Breast feeding and losing weight

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Hi, im interested in Mothers who are nursing and trying to lose weight. How many calories are you consuming and how often do you exercise and are you losing the weight?? my daughter is 8 months and im having a lil struggle losing weight this time around, this is my third child....any suggestions would be great!! thanks

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  • DjinnMarie
    DjinnMarie Posts: 1,297 Member
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    Around 8 months your body is burning around 500 calories to support breastfeeding. Since you milk supply is established, and I'm assuming your little one is starting solids, I would suggest finding your BMR and stick with that.
  • teresamwhite
    teresamwhite Posts: 947 Member
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    i nursed my two for 18 and 16 months respectively. I pretty much just stuck to my pregnancy eating plan -that called for an additional 300-500 calories per day. I just incorporated more moving during post-partum.

    With my first i was still in the Army, so i bounced back pretty quickly, with my second though, it was a long slow slog!

    I would stick to 1800-2000, with plenty of water, and see if the scale starts moving before reducing the calories. With two children and now an infant, i am sure you need to energy!
  • HopeClavon123
    HopeClavon123 Posts: 22 Member
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    thank you ladies for great advice!!:smile:
  • MrsWashington82
    MrsWashington82 Posts: 50 Member
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    Hi, I have a 7 month old and like you I had no idea how to lose weight while nursing. My goal intake is 1350 daily. I add 300 to that goal because my baby is eating solids now so I'm not breastfeeding as much. That allows me 1650 daily to achieve a 2lb weight loss each week. Just type in breastfeeding in the add food section in your food diary and chose whether you are partially bf which is the -300 or exclusively bf which is -500. I excercise everyday. I trie to eat back atleast half of those calories burned. Feel free to take a look at my diary.Good luck on your journey feel free to add me:-)
  • kshadows
    kshadows Posts: 1,315 Member
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    i nursed my two for 18 and 16 months respectively. I pretty much just stuck to my pregnancy eating plan -that called for an additional 300-500 calories per day. I just incorporated more moving during post-partum.

    With my first i was still in the Army, so i bounced back pretty quickly, with my second though, it was a long slow slog!

    I would stick to 1800-2000, with plenty of water, and see if the scale starts moving before reducing the calories. With two children and now an infant, i am sure you need to energy!


    I agree with all of this! I ate roughly 2,000 calories and didn't exercise after my son. If you're really concerned, you can check with your doctor, midwife or a nutritionist. It will vary for every person.

    While nursing my daughter I was so ravenously hungry all the time, I gave up trying to lose until she weaned.
  • mamaoftwins9197
    mamaoftwins9197 Posts: 142 Member
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    With my twins, I lost 45 pounds in the first 6 weeks of breastfeeding...mostly because I didn't have any time to do anything else. With my little one, I didn't lose any weight and she nursed for 2 and a half years. I've always heard that you shouldn't "try" to lose weight/restrict calories while breastfeeding because the baby needs it. I'm sure it's different now that your little one has probably started solids (or will soon). Good luck!
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
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    I added 500 to my activity calories. It worked well enough.
  • granadan
    granadan Posts: 5 Member
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    Mine never seemed to shift after baby no 4. ! persevered and just kept on feeding and ate a normal diet. He hit about 10 months and the weight really began to fall off, but I wasnt back in shape until he was about 18 months at least (still feeding). I think it can just take longer to move once you've had a few ;) Which is a great reason to feed for longer xxx good luck x
  • kirder21
    kirder21 Posts: 1 Member
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    I am breastfeeding my five month old and on 1,700cal per day with three 30min cardio sessions in place at the moment.