Breastfeeding and calorie counting

jberry613
jberry613 Posts: 7
edited November 12 in Food and Nutrition
I'm new to my fitness pal, I had my fourth child 6 months ago and the weight well its gone nowhere. I want to make sure that the calorie limits I was set are healthy for me while also nursing my daughter. Is there a setting for this or any recommendations?

Replies

  • cutethang1
    cutethang1 Posts: 239 Member
    I am sorry I cant offer any advice. But wanted to say congrats!!! Hope you get some feedback soon. I have also posted about calories and exercise while pregant but not a lot of advice out here as not many who are preggers or just had babies. Try to sign up for fertility friend. All the forum out there have great advice for everything to do with pregnancy and having babies.

    Good luck!
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    search for breastfeeding in the food diary and it will -300-500 cals so you get to eat 300-500 more to account for breastfeeding.
  • Mama_CAEI
    Mama_CAEI Posts: 235
    search for breastfeeding in the food diary and it will -300-500 cals so you get to eat 300-500 more to account for breastfeeding.

    ^ What he said. :laugh: The one I used accounted for the extra calories you burn producing breastmilk as well as extra protein, carbs and fat in order to make sure you're producing good quality milk. :smile:
  • LilRedRooster
    LilRedRooster Posts: 1,421 Member
    You can always manually add 300-500 calories to the amount that they give you in the settings, depending on how much your baby is still nursing. For some reason, searching for "breastfeeding" never brought up anything for me, so I just manually added an amount.
  • TinkrBelz
    TinkrBelz Posts: 866 Member
    I breastfed all 6 of my kids. Roughly 14 months-2/5 years for each kid.

    I was always nervous to cut calories back too much during the early months because I really wanted my milk to be well established. But, your baby is 6 months old.

    Record everything that you are eating in MFP. That way you know how much you are truly eating. Then, what I would do (I did not know about MFP while nursing my kids) but, I would try to hit around 2200 calories (I am assuming you are not exercising). Then work back from there. Also, the less that you nurse, start taking away some of those breastfeeding calories.

    I had a tough time getting baby number 6 fat off...she was a girl and KILLED me!! haha! Also, I was 39, so the weight just did not come off like it did when I was younger.

    Try to cut back on your carbs. I do not do low carb, but medium carb. Maybe 100-150grams/day. See if that helps.

    And Erick is right, I think that you can log in your breastfeeding.
  • oiralinde
    oiralinde Posts: 1
    I was breastfeeding and couting calories. It depends on how much milk your baby is drinking.
    1. Stay hydrated! You need to make sure you are drinking enough water so that your body can produce milk.
    2. Eat an additional 300 calories to make milk, and if your baby is exclusively breastfeeding eat an additional 200 calories beyond that. By the time my daughter was 6 monthsn my goal was to eat 1700-1900 calories a day in order to maintain milk production and lose weight slowly.
    3. Don't do weight training in your upper body, or do light weight training in your upper body. It can cause mastitis and blocked ducts, so just be careful.

    Hope that helps.

    I lost weight easily while breastfeeding, but then when I stopped breastfeeding I forgot to adjust how much I ate and packed on the pounds, lol. Whoops! Now I am trying to lose it again.
  • katythemommy
    katythemommy Posts: 437 Member
    Congratulations! Welcome to MFP and your weight loss journey!

    I'm exclusively breastfeeding my 4 month old and just add a -500 calorie breastfeeding choice on my foods every morning!
  • Mama_CAEI
    Mama_CAEI Posts: 235
    I lost weight easily while breastfeeding, but then when I stopped breastfeeding I forgot to adjust how much I ate and packed on the pounds, lol. Whoops! Now I am trying to lose it again.

    Ditto! Especially with my twins...the weight just fell off me! Then as they got older, they nursed less, but I still ate the same way... HUGE mistake! lol
  • shalinimunjal
    shalinimunjal Posts: 192 Member
    I have heard 20cals for each ounce you produce. If you pump it is easier than guessing when you nurse. I'm nursing my 21 mo DD who eats 3 solid meals + snacks and exercising. I'm having a really hard time losing weight. My calories are between 1600-1800 and I've gained weight the last month :( Don't know what's wrong.

    For 6 month old you're still probably feeding quite a lot so I would give myself 500cals and cut back later when baby is eating 3 solid meals..
  • jberry613
    jberry613 Posts: 7
    Thanks for all the replies!!!! She's still breastfeeding exclusively, she won't eat food :cry: so every 2 maybe 3 hours. I've started to workout every 2-3 days. I drink plenty of water too! For some reason the weight comes off after I'm done nursing and not when Im nursing....odd??? I found the breastfeeding "food". I appreciate it!
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