Please help - nursing mom

mssowhatever
mssowhatever Posts: 4 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hello. I am new to fitnesspal and trying really hard with counting calories but am hungry all the time. I snack on healthy things in between meals like fruit or cheese and crackers. I have a 4 month old that I am still nursing. A little History - I lost 20 pounds prior to getting pregnant on weight watchers. After having the baby I noticed that I lost an additional 10 pounds probably because I craved healthy food while pregnant so I lost weight. Well now 4 months later I am 10 pounds heavier so I've gained weight again. Trying not to get discouraged with the calorie counting but this is much harder to me than weight watchers because I could eat as much fresh fruits and some vegiies as I wanted and it did not count against me. I am not saying anything bad about this program so pleas edon't misunderstand...I just need to know am I doing something wrong? I don't want to pay for weight watchers because it costs too much but it worked for me. I like this program and want to know how to make it work. Example of what I have been eating on a daily basis.....Mon (1 cup coffee with 25 calorie creamer, 2 eggo waffles - 200 calories, 1 pack of instant oatmeal, 150 calories. Lunch (chicken and brocolli pot pie ~380 calories, water) snacks ( 1 banana, 1 orange, granola bar 190 calories), dinner is my problem. I may plan out dinner not to exceed my calories but then am so hungry I go back for a "snack" or something more filling like a snadwich or cereal. I also make ure to drink plenty of water and am taking prenatals because I am still nursing. she my calorie intake be increased until I stop breastfeeding?

Replies

  • tabbykat6802
    tabbykat6802 Posts: 233 Member
    what is your calorie intake? It should be between 1800-1500/cals depending on the age of the child/# of times the baby eats.

    feel free to let me know if you have any questions.
  • ErinRibbens
    ErinRibbens Posts: 370 Member
    Your body is telling you to eat more. Feeding a baby takes fuel. Personally, I don't count calories while nursing at all. Whenever I've tried to diet while nursing my supply suffered so I just focused on cutting out junk food and exercising more.
  • LisaR517
    LisaR517 Posts: 80
    Type in "breast feed" for your food to add to your caloric intake for the day.

    I nursed all 4 of my kids for at least a year. At 4 months old, baby is still getting all nutrition from YOU, so try not to obsess about your food; baby needs it. :)
  • ariesz
    ariesz Posts: 5
    You're hungry because you're not eating nearly enough. Remember, you are providing your baby's total nutrition, and you should eat about 500 calories extra. Weight watchers allows you to check a box for breastfeeding, however MFP doesn't, just go into your goal and customise it to add 500 calories on top of or BMR. I wouldn't look to eat less than your BMR plus 500 cals (maybe 100 or 200 calories, maybe) whilst breastfeeding. The first thing that will suffer is your milk supply if you aren't eating enough.

    On a personal note, I was the same, lost weight pre pregnancy, didn't put any extra on during pregnancy then stacked it on after. Good luck, but remember bub comes first for a while, and when your bub starts eating solids in a decent volume, you can get stuck into the weight loss :)

    Also, the final thing I would say is ask your doctor. They will know what is best and recommend what is safe. Mine said weight watchers and add the breastfeeding option in. Worked for me.
  • blwalton70
    blwalton70 Posts: 71 Member
    First off, you need to give yourself some time! You just had a baby 4 MONTHS ago! We are not celebrities! We don't have trainers and personal chiefs at our disposal! There is such a stigma about losing all the baby weight. If you are nursing and want to continue to do so, I would stop counting calories. You need to eat when you are hungry and drink water like crazy. You actually burn calories nursing, you need to take care of yourself so you can take care of your baby. ;-) I didn't start counting cals till I quit nursing my daughter at 9 months and felt just fine about it. It's all your personal prefrence, but your milk supply will decrease if you don't eat enough....
  • jg627
    jg627 Posts: 1,221 Member
    You need about 500 extra calories on top of your regular calories, just like exercise calories, if you're nursing.
  • mssowhatever
    mssowhatever Posts: 4 Member
    You all have been wonderful!!! Thank you sooo much for the replies. I was taking in 1300 calories a day and yes my milk supply suffered and the baby lost weight (just left doctors office yesterday) so I stopped counting calories and decided to focus on me and baby and just eating healthy for now. :-)
  • jg627
    jg627 Posts: 1,221 Member
    You can continue to track to make sure you're getting enough calories plus track your macros so you're little one can grow like a bodybuilder if you want to stay in the habit. Just remember: TDEE + ~500 per day to maintain your current weight.
  • codapea
    codapea Posts: 182 Member
    If you are nursing, you should be eating as much fresh fruit and veggies as you want! Maybe don't count them toward your daily calorie goal, kinda like you did on WW. I know how starved I felt after every nursing session, and it's caused by the oxytocin released during nursing. It's your bodies way of making sure you will eat so you can continue to produce milk. I always had way more cravings while nursing than I ever did during my pregnancies! I found it really hard to lose weight until I weaned. Hang in there!
  • BurtHuttz
    BurtHuttz Posts: 3,653 Member
    You all have been wonderful!!! Thank you sooo much for the replies. I was taking in 1300 calories a day and yes my milk supply suffered and the baby lost weight (just left doctors office yesterday) so I stopped counting calories and decided to focus on me and baby and just eating healthy for now. :-)

    You got it mom. Don't go crazy eating chocolate cake but you have the rest of your life to lose weight. Right now, make that little thing grow big and strong.
  • heatherloveslifting
    heatherloveslifting Posts: 1,428 Member
    You need a ton of calories and water. I lost a ridiculous amount of weight after my second child (like 50 lbs in 6 months) just by exercising and skipping junk food. Weight Watchers actually had a good nursing plan, but I ate whatever I wanted and was usually pretty close to the high end of what they advised.
  • AnikaP81
    AnikaP81 Posts: 59 Member
    As someone else stated, you can check the food database and breastfeeding is in there :) I use the one that logs -20 kcal for every oz the baby drinks and accounts for carbs/protein/fat, etc that goes into milk production. Of course I estimate and in my case my LO is 8 months, so he doesn't nurse as much anymore. I have been losing weight and I'm not hungry all the time, so apparently that database entry works :) As I said, the only thing is you have to kind of estimate how many ounces your baby drinks throughout the day.
  • jg627
    jg627 Posts: 1,221 Member
    As someone else stated, you can check the food database and breastfeeding is in there :) I use the one that logs -20 kcal for every oz the baby drinks and accounts for carbs/protein/fat, etc that goes into milk production. Of course I estimate and in my case my LO is 8 months, so he doesn't nurse as much anymore. I have been losing weight and I'm not hungry all the time, so apparently that database entry works :) As I said, the only thing is you have to kind of estimate how many ounces your baby drinks throughout the day.
    That's cool. If you pump in between feedings you can sort of get an idea of how much comes out in a set amount of time, but then again you're never going to find a pump that's as efficient as the real thing, so you could be underestimating a little bit going by that.
    Whew! All this breast feeding is making my nipples sore. I'm just kidding! My wife's doing the breast feeding, not me.

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