My halfway point today! While Breastfeeding and Post-Partum!

savemama

So I'm not getting much encouragement IRL save hubby. (Maybe other people are afraid to be offensive if they comment since it's 'baby weight'? lol)

I had a baby in Sept and after the initial baby weightloss, found myself GAINING (when he was only 2 months old) and at the heaviest point in my entire life. I was and am breastfeeding, and when he was little I was afraid of hurting my supply. So I began trying to slowly lose weight while working through several holidays and celebrations.

September- baby born, initial weight loss
November- after gaining tracking calories for slow weight loss
March- baby began adding solid foods and so I felt more comfortable restricting calories more aggressively
April- Joined dietbet. Best accountability ever! Already won my first!
May 1- Halfway point! (lost 23lbs of 46)

Here are my pics:
From left to right, top to bottom:

September- 200lbs+ (postpartum) January- 189 lbs (lost 9 lbs purposefully)

March- approx 185 April- approx 178



TODAY- halfway- 173


My future goals are to reach my "Pre-All Baby and Fertility Treatment" weight. (23 more lbs)
Then I wanna work on muscle/body fat %.

I'm so excited to see myself beginning to change. Thanks for looking!

Hope this can encourage other recently PP moms and breastfeeding moms!

ETA- gonna work on those pics!
ETA2- $#)(&%(*&#% I know how to upload pics... usually. Why is it so complicated on this site!?!?!?
ETA3- PIcs up!

ambermomof2

awesome job! and don't worry about ppl not commenting - i have lost 100lbs and hardly anyone says anything:) keep up the great work and u will b at your goal in no time!

savemama

awesome job! and don't worry about ppl not commenting - i have lost 100lbs and hardly anyone says anything:) keep up the great work and u will b at your goal in no time!

What's up with THAT!? 100 lbs is a major achievement!

abeare

Thank you for reminding me this can be done while breastfeeding! I`m a little late in actively trying to loose after baby and only started now because i was so afraid to loose milk supply while breastfeeding. I hope i look half as good as you after only a couple months, congrats!

savemama

Abeare- feel free to add me as a friend. I've got several BFing mamas in my friend's list. I don't think others can understand- it really is a tricky balance. I definitely stalled a few times because I felt it affected my supply- and so I held off. But by tracking, I at least STOPPED the GAIN! And was able to set myself up to be aggressive now that he's older!

You can do it!! It turns out, if I am careful about what I put in my mouth- breastfeeding really has HELPED my weight loss.

sweet_ally84

Congrats on your success. I am also a breastfeeding mama. My lo is 4.5 months old. Its hard trying to find a balance. I'm making sure that I am eating all the nutrients that I need without too much reatriction so far. Feel free to add me

jakidb

You're doing gr8t!

sweetheart1982

You look great..congrats on meeting your halfway point

larsivy

good job !how many calories a day you were eating?

arains89

I had my baby in September as well I am down 30 pounds 16 were on purpose the other 14 came off within my 6 weeks recovery after birth. And am one pound away from pre both babies weight!! I still have another 21 pounds I want to lose and tone up though. I'm 156 now. Good luck you look fabulous! I can't wait to reach goal!

jaynepickle

great job! I just had my 3rd kiddo in March and am trying to lose the rest of my baby weight plus another 30 pounds while nursing. It's hard when you're motivated to diet but have to keep your calories up to sustain your milk supply. All together I need to lose about 54 pounds...

savemama

good job !how many calories a day you were eating?

I have to guess because they have changed as I lose more and get more aggressive with my goals. I am 5'7" and I believe my initial goal was 1450+ breastfeeding calories. Initially I gave myself 500 breastfeeding calories because he was exclusively breastfeeding around the clock (made an educated guess based on online googling).

Now that he's nursing a bit less (6x a day) and I've lost weight, my goal is 1300 + breastfeeding calories (350).

it's a rough formula but it is working for me.

I will say, I often hit less than that (by several hundred calories). But then sometimes I will notice a supply drop, so I'll increase my calories for a few days and my water. It's a balancing act for my body.

savemama

great job! I just had my 3rd kiddo in March and am trying to lose the rest of my baby weight plus another 30 pounds while nursing. It's hard when you're motivated to diet but have to keep your calories up to sustain your milk supply. All together I need to lose about 54 pounds...

My total goal is 46lbs. Although really that is a conservative number.

I agree- it is a hard balance! I think it takes patience because there were weeks (especially at the beginning) where I had to stop trying to lose because it was affecting my milk supply and my baby's health needed to take priority. Those days were hard- messed with my head. I doubted whether I was making excuses... whether I would keep it up when I could. I looked at my frumpy post-partum figure and just struggled to be kind to myself.

I found that plenty of supplements (especially a prenatal multivitamin, calcium, and magnesium supplement) plus TONS of water were a big help in maintaining supply. Oh, and I still can't *push* it with working out. It throws my whole body out of wack and suddenly I'm starving and have no supply.

So I'm having to aim for a moderately active lifestyle and really consume NUTRITION (and not just "diet junkfood"). Which is a change of mindset that has been long overdue for me and it is good for me overall!

As I type this, I'm downing my 32 oz water jug

eta- Oh also I wanted to add, I think that our bodies have their own mind in post partum weight loss. There were times I fought HARD and didnt' lose and then times when it was near-effortless. I think there are hormonal things happening and it takes patience! Congrats on your third!

svgarcia

Hang in there! I too was being conservative because of breastfeeding exclusively. In October (she was 7 months old) I started to really watch calories and working out. She is a year old now and still breastfeeding but it seems she only wants me as a paci for naps and night time. U don't even count the breastfeeding calories now.

JustCallMe_Tanya_Eh

You are doing Awesome!!! You look great

savemama

Thanks:)

keriberi9

You are doing great!! Also a BF mama here My daughter is 10 months old. I still have 30+ lbs to lose. It's hard finding that number that works while BF! I just raised my calories because I was stuck, and I started losing again!

UrnAsh

Awesome!! I'm also still breastfeeding my little one. She's almost 4 months old.

curvykent

That is fantastic! You're a yummy mummy :laugh:

I too had a baby in September and have been dieting religiously since February. I gained 65 pounds and only have another 7 to go till I am at pre-pregnancy. But that was 200 pounds... so needless to say my goals go beyond that. I would KILL to be 173 pounds! You look fabulous. Good job!

JenniCali1000

Wow!!! Congrats, mama! I'm also a bf mama with a 17 mo and I know how tricky and challenging and frustrating it can be to balance bf and trying to get healthy and lose weight. You have done an awesome job so far and I can see you are going to reach all of your goals!

savemama

That is fantastic! You're a yummy mummy :laugh:

lol! I like that

Thanks for all the ecouragement ladies... and all the friend requests. I love it! We can do this!