BREASTFEEDING WHILE COUNTING CALORIES

achoulat395
achoulat395 Posts: 27 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
To anyone breast feeding while counting calories. How much does bf burn? Can it be an accurate count? Do you count in the middle of the night feedings?

Replies

  • magnusthenerd
    magnusthenerd Posts: 1,207 Member
    Are you thinking of tracking how long and often you feed? You aren't going to get that level of accuracy that you feed for X minutes and burned Y calories.
    Usual suggestion I've seen is add a few hundred calories or so (~200 to 500) to your daily expenditure for it.
  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,367 Member
    I don’t and haven’t ever breastfed, but after years of wondering how it can burn so many calories when you’re not even moving, I realized the calories go to producing the milk that then leaves your body. I’m guessing Google might tell how many calories on average are in breast milk per some sensible volume unit, and if you have a somewhat accurate estimate of how much your baby eats in a 24-hour period, you could go from there.

    Yes, night feedings would count, it’s still milk you are producing. Similarly, middle-of-the-night snacks and drinks you might eat or drink count and should be logged.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,091 Member
    magnusthenerd wrote: »
    Are you thinking of tracking how long and often you feed? You aren't going to get that level of accuracy that you feed for X minutes and burned Y calories.
    Usual suggestion I've seen is add a few hundred calories or so (~200 to 500) to your daily expenditure for it.

    The range reflects whether your baby is exclusively breast feeding (high end of range) or just supplementing solid food with breast milk (low end of range). If you're pumping you could get an accurate volume measure and go from there, but you can't really do that if the milk is going straight into the baby.

    Some women set their goal at maintenance and allow the breastfeeding to create the deficit.
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    Most breastfeeding momma's set their goal to maintenance calories as your body burns around 500 calories a day for a fully breastfed baby. Be mindful not to lose too quickly as this can affect your milk supply and the last thing you want is a hungry baby.

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