Breastfeeding- calories burned/ calories needed?

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My question is, how do you balance/calculate for calories burned vs. calories needed from breastfeeding while also factoring in exercise calories?

Thanks for any helpful advice :-)

Replies

  • mehaugen
    mehaugen Posts: 210 Member
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    You can also enter calorie goals manually, so you could just set it to 1300 or so.
  • becca473
    becca473 Posts: 21 Member
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    My sister found it as a food. She enters it in as a negative calorie snack. She's nursing twins so it gives her an extra 600 calories a day.
  • buffalogal1979
    buffalogal1979 Posts: 236 Member
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    Hi!
    I started MFP when my baby was @ 5mo. I found the combination of BFing and MFP to be REALLY helpful.

    My doctor told me to go NO lower than 2000 cal/day.

    What I did when I first started was made my goal 2000cal/day and then used a "breastfeeding mom" FOOD that is worth negative 100 cal for 3 of my meals. So I was accounting for 300 cal/day being burned by breastfeeding in addition to giving myself 2000 cal/day over all. So really I was eating 2300 cal/day PLUS my exercise calories.

    HTH.
    Enjoy your baby!
    J

    Edited to say that: Yes, even eating ALL those calories I dropped weight like crazy! It's since I have stopped nursing, that I have struggled.
  • blueyeb
    blueyeb Posts: 85
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    Thanks everyone, I did find it as a negative food calorie. Still a little concerned about the correct amount, so I will estimate on the low end.