how many calories are you eating?

carriej82

I am a little confused by the calories you are suppose to eat and then adding breastfeeding to your MFP....

do you shoot to eat ____ amount of calories and then count the BFing as the negative 500 calories? or do you just aim to eat so many calories in a day and not add the breastfeeding?

like if your goal is to eat 1800 calories a day is that before or after the breastfeeding calories?

does that make sense what I am asking?

JennsRAQ

Here is how I did it - I went ahead and put my regular goals into MFP as if I was not a nursing mom at all. That set me at 1500 calories based on my goals and my activity level, etc. Each day, I add in the "food" item of Breastfeeding that fits my needs. SO my daily goal is 2,000 calories each day.
I have lost over 26 pounds in 3 months (very consistently) this way.

If I work out, I eat back my exercise calories as normal.

carriej82

that helps! thank you! I will do that too!

Wallace082011

I do this as well!

vtsantiago

I have been averaging 1755 a day. I had been steadily losing 2 lbs per week for the last 7 weeks. Last week I hit a wall and lost 0. I have been reading all the different breastfeeding posts and I think I may be eating too little? I had been including breastfeeding under my exercise as 300 calories burned. I am going to up it to 400. I am pretty sure I burn at least 400 feeding my little one.. I am going to stop coming under in calories and meet my calorie goal at least 3 days a week. I am also going to change my workout . I had been doing 30 day Shred. I got to level 3 (which I still can only do at about 85%) My hubby told me maybe I need to switch it up. So we will see how I do this week.


I am interested in any feedback on the topic. Ladies it helps me to know what works for others. I was happy to see this post as I was wondering the same thing.

JennsRAQ

I tend to lose more when I eat more. It weirds me out every time! I'll have 3 days where I go over and then BAM I have lost a pound.

fitmommapear

I suggest reading the post about "are you eating enough". She gives some good information on how many calories you should be eating and gives you a link to calculate how many calories you need for your own little one. Here is the link to the article: http://www.playdatecrashers.com/2011/07/calories-and-breastfeeding/
The link for the "milk calculator is:http://www.fourfriends.com/cgi-bin/milk.pl?lbs=18&oz=&feed=7&formula=

Hope this helps you ladies. It sure has helped me

Here is the link to the post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/398395-make-sure-you-are-eating-enough

TeraTW

I just went into the custom settings and added 300 calories to my daily goal. It saves the step of adding the "calories burned" every day.

bnrose

This has a been a huge question I've had that I haven't been able to get an answer to. My calories goal is 1200 and I'm beginning to wonder if that is too little. My baby is only 3mos old, so he's exclusively breastfeeding 5-7 times a day. I lost a lot of weight to begin with but recently I've plateaued. Its really hard for me to get into the mindset more calories can help you lose weight. I've been doing 30 Day shred as well and trying to eat all of my exercise calories on the days I workout. The may be something I need to rethink...Any insight would be helpful!

wheezybreezy

I would definitely suggest eating more. I know it's difficult to accept when all we've been told is eat less and move more, but I can't imagine a nursing mama who is EBF netting fewer than 1600/day.

smartblonde529

I have struggled with this too and have done a ton of research on it. From what I have found, your milk supply won't diminish if you eat too little as your body feeds your baby first, but you will stop loosing weight and start feeling tired and hungry all the time. I also found that your calories should be 1500 at the lowest and if you exercise you should eat those calories back. I have a hard time eating that many calories, but it is easier if you choose all healthy food instead of "empty calorie" items. Hope some of this helps!

nickiog

i have my mfp set to lose 1lb/w and i add the 500 bfing cals to it as a food item as someone else mentioned for a total of 1700 cals and days i work out i try to eat all of those calories back too although if i *feel* full i dont force myself to keep eating.

when i tried to just eat 1200 a day i couldnt lose weight for anything...as soon as i bumped it up to include the extra 500 for bfing i have consistently lost at least a pound a week....

vtsantiago

Thank you for all the feedback ladies. Last week I increased my calories and changed my workout routine. I also did calorie cycling. I lost 3.4 lbs! I am going to keep "eating more to lose more"

amyfromky

I found how many cals I could eat to lose one pound a week (1500) and then I add 500 calories for BFing everyday. I did it this way because at first, I had to add 700 cals for BFing and work down to 500 or else my supply tanked.

PHinkleMD

My Progress: I also have been doing what the BF support group recommended and changing my goal to 2 lbs per week loss goal and adding back in my BF calories. However that gave me 1700 calories to burn per day. That was just too much food and I couldn't see losing weight by eating that much. I usually came in under by 300 or 400 calories so it would "yell at me" for eating too little. I also found I was sitting there calculating how many calories I was "really" eating and doing too much math for my little brain to figure out. So, what I did was just change my weight loss goal to only 1 lb per week and I won't add in the BF credit. It now gave me a goal of about 1550. I still think that is a little high but I'd rather just have that goal and eat under it than do the 1 1/2 lb per week and go over. Why is that? I think it is the perfectionist in me that can't stand seeing that red bar or red numbers when I'm over my goal--LOL. Anyone else like this??