Breastfeeding app help!?!?

allen2rs

Does anyone know if there is a way to put that I am breastfeeding on the app? I want to try and lose weight, but I am still really hungry trying to stay under the calorie intake they are telling me to stay under. I am breastfeeding though and I know while breastfeeding you should take in more calories than a normal person would. Any advice would help! Thank you!

emilygduran

You could type it in as a food (it has a negative value and gives you more calories) or just manually adjust your daily alloted calories. The amount you should add depends on your baby's age, I'd add 500 for an exclusively breastfed baby but more like 200 for a toddler.

Dia_DoesThis

I breast fed both of my kids. They say you should take in 2500 calories a day and plenty of water. If you cut calories your milk supply may drop and cause your baby to be moody and feeding very often. So I say eat the 2500 calories a day and eat lean meats and veggies and fruits and plenty of water. And work out! REMEMBER your body is already burning calories producing milk GOOD LUCK.

giovanna8830

Calculate your BMR basal metabolic rate. TDEE- total daily energy expenditure .....then you can make Body reset + fitness

Scribbledsmooth

I too am breastfeeding and I had been doing a lot of reading on this. Most articles that I read said that you cannot go below 1800 calories a day, or your milk supply will drop. So I tried eating 1800 cal a day, and my supply TANKED. So, I went back to eating normally and then I slowly cut back on calories day by day. In doing that, I found that I absolutely cannot go below 2000 calories a day, or else my milk supply drops. But honestly, I have been eating closer to 2200 a day and exercising, and my milk supply has stayed strong. I've also lost a lb a week each week.

I also discovered that too low of an intake of carbs (part of a high protein diet) tanked my supply too. Once I added in HEALTHY carbs/grains (IE: steel cut oats, tons of veggies, a whole grain piece of toast) my milk supply came right back up.

Good luck!

ashliedelgado

I enter it as exercise - 450 calories a day. I tried just making my calories 2450 but it always told me I was gaining weight at the end of the day. I know that in 5 weeks thing is bunk, but after a week or two, it really brought me down seeing I'd be gaining weight. I try and net around 2000 at the end of the day, and my chunk has gained 5lbs since she was born 3 months ago.

hellobaconplease

I took what MFP gave me as a goal and added 500cal. No problems here, supply is fine, baby is happy.

Karie2017

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/breastfeeding_calorie_calculator.htm
This is the website I used to find out how many calories I need while breastfeeding and pumping.

Hurricane_C

When I was EBF my daughter I used the calories MFP gave me and then logged breastfeeding - you can add it to your diary as a -500 calories to give me those 500 extra. If you find your supply is dropping up your calorie intake and see if that helps.

victoria_1024

There's a negative food entry for breastfeeding. I added 500 extra calories until he started eating more solid food then decreased to 300, then decreased to 200 once he turned 1. He still nurses in the mornings sometimes but I don't log extra calories anymore.

gradchica27

Dia_DoesThis wrote: »

I breast fed both of my kids. They say you should take in 2500 calories a day and plenty of water. If you cut calories your milk supply may drop and cause your baby to be moody and feeding very often. So I say eat the 2500 calories a day and eat lean meats and veggies and fruits and plenty of water. And work out! REMEMBER your body is already burning calories producing milk GOOD LUCK.

Yikes! I would have been a house with that amount of calories. You need to take your own height/weight into account as well, plus whether baby is eating solids.

I'm 5'4", get up to around 190 with each pregnancy and begin trying to lose about 4-5 mo pp (so about 160ish at that point) I eat between 1800-2000 calories plus I eat back any exercise calories and lose about 3/4-1 lb/week. I've done this for 4 big babies (8-11 lbs each) who remained 80-100% on height/weight until I stopped nursing at 13-18 mo. Babies were full and growing, I was shrinking. Win win.

To OP's question, I just manually set my calories to include extra. I.e., if mfp gave me 1600 to lose 1lb/week, I manually up it to 1800 as my "goal" calories.

Just watch baby--if he's maintaining his wet/dirty diapers, doesn't seem overly fussy/hungry (a day or so might be a growth spurt), and continues to grow, your milk supply is fine. If anything changes, up your calories. Oh, and keep taking your prenatal vitamins!

gradchica27

Btw, good advice (that I've used each time!) here: http://kellymom.com/nutrition/mothers-diet/mom-weightloss/