Seems like I'm allowed TOO many calories??

Congratulations, you've just learn that losing weight doesn't have to mean deprivation!

Try these numbers out for a month or so and if you aren't losing then you could drop a little, but as you're breastfeeding, I'd encourage you to eat what is recommended at this point,you don't want to risk your baby's health or nutrition.

how long have you been at it? Are you not getting results? Give it a while and see. Some days my 1700 plus exercise calories seems like a ton, some days it feels like next to nothing, but it's the consistency that my body is working with. But every body is different... see how you feel about it in a few weeks.

It seemed like it to me too, but I don't eat all my calories during the day. I am working on feeling satisfied, and not deprived, so it all works out. Different mental game for me :happy:

It was difficult for me to grasp as well but after a 6 month plateau I finally gave into the logic, started eating more and lost another 30 lbs. I am no longer a doubter. Everyone is different but be patient and don't make adjustments too quickly as you need to know how your body is going to react before you make a change. Don't be afraid to experiment for a week or two to see what happens. You are not going on a diet, you are learning how to change your eating habits for life. Stay focused on learning what different foods and quantities do to your engergy levels, moods and weight gain or loss. Good luck.

Please do yourself and your baby a favor by assuming a small deficit. People tend to go crazy by cutting their intake by half and then doing an insane amount of exercise instead of gradually decreasing below maintenance - which most people do not even know what their range is to begin with - to see how their body responds.

Lucky. I feel like the 1500 I get is not enough.

1600 seems high to have as a base. Have you counted an active lifestyle in that calculation? If so you may be adding too many calories back with exercise. I've got over 100 lbs left to lose and my calorie goal is under 1400 for a 2 pound a week loss.

Look after your body and your baby and eat! You are burning extra calories from breastfeeding which means your body needs those calories back to keep you healthy and with energy! I'm sure you need all the energy you can get with a little one to look after.

If you find it hard to reach your calorie goals just remember to encorporate lots of good fats and lean protien in your diet and stay away from high sugar and sodium foods like 'low fat' and 'diet'

I thought I was supposed to feel deprived lol!

Deprivation isn't sustainable. It's so much better to feel that this part of your life is under control and satisfyingly normal, which is a whole lot easier when you allow yourself to EAT.

I went and saw a dietician when I was breastfeeding and wanted to lose weight - and she said don't drop calories below 2000 a day because even though you may still produce the milk, the quality of it lowers. So I would eat what they give you and see how it goes but stay as close to the 2000 as you can if you decide to drop it. You don't want bubba missing out :-)

Also, 2 pounds a week is a) really difficult to sustain for a length of time and b) too extreme for a nursing mother.

My baby is 7 months now and I was bfeeding 'till now. I did strenuous cardio (HIIT) and I thought I wasnt eating too low. I was wrong. MFP had calculated my base to start with lower than my bmr. Plus I wasnt all sure about my calories. I was eating about 2000 calories or more. Most of the time I ate all or atleast most my burned calories back( if you have a deficit already eating the calories back will still give you a deficit, not eating them will increase it and might be too low). Anyway, even by doing this my milk supply decreased and baby's gain wasnt all that good. I lost almost all the weight but at what cost? I'm supplementing now. I stopped exercising because I wasnt sure If my milk will decrease more. None of this was worth it for me, Im dissapointed that I put my weightloss first. I really wanted to bfeed and I dont make much milk now. If you want to continue your weightloss & exercise do yourself and baby a favor find your bmr,tdee and milk calculator to make this accurate. This is a milk calculator link.

http://www.fourfriends.com/cgi-bin/milk.pl

You can find out how many ounces your baby can consume by his weight. Then you can look up on the foods breastmilk by ounces and get -20 calories back for each ounce. Dont try to lose so fast. Dont even take my word for it. Talk to a professional.

Enjoy it. I stuffed my face like a growing teenage boy when I was nursing and I dropped a lot of weight.