Need advice/Losing while breastfeeding

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chickybuns
chickybuns Posts: 1,037 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My son is 3 months old today. I gained over 60lbs while pregnant, and I have only lost about 30 of those, so I have 30 more to lose. I have tried many different things for losing but I keep fluctuating the same 2lbs. I would like to exercise more, but probably get in 3-4 times per week of running or turbo fire usually. I most pump so I know I produce 40-45 oz a day...which would equate to 800 calories? I currently have it set up to maintain but only count 500 for breastfeeding and am set at sedentary. However, I think I am lightly active now that I'm at work (it was what my bodybugg showed in the past). I know I do not eat healthy, and I am working on being healthier. However, the way I ate with counting calories worked in the past, I lost 20lbs doing it this way and kept it off. The only difference is I was exercising more frequently then. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Replies

  • megamix12
    megamix12 Posts: 16
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    I have 12 week old twins. I too am trying to lose around 30lbs while breastfeeding. I am mostly pumping as I just went back to work. For nursing twins, I feel like my supply is rather low and we are having to supplement formula at least once a day. I do have about 200oz of formula frozen as back up too. I take 2 fenukgreek 610mg twice a day and on most days drink a glass of mother's milk tea. Did you get a good supply right away or have you been doing anything to help keep it up? How often do you pump? On a good day I am only getting 24-28 oz from pumping. My boys eat 6oz each every 4 hours so as you can imagine this isn't enough milk for them.
  • chickybuns
    chickybuns Posts: 1,037 Member
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    My supply was around 22oz per day when I started recording around 3 weeks. It is now up to 40-45 at 13 weeks. I made sure i pumped or nursed at least 7 times a day until about 10 weeks and went down to 6. I have been mostly pumping due to flat nipples. I want to try to get back to nursing some, but I'm so worried about my supply. I have just started taking mother's milk capsules and that has seemed to increased my supply by around 5 oz. My boy eats about 30-35 oz per day, so I was jsut able to stop supplementing around week 9 and now have around 150 oz frozen, but now freezing about 5-10 per day.
  • jls8209
    jls8209 Posts: 450 Member
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    I'm down to 10 lbs to lose and they are stuck on and I'm at a loss for what to do, too. I eat healthy, workout more than ever, upped my protein, played with my calories....nothing. At one point a few weeks ago I lowered my cals to lose 2 lbs/week and was only eating 140 cals/day less than the week before, and I did lose 2 lbs that week but I think my supply dropped based on baby's wet diapers. I went back to trying to lose 1 lb/week and started Fenugreek, which helped to bring my supply back to normal. Anyway, I'm at a point where I feel like the last bit of weight is just going to hang on until I'm finished BFing. :sad:
  • megamix12
    megamix12 Posts: 16
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    Chickybuns- have you had any trouble with nipple soreness from pumping so much? I recently started getting very sore from adding extra pumping sessions (to the point it hurts to much to even try to nurse). I have tried larger flanges but still having soreness. I am starting to think this could be affecting my supply. Yesterday morning I pumped 1 less ounce than usual and today another 1 ounce less. I have also been fighting a sinus infection and taking augmentin- perhaps this is also affecting my supply. I am just getting frustrated because I am trying so hard to give my babies the best. It is so inconvenient pumping at work too :(

    I pretty much stay around the same weight for 2 to 3 weeks then all of a sudden I will drop 3 to 5 lbs. My calories are set at 1500 right now and I am eating back my breastfeeding calories so getting around 1800-2000 calories a day. I do feel like I tend to notice a loss when I am expecting a gain from eating too much junk- weird?
  • TeachTheGirl
    TeachTheGirl Posts: 2,091 Member
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    Oof, I could barely pump a thing! You go girl!

    At any rate, I'd look into cleaning up your diet ahead of changing your exercise routine/adding or subtracting calories. If you know you could eat better, it would benefit you and your baby to do so first, just so that there's no risk of a loss of supply.
  • sixpacklady
    sixpacklady Posts: 582 Member
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    I'm down to 10 lbs to lose and they are stuck on and I'm at a loss for what to do, too. I eat healthy, workout more than ever, upped my protein, played with my calories....nothing. At one point a few weeks ago I lowered my cals to lose 2 lbs/week and was only eating 140 cals/day less than the week before, and I did lose 2 lbs that week but I think my supply dropped based on baby's wet diapers. I went back to trying to lose 1 lb/week and started Fenugreek, which helped to bring my supply back to normal. Anyway, I'm at a point where I feel like the last bit of weight is just going to hang on until I'm finished BFing. :sad:

