counting calories or following hunger?

nmhogan

Hi everyone!
Just wanted some opinions!
I have a 18 week old bub who is exclusivley breastfed. When I left the hospital all the docs and midwives kept saying " you dont need to eat extra, just eat 3 good meals, a couple of snacks and about 8 glasses of water to keep your milk supply going". So thats what I do. I eat really well, I dont feel hungry and I know I have plenty of milk!
However on here it is saying I am well short of the reccomended caloric intake (particularly so when I add in BF!).
So, should I count calories or follow my hunger?! What do you do?
I also wondered (because I'm new here) if I have set my plan up right or because of the difference when I add in the BF and thats the problem!!!!
Hope this makes sense! :happy:
Thanks!

Collinsky

Your BMR is raised when you're nursing, so your calories should take that into account. Have you been logging your meals to see where you're at in terms of calories? It sounds like you're probably getting plenty. You do need more calories when you're nursing, but it might be that you instinctively add that in going by your hunger cues and how you're feeling.

I think that it's important to eat to hunger, and also to be mindful of calories, so I guess I advocate a balance between the two. If you're eating to hunger and it turns out that it's 3000 calories a day, that might be way more than you need... or if you're eating to hunger and it's about 1000 calories a day, then that's an indicator that adding a little would be a good idea. So I'd consider hunger first, but within a window of not-enough and too-much calories.

On days I don't exercise, I was eating about 1575 calories, and with 375 for nursing (I'm nursing a toddler, so I'm nursing less than someone with a young baby -- that's closer to 500 calories a day!) that means I netted 1200. Using that math, I was dropping about a pound a week, so I think it was pretty accurate for me to go by the MFP recommendation, and subtract my breastfeeding cals.

I fell off the wagon and gained back some weight... I'm set at 1300 now, and still subtracting my breastfeeding calories, and since I started logging again and going by those numbers, I've started losing weight again.

All in all, I think that taking your bfing cals into account is a good move, and won't stop your weight loss... I would aim to go slightly over the MFP recommendation anyway, rather than under it, since -- especially with such a little one -- taking in enough is really important.

ETA: Wow, the word "calories" appears WAY too many times in this post. :laugh: I gained weight just typing it.

princessleia1980

I found it difficult to follow so many different forms of advice for bf and so I just set my calories to maintain. This is about 1900 calories and anything I lose is down to bf. You have to be careful as the body will hang on to the fat stores of you don't eat enough. I discovered this the hard way!

princessleia1980

Oh and I usually eat my exercise calories so that my net is right.

nmhogan

Thanks for the answers! They're very helpful! I think I will continue to count the calories but be lead by my hunger. Mostly because some days my bub feeds like crazy and others he does not ( usually growth spurt time!). He had been in abit of a 'feed every 3 hours during the day' routine and have longer breaks at night after cluster feeding. But since his immunisations ( which is why its taken me so long to reply!) he has been feeding very frequently! So I've found I've been very hungry and the calories set probably wouldnt have been enough!

Thanks again

boatstop

This is something I have been struggling with recently. My daughter is 8 months old, and for the most part, I have been eating 1800 calories (more or less). Eating about 300 calories every 2-3 hours really helped me lose all my baby weight plus 10 additional pounds.

But now I feel like my daughter is nursing less, and my weight loss has slowed. I have been really tuning into my hunger, and it has helped me figure out what I really need for calories. Sometimes I think I get too caught up in numbers and don't focus on what my body is really telling me.

I think it's always best to go my your hunger cues. Your body will let you know if you need more!