Losing weight while breastfeeding

creesama

Might be a long shot, but anyone else on here trying to lose weight while maintaining enough breastmilk supply? I'm trying not to be discouraged that I gained 1/2 lb this week, but I'm verrrrry overweight, so I should be losing since I'm on the 2lbs a week plan. Granted, I eat about 200 more calories to keep my supply up, but I'm definitely still in a calorie deficit. Idunno, trying not to get frustrated, but also don't want to lose progress.

chantalnarcisse

Me too my new baby girl is 3 months. This is my third baby so I’m not worried about my milk supply, as long as baby is satisfied you are making enough. If you are overweight eating less shouldn’t effect supply anyway that’s kind of why we naturally store a little extra fat during pregnancy for breastfeeding. I’m overweight this time I think because we travelled a lot and moved state during my pregnancy so there was lots of eating out and not much routine.

My struggle is that it makes me want to snack all the time so I try to intermittently fast during the day to limit my allowed eating hours I like the zero app for this but there are plenty that do it.

LoveyChar

My little boy is two now but I breastfeed him for 16 months. I was envious of women who said the melt just dropped off of them while breastfeeding. I wasn't lucky to be one of those women. I ate way more than I should have while breastfeeding him because I was worried that I wouldn't maintain supply if I didn't. I don't have any great advice BUT I do know that there is a breastfeeding calories option, which will add calories in allowing you to consume more. I did a lot of pumping, which helped me gauge, and I do believe it's 20 calories for every ounce produced. I think it's around 500 calories per day for milk production if the baby is exclusively breastfed. I hope in some way this helps...

chantalnarcisse

Was your baby born during the virus lockdown, did it change your plans? We ended up having our daughter at home without a midwife.

creesama

In February just before the lock down. In fact, I remember my husband offhandly asking if I'd heard about this virus in China while I was in my hospital room. And now here we are. It didn't change much since I already planned to take 10wks off for maternity leave, except I did extend 2 more weeks til May. But now my caseload has suffered, which directly affects my paycheck, and therefore my anxiety. And things are trending up again, so I'm getting worried again. It's so hard to not stress eat these days.

chantalnarcisse

That was lucky timing for you, I heard all kinds of crazy things from moms giving birth around the same time as me about no husbands allowed in the room and more complications so I was even more scared of hospital we planned for birth center but only I was allowed in so I was too stressed to continue labor and went home. I definitely stress eat too always on the worst food in the house I have a 2 and 3 year old getting bored stuck at home.

ShawnaE10123

I just had my 3rd child 10 months ago and have managed to lose 65lbs since having him. I started at 232.0lbs and am 166lbs today. He is still breastfed - teething and always biting currently haha. I find that I need to drink a lot of water. Min 12 cups a day. Otherwise I seem to retain water weight. The slightest bit of sodium really affects me now. As long as I pound water all day long and stay within my calories I normally see the scale moving down.

LadyLilium552

Hi there,

my daughter is a little over 5 month now and I am trying to lose weight since birth with no results until a short while ago.

I am still not losing a lot, but I am happy as longs as it's constantly dropping. I started out with 108.5kg and am now 107.2kg. Also I am measuring myself. Even though I didn't lose much weight I lost 6cm at my waist and 5.5cm on my stomach.

Just until recently I wasn't able to eat regularly or healthy. I know some of you may think that can't be, but sadly it's true. I just couldn't find any time to prepare any nutritious food. It was horrible. Then I grabbed unhealthy stuff or didn't eat at all.
I was struggling so much to get some time preparing and/or eating, because my girl kept me so busy. When there was little time I preferred to go around the flat tidying up and cleaning, 'cause otherwise it would had been a much bigger mess than it already was.

Now here is what I think helped me shed whilst keeping milk supply:
- Banning sweets, candy's and other unhealthy easy to grab stuff from entering home
- waking up early even if so tired or less sleep to have a few minutes in the morning preparing a healthy breakfast (it really carries me though the day if I don't get an other chance to eat)
- making sure to eat lots of protein each meal
- snacking on high protein like boiled egg or nuts
- giving in to cravings, but being mindful about portion size and making better choices like very dark chocolate for example
- doing 1-3 times a week postnatal gymnastics for around 15 - 45 minutes/session
- going for a walk here and then (not even once a week)
- drinking at least 2-3 liters of water and tea

I have an enormous hunger during the day too, so I eat a lot. It's unimaginable for me that some woman lose their baby weight easy-going whilst breastfeeding. I think before I came back to tracking I was eating something like 4000kcal a day for sure. Even now I still go overboard sometimes by eating over 3000kcal. But I think the kind of food really makes the difference. I am eating really healthy those few weeks now and I am still trying to improve. So mostly I consume an avarage of 2900kcal a day. Yet I am losing some weight. I think it's important to listen to your body and eat if you are hungry especially while breastfeeding, even if you consume lots of calories here and then. Just take care from where they come.