No weight loss exclusively breastfeeding!
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Our bodies do not "hold onto" fat reserves while we're nursing. You need to create a caloric deficit to lose weight. Eat at maintenance and you'll lose weight as breastfeeding creates the deficit.
Just curious, do you have experience nursing? I don't mean for this to sound confrontational--it's an honest question. The notion that women lose their baby weight from nursing works in theory and some (lucky) women are quite successful at maintaining a steady loss without losing their supply. I was never able to achieve any significant weight loss while nursing my son without compromising my supply--even with an industrial breast pump. I had "friends" pointing out how they "got so thin while breastfeeding" and they "couldn't understand" what was wrong with me.
I'm 4 months post-partum and 2kg under my pre-pregnancy weight. I am breastfeeding on demand 24/7 and THAT is the secret of maintaining a healthy milk supply. Even the skinniest moms manage to breastfeed.
My daughter had a lip and tongue tie.. no matter how much time I put her on the breast (not to mention how much she screamed when I tried) would not have improved the situation. We saw three lactation consultants.. finally saw Dr. Jack Newman and got the ties corrected and it helped. But not all breastfeeding stories end up that way.
Again, just because you are having such an easy time with breastfeeding does not mean it is easy for others. There are so many things that can go wrong and thinking that it has a simple solution is not true.
I'd love to meet Dr Newman! This is a discussion about the efficacy of breastfeeding as a weight loss aid. I, too, have struggled to breastfeed. My little girl, too STILL has a lip tie. That has not prevented us from breastfeeding, though it sure as hell has been difficult and sore. Far, far, far more painful than giving birth.
Any woman who breastfeeds is engaging in a calorie-burning activity. Her lifestyle determines just how big or small a caloric deficit breastfeeding will be.
Some women's appetites increase and they start eating more, thus negating the caloric deficit. Other women fill up on low-calorie vegetables ALL DAY LONG and stay within a reasonable caloric allowance.
You mention how you nurse 24/7, do you mean your baby is at the breast all day? The lip tie could be making draining your milk less efficient which can lead to supply issues down the road. Not saying this is the case, just something to think about.0 -
Some women's appetites increase and they start eating more, thus negating the caloric deficit. Other women fill up on low-calorie vegetables ALL DAY LONG and stay within a reasonable caloric allowance.
And some women lose their supply any time they run a deficit while breastfeeding. Regardless of how healthy their food choices are.
Math is easy for me. Therefore, anyone who isn't an expert at calculus just isn't trying hard enough and is doing it wrong. Sound ridiculous to you? Well, you're basically saying the same thing about breastfeeding.5 -
There are so many factors that go into losing weight, and our bodies are very complex (as is evidenced by the fact we are able to produce life!). I played around with my calories and what has sort of worked for me is setting my goal to lose 2 pounds a week at moderate activity level. I don't eat back exercise or breastfeeding calories, but I'm also a big girl (I gained 70 pounds during this pregnancy). Baby is almost 4 months and for the past 2 1/2 months I have lost on average 1 pound a week (even though I am set to 2 pounds a week). I have struggled with my supply through this pregnancy and my previous pregnancy, so it is definitely a delicate balance. Regardless, you are doing AWESOME, and as some of the previous posters have said you'll have time to lose the weight when the baby is no longer breastfeeding (so much easier to say than to do). Hoping you find the right balance for you, your body, and your baby.
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Yeah, "filling up on low-calorie vegetables" doesn't prevent some women from having serious supply issues if they eat at a deficit. Because the hormones responsible for milk production, reproductive hormones, AND hunger/satiation? They aren't always responding to "full."
Feeling "Full" is a stomach-load and stomach stretching sensation, which can, but does not always, result in hunger hormone responses. Hunger is also a function of other things, many of which are NOT responsive to stuffing your belly with lettuce. If hunger were only about fullness, then all that advice about "fat is satiating," or "protein is satiating" wouldn't be a thing.
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There is only ONE thing that governs weight-loss: calories in < calories out. I am nursing whenever my little efficient milksucker wants milk, ie more or less every 90 minutes. This includes night-time hence I am saying 24/7
Feed on demand and you, too, shouldn't have any supply issues. Be very honest about your caloric intake v your caloric expenditure and you, too, won't have weight issues.
It really IS simple maths.3 -
There is only ONE thing that governs weight-loss: calories in < calories out. I am nursing whenever my little efficient milksucker wants milk, ie more or less every 90 minutes. This includes night-time hence I am saying 24/7
Feed on demand and you, too, shouldn't have any supply issues. Be very honest about your caloric intake v your caloric expenditure and you, too, won't have weight issues.
It really IS simple maths.
It really isnt that simple. Some women will NEVER create and maintain a good supply.
