Do lactating moms need more calories for fat burning?

jendayih

Hi! I'm new, my name is Jendayi. I am a new mommy of a 6 month old baby boy. I recently started working out to lose the baby weight and the tracker put me at 1560 calories a day. I think it has been working out okay for me so far but it seems a bit low. I guess I'm wondering if I should eat more calories since I'm nursing and those calories are being lost? Thank you all!

aliakynes

Yes. Nursing requires an extra 300 calories (per baby) per day. Just add it as exercise.

EDIT: Sites say 300-500. I'm thinking it would be 500 for a newborn but around 6 months he's feeding a bit less often than before. So see how 300 feels, add more if you think you need it.

missiontofitness

I've never had a baby, so I'm just going to go off of what I've picked up on around here and on the internet!

If 1,560 is just for you to lose weight, definitely up that. It is recommend to eat a bit more, since you will most likely be burning with the breastfeeding, and need to be fueling your body for milk production. Especially if you plan to be up and about with your baby, you'll want to make sure that you're getting enough fuel to feed him + to keep you in tip top shape. What aliakynes said sounds about right, and the average I've seen on here.

Otherwise, I would say listen to your body. If it feels like too little, it probably is. If it feels like too much, scale it back *very slowly!* to a rate that meets all of your needs. I would recommend upping/reducing your calories 100 at a time every few weeks until you find your fit.

jendayih

Okay. Thank you ladies! I up it to 1,800 and that seems to be working great for me. I just wanted to make sure I had a good balance between nursing and wanting to lose weight as well.

ajff

Agree with earlier posters... but more importantly: WHAT A CUTE BABY! Good work mom!

By the way, I loved breastfeeding (ok, I hated doing it, but I loved that it was like that baby was sucking fat right out of me!)!

takeadeepbreath

And keep an eye on your supply. If it goes down (and it's not because baby is eating less) then that's a good sign that you should consider eating a bit more.

bpjk

Had the same question. Thank you for asking it and thank you all for answering.