Interesting post from another site re. counting calories whi
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Werglum
Posts: 378 Member
Hi everyone, I found this reply on another site's forum answering someone's question about how many extra calories to consume while breastfeeding. I found it really interesting and thought someone out there in mfp land might as well!
Note it was found on this site: http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/pregnancy-parenting/breastfeeding-losing-weight
"I'm going to give you my very best answer as a breastfeeding counsellor.
Breastfeeding and weight loss is affected by many, many variables. To say you need 500 calories more, which is the absolute standard response, would be like saying you need 500 more calories per day if you jog. The issue is that while you do need more calories, you need to figure out first how much time you dedicate to making milk and feeding your baby - kind of the same way you need to determine how long and how far you jog.
So - first off, your body is designed to take off your pregnancy weight quite rapidly. You no longer need to carry all the extra blood volume, fat, etc. that you needed in pregnancy. Whether you breastfeed or not, that weight will disappear in a few months. Breastfeeding MAY help it fall off faster. (I know every single book out there will say that breastfeeding will help you lose the weight faster, but the reality is that in fifteen years of doing breastfeeding consultations, I haven't seen a single study that offers this as more than a popular theory.) This breastfeeding weight loss program information is important because it just doesn't work for every woman.
Next, you have to figure out how often you breastfeed AND what else your baby is eating. Your baby is one month old, which usually means baby is exclusively breastfeeding, but it doesn't necessarily make it so according to the strictest definitions. So, here are some questions to determine whether or not your baby is exclusively breastfeeding:
Is your baby receiving any other food from any other source, including water? (Babies will nurse less if pacified with water.)
Is baby using a soother? (Babies will nurse less if pacified with a soother.)
Is baby nursing on cue or on schedule? (Babies nurse less when mum watches the clock and not the baby.)
Is baby nursing 'round the clock? (Babies nurse less when they are sleeping... go figure.)
Is baby co-sleeping? (Babies nurse less when they have limited access to mom's breast.)
All of these things give you a rough guesstimate of what kind of work your body is doing to make milk, and will give you a lot of personal information about your own milk production, but then there's still other questions that come up, such as: are you hungry?
Breastfeeding is not an aerobic activity, in fact, it's really quite a passive activity because all you are doing is taking non-secretory cells and making them secretory. Does it require extra calories? Sure. But for some women, 500 is too many and for other women it's not enough. Eating an extra 500 calories just because someone came up with this arbitrary number does not mean that's what you need.
I know that for many of us on CC, the following advice is going to be lacking, but I'm going to go for it anyway because it is just so hard to tell you exactly what you need to eat:
Follow the tools on the site to find out how much you need to eat to lose weight (if that's your goal), then keep healthy snacks on hand for when you feel hungry - which is different than feeling bored. It could well be that all you need is an extra salad to satisfy you. It's just as possible you need a full extra meal.
Just to be clear - I've been in breastfeeding and human lactation for a decade and a half, but I am NOT a doctor and I am in no way an expert on either breastfeeding or nutrition. Knowledgeable, yes; expert, no.
Hope this helps."
Note it was found on this site: http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/pregnancy-parenting/breastfeeding-losing-weight
"I'm going to give you my very best answer as a breastfeeding counsellor.
Breastfeeding and weight loss is affected by many, many variables. To say you need 500 calories more, which is the absolute standard response, would be like saying you need 500 more calories per day if you jog. The issue is that while you do need more calories, you need to figure out first how much time you dedicate to making milk and feeding your baby - kind of the same way you need to determine how long and how far you jog.
So - first off, your body is designed to take off your pregnancy weight quite rapidly. You no longer need to carry all the extra blood volume, fat, etc. that you needed in pregnancy. Whether you breastfeed or not, that weight will disappear in a few months. Breastfeeding MAY help it fall off faster. (I know every single book out there will say that breastfeeding will help you lose the weight faster, but the reality is that in fifteen years of doing breastfeeding consultations, I haven't seen a single study that offers this as more than a popular theory.) This breastfeeding weight loss program information is important because it just doesn't work for every woman.
Next, you have to figure out how often you breastfeed AND what else your baby is eating. Your baby is one month old, which usually means baby is exclusively breastfeeding, but it doesn't necessarily make it so according to the strictest definitions. So, here are some questions to determine whether or not your baby is exclusively breastfeeding:
Is your baby receiving any other food from any other source, including water? (Babies will nurse less if pacified with water.)
Is baby using a soother? (Babies will nurse less if pacified with a soother.)
Is baby nursing on cue or on schedule? (Babies nurse less when mum watches the clock and not the baby.)
Is baby nursing 'round the clock? (Babies nurse less when they are sleeping... go figure.)
Is baby co-sleeping? (Babies nurse less when they have limited access to mom's breast.)
All of these things give you a rough guesstimate of what kind of work your body is doing to make milk, and will give you a lot of personal information about your own milk production, but then there's still other questions that come up, such as: are you hungry?
Breastfeeding is not an aerobic activity, in fact, it's really quite a passive activity because all you are doing is taking non-secretory cells and making them secretory. Does it require extra calories? Sure. But for some women, 500 is too many and for other women it's not enough. Eating an extra 500 calories just because someone came up with this arbitrary number does not mean that's what you need.
I know that for many of us on CC, the following advice is going to be lacking, but I'm going to go for it anyway because it is just so hard to tell you exactly what you need to eat:
Follow the tools on the site to find out how much you need to eat to lose weight (if that's your goal), then keep healthy snacks on hand for when you feel hungry - which is different than feeling bored. It could well be that all you need is an extra salad to satisfy you. It's just as possible you need a full extra meal.
Just to be clear - I've been in breastfeeding and human lactation for a decade and a half, but I am NOT a doctor and I am in no way an expert on either breastfeeding or nutrition. Knowledgeable, yes; expert, no.
Hope this helps."
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Replies
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wow thanks for the post!0
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Thank you for this. It is very helpful.0
