Breastfeeding Moms

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VSeed2008
VSeed2008 Posts: 22
in Health and Weight Loss
Just curious what other breastfeeding moms have their calories set to?

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  • vickidemartinez
    vickidemartinez Posts: 4
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    Wow, admiring you for going fit while nursing. It's important not to cut calories below about 1800 to keep your milk production at optimal levels. Increase your level of activity along with resistance training to build muscle mass and that will help you shed pounds without jeopardizing lactation. Lactation itself requires a lot of energy from the body so you've got a little bit of an advantage in the weight loss side if you increase activity and build muscle mass rather than calorie cutting. It also depends on how long and how frequently you are nursing. If your child has been nursing for only a month or two, you'll still need to be consuming a fair amount of calories. But if you've been nursing an entire year your milk production is much less of an issue.
  • a10derlady
    a10derlady Posts: 9 Member
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    I agree with vickidemartin. I tend to cut too many calories sometimes and can definitely tell a difference in my milk supply. I've been breastfeeding my little one for 10 months, and I try to eat at least 1600 good calories. For me it's really difficult to get that many calories in sometimes. I'm alloted 1340 per day with 300-500 increase for breastfeeding (300 nursing/solids and 500 for exclusive). Exercise is going to be the key to losing.
  • jmcreynolds91
    jmcreynolds91 Posts: 777 Member
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    hi! i allow myself 1600-1800 cals a day and i am nursing my 6 month old and she gets solids 1 time a day. I am almost down 60 pounds since she was born. I usually loose 1.5-2 pounds a week. :) good luck on your journey.
  • ncl1313
    ncl1313 Posts: 237 Member
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    I stopped recently, but I was adding in 50 cals per feed/pump (3-5 times per day). He was on solids also.
  • zephtalah
    zephtalah Posts: 327 Member
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    I added 1000 on top off the amount that MFP gave me or about 2400 a day. ( I am nursing twins.) They are a year old now so I have lowered it to 800 extra or about 2100. They are still nursing lots! I would definitely second the don't go below 1800 amount. The LLL says that it takes 26 calories to produce one ounce of breastmilk. The average amount burned per day is about 650 (25 ounces x 26 calories)t while nursing one baby. The extra 500 calories a day is set with a reduction already built in to aid in weight loss.
  • hlpatton
    hlpatton Posts: 34 Member
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    I ate about 1800-1900 cals a day, usually with one day a week closer to 2000-2100 and lost about 1.5/week while breastfeeding. It took me a few weeks to figure out my perfect balance though. Good luck and congrats on your little one!
  • yves_lydia
    yves_lydia Posts: 19
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    You can apply the calorie difference by going to Food and typing in "breastfeeding" as a food. You will get a number of options that will give you more calories each day. I believe another way is to add breastfeeding in as a cardio exercise. Hope that helps! BTW you have a beautiful family! I would love to be friends!
  • thevegankelly
    thevegankelly Posts: 85 Member
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    I've only been consuming 1500/day, but my daughter is a year old now, so she usually only nurses once per day (I'm trying to wean her down to 0 times per day) and then about 3 times at night (going to sleep and waking up a few times).
  • VSeed2008
    VSeed2008 Posts: 22
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    Thanks Everyone! Feel free to add me as a friend :)

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