question about breastfeeding and calories

catinamess

Hello, I'm currently breastfeeding my baby, but who like to lose some weight at the same time (but not so much that it affects breastfeeding) I'm pretty sedentary, but should I put myself as lightly active to account for the 300 to 500 calories I'm burning a day just by feeding the baby?

tat2cookie

Be careful trying to cut calories while bf. I tried and my milk dried up in less then a week. If I could do it over again I would just eat healthy and wait till I was done before trying to lose weight. . But everyone is different.

Liftng4Lis

Have you discussed this with your doctor yet?

TavistockToad

the difference between sedentary and light active probably isnt as much as 300 cals.

add breastfeeding to your food diary and it'll add you some calories.

subversive99

My wife is in a similar boat. She set her MFP settings to simply maintain, but does not account for any 'extra' calories burned from breastfeeding. This means that those 'extra' calories end up being her deficit for weight loss. Depends how old your baby is and how well established the milk supply is, but this seems to be working well for her.

catinamess

Maybe I should stick to maintaining weight then... Don't want to put any more weight on (although I lost quite a bit last time while eating loads) might just log exercise then to motivate me to continue!

subversive99

catinamess wrote: »

Maybe I should stick to maintaining weight then... Don't want to put any more weight on (although I lost quite a bit last time while eating loads) might just log exercise then to motivate me to continue!

My wife is seeing pretty consistent losses by using the method I described above, FWIW. How old is your baby? Until your milk supply is well established I wouldn't push too hard on creating a calorie deficit or you risk impacting your supply.

catinamess

I didn't know I could add breastfeeding (or is it a manual add?) Thanks, will keep it on maintain then.

RBXChas

It's a tough balance to find. I BF'd my second for a year (we weaned last May), and I had the worst time trying to figure out what calories I could eat to maintain my supply and not gain weight (because if I got my calories to a point where I could lose weight, my supply suffered). Take heart that most ladies aren't like me and are able to lose weight while BFing, but this group helped me a lot:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/197-breastfeeding-support

TavistockToad

catinamess wrote: »

I didn't know I could add breastfeeding (or is it a manual add?) Thanks, will keep it on maintain then.

its in the food database

My sister has breast fed while losing the majority of her baby weight, its just about getting the right number of calories.

catinamess

RBXChas wrote: »

It's a tough balance to find. I BF'd my second for a year (we weaned last May), and I had the worst time trying to figure out what calories I could eat to maintain my supply and not gain weight (because if I got my calories to a point where I could lose weight, my supply suffered). Take heart that most ladies aren't like me and are able to lose weight while BFing, but this group helped me a lot:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/197-breastfeeding-support

Thanks, will check it out!

catinamess

subversive99 wrote: »

catinamess wrote: »

Maybe I should stick to asmaintaining weight then... Don't want to put any more weight on (although I lost quite a bit last time while eating loads) might just log exercise then to motivate me to continue!

My wife is seeing pretty consistent losses by using the method I described above, FWIW. How old is your baby? Until your milk supply is well established I wouldn't push too hard on creating a calorie deficit or you risk impacting your supply.

Baby is only 6 weeks old, so I'm not planning on trying to lose lots right now, will probably get more rigorous about it after 6 months and more so after weaning her.

catinamess

@subversive99‌ is your wife eating back her exercise calories then? I was thinking of keeping the breastfeeding calories but not eating the exercise ones, so a slower weight loss, as I doubt I'll be exercising more than 200 calories a day for the time being.

subversive99

catinamess wrote: »

@subversive99‌ is your wife eating back her exercise calories then? I was thinking of keeping the breastfeeding calories but not eating the exercise ones, so a slower weight loss, as I doubt I'll be exercising more than 200 calories a day for the time being.

She eats the exercise calories back sometimes. I'd say she probably eats them back about half the time. Our baby is 8 months old, so the milk supply is pretty well established. She's also been doing exercise about 6 days a week (lifting SL 5x5 3 days and Jazzercise 3 other days).

kamakazeekim

I'd wait until you at a minimum of 12 weeks before starting to worry about your calorie intake...it takes at least 12 good weeks before your body has a good milk supply established. Some women can lose a ton of weight while breastfeeding and others (like me) can't lose a single freakin pound Just be careful you don't drop too low otherwise it can really impact your milk supply!

catinamess

kamakazeekim wrote: »

I'd wait until you at a minimum of 12 weeks before starting to worry about your calorie intake...it takes at least 12 good weeks before your body has a good milk supply established. Some women can lose a ton of weight while breastfeeding and others (like me) can't lose a single freakin pound Just be careful you don't drop too low otherwise it can really impact your milk supply!

I don't know why I thought it was 6 weeks, but then they have a lot of growth spurts so 12 weeks makes sense! I lost a fair bit last time I breastfed, but as I'm lighter now I'm thinking it won't be that easy this time!

catinamess

subversive99 wrote: »

catinamess wrote: »

@subversive99‌ is your wife eating back her exercise calories then? I was thinking of keeping the breastfeeding calories but not eating the exercise ones, so a slower weight loss, as I doubt I'll be exercising more than 200 calories a day for the time being.

She eats the exercise calories back sometimes. I'd say she probably eats them back about half the time. Our baby is 8 months old, so the milk supply is pretty well established. She's also been doing exercise about 6 days a week (lifting SL 5x5 3 days and Jazzercise 3 other days).

OK thanks! I'm hoping to be that active but between the baby and a toddler I seem to have forgotten what energy feels like :-)

catinamess

TavistockToad wrote: »

catinamess wrote: »

I didn't know I could add breastfeeding (or is it a manual add?) Thanks, will keep it on maintain then.

its in the food database

My sister has breast fed while losing the majority of her baby weight, its just about getting the right number of calories.

OK thanks! That will be the easiest way to avoid undereating I think. I'm lucky I'm back to pre pregnancy weight, now just want to get rid of all the cake weight from before kids :-)