Medical conditions such as thyroid disorders, pcos even obesity can create poor milk supply and conditions with baby such as tounge and lip tie can cause low supply by ineffective milk transfer
Some ladies eating in a deficit can tank the milk supply
Check out the milk meg, kellymom and jack newman for information on this0 -
So many women give up breastfeeding because of people telling them if they just fed baby more they would have a fantastic supply
More education and support is needed to enable those mums instead of being made to feel a failure because they have a supply that needs constant careful balance5 -
I exclusively breastfeed my TWINS for 13 months and didn't lose at all and I was pumping as well. I wasn't tracking my calories or anything but I wasn't overeating, I was drinking my calories because I was super thirsty amd I love sweet tea lol. So after the initial weightloss after birth I just maintained. For me if I'm not in the gym then I tend to just maintain. I'm almost 2 years postpartum and I've been able to lose 61 pounds since November by sticking to a calorie deficit, lifting heavy, and doing cardio daily. I didn't start my weight loss journey until after they were 1 1/2. I wish I started sooner but the weight is coming off now so no biggie!1
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There is only ONE thing that governs weight-loss: calories in < calories out. I am nursing whenever my little efficient milksucker wants milk, ie more or less every 90 minutes. This includes night-time hence I am saying 24/7
Feed on demand and you, too, shouldn't have any supply issues. Be very honest about your caloric intake v your caloric expenditure and you, too, won't have weight issues.
It really IS simple maths.
You really don't get it do you? Not everyone is the same when it comes to breastfeeding and a lot of women choose to feed and hold of weight loss until after weaning because supply issues.
Filling up on low calorie vegetables means nothing.
Just stop. Yay on you that it works for you but to claim women need to work harder and they can successfully breastfeed while losing weight, only makes women feel more like failures because "it's supposed to be so easy". This is why some women give up breastfeeding instead of being more educated and encouraged.9 -
Feed on demand and you, too, shouldn't have any supply issues.
I cannot even begin to express how furious this statement makes me and how INCREDIBLY cruel you are being. The feelings of inadequacy felt by most women who can't breastfeed are immense and society does everything it can to make them feel worse with its pat offerings and pushing of "breast is best" (which, for the record, I mostly agree with - as long as "breast" is actually an option).
No. Feeding on demand is not a magic answer for everyone.
My oldest son had a tongue tie that gave us a bad start with breastfeeding because he couldn't latch until that was remedied. But, while the nurses at the hospital caught it, the pediatrician there refused to cut it. So, we got a referral to a breastfeeding medicine clinic. Know why there's such thing as a breastfeeding medicine clinic? Because not everyone's problems are fixed by feeding on demand! Anyway, a week after his birth we got in to see the doctor. A specialist. Want to know why breastfeeding specialist doctors exist? Because not everyone's problems are fixed by feeding on demand. In the meanwhile, on the advice of the nurses, we had purchased a high end breast pump and had started pumping after every attempted feeding. We tried to avoid formula for as long as possible, but had to cave in on that when my son was losing too much weight from not being able to feed himself. So, we would breastfeed as much as possible then my husband would finish the feeding with a bottle while I pumped. We were very selective about which nipple we would use as we didn't want him getting "addicted" to the bottle and were still very much hoping to exclusively breastfeed once his tongue tie was dealt with.
We got in to see the doctor almost a week after his birth. She fixed the tongue tie and we started working on my supply issues. At the time, we thought they were all due to him not feeding well for the first week, but my experiences with my second son have since convinced me there were other factors involved. I took herbs. (Do you know how unpleasant it is to take 24 giant capsules of herbs a day? I do!) I took a prescription medication which can be used off-label for increasing milk supply (and it did; I never got to normal, but it got me to more than I was otherwise producing; I took it with my second son too). I PUMPED AT LEAST EIGHT FREAKING TIMES A DAY!!! AFTER "FEEDING ON DEMAND" TO A BABY WHO, AFTER THE TONGUE TIE WAS FIXED, LOVED TO BREASTFEED!!! We managed to get to a point where he was getting half his calories from me and half from formula. That was the best my body was ever able to do.
WHEN SOMEBODY TELLS YOU THAT THEIR BODY WON'T PRODUCE ENOUGH MILK UNLESS ___________________, DON'T LECTURE THEM ABOUT NOT TRYING HARD ENOUGH! YOU HAVE NO FREAKING IDEA! The pat solutions like you've been offering work fine for ~90% of the population, but ~10% is still a lot of women. Believe me when I say they've tried. They've tried so hard you can't even imagine! And don't even go to the "but it works in third world countries" argument. If I'd had my son in a third world country, neither one of us would have survived the birth. In third world countries, a baby who can't breastfeed (or baby of a woman who can't breastfeed) simply starves to death.
And now I must go for a walk and never ever return to this thread. Because writing this made me cry. Three years later.9 -
I bf'ed for 31 months, and didn't lose a pound.
BTW-- ebf means extended breast feeding. This refers to breast feeding for longer than a year.0 -
I didn't lose any weight EBF until I started doing Weight watchers. My appetite was through the roof, so I was actually gaining weight. I highly recommend weight watchers while breastfeeding, because it's really simple, and I was able to maintain my milk supply. I lost 40 lbs over a year using their program and adding exercise in very slowly, like 2-3 days a week.0
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OK. Exclusive. On the bf board I belonged to back in the day, it meant extended, and a lot of women thought that anything longer that three to six months constituted "extended." Which is sad.0
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