For Mamas Who Have Lost 25-30 Lbs

The only time I lost that much weight was from exercise. Can't imagine why anyone would want to go back to the old lifestyle once they lost weight but I would think that yes you will gain back the weight. I mean isn't that how you gained the weight in the first place?

To maintain I would work-out for an hour everyday.

I've lost the same 80 pounds twice and have LEARNED my lesson.

I HAVE TO WORK-OUT!

Age is NOT kind to women and I'm NOT going down without a FIGHT!

Your question is will you maintain the current weight.

Probably not.

The HcG diet typically restricts you to 500 calories per day. Of course you will lose the weight. In the meantime, you will also be telling your metabolism "Hey, guess what? I'm not going to feed you so you'd better slooooow waaaayyy downnn and only take care of basal metabolic functions (things like breathing and cardiorespiratory activities)!" As a result, your metabolism will adjust to the stress you're placing on your body and slow down significantly, desperately holding on to any fat you have in your body, hoarding it because you're not feeding your metabolism.

Once you go off the diet, your metabolism will probably tell your brain in your body FEED ME! FEED ME - I don't know when she's going to starve me again! It will also hold onto fat and calories for dear life in the event you decide to dip that low ever again.

A few years back I lost 40 pounds. I lost the first 30 simply by eating right. No exercise. I journaled everything I put into my body. After, I started doing cardio and strength training. I have kept off the weight and not wrecked my metabolism because I chose to do it in a healthy way.

With maintaining weight loss there are no shortcuts. You will have to adopt a healthy nutrition and exercise plan for a lifetime. Yes, you can have cheat meals occasionally but they must be the exception and not the norm. Yes, this is a conscious decision to CHANGE your lifestyle FOREVER. You want to have energy, you want to feel good about yourself, you want to cut your medical costs, you want to be there for your children and be a good role model. So...it is worth it to live a healthy life.

You will NOT be able to maintain your current weight after doing the hCG diet (or any other fad diet) if you return to your old habits. If that were true, we would not have a nation of obese people, now would we?

I lost 30lbs with Weight Watchers several years ago and I maintained with no problem and no exercise. What I did after I got the weight off was just continue on with lifestyle changes. I would healthy everyday, 3 meals, 3 healthy snacks ie, fruit, popcorn, soy nuts etc. When I ate out I would only eat half, I used to ask for a to go box with my meal when I was hard core. Doing this I didn't have a lot of trouble maintaining that loss for about 5 yrs. Then I got pregnant, a whole different story!! But I would say with healthy eating you should do fine. The only question is when you do a crash type of diet, no matter which one, will you be able to eat reasonably after? I have personally not been able to after doing something very radical. My theory is that you deplete yourself of necessary nutrition, vitamins and trace minerals and when you allow yourself to eat, controlling yourself is hard with a body that is starved of some things. This is purely a theory and why I think that any kind of crash diet just doesn't work well for me. So try it and see, but just know that you can do it by healthy eating if it doesn't go as well as you would like. And exercising will help, but you don't absolutely have to do it to have a healthy body weight. Good luck! After this baby, I have to take my own advice here and get myself together!!

The only diet that works is consistency and healthy eating...

I think you are doing the right thing - not denying your cravings for junk - donuts, etc. everything in moderation....

You have the right mindset - attitude is everything and you know that getting the weight off is only one factor...the rest is how you handle it...what you put in your mouth and what/how/when you workout

I really think counting calories is crazy. I could never do it!

It is all about portion control. Instead of taking the bag of chips with you to the couch, but a small amount in a bowl. Eat smaller meals. I think working out more might help a lot. Even if it is parking further away from your home so you have to walk a bit more, that helps. Try talking a nice walk in the afternoons, eating dinner earlier, and eating breakfast every morning!

Good luck! Losing weight is an annoying battle! =)

How many calories are you consuming per day now? Once you lose 25-30 pounds, your body will need less calories per day to maintain its weight.

