Moms who Breastfeed/fed

My milk supply started to wane about 8 months in with each of my kids. I would pump like a fool all day at work and get 4 -6 ounces. . .clearly not enough for an 8 month old!!! So, for me, it had nothing to do with my weight being too low. Not a problem for me because I was quite over my pre-pregnancy weight.

Just my personal experience...

Breastfed both of my kiddos for over a year. Didn't really workout at all with the first and stuck to light/moderate workouts with the second ie walking and Zumba. Had a strong supply with both but unfortunately I always had about 10-15 lbs with both kids that would NOT go away until after I stopped nursing. Magically within 2-3 weeks of stopping the pounds literally disappeared without any increased effort from me. Weird, I know. Some people complain that they can't keep weight ON while nursing whereas I could not get it all off until after I was done. I would just continue to do your best to eat right, stay active and do whatever keep you sane and your baby happy! :flowerforyou:

These would definitely be questions for your doctor, or a lactation consultant (many hospitals provide consultations for free).
My supply dropped off around 6months and before I hit my pre-pregnancy weight so I don't have first-hand experience with the weight issue, but i know my attitude towards it was that stuff is like gold - I wouldn't risk its fate on advice from anyone but a professional. :flowerforyou:

ETA: I had a very hard time keeping up from the beginning, so I am biased towards being very careful about changes.

I breastfed both of my kids until they self-weaned around 15 months old. I had returned back to my pre-pregnancy weight quite quickly after I gave birth (actually went a few lbs below). My milk supply didn't seem to suffer with the weight loss as long as I ate a good amount of calories. I wasn't tracking my food then but know I ate alot and often. It was after they weaned that I started gaining again (kept eating the same amount of calories):P It's been hard work shedding those pounds now! ha

I'd like to add that having a conversation with a lacation consultant would be beneficial! I had one on speed dial:)

every woman is different regarding how easy it is to lose fat while breastfeeding, and whether it's hard to shift the last few or not... same as fat loss when not breastfeeding.

As long as you're eating well, i.e. not too big a calorie deficit plus plenty of nutrients, your milk supply should be fine. If you undereat (i.e. too big a deficit) the quality and quantity of your milk may suffer... but you're more likely to suffer than your baby, because the milk gets priority for nutrients over you, so if you don't get enough calcium, you'll usually have enough calcium in your milk, but you may lose bone density. So pay attention to getting enough of everything. A conservative deficit for slow and steady fat loss won't usually affect your milk supply or cause any harm to you. Many women (those who lose weight easily from breastfeeding) eat at a moderate deficit while breastfeeding without even trying to. So even if you're not in that category you can safely use MFP to make a moderate deficit. Just remember to account for breastfeeding in your calorie allowance, i.e. if you're using the default settings on MFP, eat back your breastfeeding calories. If you're using the TDEE - 20% method, include breastfeeding calories in your TDEE. If you're exclusively breastfeeding a baby up to 6 months then it's around 500 cals/day although this may vary depending on the baby (e.g. more calories for larger, hungrier babies). Once the baby's on solid food it's harder to calculate breastfeeding calories, but usually it's fewer calories because they're getting more from solid food and taking less milk.

How much you actually weigh doesn't matter so much as how much you're eating, so long as you're still at a healthy weight for you. If you were overweight/obese before your pregnancy, then there's absolutely nothing wrong with getting to a lower weight than your pre-pregnancy weight. Just aim for a healthy weight and slow and steady fat loss, and focus on getting enough nutrients in the process.

I breastfed both my kids, the first up to age 2 and the second up to age 2.5.

Milk supply is effected by hormones. I think when people say that going below your pre-pregnancy weight will lessen your milk supply there is the assumption that your body was in its perfectly healthy stasis state before pregnancy. If you were, then yes, going below that weight may effect your supply. Having too little body fat can effect your hormones, yes, but if you have legitimate fat weight to lose I wouldn't think it would be a problem.

I don't know your personal stats or body composition, and hormone levels for different body types differ greatly because of genetics, even when people have the same stats.

I would talk to your doctor. He/she can give you a good idea of where your body can and should be and where you shouldn't go below.

Not only is it about hormones, it is about supply and demand. Pumping is a bad way to figure out how much milk you're producing; the pump is extremely inefficient when compared to a nursing child. A satisfied child who is a good measure. Milk is produced as you are feeding, literally, but if you're on a feeding schedule you might find that your breasts are getting full expecting to feed a baby soon. I haven't nursed my 18mo more than 2x in the past 3 weeks, and there is still milk and there will be more if she nursed. Pumping on one side while nursing on the other or pumping after a feeding can help bump up production, because your body thinks that it needs to make more milk.

Restricting calories can affect milk supply, but there are also foods that will help with milk supply, like oatmeal and brewers yeast. The best way to keep up milk production is to keep nursing and to stay hydrated. Even better, and especially if you are concerned about supply, would be to use supplements like fenugreek or More Milk Plus tincture if you don't want to add yeast or oats into your diet.

I had serious milk supply issues. Dieting made it worse. I actually started counting calories to make sure I was eating enough. I aimed for 2500 a day at least.

I lost 10 pounds under prepregnancy weight with both kids (just from BFing, no diet/exercise at all) in the year I breastfed, I never had a problem with supply. Once I started dropping sessions, to wean, my supply dropped pretty quick though.

And you have too! I think just stick with what you're doing.

Protein increase helped me lose more weight (plus feel happier overall) so it might be worth a shot if that's something you're regularly low on!