breastfeeding and calories HELP PLEASE!!!

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Mariposa187
Mariposa187 Posts: 344 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am 9 weeks postpartum and breast feeding. i am confused about how many calories i should be consuming. my nutritionists that i have met with are NO help either. :grumble:

I am 5' 5" and currently weigh 198.6lbs and want to lose 1 to 1.5lbs a week. mfp says in order to lose this amount i should consume 1330 calories a day. So do i add 300-500 calories to that amount?

If you are breastfeeding how many extra calories have you added? I have a bmi a little over 33 (obese) so i am wondering if i should only add 300?

If i exercise do i have to eat back those calories as well?

Thanks in advance for all your help! this is all so confusing :indifferent:

Replies

  • hannaheddo
    hannaheddo Posts: 8 Member
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    If you look under snacks and search breast feeding, it should come up with the extra calories you need depending on how often you are feeding. I still feed 3-4 times a day, and it has allocated me 300 extra calories. You have to be a bit careful trying to lose weight while bf, as you don't want your milk to dry up.. try to make sure you eat foods rich in calcium and iron, and take a bf supplement (pregnacare or similar). I stopped taking mine and found I really felt like bf was too hard... but back on them now and find it is ok again now x
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    You can add it as exercise. When I was a La Leche League leader, we'd tell people that 500 calories extra a day is plenty.

    Weight loss should be slow after you have a baby. The nursing will really help.

    Enjoy your baby!
  • Yilsip
    Yilsip Posts: 50
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    I would focus on eating food that increase your supply such as oatmeal, or drinking a beer once or twice per week. If your Doctor has given you clearence, can you excercise? You can start small with Yoga or Pilates, nothing like zumba, lol
    I am doing extending nursing, my child is 2.4 yrs old and I plan on weaning by the age of 3. For some odd reason my supply is very high, even at her age but I count the breastfeeding as a blessing in terms of calories, do not add anything else as I am not nursing an infant.
    GL, and stay motivated, most women take up to 12 months to lose their pregnancy weight.
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
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    I would set your profile to lose 1 pound a week, and add in the 500 calories (and eat them) for as long as you are exclusively nursing - and possibly even longer. My daughter is 11 months, and I've only in the last week dropped down to adding in 300 calories, from 400. Consuming too few calories can definitely hurt your milk supply and/or your milk quality, even if you are obese (as I was when I started). Also make sure you've set your profile to the right activity level - if you are staying at home, odds are you are not sedentary, even if it feels like you sit down all day - you are up and down nursing, changing diapers, walking and rocking and of that really does add up throughout the day - I'm still at home, and set at active to account for everything I do at home.
  • larnsperger
    larnsperger Posts: 161 Member
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    Years ago I successfully BF and infant and lost 40 lbs. I would try adding 500 calories if you aren't losing drop to 300. You really probably do not want to be under 1600 calories per day. Try to make sure your calories come from lean protein, fruits, veggies, nuts etc. I didn't worry about the dairy very much I'm lactose intolerant and all of my babies were as well, so dairy caused lots of tummy troubles for the baby. Make sure you are drinking plenty of water. As for exercise I simply walked 30 minutes everyday and that worked fine. We all got fresh air!

    Enjoy your baby and nursing it is the best and goes by way too fast!

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