Breastfeeding Mom Gaining Weight

ALM0126

Hello!
I am so discouraged and frustrated. I a exclusively breastfeed my 6 month old. I have been exercising 30-40 mins 3x a week - elliptical and light weights for over a month. I eat lots of veggies and grains. I eat a lot of eggs and chicken breast as well. I have tracked my calories on MFP and most days i am way under what i should eat. So i tried bumping it up. I didnt notice a difference. After a busy 2 weeks where i exercised off and on but didnt eat as much as i should have...i stepped on the scale to see that i had gained 12 pounds!? Im shocked. I am five ten and 192. I want to be back at 150. Any advice?

tlflag1620

Start weighing your food on a food scale. Make sure you log everything that has calories - beverages, condiments, oils/butter used in cooking... Everything. You are eating more than you think you are.

ALM0126

Okay ill buy a scale. It just,doesnt seem possible to gain 12lbs in 2 weeks

Jess0138

12 lbs in 2 weeks sounds like water weight. Try limiting sodium. Depending on your exercise routine you could also be gaining muscle, but it wouldn't be that much that fast.

ALM0126

Hopefully its just water weight. How long until the water weight levels out?

tlflag1620

Some of it is most certainly water wieght - 12 lbs in two weeks is way too much to be fat or muscle gain. You said you've been doing your workouts and watching intake for a month. Did you lose any weight in the first two weeks? You're exclusively nursing your six month old - have your periods returned yet? If so, are you nearing TOM? If not, do you think AF might return soon (has baby recently started STTN, or have you introduced solids recently)? That can cause major water weight.

If it is water weight, it can take a few days, or even a week or more, for that to level out. Drink plenty of water, watch sodium. Also make sure you weigh yourself unselfish under the same conditions each time (same time of day, preferably morning before eating anything; wearing same clothes; same scale). I know it's hard with a baby in the house (I have four kids - 9,7,4, and 16 months), but try to log your food as consistantly as possible. Exercise is great, but getting your calorie intake on target is much more important for weight loss. I can eat in five minutes what it would take me hours to burn off with exercise!

LithePrincess

Did a little research for you and found this article that may shed some light. https://www.google.com/amp/www.popsugar.com/moms/How-Breastfeeding-Can-Make-You-Gain-Weight-37837572/amp

tlflag1620

No. Nursing does not make you gain weight. Eating more calories than you expend makes you gain. Yes, breastfeeding can increase appetite. You are using calories to make milk - as much as 700 per day when nursing an exclusively breastfed baby (by exclusive I mean no formula, no complimentary solids, nothing but breastmilk). So, yes, you will likely notice increased appetite, even greater than your pregnancy appetite (pregnancy burns maybe 300 extra per day, in the third trimester!). But CICO still applies. Set MFP for maintenance. Weigh and measure and log everything you eat. Stay within the goal MFP set for you. You will lose weight.

That said, some women notice that limiting their calories and losing weight makes their supply drop (the woman in the article posted above limiting her calories so severely that she lost 5lbs in one week, which is more than what is recommended for anyone, much less a lactating woman). So you might have to make reductions gradually, and you may have to be more patient and accept a slower rate of loss (1/2 lb per week instead of 1-1.5 lbs per week) in order to keep supply up. But there is no earthly reason why a woman who has excess adipose tissue (OP has bmi of 27 - that is in the "overweight" category) shouldn't be able to lose weigh while nursing. It won't happen in a month, but with consistency and reasonable expectations, the weight will shift.

crackpotbaby

The hormonal changes during breast feeding can affect people differently. Keep that in mind when reading the CICO you're doing it wrong type posts:

Have you seen a lactation consultant and/or dietician?

They can assist in helping you manage this time while optimising health for you and your baby.

You should be able to get a referral from your GP/family doctor or infant welfare nurse.

Don't stress this. You are nourishing another human being with your body. You are amazing.

ALM0126

Sorry for the late replies. My baby is mildly deaf and we have been busy with her appointments.

She did just start eating solids a few times a day about a month ago. She did also just start to STTN minus a one time feeding. My lactation nurse told me to eat more. I have only had one period. My next period is due on Sunday. So I wouldnt say I am "regular" yet. I have had irregular bleeding before my last true period.

