New to group-calories?

amama5

Hey all! I am new to the group and a new 2nd time mommy!
My daughter is 8 weeks old and breastfeeding very successfully so far.
I was wondering how many calories should I add onto what MFP is
giving me to keep my supply up? Its giving me 1500 a day right now.
Is there a section somewhere that I can set that I am breastfeeding that
will give me more calories? Any additional tips or suggestions are
welcome as well! Thanks!

Greedoe

Hi, welcome. I haven't found anything like that yet. I also wish there was a way to log breastfeeding/pumping sessions so I can subtract calories this way. Alas, MFP hasn't allowed for this yet. What I do is try and stick to my daily calories allotted for my goal and size and then make sure I add an extra 500 calories for nursing. I'm only able to lose weight if I make sure that I do enough exercise to keep my additional calories under my net goal. So, it's a little extra work but when I do it this way I can stay on track. I've been able to lose some weight and not mess with my milk production. Good luck!

MeanSophieCat

You can add breastfeeding as a (negative) food item - just do a search for it. Typically the number of calories is in how old your baby is - but do what makes sense for how frequently your baby eats or you pump. If you are exclusively breastfeeding, 500 is a good place to start. It will subtract that number of calories from how many you've eaten and adjust your macros for the decreased cals.

Guidelines from La Leche League and my doc, say never eat under 1800 NET calories when you are exlusively breastfeeding. You can begin gradually reducing if you add solids or supplement with formula. That means, at a minimum eat 1800 calories and eat back all of your exercise cals. You will still lose weight because 1800 net calories minus approximately 500 breastfeeding cals is only 1300 calories. You can definitely eat more but I wouldn't try less.

I just stopped breastfeeding my one year old - my body's choice not mine - but I was very successfully able to lose weight doing this. I was overweight pre-pregnancy and am now about 15lbs lighter than I started my pregnancy. I still have 19lbs to go - but I have good habits and know I will get there. I am determined to lose those 19lbs before I start trying for another.

Good luck and Congrats!

amama5

Thanks so much those are great tips

nattymommy33

I add breastfeeding as a custom exercise or pick a random exercise and put in minutes that equal 500 calories (my friends list is made up of all people I know irl and they all know I am breastfeeding, so it's fun to pretend I instructed an aerobics class for 90 minutes.) I like to add it as exercise because it automatically adjusts my macros so I have more carbs, fat and protein to aim for. My base is 1650 and I add 500 calories for breastfeeding for a total of 2150 each day. I've lost an average of almost a pound a week this way.

amama5

Thanks! Way to go on the weight loss while breastfeeding. I am trying to remind myself it won't happen overnight. After I had my son breastfeeding was very painful and not very successful. I was back on the treadmill at 4 weeks and I think that dried up my milk supply because I was convinced all the excercise (and dieting) wouldnt affect my milk. I waited the whole 2 months this time before starting to excercise at all and even when I do it is not to strenuous and I think keeping track of my calories through this site will help me keep myself in check. I have been doing the same thing with my calories just entering in a cardio activity to give myself 500 extra calories. Thanks for the response!

aarroyo0529

Very helpful thanks amama5 for asking this!

jennhase

I programmed my own exercise and it's labeled "daily exercise" and thats for my pumping sessions. I have found multiple places online that say 1 ounce of breastmilk is approximately 20 calories burned. So for my "daily exercise" i put 1 minute = 20 calories burned so if i pump 10 OZ I go and click on "daily exercise" and put in 10 minutes and it will figure the 200 calories and add back into my net calories. I hope this makes sense and i have my calorie goal on 1300. I haven't had an issue with my milk depleting at all especially since i'm drinking a ton of water now.