Breastfeeding and using mfp

njayet

Hi i am just starting to use MFP. I am currently breastfeeding my son and was wondering of any other mothers who are breastfeeding as-well and what calorie intake you would recommend a day to lose weight?
I was thinking around 1500cal per day but is this to little while breastfeeding?
What works for you?
thanks

jhogley

With both of my kids, when I was breastfeeding I lost weight very easily. You'll be burning around 500 calories per day breastfeeding, so eating 1500 calories per day probably wouldn't be healthy for you or the baby.

I'd suggest using My Fitness Pal to figure out how many calories you need to eat to lose around 1 lb per week, and then add on the 500 calories that your baby needs to eat, to get your real target. (Don't try to lose weight too quickly, or it might change the makeup of your breastmilk and be less healthy for the baby.)

Remember, now you really are eating for two!

The big problem for me was when I stopped breastfeeding. When you wean the baby, you have to cut that 500 calories per day back out of your diet, and it's hard!! Even when you get down to feeding just once or twice a day, the baby is sucking a ton of calories out of you!

jls8209

If you're exclusively breastfeeding and only eating 1500 per day you're not eating enough (EBFing burns ~500 calories a day, so you're only netting 1000 calories). You don't want to eat so little that you can't produce enough milk to feed your baby. Drink lots of water, too. Staying hydrated is equally important when you're BFing.

I'm EBFing my baby, and I have MFP set to lose 1lb per week. In my food diary I enter "Breastfeeding -500 calories" as a snack. My goal is 1340 calories per day, PLUS the 500 breasfeeding calories, so I eat 1840 calories (plus my exercise calories on days I work out). I'm 11weeks postpartum and so far it's working for me.

There's a group on here called Postpartum Pack that is full of moms with great advice, you should check it out.

:flowerforyou:

njayet

thanks for the advice