Breastfeeding

emmaeaton777

Hi, does anyone else use MFP whilst breastfeeding still? My calorie allowance seems low and can’t find an option to put in that I’m BF to allow for extra calories?! What does everyone else do? Emma

malibu927

The most popular suggestions:

-log as exercise
-log as food, which will give you a negative adjustment
-manually add 300-500 calories to your goal
-set to maintenance and let breastfeeding create your adjustment

DomesticKat

Set your calories to maintenance for 3 or 4 weeks and see what happens. You shouldn't be eating at a deficit while breastfeeding, your baby does that for you. Nature intended for us to gain fat stores in pregnancy and to use up those fat stores while we nurse our babies.

If you have an older baby who nurses less and you've logged, weighed, and measured everything you consume accurately and you still don't lose, start out with a very small deficit and see how it goes. There is an entry in the database for breastfeeding and you should eat all of those calories back. There is a very fine line between enough of a deficit to lose and too much of a deficit where you lose too rapidly and your milk supply can suffer.

I personally eat at or above maintenance and I'm nursing an almost 10 month old who still nurses a lot. I'm down 42 pounds so far following that method and lose around a pound a week give or take.