Calories burned via breast feeding

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jnyny81
jnyny81 Posts: 2
in Health and Weight Loss
I am a breast feeding mother to a 1 year old. I have never been able to find a calorie counter that can generally subtract calories the calories you "burn" via breast feeding. I have searched the topic extensively. Its between 400 and 800 calories depending on volume. Since my son is over 1 and I don't have to feed him every two hours I've started counting my calories again. It says to lose a lb a week I have to eat about1500 calories. I know I need more than that to produce milk. I wish there was a way to count the calories that it takes produce breast milk. Its kind of confusing. I ended up just adding about 300 calories to my daily goals, but that feels like cheating.

Replies

  • emmavagg
    emmavagg Posts: 27 Member
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    I am exclusively breastfeeding my 14 week old baby and I add 500 extra calories as this is what the NHS claim I will burn a day. I have 1700 a day which works really well but if I am hungry I do tend to go over (especially when baby has a growth spurt)

    As your little one is much older now and not feeding as much then would carry on adding the extra 300 and just see how things go.

    Sorry I can't be of more help and good luck :)
  • Mountaingirl33
    Mountaingirl33 Posts: 80 Member
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    Hi,
    I'm exclusively breastfeeding my five month old and I have added 400-500 calories for breastfeeding (or subtract from total cals in). I end up eating about 1600-1700 calories a day. fwiw my milk supply is good.
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
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    I started using MFP last year when I was nursing my 1 year old. I can't remember for sure, but I think I added 300 calories a day. MFP has an option on the food data base where you can choose "breastfeeding" and it adds calories to your day. I was able to lose 35 pounds even with the extra calories! There's no way to know for sure how much you burn while BFing, so start with 300 (make sure you are weighing food and accurately logging) and if you aren't losing, you could decrease to 200. But you do need extra calories for BFing!

    Right now I'm nursing my 2 month old so I eat an extra 500 a day.
  • c613477
    c613477 Posts: 296 Member
    edited March 2015
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    You can add breastfeeding to the Daily log as a food and it will add calories to your daily allowable target. Since I have a 15 month old I dropped it to 250 a day. Some days he still nurses a lot and I am starving...so I go over by 100 calories or so. This typically happens when he is sick or I am under more stress.
  • determined_14
    determined_14 Posts: 258 Member
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    I'm still breastfeeding a 20-month-old 3 times a day, and I don't add in extra calories for it. She doesn't see to eat that much anymore (frustrating to not be able to measure!), so I just count any extra as a bonus. Back when she was closer to 1 though, I was still supplying most of her calories, and I think I added about 400cals a day and was still losing weight. Can't really remember my rate of loss though...
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    edited March 2015
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    The negative calorie feature on the food log does not work for me on the app anymore, only on the website. I contacted MFP and they told me it was accidently removed.

    You could also create an exercise and log that everyday.

    Or you can adjust your calorie goal. Your 1500 includes a 500 calorie deficit for 1 lb a week.
    For awhile, I had mine set to maintainance so that really, I was at a 500 calorie deficit from the breastfeeding. Now I have moved my calorie goal to .5 lbs a week. I'm really aiming for 1 lb which would be a 500 calorie deficit but with the 250 for the .5 lb a week and around 300 for breastfeeding, it puts me in the same place.

    I wouldn't go as high as 500 for a 1 year old. I'd stick to around 300.

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