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balance of weight loss while keeping milk supply up

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laurahalford
laurahalford Posts: 11
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Hi!

I'm sure others are struggling with the same problem but i am looking for some advice.
I'm trying to lose weight after having my beautiful baby girl. After pregnancy i lost 28 pounds very fast within three weeks but for the past 3 months i have been sitting with the last 10 lbs which i would like to lose plus another 20lbs from weight gain pre pregnancy.
What i'm trying to figure out is how to balance the calories, i usually do 40 minutes of intense cardio a day which burns about 450 calories and am now eating 1500-1800 calories. Should i be adding in more calories because of the 450 calorie burn? I'm really worried i'm going to mess up my milk supply as my daughter is ebf and will not take a bottle even if i wanted her to.

i'm 5"8 and currently sitting at 210 pounds with good milk supply feeding about every 3 hours to a 4 month old.

thanks for any help! :)

Replies

  • Jenny_Rose77
    Jenny_Rose77 Posts: 418 Member
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    Hmm...to me your calories seem low. I am 5'9"/168 pounds. I usually eat 2500 gross/2000 net. I'm losing weight at a snail's pace though! Still, whenever I see people eating in a low calorie range, I get worried for their supply because mine tends to tank when I restrict.
  • daytolive
    daytolive Posts: 106 Member
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    I'm 5'9'' ,175 and just lost one pound after 2 months of a stall because I upped my calories to 2000. Anything under 1800 seems low (to me now)especially only being 4 months PP. My daughter is almost 12 months and I'm barely making enough milk but i plan to most likely ween at around13 or 14 months.

    If you're burning that many calories a day,you should be netting no lower than 1800 i would think? Try playing with your numbers. Sometimes you will see a big loss if you eat more food. :)

    Good luck!
  • laurahalford
    laurahalford Posts: 11
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    Thank you both so much for your reply! I will definitely play with my calories. do you eat back your exercise calories as well? if i ate 2000 calories and burn 400 should i eat 2400?
  • Jenny_Rose77
    Jenny_Rose77 Posts: 418 Member
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    I usually eat back my exercise cals (but I'm not subtracting bf'ing cals at this point) so I figure it balances out (if the cal burn is not exact/overestimated).
  • RBXChas
    RBXChas Posts: 2,708 Member
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    I'm 5'7" and currently about 206 (ugh). I started between 160 and 170 and delivered at 240 (double ugh) three months ago tomorrow. I ate 1800 and lost, then stalled. I calculated my BMR and TDEE and decided I wasn't eating enough, so I went up to 2200. I lost at first, then stalled and gained. I changed up to 2000 and am losing veeeeeeery slowly but am losing. My supply was great, and I actually had issues due to oversupply, so I block-fed and possibly overdid it. On 2000 calories I am still able to EBF with lactation cookies and mother's milk tea but don't get much if I pump.

    Any exercise calories get eaten back, so with breastfeeding I am netting 1500 calories a day but obviously eating a lot more.
  • laurahalford
    laurahalford Posts: 11
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    thanks everyone!

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