breastfeeding to help lose weight

technobunny

When I went in for delivery I was 172, I breastfed my daughter and by the time she was 6 months old I was down to 137, I continued to exclusively BF and by the time she was 1, I was down to 122. She was on solids after that so the breastfeeding went from 4-5 times a day to twice a day so I'm not making as much milk now. The last 10lbs I lost was tracking calories and Insanity.

We still nurse to go to sleep, so I'm still producing milk but more like 10 ounces a day as opposed to the 30+.

So yes, it helped me lose weight. I read for every ounce you produce you burn 20 calories, and I was producing over 30 ounces a day!

But reading everyone's responses, it seems it is different for every one and every pregnancy as well.

gigglesinthesun

It worked for me when I had my first child, but I wasn't calorie counting with it. I was eating when I was hungry and stopped when I had enough. I was a lot more active then before and I lost 35 pounds (in addition to the pregnancy weight) whilst breastfeeding fully.

Having said that I was hungrier and less active and more tired with my second, so I only lost my pregnancy weight, but breastfeeding certainly helped me with that.

There is no one way. I didn't eat extra for breastfeeding, but I also didn't calorie restrict. I let my hunger guide me and it worked for me, but it's not a blanket solution and hunger feelings vary dramatically from person to person. I was always of the opinion that calorie restricting should wait until the baby is 1 or older in order to ensure the baby gets all nutrients it needs. When I craved certain foods I assumed it was because my body is missing something that the baby needed, so I ate it, whereas now since I am restricting my calories I get cravings that have very little to do with what my body needs and more what it would like - currently it wants frozen coke for breakfast :-)