Breastfeeding and "Starvation Mode"

hstoblish

So, right now, I enter in breastfeeding and it takes 300 calories off of my food. This means when even if I eat 1200 calories, it shows up as 900. I'm a month in and still producing enough milk so I'm not worried about any impacts that way. I have a sensitivity to wheat and dairy (a very real one) so getting enough calories without going over in sugars is difficult because we eat very clean in my house.

My question is this, would you worry about eating too little if you are eating more than 1200, but the program is subtracting 300? I usually manage to eat back at least 200 of my breastfeeding calories, but often eating back the full 300 makes me feel super full and kind of gross.

I am feeling great and have lost 16 pounds so far (ugh to Canadian Thanksgiving last weekend, which gave me a fun little plateau), so it's not that this has been ineffective so far, I'm just wondering if I'm setting myself up for a little problem.

grentea

Isn't the baby still getting everything from you in the breast milk, including nutrients. If you are not eating enough, won't it lead to you becoming deficient in nutrients? Pregnancy is hard on your body and it takes a long time to recover. It doesn't sound like enough calories. Maybe you should check with your physician.

geekyjock76

MFP operates under a net calorie principle - meaning if you eat 1200 calories in food and burn 300 off, you should eat an additional 300 calories so that the difference, or net, is 1200. That's the absolute minimum the site allows. Seek advice from a specialist and don't shoot for minimums.

Be cautious about developing negative attitudes such as "feeling gross" after eating that amount of calories. Eventually, you're going to have to increase calories as you lose weight and work back to a maintenance level of intake. If you don't overcome this hurdle early on, it could manifest into psychological issues later when you transition into maintenance.

servilia

To grentea, her baby is 9 months old (or at least was when she wrote her profile) so I assume he or she is getting some nutrients from solids.

To OP I'm also breastfeeding an almost 9 month old. I wouldn't worry so much about starvation mode (I never really believed in it the way it's talked about here) but I would worry about getting enough nutrients and maintaining supply.

hstoblish

I'm definitely not worried about supply or nutrients. I eat really well so none of my calories are empty calories, and I definitely am not deficient in anything. Plus, she's getting lots of healthy food aside from just breastmilk at this age. When she was just eating breastmilk, I didn't count calories at all and maintained well (after an initial natural drop of weight post-pregnancy). Then I started counting with the plan that if my supply dropped, I'd just wait on the weight loss until I was done breastfeeding. So far it's been fine. I know that if you're deficient in calories, you will often see a decrease in breast milk supply. Also - you are more likely to become nutrient deficient than your baby is, because your body will just pull what's needed into the breastmilk. It's an incredibly active and fascinating feedback system.

Geekyjock - thanks for the point about describing it as gross! I need to keep that in mind; I come from a family of women who will do things like describe their bodies as "disgusting" and I want to make sure I don't start that - especially given that I want to pass a health body image on to my daughter.

Thanks! I think I'll put in more of an effort to eat back the breastfeeding calories. I should also add that I have it set so that I get 1360 a day, so I'm not really aiming for the minimum. I rounded for ease of explanation.

Minks_esposa

IMO 1200 cals is way too low for breastfeeding and it will start to impact your milk production as your baby grows. My nutritionist had me eating 2000 cals and I was losing about 1 pound a week. I nursed all 3 of my kids for a little over a year. Eating to few of calories could start to effect your health and your body will pull what it needs from your body and give it to the baby. Also if you cut your cals you may notice that your weight loss will stall. Also with that amount of cals you may find that you're hungry a lot. If I were you I would up my calories.

gigglesinthesun

the thing is that if you don't have 'enough' nutrients for both you and the baby, only the baby gets it. Even the supplements say on the back that you need to eat a balanced diet in addition to this. Calcium is obviously the big one that makes you suffer if you don't have enough, but the others are necessary too.

hstoblish

IMO 1200 cals is way too low for breastfeeding and it will start to impact your milk production as your baby grows. My nutritionist had me eating 2000 cals and I was losing about 1 pound a week. I nursed all 3 of my kids for a little over a year. Eating to few of calories could start to effect your health and your body will pull what it needs from your body and give it to the baby. Also if you cut your cals you may notice that your weight loss will stall. Also with that amount of cals you may find that you're hungry a lot. If I were you I would up my calories.

Was that 2000 calories even after you had introduced solids? I know that would be too much for me, but I'm pretty short and not super overweight (I've lost 20 pounds and am looking at 10-15 more) so that might be a part of it. Still, I'm going to increase my intake to make sure that I'm getting enough. Thanks for the advice!

emegburg

What I did was manually entered 1500 calories as my calorie limit for each day, because I've read that's the "safe" number for breastfeeding moms who want to lose weight. Then I tried to eat as close to that as possible and didn't worry about entering breastfeeding in. It all evened out. Never had trouble with my milk supply, and I still lost weight.

Purplebunnysarah

You will want to eat extra calories to make up for the ones you 'burn' breastfeeding. I know for me, my supply tanked as soon as I cut more than 100-200 calories off of maintenance.