My mom lost 25 lbs on HCG and went back to eating the normal amount afterward. So did my MIL, so did my brothers MIL and FIL. They all have gained back the weight within a year. You will need to make some permanent changes to keep the weight off. Even a few hundred calories less a day and boost workout.

I just finished the hcg diet a few months ago. So far I have not gained anything back. I'm not counting calories and I'm not really even eating as healthy as I planned on. I don't eat fast food or drink much soda (unless it has rum in it) but I'm not eating super lean either. If you haven't read Pounds and Inches yet, you should. You can find it online. The idea with the diet is that it resets your metabolism. I did the diet through a clinic. I didn't buy the hcg you can get at health stores or online, I got the prescription kind. It was pretty expensive and even though I was pretty damn faithful to the diet, I didn't lose as much weight as I hoped I would (about 30 pounds over two cycles). I was originally thinking I'd go back on it in the winter but the more I think about it, the less I want to spend the money on it. I got a pedometer and my goal right now is to try to walk 10,000 steps a day.

portion control/counting calories its all the same thing..

whatever you to do get to that weight you will probably have to keep doing. You'll be able to have your OCCASIONAL treats in moderation and such, but trust me it IS a LIFESTYLE you must maintain.

I lost 60 lbs in 9 months and kept it off for over 2 years by keeping up with exercise and not over eating (ie too many calories) 90% of the time. When my mother in law died and my husband "went off the deep end" I slowly stopped working at it partly due to depression and listening to the IDIOTS in my life tell me "why are you still exerciseing', 'why are you still eating healthy all the time', 'you reached your goal, live a little'...... because of that I have now gained it all back in the last 3 years!!!

With the hcg diet you are getting nutrition, vitamins, and minerals. I'm gettin more of those on it that when I was eating regular food! Not sure if you're doing it with a doctor, but my friend is a naturopath and has a plan for me after the initial phase to slowly increase my caloric intake so I don't gain it back. Then she said I'd have to try stick to 1500 calories a day for life (with the occasional piece-not pieces!-of pizza, cake, little treats in moderation. It will be hardest for me to eat just one piece of things I like but this diet is pretty hard, so I figure if I can do this I can do anything!

You should be able to maintain after you lose IF you don't go WAY BELOW your body's comfortable weight. There is a weight (usually higher than we would like) where your body comfortably settles once you are eating healthy and exercising a bit. But if you got down to really perfectly toned and skinny, you will be too hungry to mantain it without a lot of work, I've found.

I hover in the comfy range and then pump up the exercise and diet for 2 weeks before special events or if I need to shed 10 pounds now and then.

Being a perfect hard body after a certain age takes constant hard work, but with a good diet and decent exercise a couple times a week, you can stay perfectly "slim" and acceptable with some "cushion" in your "cushiony" zones.

However, I do notice on that plan-(the healthy diet and regular 1-2 times exercise maintenance in comfy zone)-you do "slowly gain" and every now and then you'll have to slash calories and pump it up and lose 10 pounds before it gets out of hand. I usually do that every few months for a couple of weeks. I should add-a "little" exercise maintenance to me is kind of a lot...like, 2 really hard muscle burning and cardio sessions per week mixed with a couple of yoga sessions and walks and forced rough play at the park with kids. And even with that plus healthy eating, I slowly gain (I'm 40 w/slow Irish metabolism to begin with). I consider people who work out 2 hrs a day 6 days a week to be REALLY working hard and maintaining hard bodies.

If you really do stick to 1500 calories (kudos, I CANNOT maintain that for long) you won't gain.

Years (10-12) ago I lost 30 pounds with Weigh Down Workshop which teaches you how to manage eating. I have kept it off by using the principles through the years. I don't exercise so I am not as toned up as I could be if I did - but I haven't gained the weight back. When I first started with it I was also only eating chicken and oranges (not recommended but it worked for me) I dropped off weight so fast that it took a while for my skin to catch up.

Best of luck to you!