Breastfeeding and calories

ChrystalF

Hello, I have a little guy who is 8 months old. I still bf probably around 10 times in a 24 hour period as he isn't too into solids yet. I have about 15 lbs left to lose until I hit my pre-preg weight but would actually like to lose about 20lbs. In the past if I wanted to lose weight I would eat 1200 calories a day and this would give me a 1 to 2lb per week loss. Now I have no idea what I should eat a day to lose weight but still keep up my supply. I have been working out (daily for about a week now, before that I was just going to two classes per week) and already feel way better, but the scale doesn't seem to be budging, I have been eating between 1800 to 2000 calories a day on average. I realize I can't expect to see much of a loss in a week but want to make sure I am on the right track.

Any advice??

dandelyon

I think 1800-2000 is very wise.

If you don't see a loss after a few weeks, you could try eating a little less. It gets easier once nursing sessions are replaced with actual meals - my body, at least, started acting the way it was supposed to and was less ruled by hormones

ChrystalF

Thanks dandelion :-) Hopefully now that he is eating more solids it will get easier.

wnglng

I also think that if you search the food diary for breastfeeding, there are several entries for breastfeeding that gives you negative calories. You could use those as a guage. I'm EBF my 3 mo. old, so if I use that in my food diary, it subtracts 500 calories for me.

meggwyn

I just wanted to offer you some encouragement! When you're down to a small amount to lose, its going to come off a lot slower. Taking measurements is a great way to see improvement. Adding in exercise can also cause initial gains, so you may not see progress for several weeks and that progress may come in the form of fat changing to muscle instead of pounds lost. Just stick with it for a month or two and reassess. Your are doing it right by not severely restricting your diet! A small calorie deficit, coupled with strength training, will help your body transform in a healthy way and shouldn't hurt your milk supply at all (I've done the rapid weight loss by not eating much in the past and I looked and felt much better/stronger when I was eating more/exercising hard). Good luck!

heatherz104

I think it sounds like you're on the right track and as long as you don't go below 1500 calories a day I would think you would be fine since your milk supply should be well established.

ChrystalF

Thanks ladies!!!! It sure is hard to wrap my head around not just cutting back calories a ton as that's how I have always done it in the past but this is good, forces me to find a more healthy way to get fit :-)

tinybry

It definitely sounds like you are making good progress and doing the right things

I am still exclusively feeding although hopefully he will decide to eat solids soon and that will start to reduce...

I am only 5'3" and am finding that 1200 basic, plus 350 cals for breastfeeding and then eating back my exercise calories seems to be working for me. when I stick at it I am losing a pound a week although I have slack weeks

So anything from 1550 - 2000 a day usually. If I feel hungry I eat though. I also have a very sweet tooth which bf seems to make worse, so most of my bf cals are in treats! I will try and curb that a bit when feeding reduces!