Breastfeeding and "dieting"

jenncalde08

Hi All,

I'm currently nursing my 8 month old baby but I'm also concerned with my weight. I'm 5ft5in and weigh 193 pounds. Lately, I've been making wiser choices in terms of what I eat but I'm a sugar addict! Lol

Please share your story below. In search of motivation and support. Feel free to friend request also.

- p.s. My baby bit me today. Saying it was painful is an understatement

SJ1OAM

Hello I have only joined today and not sure how to friend request be great if we can support each other with our weight loss. I'm also nursing my 2 month baby but I'm a bridesmaid in August so need to loose some post pregnancy weight! Ouch by the way for ur baby biting u lol I have a little boy but when I fed him He used to do that my current baby is too small

gradchica27

I'm nursing my fourth now, and he's almost 11 months. You can do this! I hit my pre pregnancy weight three months ago, and goal about a month ago.

jenno369

Hello! My baby will be 1 year old next week. When she was 6 months old, I went for a physical and found my cholesterol was super high. Since she (completely) refused to take a bottle of pumped milk, I was really sensitive to keeping my supply up and nervous to cut back on my food intake.

I started logging on here (as I had done pre-pregnancy) and just didn't go crazy, like you said, just tried to make wiser choices and stay within my calorie goal. My cholesterol was checked 3 months later and it had dropped dramatically, and I've kept up logging and am now well below my pre-pregnancy weight.

OH the biting! She just started doing this a few weeks ago--it is brutal! I figured out as long as she isn't distracted, she is fine. She only does it when she is distracted, it is like she gets confused and forgets what she was doing so takes a chomp. Often times "no distractions" means her room in the dark, but it is better than the bite! Best of luck!

KareninKY

Hi ladies! I have an almost 13 month old who I am nursing. When she was 9 months old I decided I wanted to shed the rest of my baby weight. I began using MFP and chose a 1600 Cal allowance. To date I have lost 32 lbs and am prepregnancy weight.

For the past couple of months I have lost and gained the same couple of pounds. I assume I need to drop my calories a bit more as my daughter is eating more solid food and nursing less, but I want to continue to produce for her and it be nutritious.

So, my dilemma is whether to maintain for a while or drop calories and see if/how it affects my supply.

LLT38

I am nursing a 13 month old. I started counting calories when she was 7 months old and set my goal as 1 lb/week. I was already below my pre-pregnancy weight when I started on MFP. I lost about 30 lbs by the time she was 1. I ended up maintaining for most of June after I went back to work - life as a working mom is challenging! You can lose weight while nursing and maintain your baby's milk supply.

I remember the biting stage - it wasn't fun. I would give her a short break from nursing when she bit me. Breastfeeding is a 2-way street - no need for it to hurt the mom.

Shana67

Not a nursing mom any longer, but I just wanted to pop in and say WAY TO GO, mommas!! You're doing the most excellent and best thing that you can for your babies - GOOD WORK

jo_nz

My breastfeeding days are a while ago now (youngest is now 6) so I may not be remembering everything correctly, but here goes...
When my babies were small, a big factor in my eating was tiredness! My oldest had reflux and is just a very demanding child (still is now at 9 yrs old), and I just got used to having broken sleep and not enough of it, and for me I then found I had to eat often during the day. So to stop piling on weight I really had to try and be organised and plan meals and snacks that were easy to grab during the day.
Having healthier options on hand (boiled egg, nuts, fruit...) helped me not reach for the biscuits and chocolate quite to often.

A starting point for you might be to start just tracking what you are eating so you can see where you can shave a bit off. There might be some easy places. e.g. I cut out sugar from my coffee when the kids were small - because I started drinking more, it could really add up if I wasn't careful, and after a few days adjustment it was really a change that didn't affect me -I still got my coffee but with less cals.

Oh, and with biting, one tip I learned was when it happens, instead of pulling them away from you as you might want to, pull them in really close (so they can't breath through their nose - gosh that sounds mean!). They then will open their mouth and unlatch themselves - otherwise pulling them off can do some nasty damage! Good luck!

KimiAR

Kellymom.com suggests between 1500-1800 cal for nursing moms. I CRAVE sugar when I'm nursing and pregnant- otherwise I want salt. It seems to help to keep the calorie goal and I use a vegan shake to get enough protein in before dinner time. If I go into my splurge time of day in a good count calorie -wise I tend to do better.

I am currently nursing a 9 month old and a 3.5 year old.

Biting. I've scared all of them pulling off so fast that they didn't want to rematch

KimiAR

KimiAR

Emojis are killing me! I meant relatch not rematch. You can do this!! They Learn fast.

onefortyone

I'm nursing my 11mo son and I feel you on the biting! My son has 6 teeth and knows how to use them, ouch. I scream and put him down and he cries and looks at me all innocent lol.

I have struggled with my weight while BFing as it makes me HUNGRY. Moreso earlier on, but now he BFs less and takes more solids so I feel I'm ready to make a change. And I was flat out exhausted as he woke every hour or 2 until about 9 months old, so I'd seek out a tonne of sugary stuff to get that burst of energy. Now he STTN so I am ready and raring to go lol.

I'm just starting out, eating 1900 cals a day, running 4x a week, and trying to take walks with hubby and baby every day too, plus I eat back my exercise calories. I try not to keep the stuff in the house that I turn to when I'm exhausted - donuts, ice cream, chips - and I try to make every meal something that baby can eat too, so no added sugars or salt, and a decent variety of fruits and vegetables.

Good luck mama, and feel free to add me!