breastfeeding and weight lost

benevolenttate

Hello All! My name is B and Im currently brestfeeding but want to lose a few pounds. After all the research Ive done, Im supposed to eat at least 500 extra calories a day(for a person my height and weight thats about 2700 calories plus a day). How can I lose weight yet still eat enough to produce milk for my baby?

moushtie

I know some people who say put your food diary on maintenance calories while breastfeeding. I can see how this would make sense, as the 500 a day that breastfeeding uses would mount up to 3500 calories in a week, which is enough to lose 1 lb a week.

On the other hand, I am not a professional...

ajbeans

Use MFP to calculate how many calories you need to lose weight at your current height and weight. If it were me, I'd shoot for no more than 1 lb. per week, because your body is already under stress from making milk. Then after you've calculated your calorie goal, go back to My Home> Goals> Custom, and add 500 calories to the daily goal that MFP recommended for you. Make sure you drink plenty of water, as dehydration can also impact your supply.

Welcome to MFP! And good for you for nursing!

MissMandy1010

Its a very thin line you have to walk and carefully balance. You will burn a ton of calories by breastfeeding, so know that first off. Add in a bit of exercise and you should be ok. If you want to keep your supply up, keep your calorie intake up and don't over do the exercise. I started a home dvd workout called insanity 4 weeks after my baby was born and my supply plummeted. Also make sure that baby nurses every chance he/she gets!! :-) good luck!!

jenlstein

Hi B! I am also breastfeeding my baby & have been able to lose 30lbs! What I did was add a cardio exercise of Breastfeeding & gave it a 500 calorie burn for the day. That way you can add an extra 500 Net calories a day & still stay within your calorie budget. Hope that helps! Good Luck!

Jen

bbush18

It was almost impossible for me to lose while breastfeeding. When I finally decided that I was going to lose the remainder baby weight (5months after baby), my milk slowly stopped coming in. It's a choice you're going to have to make... Good luck! And congrats on your new baby!!

alyssa92982

I lost all my baby wgt at 4 mos postpartum. I put in to lose 1 lb per week on here and let mfp figre the calories per day-the added 500 calories to that under my settings. So if its 1300 claories it figures for u I changed mine to 1800 and saved it to that and it worked well-good luck!

LilRedRooster

I've been exclusively breastfeeding for 11 months now, and still going strong. Congrats on nursing and the new baby!

I don't add my breastfeeding calories when I figure it all in. I basically set the tracker to lose 1/2 to 1lb per week, and don't bother figuring in the calories from breastfeeding. I just make sure to snack on very healthy things all day. Like, literally, snack all day long, because I've found that my supply does so much better with snacks than larger meals.

3kidsin3years

Hi there! I'm not a breastfeeding mom, nor have I ever been able to, but I have lots of friends that do, so this topic (for some reason) is interesting, to me. A lot of people on here have said that you can, in your food diary, enter breastfeeding as a food and it will subtract calories from your food total, based on which option you choose for how often your baby nurses. Good luck and way to go for wanting to take care of yourself!

lisahightower2

If you type in "breastfeeding" or "nursing" in the food search bar, it will bring up some options for putting it in your food diary. Currently I subtract 300 cals a day but my baby is almost 12 months and nursing typically 3 times a day (more now because he's sick). I've only managed to lose about 15 lbs since he was born but my body CLINGS to fat while I'm nursing! All those celebrities with their "I don't exercise - just nurse!" are liars! LOL Just kidding - I know plenty of people that drop the weight, but not me!