    OMG, we are twins!! I am BFing my 9 month old. She nurses like 6-7 times day and night even though I am working full time and not pumping. I am also back to my pre-preg weight, but would like to lose 10 more so that I won't have a tummy anymore. I am working out 6-7 days a week and pretty hungry all the time eating around 2000 cals, especially evenings as i workout in the eve and DD nurses more during eve and night. I lose between 0.5 to 1 # a month now. Frustrating... But I am feeding another human being with my body and it has its needs. And babies won't BF for ever... So I think I will not obsess too much abt the #, but enjoy the precious moments with my little one. Once she is done BFing, I will amp up things and get where I want to be.

    To the OP: Keep up with your workouts, eat clean and enjoy the time with your little one. They grow up so fast, and then we will be worrying about dating and bullying and stuff like that...
  • kavanaghev
    kavanaghev Posts: 75 Member
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    I gained 50lbs with my daughter and I was about 30lbs overweight. I had lost maybe 25lbs by her 3 month mark and really struggled beyond that because every time I worked out hard or cut cals my supply would drop. I found that drinking a big gatorade after working out helped with my supply, as well as just majorly increasing my water consumption. But I still hung on to every bit of that weight until my daughter started incorporating more solids into her diet and we were nursing less (around 10 months for us).

    She is 13 months now and I am 20lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight, but it did not come off from breastfeeding like everyone says. I have had to work my *kitten* off, haha. I waited until my daughter didn't rely on me completely for her nutrition (we are still BFing, but she is eating table food like a champ and doesn't really need me anymore) and I felt better about going for it to lose the weight because I wasn't worried about being able to feed my child. You would be surprised what relieving yourself of that stress does for your motivation and success.

    Good luck! The last year was hard for me body-image wise, but I am proud to have fed and grown my daughter.
  • sixpacklady
    sixpacklady Posts: 582 Member
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    I gained 50lbs with my daughter and I was about 30lbs overweight. I had lost maybe 25lbs by her 3 month mark and really struggled beyond that because every time I worked out hard or cut cals my supply would drop. I found that drinking a big gatorade after working out helped with my supply, as well as just majorly increasing my water consumption. But I still hung on to every bit of that weight until my daughter started incorporating more solids into her diet and we were nursing less (around 10 months for us).

    She is 13 months now and I am 20lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight, but it did not come off from breastfeeding like everyone says. I have had to work my *kitten* off, haha. I waited until my daughter didn't rely on me completely for her nutrition (we are still BFing, but she is eating table food like a champ and doesn't really need me anymore) and I felt better about going for it to lose the weight because I wasn't worried about being able to feed my child. You would be surprised what relieving yourself of that stress does for your motivation and success.

    Good luck! The last year was hard for me body-image wise, but I am proud to have fed and grown my daughter.

    Yeah, I totally agree. Even though I love BFing and can't even think of giving it up for anything else (give that formula only in emergencies, like if I am in a coma, lol), I can't wait for the day she weans and I am FREE!!!
  • chickybuns
    chickybuns Posts: 1,037 Member
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    Chickybuns- have you had any trouble with nipple soreness from pumping so much? I recently started getting very sore from adding extra pumping sessions (to the point it hurts to much to even try to nurse). I have tried larger flanges but still having soreness. I am starting to think this could be affecting my supply. Yesterday morning I pumped 1 less ounce than usual and today another 1 ounce less. I have also been fighting a sinus infection and taking augmentin- perhaps this is also affecting my supply. I am just getting frustrated because I am trying so hard to give my babies the best. It is so inconvenient pumping at work too :(

    I pretty much stay around the same weight for 2 to 3 weeks then all of a sudden I will drop 3 to 5 lbs. My calories are set at 1500 right now and I am eating back my breastfeeding calories so getting around 1800-2000 calories a day. I do feel like I tend to notice a loss when I am expecting a gain from eating too much junk- weird?

    I have some soreness but it is tolerable. I use olive oil on flanges as a lubricant. I also use the lansinoh lotion at least once a day, especially at night. Maybe you aren't eating enough if you lose after eating junk? I have tried many different ways and my weight stays the same. It just gets frustrating and it makes me not care sometimes!

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