Weight loss stopping. Am I eating too little?

islandmonkey

Thanx for all the advice...keep it coming, I needed some medical forms filled out since I am a nursing student and I will be starting school again in September. As part of the requirements I had a blood test and a urinalysis done. I just got back the results and on my urinalysis it says that my ketones are trace abnormal. I am afraid that this indicates that I am indeed eating too little and therefore I am breaking down protein/ muscle. I am not sure how much I will up my calories by but I guess I really have to start eating more.

Eat more. Eat more. Eat more. At MINIMUM you need to be adding those 500 extra calories for breastfeeding.

Baby will get whatever it needs; and your body will take from its own stores to produce the breastmilk. Therefore, you need to eat more not just for weight loss, but for general health and wellbeing.

Eat more. For the love of god, eat more.

momRN2B

What's your height/age/weight?

my stats as of today are:
height 5 foot 2 in
'weight 144.6
age 22

islandmonkey

my stats as of today are:
height 5 foot 2 in
'weight 144.6
age 22

Even if you're at only a "light" activity level, and wanting to lose 1 lb/week - without breastfeeding you should be eating around 1500 calories/day (plus eating back most or all of your exercise calories). With breastfeeding that's at least 2000/day...


Any chance you'd consider opening up your food diary for us to look at?

momRN2B

my stats as of today are:
height 5 foot 2 in
'weight 144.6
age 22

Even if you're at only a "light" activity level, and wanting to lose 1 lb/week - without breastfeeding you should be eating around 1500 calories/day (plus eating back most or all of your exercise calories). With breastfeeding that's at least 2000/day...


Any chance you'd consider opening up your food diary for us to look at?

what if i want to lose 1.5 to 2 lbs a week?
i'll open up my diary for now

meeper123

Watch the sugar and water less sugar more water also maybe you could try this drink unsweeted green tea ( fresh brewed) it has some fat burning potential also maybe try eat small miny meals about every 2 hours breast feeding might be making your blood sugar drop

islandmonkey

what if i want to lose 1.5 to 2 lbs a week?
i'll open up my diary for now

Take a look online for a tool to calculate your TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure
(I use this one: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html)


It will give you a general idea of your caloric requirements - you'd want to add in your breastfeeding allowance, and subtract calories based on desired loss (deduct 500 cals/day for 1 lb/week loss, 750 cals/day for 1.5 lb/week loss, etc). I'm rushing so this is a really simplistic explanation. If you are doing this: you should be eating back all your exercise calories, as your weight loss plan is already built into your daily calorie goal.

Personally, I find a 2lb/week weight loss approach very aggressive. A more sustainable plan is 1lb/week - but it really depends on the individual. I would also encourage you to speak with your doctor and/or a nutritionist regarding the best approach for you, particularly as you are breastfeeding.

momRN2B

what if i want to lose 1.5 to 2 lbs a week?
i'll open up my diary for now

Take a look online for a tool to calculate your TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure
(I use this one: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html)


It will give you a general idea of your caloric requirements - you'd want to add in your breastfeeding allowance, and subtract calories based on desired loss (deduct 500 cals/day for 1 lb/week loss, 750 cals/day for 1.5 lb/week loss, etc). I'm rushing so this is a really simplistic explanation. If you are doing this: you should be eating back all your exercise calories, as your weight loss plan is already built into your daily calorie goal.

Personally, I find a 2lb/week weight loss approach very aggressive. A more sustainable plan is 1lb/week - but it really depends on the individual. I would also encourage you to speak with your doctor and/or a nutritionist regarding the best approach for you, particularly as you are breastfeeding.

According to that calculator my TDEE with little or no excercise is 1759. So in order to lose a lb a week i need to net 1259 cals. Now since I am breastfeeding i am losing another 500 calories so that should make me lose 2 lbs a week netting about 1250 cal per day. Does that make sense? Or should i rather try to lose 1.5 lbs a week and net 1500 cals a day?

islandmonkey

According to that calculator my TDEE with little or no excercise is 1759. So in order to lose a lb a week i need to net 1259 cals. Now since I am breastfeeding i am losing another 500 calories so that should make me lose 2 lbs a week netting about 1250 cal per day. Does that make sense? Or should i rather try to lose 1.5 lbs a week and net 1500 cals a day?

Your calculations are correct.

As to what is the correct approach - again, I personally think 2 lbs/week is a very aggressive approach, and gets more and more difficult as you lose (because you are trying to lose a larger % of your total weight). You should consult with your doctor regarding a safe and healthy approach for you.


My personal goal in using MFP is a total loss of 20 lbs. I've lost 13lbs over the last 13 weeks, and have just changed my goal to .5 lb/week. In part because I have fewer lbs to lose now, but also because I like to eat and want this to be a sustainable, healthy loss.

holly3585

Too much- toolittle- it can take months and months of experimenting to see how many calories your body FEELS good with while doing consistant exercise! Slow your roll! I think just for the little one you should up cal's right now b/c if your breastfeeding you NEED to supply those calories so that your body will keep producing rich milk. Up the calories A LITTLE Give it about 3 months....see where you are at.

lizziebeth1028

You should absolutely be eating your allowance for breastfeeding! You have your babies health and nutritional needs to consider!

6 days is too soon to expect results.

bloodbank

my stats as of today are:
height 5 foot 2 in
'weight 144.6
age 22

According to here: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html your stats indicate that with 'light exercise' (exercising 1-3 times per week) you burn about 2000 calories per day. Add exclusively breastfeeding to that and you're sitting at around 2500 calories per day. To lose 1 pound per week you should be eating about 2000 calories per day. Large deficits aren't generally recommended for nursing mamas, and coupled with the fact that you don't have a terribly large amount to lose, a pound per week is probably just right for you.

Maggies90

Wow you got such great info!

Helloitsdan

my stats as of today are:
height 5 foot 2 in
'weight 144.6
age 22

Even if you're at only a "light" activity level, and wanting to lose 1 lb/week - without breastfeeding you should be eating around 1500 calories/day (plus eating back most or all of your exercise calories). With breastfeeding that's at least 2000/day...


Any chance you'd consider opening up your food diary for us to look at?

Pro Numbers:

BMR 1379
TDEE 2137

Cut at 1710+500 for breastfeeding= 2210

This results in about a pound a week lost if she ate this daily and breastfed the lil one.

momRN2B

So to give you all on update. I upped my calorie intake to 1440 Net. and I continued doing "The 30 Day Shred". I just completed Level 2 on Day 20. In the last 20 days I lost 2 lbs (1.8 lbs was this past week) and I lost 2 inches off my waist, hips and bust and an inc off my arms. .I am so happy wit my results so far. Thanx for all the advice