Breastfeeding moms!

harleykat64

Okay so after months on bedrest I am back at it post baby BUT I have a question has anyone been able to figure out how to account for breastfeeding calories on MFP. I cannot seem to find a way to account for it.

BarbieAS

Former MFP BFing mom here!

There are 3 ways.

First, figure out how many calories you want to allot yourself for nursing. (Typically, exclusively breastfeeding will require an extra 300-500 calories per day, decreasing when/if you introduce formula or solids.) Then:

1) Go into your goals settings, select "custom" goals, and simply add that amount to your daily goal that MFP calculated (or that you determined for yourself through IPOARM or any other method). Make sure to adjust it as you start to wean your baby.

2) If you search for "breastfeeding" in the food database, there are many entries with "negative" calories that will decrease the number of calories you consumed for the day as compared to your goal. You would add this to your diary every day. I don't care for this method because the way that it subtracts the macros isn't always in line with your goals, but if macros aren't as important to you then this is fine. Also, I liked seeing how many calories I was *actually* consuming every day, and this method sort of skews that.

3) Create a cardio exercise for yourself with the number of calories you want to add each day, and add that to your diary each day. Make sure that as you lose weight the correct number of calories adds itself (you can just type over it). I did this one because it made it easier for me to kind of play with the number of calories I was giving myself and allowed me more flexibility as I weaned.

Good luck, and congrats on the baby!

harleykat64

Thank you very much for the ideas!