Losing Weight and Breastfeeding

minnesotajoy

Hello all:

I joined up last week because my last baby is speeding towards 2 years old and I'm out of excuses for the extra baby weight.

Anyone out there still breastfeeding and working on weight loss? I'm adding 500 calories as 'exercise' to make sure I'm consuming enough calories to lose weight but not lose supply. Any suggestions out there for me?

Jo

BrittnieNichole

Hi im also nursing sounds like your doing it right. With my first kid I basicly starved myself (well ate too few calories) and I was score to breastfeed her for a year. Im def doing it healthier this time though!! Sounds like you got this happy loosing

HSingMomto7Kids

I hear ya with a 3 yr. old.

AdrienneChaplin

My daughter is 17 mo and i still breastfeed at night. Best advice i have is avoid crazy diets. Focus healthy eating and getting more physical activity. The awesome part is you have a built in exercise partner. If your little one is anything like mine, you can pretty much build and entire cardio routine around them. Go to the park, you won't be staying still for long!

jenneal89

Sounds like you're doing it the right way. Just make sure you are eating healthy food and drinking plenty if water. I bf my daughter until she was 18mo and lost 80lbs during that time so it can be done!

Edit to say make sure you're exercising as well.

monicamcisaac

Hi. Depends on how much you're breastfeeding. If your baby is two I imagine it's not that much so the calorie use will be less, probably more like 200 than 500. 500 would be more the amount you would allow for a newborn I think. I'm breastfeeding my 8 month old 3-4 times a day and I allow 300 calories, which seems to be working so far.
Great how bfeeding helps you lose weight though!
good luck with it all

amanda_ataraxia

Mine is over 2 now and only nurses 1-2 times a day, so I don't even count any calories burned. The unofficial calculation is about 20 calories burned per ounce produced. So, I estimate I am burning even less than 100 calories these days.
I have lost all the weight you see in my ticker while still breastfeeding.

Flafster

Hi. Depends on how much you're breastfeeding. If your baby is two I imagine it's not that much so the calorie use will be less, probably more like 200 than 500. 500 would be more the amount you would allow for a newborn I think. I'm breastfeeding my 8 month old 3-4 times a day and I allow 300 calories, which seems to be working so far.
Great how bfeeding helps you lose weight though!
good luck with it all

Possibly, but then so much can depend on the baby. A two year old can drink much more and feed far more efficiently than a sleepy newborn. Also by two, nursing is not just about meeting nutritional needs, it can also be like a supersized cuddle to get them through the hurts and worries of being a toddler. By that age, mine were having very short feeds but they could be quite frequent, so I don't think there's an easy correlation with older baby = less milk drunk = fewer calories needed for the mother.

secretlobster

500 is definitely a higher estimate for calories "lost" during breastfeeding. If you're trying to lose weight, it may not be necessary to consume an extra 500 calories every day. That has the potential to make or break your weight loss.

Cassaaaaandra

I only added the extra calories when i was nursing a newborn or baby that didn't eat predominantly solids. But it *does* depend on your nursing relationship. When my little ones were newbies I added 500 daily until they were at least 6-8 months. Then slowly tappered down. At one year mine only nursed 3-4 times daily but he ate very well at all of his meals so I only alotted about 200 calories. Now at 15 months he nurses twice daily and I don't add anything.

Whiteweb80

My nearly two year old and still feeds roughly three times in the night (yawn!) and a couple of times in the day. I've never known how to judge it with increasing my calorie allowance so I try to be guided by my appetite and my weight loss to get some sort of balance. I've ended up not adding anything at all.

I would have thought 500 is quite a lot but if it's working then it must be right for you. :-)

minnesotajoy

My daughter is VERY attached to nursing (ha! no pun intended) so I figured I'd start at 500 and work my way down if I wasn't seeing a loss. I'm at 6 pounds the first week so we'll see how it goes.

minnesotajoy

Hi. Depends on how much you're breastfeeding. If your baby is two I imagine it's not that much so the calorie use will be less, probably more like 200 than 500. 500 would be more the amount you would allow for a newborn I think. I'm breastfeeding my 8 month old 3-4 times a day and I allow 300 calories, which seems to be working so far.
Great how bfeeding helps you lose weight though!
good luck with it all

Possibly, but then so much can depend on the baby. A two year old can drink much more and feed far more efficiently than a sleepy newborn. Also by two, nursing is not just about meeting nutritional needs, it can also be like a supersized cuddle to get them through the hurts and worries of being a toddler. By that age, mine were having very short feeds but they could be quite frequent, so I don't think there's an easy correlation with older baby = less milk drunk = fewer calories needed for the mother.

I agree that a toddler is very much more efficient and mine still nurses fairly frequently. I still have difficulty going four hours without being uncomfortable. I started at 500 and figured I'll work it down gradually until I see results. 6 pounds this week so we'll see how I progress.

sds76

I'm nursing my almost 21 month old. I don't count calories burned for breastfeeding at all. Milk supply is still good and my piggy nurses way too many times a day and night. I've seen it both ways though, some count it some don't. Do whatever works best for you. If you find you aren't losing you may want to decrease those calories or omit them all together.

86rollyb

I'm nursing my 8 wk old daughter I add the 500 calories & have lost 30+ lbs since delivering Add me if you like!