breastfeeding and calories/food

hahahollylol

Hi, I'm fairly new here and so far have had some results. But the last day or two, I have slacked on recording what I eat. I have been trying to get around 1800 calories when I was last tracking, but lately I have been trying to eat healthy portions, not going overboard. But basically eating when hungry type of thing. today I didn't really exercise like I was doing. but I was still pretty active, walking around and being outside with the kids. and especially carrying around our almost 11 month old. But I missed working out today.

Is it really important as a nursing mom to try to record the calories each day? and if so, how can it be easier to do?

thanks!

hahahollylol

Hi, I'm fairly new here and so far have had some results. But the last day or two, I have slacked on recording what I eat. I have been trying to get around 1800 calories when I was last tracking, but lately I have been trying to eat healthy portions, not going overboard. But basically eating when hungry type of thing. today I didn't really exercise like I was doing. but I was still pretty active, walking around and being outside with the kids. and especially carrying around our almost 11 month old. But I missed working out today.

Is it really important as a nursing mom to try to record the calories each day? and if so, how can it be easier to do?

thanks!

Loma

La Leche League used to recommend 500 extra calories per day for a breastfeeding mom...It has been YEARS since I needed that info and it could have changed ....but if you are not exclusively bf you may not need the whole 500. I don't know....Hope that helps a little

ngwife4life

*PERSONALLY* I feel that if you are eating the right balance of foods and eating when you're hungry (treating food like a fuel instead of a comfort) while you're nursing AND you're losing weight, there's no need to start tracking your calories daily. I think it would be wise to track them on one of your typical days to get an idea of how much you eat daily about once a week to make sure you're staying on the right track.

I have seen such a vast range of calories required to sustain nursing (anywhere from 250-750) that I'm not sure that constantly tracking them would do you too much good. Listen to your body and pay attention to the *types* of foods you're eating rather than the quantity on a daily basis. If you hit a roadblock and stop losing or *gasp* start gaining, I think you should start tracking daily.

Some people may disagree with me but I've been the busy nursing Mom before and the thought of adding something else to my to do list would have driven me to the cookie jar. I think you have to do what works for you and your lifestyle. I wish you the best!

taveragirl

Luckly while nursing my second child the extra pounds just kind of fell off! I would eat healthy but I didnt need to really watch too much. I would eat alot of sweets and it wouldn't really matter. I knew when I stopped nursing I would have to cut my cals by at least 400 in order to maintain my weight...but I didn't really do so well and ended up gaining 9 pounds back! Once I realized I was sooo mad at myself:mad: You should calculate how many cals you can consume normally on your profile and then just add the 400-500 cals needed to support breastfeeding. Its good your eating healthy but for those nursing or not, logging cals is time consuming and you really have to make extra effort to get it done. I feel like Im always on this site now! Good Luck!!! :flowerforyou:

hahahollylol

*PERSONALLY* I feel that if you are eating the right balance of foods and eating when you're hungry (treating food like a fuel instead of a comfort) while you're nursing AND you're losing weight, there's no need to start tracking your calories daily. I think it would be wise to track them on one of your typical days to get an idea of how much you eat daily about once a week to make sure you're staying on the right track.

I have seen such a vast range of calories required to sustain nursing (anywhere from 250-750) that I'm not sure that constantly tracking them would do you too much good. Listen to your body and pay attention to the *types* of foods you're eating rather than the quantity on a daily basis. If you hit a roadblock and stop losing or *gasp* start gaining, I think you should start tracking daily.

Some people may disagree with me but I've been the busy nursing Mom before and the thought of adding something else to my to do list would have driven me to the cookie jar. I think you have to do what works for you and your lifestyle. I wish you the best!

thanks :drinker: that sounds right to me too.

aymie24

Hi,

I'm a breastfeeding couselor and nursing mom. There is no easy way to tell how many calories a mom burns while producing milk and nursing. So much of it depends on the mom, age of the baby, etc.

There may be ranges published by LLL or other websites but honestly, the wisest thing to do is get in tune with your body. Eat when you are hungry and most importantly, drink a ton of water. There is no real science behind the majority of breastfeeding information because there's no money in nursing so there aren't many funding sources for research.

Exercise and weight loss can cause a drop in milk production. Oatmeal, aside from it's many healthy properties, is an awesome way to help keep supply up. I don't know the science behind that but I have never had a client that oatmeal failed to work for!

Good luck!

Amy_B

With my previous BF child, I lost weight without tracking cals. I did like other posters & just ate well, ate when hungry, and exercised. I'm thinking of doing that again to simplify my life some. I did/do also drink a ton of water (96 oz at least, but try for a gallon).

bethaudrey

I nursed 3 babies each until after 2... (was also a LLL leader for awhile) and I think it depends on your body and baby.

My typical was holding onto all weight until baby hit 6 months, and then starting to lose, regardless of food (I just didn't pay attention to that much! No time!) and each baby was different, 2 still exclusively nursing at 6 months, one was eating solids...

My weight loss pattern was different with each, tho, in terms of how much how quickly.

Counting and tracking calories while nursing a baby just sounds like too much extra work and pressure to me, and to me taking the best care of baby at that time is the most important. WTG mama!

That said, if you feel uncomfortable with yourself, and can't reconcile that with the awesome things that you are providing for your child at this time, and feel up to counting and tracking, then I would start by adding in the extra 500, and if you don't see results within a few weeks, try tweaking from there. I would imagine, tho (if the 11 mo. old that you were carrying around is the nursling) that actual calorie needs would vary from day to day based on the babies intake, esp. if s/he is eating solids, which was always so variable for mine at that age (how much they eat vs. nurse each day).

So... it sounds like being active and eating healthy are just great for you right now!

P.S. there are some good mommy & me workout videos, I had a lot of fun with my little ones working out with them.

hahahollylol

I nursed 3 babies each until after 2... (was also a LLL leader for awhile) and I think it depends on your body and baby.

My typical was holding onto all weight until baby hit 6 months, and then starting to lose, regardless of food (I just didn't pay attention to that much! No time!) and each baby was different, 2 still exclusively nursing at 6 months, one was eating solids...

My weight loss pattern was different with each, tho, in terms of how much how quickly.

Counting and tracking calories while nursing a baby just sounds like too much extra work and pressure to me, and to me taking the best care of baby at that time is the most important. WTG mama!

That said, if you feel uncomfortable with yourself, and can't reconcile that with the awesome things that you are providing for your child at this time, and feel up to counting and tracking, then I would start by adding in the extra 500, and if you don't see results within a few weeks, try tweaking from there. I would imagine, tho (if the 11 mo. old that you were carrying around is the nursling) that actual calorie needs would vary from day to day based on the babies intake, esp. if s/he is eating solids, which was always so variable for mine at that age (how much they eat vs. nurse each day).

So... it sounds like being active and eating healthy are just great for you right now!

P.S. there are some good mommy & me workout videos, I had a lot of fun with my little ones working out with them.

thanks! :drinker: I've kinda been wanting to ask a LLL.