Accounting for Breastfeeding

spicypepper

I have logged the breastfeeding under food (-500 calorie allotment), but I'm confused if I am also supposed to up my calorie intake too?

Before I got pregnant, I survived on 1200 calories a day plus exercised calories burned, ended up consuming somewhere around 1700 calories a day all things considered.

So, do I log the breastfeeding credit under food AND also increase my calorie in take to reflect an extra 300-500 calories in my goals section?

Help!

spicypepper

Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

jumpyjavajawa

I eat my 500 breastfeeding cals, I didn't up my goals section because it treats those cals like they never existed/earned cals.
I noticed that if I didn't at least get 300 of them in a day I wasn't really loosing weight. My body favoured milk production over weight loss. Better that then the other way around lol.
Now that's I've made sure to eat my 500 I've been loosing weight and keeping milk up.

zukkiz

I don't up mine either. I have my base calories and then add in my negative bf calories. So it basically takes away calories already eaten, so you eat more.

hotmama1174

When I nursed I added nursing as cardio (lol) and put in 500 and i ate back those calories. Worked well for me and reminded me to eat to replenish...you don't want to reduce your supply so make sure to eat them back.

Lleldiranne

No. Logging the -500 calories for breastfeeding takes care of the upping your calories.

I dropped mine to -300 as soon as I started introducing solids, and now that he eats a lot of solids and only nurses a few times a day, I try not to log it at all. But I'm only set at losing half a pound a week, so if it gives me a bit of an extra deficit it's okay. I just don't want to end up eating too much by logging what I'm not using.

smh285

Make sure to eat the additional 500 calories each day and account for them as 'exercise' as you will be burning them off!! It is VERY important to eat the additional calories, not only to support steady milk supply, but to ensure you're supplying your baby with healthy fats. 500 calories from healthy foods (mono/polyunsaturated fats, fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins) ensure that your milk contains these healthy macronutrients. When breastmilk calories come from breaking down stored fat, then the milk contains mostly saturated fats (which is the type of fat stored in your body), which predisposes your infant to metabolic syndrome, hypertension, obesity, and other cardiovascular diseases.

spicypepper

Thanks ladies!

So, I'll keep my calorie intake to 1200 and add the -500 credit for nursing.

I also am exercising so I'm all sorts of screwed up . Ha ha! Oh I need to figure this out.

spicypepper

So my fat and protein is always in the negative now. <sign>