Post-Partum Pack

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MFP User, First Time Mom

emmyvera
emmyvera Posts: 599 Member
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Hello Ladies! I'm a first time mom with a 2 month old and loving it. I've been using MFP for years and did not use it during the pregnancy. Now that I'm back in "drop the weight" mode, I'm really interested in reading how other moms set up their calories. I'm going through threads now, but as you know there isn't a whole lot of time to do research with a baby. HAHA!! :drinker:

My calorie intake before I was pregnant was 1200 a day. I'm exclusively breastfeeding and will be exercising daily. Anyone else in a similar situation change their MFP settings?

Thanks so much and have an awesome day! :smile:

Replies

  • emmyvera
    emmyvera Posts: 599 Member
    I found the Mommys Making Milk setting. I'm going to use that to add my BF calories back. :happy:
  • chickybuns
    chickybuns Posts: 1,037 Member
    You could try 1200 net, so add in breastfeeding and exercise. Just see how it goes with losing and supply
  • ks4e
    ks4e Posts: 374 Member
    1200 a day is too low for me to have a good milk supply. I have to bump it up to at least 1800 and to make sure I have healthy fats and lots of protein. I've found, however, that I'm having a hard time shedding the last 10 or so pounds and it seems like some nursing mommies hang onto those pounds until they wean.
  • RBXChas
    RBXChas Posts: 2,708 Member
    I am almost 3 weeks PP with baby #2 (I lost 82 lbs using MFP after baby #1), and I am EBFing. No working out because I haven't been cleared yet, and walking is out because it's literally been in the 90s (crossed over to 100s today) with lows around 80 and humid when it's not storming.

    Anyway, I have my settings at 1400. I then add BFing as a negative calorie food (-500), which means I eat 1900 a day. Some days I come up a little short, other days I'm a little over, but since I started back logging last week (after initial PP loss stopped), I've been losing consistently without messing up my milk supply. Kellymom suggests not eating less than 1800/day for EBFing.

    When I get workouts back in, I will eat back those calories. Once I wean I will do TDEE -20%, which, for all I know, I may be doing.
  • sinisterspace
    sinisterspace Posts: 15 Member
    I just started with all of this post partum business and I'm just as interested in this as well. Also in serious need of help/friends on here to get me started!!! :)
  • Sjenny5891
    Sjenny5891 Posts: 717 Member
    Hello Ladies! I'm a first time mom with a 2 month old and loving it. I've been using MFP for years and did not use it during the pregnancy. Now that I'm back in "drop the weight" mode, I'm really interested in reading how other moms set up their calories. I'm going through threads now, but as you know there isn't a whole lot of time to do research with a baby. HAHA!! :drinker:

    My calorie intake before I was pregnant was 1200 a day. I'm exclusively breastfeeding and will be exercising daily. Anyone else in a similar situation change their MFP settings?

    Thanks so much and have an awesome day! :smile:

    I exclusively pumped..... I used the 1200 calories a day setting..... added the 20 calories* what I got ( averaged 30 calories a day) as an exercise..... plus whatever exercise I did.

    I started out slowly.... maybe 300 calories a day for the first few months..... It was winter and I didn't have a gym membership.

    So I was eating around 2,000- 2,100 calories a day
  • RBXChas
    RBXChas Posts: 2,708 Member
    My loss slowed down to a crawl (I'm 7.5 weeks pp and still EBFing), so I upped my calories to 2200/day so that I net 1700. Turns out my BMR is a little over 1700, and you're not supposed to go below your BMR. The day after I upped my calories I lost .6 lbs. I'm not sure if that was a coincidence or not, but I am on day three of 2200 calories, so that loss was posted yesterday. Today my weight was exactly the same, so eating 2200ish again yesterday did me no harm, apparently. I had wondered if netting below my BMR was keeping me from losing weight, since my supply wasn't suffering.
  • laurab1217
    laurab1217 Posts: 123 Member
    It's tricky, but I have found that the MFP setting plus breastfeeding calories is too low for me.....I plateaued for about 4 weeks and finally lost another pound the week that I just ate according to hunger.

    I am wondering if I need to adjust my breastfeeding calories.....my baby is 2 months old and about 16 lbs so I know he is getting a lot of milk....on top of that I pump 8-10 ounces every morning because of engorgement. Should I add extra calories from the pumped milk, so 500 plus however many ounces I pump?
  • missxlisa
    missxlisa Posts: 70 Member
    i stopped logging my breastfeeding since I didn't know for sure how much I was "burning." I set my cals to maintenance and eat them all (I do eat exercise calories back). This way, the breastfeeding calories (250-500) are my deficit and I lose .5-1lb per week :)
  • chickybuns
    chickybuns Posts: 1,037 Member
    It's tricky, but I have found that the MFP setting plus breastfeeding calories is too low for me.....I plateaued for about 4 weeks and finally lost another pound the week that I just ate according to hunger.

    I am wondering if I need to adjust my breastfeeding calories.....my baby is 2 months old and about 16 lbs so I know he is getting a lot of milk....on top of that I pump 8-10 ounces every morning because of engorgement. Should I add extra calories from the pumped milk, so 500 plus however many ounces I pump?

    I would add the extra for pumping. I EP and have net of 1400 and whatever I pump which usually gives me around 700 more, so I'm usually netting 2100 or so. Although last week I was under most days, so we will see if it helps with the weight...it's so stubborn!

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