breastfeeding, is that excersise?

mkitkat2
mkitkat2 Posts: 1
in Food and Nutrition
I have to eat 500 extra cal when breastfeeding. So it burns cal.

Replies

  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
    I don't think it's that breastfeeding actually burns calories, but that those calories are going towards producing food for your child.
  • hwagaman
    hwagaman Posts: 3 Member
    When I was nursing my twins - I would load in the calories as "cardio" so that I would be sure to eat enough to keep producing milk without being deficient. Having said that - 500 extra calories while nursing is on the high side.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    It's not exercise unless you do jumping jacks while doing it. You may or may not need to eat extra calories because you are breastfeeding. It depends on how much milk you are producing and how much weight you have to lose. Your body needs extra fuel to produce the milk but no, it isn't exercise.
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    I logged it as a food with -500 calories. It's in the database if you search (in fact, there are a lot of entries). Exclusively breastfeeding is the 500 calories, but remember as they start eating solids, it goes down. :)
  • jzammetti
    jzammetti Posts: 1,956 Member
    I'm sorry but your post made me lol. :ohwell:
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    It's not exercise unless you do jumping jacks while doing it. You may or may not need to eat extra calories because you are breastfeeding. It depends on how much milk you are producing and how much weight you have to lose. Your body needs extra fuel to produce the milk but no, it isn't exercise.

    While I wouldn't log it as exercise, I see too many people think they don't need extra calories, and end up compromising their milk supply. Some women lose easily while breastfeeding, some don't. The important thing, though, is to make sure you are providing enough nutrition for you little one. I set MFP to my goal (lose 1/2 pound per week), then added in the breastfeeding as neg calorie food (as I noted above) and ate those calories back.

    Breast milk contains 20 calories per ounce (on average), which comes from you. It also takes some calories (energy) to create it. No, it's not exercise, but you do need some extra calories. And water. Make sure to get plenty of water.
  • jqh23
    jqh23 Posts: 311 Member
    I log it as a food and it gives me negative calories.

    500 calories is high, unless you are still nursing an infant 5-8x a day...
  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
    500 cals is generally reccomended, but not everyone needs all 500 to produce enough milk.

Categories