Exclusively breastfeeding and hitting a weigh loss plateau??

bethanthony88

I have a 7 week old baby that I'm EBF'ing. I gained 50lbs :ohwell: with this pregnancy, lost 10 immediately after delivering her, and slowly lost 10 more pounds during the first month. Now, the scale won't budge!!!!!!! I haven't lost a single pound over the past 3 weeks and I'm worried that the 30 pounds that I have left to lose will be impossible to get rid of. I just started exercising again and Im doing my best to make smart food choices but the pounds are NOT melting away like everyone says they do when you breastfeed.

Anyone having similar issues? Any advice?

tinyporcelain

wayyy similar issues and struggling big time. My little guy is almost seven weeks (this sat) and although I only gained 30ish pounds during pregnancy, the scale hasn't budged since I got home from the hospital - but ive also been working out and HAVE lost inches. So maybe keep track of your SIZE since you've started working out - not just the number on the scale). I think everyone's body reacts diff to breastfeeding - kind of read A LOT of blogs and posts about this; ill admit im obsessed - it seems pretty 50/50 that some people claim to shed it like that, while others actually hold onto that last 10 pounds or so until they STOP breastfeeding. I know I say this almost every post, so sorry if you know already, but i've struggled with an eating disorder since a little before 2005. Im hanging in there until his 2 month appt and then im getting him on formula. I cannot realistically feed him AND store enough for going back to work. A: i've struggled with keeping up the BF calories the doc says i "need" to be eating anyway and B: i HAVE to go back to work, and baby has to have something to eat. Lots of people give up BF after 2-3 days, lots of people never do it. So you've stuck it out this long and I think that's great, but I don't think I can keep this up much longer. I'll send you a friend request and let you know if stopping helps at all with the weight, but you're deff NOT the only one. And this group has helped me A LOT. I know I'll at least make it sanely to his two month appt because of the encouraging words of the people in this group that are going through the same thing. Chin up buttercup

danifo0811

the weight doesn't melt off for many people. when my weight loss slowed, I had to start watching what I was eating. BF makes me starving and if I don't watch and make good choices, I will eat over 4000 calories a day. Up until 6 months as long as I ate under 2200 calories, I lost weight.

I gained 50 lbs both times and both times I lost only the weight of the baby leaving the hospital and over the next month, I'd lose the same amount. After that, I had to work on it!

My biggest advice is to try to eat like you would to maintain at your normal weight. That way when you stop, your body isn't used to a lot of extra food.

Good luck and stick with it. I found it overwhelming and last October I figured if I lost weight at 2 lbs a week, I would be at goal in February. that seemed forever! After many times going off plan or just maintaining, I'm only a few lbs away.

motherhenof9

i am a mother of 9 children, i always nurse my babies and dont see any major weight loss until the baby is 9-10 months old. i also usualy gain 40-50 pounds per baby, i usualy lose it if i dont get pregnant again right away

Wallace082011

Hey Someone from my breastfeeding group posted a blog about this and I started taking her advice as of monday of this week. I weighed 117 they day i found out I was pregnant and the day I had my son I was 172. I lost 3 lbs a day after I had him but I stopped at 5 week PP at 145. The scale has not moved a single drop up or down. I also EBF and I thought the weight dropped like you did. Read her blog: http://goo.gl/P5nJT

What I did was go to TOOLS on MFP and find my BMR (1339) and add 500 calories for BF, that is what you need to eat everyday and use any exercise calories as a give and take thing. If you burn 300 during exercise and only want to eat back 150 of them fine, do it or don't. However, you have to eat back your BF calories or your body will go into starvation mode. This is what I do: I entered the 1339 into my goal calories for the day then when I BF or pump I go to food and search Breastfeeding, a bunch of options come up, but I use the 1oz=20 calories option. So if I pump 4oz at work I enter 4 in as the amount of serveing and it automatically subtracts the appropriate calories, protein, fats, etc and adds that to the calories you have left to eat for the day. Hope this helps

PS I have already lost 1.9 lbs since monday

bethanthony88

Thanks for all the great advice! I don't feel so alone now. I'm going to keep focused and hopefully lose the weight over the next 6 to 8 months.

sabusby

Also a mother of a 7 week old here and in the same situation.

Due to my background in dietetics, I can tell you that BFing should only cause a weight loss of 1-4lbs a month. The scale will move--give it patience. Also, make sure you're eating enough so that is DOES move.