Breastfeeding and weight loss
Leah_62803
Posts: 292 Member
I'm hoping to find someone with some knowledge or experience with this. I've plugged in my stats in several different tools to see how many calories I need to lose weight but I've gotten several different results.
It's doubly confusing to me because I'm a breastfeeding mother...but my baby is older (17 months) so he's also eating solids. When I look up how many calories I need to add to maintain my milk supply, it keeps saying 500 but that's for newborns or babies who are exclusively breastfed (mine is not since he eats solids).
I feel like I'm probably overthinking this but I'm worried about it.
I'm 5'4 with a pretty sedentary life but I've started walking every day. I started at 195 lbs and now I'm at 177.6 lbs, most of that from before I started counting calories, just eating better. The 195 wasn't baby weight either. I lost the baby weight quickly and don't count it.
I've got my calories set at 1600. I add exercise calories in and sometimes I eat them, sometimes I don't. I even include 200 calories burned for breastfeeding. Lol.
Would you change anything? I don't think I need to go lower because I have lost a couple lbs like this. I'm just worried about my milk supply. I know baby doesn't *need* it anymore but neither one of us are ready to wean right now.
It's doubly confusing to me because I'm a breastfeeding mother...but my baby is older (17 months) so he's also eating solids. When I look up how many calories I need to add to maintain my milk supply, it keeps saying 500 but that's for newborns or babies who are exclusively breastfed (mine is not since he eats solids).
I feel like I'm probably overthinking this but I'm worried about it.
I'm 5'4 with a pretty sedentary life but I've started walking every day. I started at 195 lbs and now I'm at 177.6 lbs, most of that from before I started counting calories, just eating better. The 195 wasn't baby weight either. I lost the baby weight quickly and don't count it.
I've got my calories set at 1600. I add exercise calories in and sometimes I eat them, sometimes I don't. I even include 200 calories burned for breastfeeding. Lol.
Would you change anything? I don't think I need to go lower because I have lost a couple lbs like this. I'm just worried about my milk supply. I know baby doesn't *need* it anymore but neither one of us are ready to wean right now.
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Replies
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I should also mention that I'm not in a huge hurry to lose the weight. I want to lose it by April 2018 so I have a whole year.
I mean, I won't complain of it comes off sooner but if I need it to go slow that's ok.0 -
I'm nursing my 8 month old and have been eating 1800-2000 calories, and in 4 weeks I've lost 19lbs. Which is a lot to lose so quick, I think. But I never lost the baby weight after having him - this is me only just losing it now, but I don't know if that makes a difference. If I were you, I'd eat your maintenance calories for a week or two and see what you lose. If you lose 0.5-2lbs a week, just keep eating at maintenance until you stall. If you lose more, then up your calories - if you lose less, maybe lower your calories. That's just what I'd do though. Sorry not much help.2
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Honestly by the time my toddler was that age, I didn't really eat much back for breastfeeding calories. Maybe an extra 100-200 a day if you're still nursing a few times a day. But if you're losing weight doing what you are currently doing, I wouldn't change a thing. I wouldn't be too worried about milk supply since it's well established at this point.
My 2 year old has now pretty much been weaned since January and I miss my extra breastfeeding calories!1 -
Thanks. My supply should definitely be well established by now! He still nurses several times a day. Sometimes just a 5 minute "snack" and sometimes longer (usually before naps and bedtime). Plus he still nurses a few times during the night.
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Like previous poster said, your milk supply is well established by this point. Supply/demand is going to have a much larger impact than your calorie intake.1
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I counted a few calories at that age, but honestly, you couldn't stop lactating if you tried at this point, if your toddler keeps nursing. It IS probably 100-200 calories worth, so it will accelerate your loss if you don't count it. At your weight, losing around 1 lb/week is a good goal. If you find you're losing MUCH faster than that, add some calories back in for a while.1
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annacole94 wrote: »I counted a few calories at that age, but honestly, you couldn't stop lactating if you tried at this point, if your toddler keeps nursing. It IS probably 100-200 calories worth, so it will accelerate your loss if you don't count it. At your weight, losing around 1 lb/week is a good goal. If you find you're losing MUCH faster than that, add some calories back in for a while.
That's good to know! I asked about it in a breastfeeding group but most responses were from women with much younger babies who said I shouldn't be cutting any calories or I might lose my supply. Or replies from moms talking about "baby weight". This isn't baby weight...it's just me being fat. Lol.
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All the calculators are just guessing based on population averages. Pick whichever one you want, stick to that number for 4-6 weeks and see what happens. If you are losing weight at an acceptable rate, stay at it. If you are losing really fast, increase your cals a little. If you are losing too slow, decrease a little. Real world results are the only way to really know the right number, so just pick one that looks reasonable and go for it1
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My sons 14 months and for me if i drop my calories away from maintenance my supply does drop ( i nurse boyo every few hours day and night and i express in between too, extreme prem born 15 weeks early with health issues, he needs the milk )1
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Nursing a toddler is a whole different thing than a baby. I got to the point where I could go away for a few days and resume nursing with nothing in between. Even if you do something that lowers your supply, it should be reversible.1
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I agree with the post above. I weaned my baby like 1 month ago and in the process i noticed that i was still producing milk after a week of last breastfeeding or so. Baby was 10 months old. I don't think you need extra calories at this point.0
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WW suggested something like an extra 500 cal if baby was exclusively nursing, extra 250 if baby was nursing and getting formula or solids as well. You could try that for a few weeks, see what it does to your weight loss.1
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