BFing and weightloss?

ChefSuzzieQ

Has anyone else been trying to lose weight with diet and exercise while breastfeeding? I know that it requires an extra 300-500cal a day, but you can't really be sure how many. I talked to a nutritionist after losing 2 lbs a week for 3 weeks. She told me they don't recommend losing more than half a pound a week due to milk supply concerns. It doesn't seem to be a problem, But now that I have started tracking my calories I am afraid I might under-eat. Anyone that has done that can provide insight would be awesome.

Addicted2Fitness

I have been tracking calories and exercising. My milk supply has not gone down. I am still nursing 3 times a day and pumping during work 3 times getting a total of 15 ounces. The weight is coming off slowly and I think it is because my body is holding on to the extra 7lbs I want to rid of enable to have a good milk supply....make sense? I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself right. I have been doing strength training and cardio. There is definitely a difference in my figure. Take a look at my food diary to help assist you. Its not the best but it will give you some insight.

CMmrsfloyd

If you are breastfeeding exclusively (no formula, no solids) you can estimate it to be about 500 calories per day. Once you start adding solids or formula, that number goes down more and more as baby nurses less and less. You can actually get a REALLY good estimate if you pump and then feed your baby, as you could look up calories per ounce and then multiply to see what you actually produced.

You can track breastfeeding in your food diary to help account for the calories. If you go in like you're adding a food, you can type in 'breastfeeding' and several options pop up for you to choose from. If you add one, it bumps up your calorie goal for the day to account for breastfeeding calories.

OR you could set your MFP goal to 'maintenance', and whatever you burn through breastfeeding would basically create your deficit (basically breastfeeding would be your 'exercise'). So if you do burn 500 per day, you would lose 1 lb per week. If you actually burn less like around 300 per day, it would take a little over a month to lose 1 lb. You could experiment by using that maintenance setting and then watching your actual weight loss to estimate about what you're burning through breastfeeding.

Rae6503

I ate 2500 calories a day while nursing. To me milk supply was far more important than losing weight.

I'd recommend setting your goal to a half pound a week, eating all earned breast feeding calories and exercise calories.

melkithall

Is this your first time breastfeeding? any other children? I'm on my third baby right now, nursing him at six mths now. From my past experiences nursing my other two, I know I get a lot of milk, never have run out before I decide to wean. When I decided to lose weight, I was a little nervous about losing my milk, so I slowly started eating less. With my other two kids, I got myself into so much trouble thinking I could eat more because I was nursing. Which is why I needed to lose so much. Anyways, I'm eating around 1300-1400 cals a day--I know it's lower than recommeded, but I'm fine. I'm still losing weight and my milk is fine. I still leak sometimes, I have plenty. Everyone is different, so I'm not saying it will be the same for you. I just know it works for me.