The best approach: Think long-term from day one, says Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Results Fitness in Southern California. After all, if you only diet to lose the weight, you're very likely to gain back the pounds when you go start eating less rigidly. But  if you diet and exercise from the get-go, you'll need only minor tweaks to plan to stay successful—not a complete overhaul, says Cosgrove.

So what’s the best way to keep the weight off? Here are the three tactics our experts say you must employ to remain chub-free.

Change your workout regularly. “Your body adapts first to the rep range you've been using," says Cosgrove. So you need to vary your reps in order to avoid plateaus. “If you did 15 reps for all exercises last month, drop the reps to eight, but up your intensity by lifting a heavier weight,” Cosgrove says. Need a new routine? Click here for a FREE 30-day trial of Men's Health Personal Trainer, where you can try Cosgrove's Spartacus Workout.

Ten to 15 percent of your daily calories should come from junk. Say what? “People simply cannot sustain a diet they feel is ruling over their cravings,” says Alan Aragon, author of Girth Control: The Science of Fat Loss & Muscle Gain. Knowing that you can spend about 200 to 300 calories per day on whatever you want means you can still maintain your weight loss while safeguarding yourself against bingeing.

Related from MensHealth.com: How to Cheat on Your Diet

Set new goals. You got the girlfriend, cruised in the Caribbean, and wowed at your high school reunion. Well done, buddy. “Once you lose the weight, you need to find new motivations that will help you stay slim,” Aragon says. Here’s one Cosgrove currently uses with clients: Between now and the end of the year, challenge yourself to do 100 workouts. (That's an average of 4 sweat sessions a week.) “Post it on Facebook or Twitter and you’ll feel even more accountable and therefore likely to achieve it,” Cosgrove says.

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