Looking back at my journal I wonder if I am not eating enough to lose the weight. I notice maybe a couple inches gone on my thighs and stomach. But tye scale does not reflect that. For example, I may eat 2 boiled eggs, a banana and a whole wheat piece of toast with peanut butter for breakfast. I will eat again that afternoon and its normally brown rice or quinoa, roast chicken breast and several types of roasted veggies. Dinner is typically similar to lunch.

I have noticed in the past week my baby wants to nurse longer. Like i wasnt making enough milk. So i know i cut too many calories. But i am not sure if eating too few can make me gain or keep me from losing. Either way, I think I should make a meal plan that tailors to my calorie amount per day. And maybe use the elliptical,for 30-45 mins 3x a week and do the light weights daily. I bought Insanity by Beachbody but I am worried it will be too much on my body right now.

Thank you for all the help and kind words. It truly makes a difference. I spend so much time each day angry at myself for how I look and why I cannt lose weight, you all are wonderful.

SusanMFindlay

Are you weighing (or otherwise measuring) your food? "Brown rice" could be 1 cup for 200 calories or 2 cups for 400 calories - and if people don't measure, the human tendency is to underestimate.

tlflag1620

Eating too few calories might negatively impact your milk supply, but it will not prevent you from losing weight, and definitely won't make you gain.

Odds are much better that you are estimating portions incorrectly and eating more than you think you are. Peanut butter is particularly calorie dense, so even underestimating a little bit can add up to hundreds of calories over a week. Invest in a food scale, weigh all solid foods, set MFP for a 1 lb per week rate of loss, eat back half of exercise calories, and give yourself 300 extra per day to support lactation (I'd say 500, but your baby is on solids now so nursing is no longer the sole source of her nutrition). Be consistent and keep it up for at least 4 weeks. Keep in mind that with irregular cycles, it will be hard to know if a given "gain" is related to period-related water weight, but over time you should lose. If you find after a month you haven't lost, or have gained, then you may need to cut calories further.

Eating more is never the answer to weight gain/lack of loss.

ALM0126

Just to update.... i weighed myself this morning and was back at my usual 180lbs.

ahuk123

Hey I know this is an old thread but I wanted to share my experience. I ebf my baby until 7 months and during that time I did not loose any weight what so ever. When you don't eat enough calories for the milk your body wants to hold on to what you already have. So here I was eating like a rabbit and I still didn't loose anything at all. I'm guessing once you are done breastfeeding the pounds will come off. So many people think breastfeeding makes you loose weight which I thought too, but it's just not true for a lot of women including myself. My body likes to hold on to the fat for my milk supply. I've actually decided to stop now because my weight is just stressing me out so much and I need to desperate loose 50lbs.

Good luck to you!

SusanMFindlay

Please don't stop breastfeeding just because you want to lose weight. Your body isn't holding onto fat because you're undereating. It might send you increased hunger signals to make you eat more - but it's not holding onto fat. A better plan might be to pay attention to eating nutritious food (and eating a sensible amount - deficit no bigger than 500 cals/day) to send your body the message that you're properly nourishing it and that it can stop with the extra hunger signals. Also, stress makes your body produce hormones that make you retain water. So, if you're stressed, you can lose fat without losing weight because you're retaining water. Once the stress stops, the water flushes out and you see the weight you thought you should have lost earlier.

Harbin2017

Been there. I am 5,3 and usually weighed around 125-130 lbs, was very active and looked petite. During the pregnancy i gained about 15 Kilo, left hospital at 70 kg (about 155 lbs). I exclusively breastfed my daughter and it made me so hungry. Ravenous. I felt tired, constantly hungry and angry. I am now breastfeeding 1 time a day and i am still 70 kg, my daughter will be 10 months next week. I lost inches though. Everybody was saying you will lose weight with nursing, but guess what it was the opposite for me. Nothing really worked until i reduced BF alot and my appetite has gone down too. It is recommended to exclusively breastfeed up to 6 months, but then you can maybe start thinking about introducing more solid foods in your baby's meal plan. This will help you too.