Can't lose weight breastfeeding - hormones??

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  • jodiegarnett
    jodiegarnett Posts: 30
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    Yep, I think you could be eating too little, so your body won't let it go, ESP while breastfeeding. My inches started to come off when I when I worked out my TDEE, minus the 20% then added back 200 calories fr breastfeeding. Working much better than 1500 a day, I now eat around 1800. Weight hasn't changed lol but inches coming off :)
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    Yeah -- I didn't bother to try to lose while nursing. I ate and ate and ate ... and especially with my second kid, the pounds just fell off.

    And the eating was the most instinctive its ever been. When my weight fell below a certain point, I would find myself in front of the fridge, eating protein foods like crazy. I craved eggs and meat and cheese. I could feel when my weight got to that low point, something would click on and I'd start dreaming about steak. Weight got back up above that point and it stopped. Very wierd, but also very educational about how our hormones work on appetite.

    I do wonder if eating too little is really causing your metabolism to absolutely pace itselt to hang onto every bit of fat. WOmen's body fat is actually scaled very well to the amount of resources needed to grow and nurse a baby, and threatening it with what would appear to be a famine while nursing would probably send major messages to all the hormone-producing bits of your brain.
  • janetdungan
    janetdungan Posts: 14 Member
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    I lost all the baby weight while breastfeeding. i breast fed for 24 months, took me about 6 weeks to be back to pre baby weight.
    question:? did you exercise during pregnancy? if not, you should have, ie cardio AND weight lifting. start now
  • mmddwechanged
    mmddwechanged Posts: 1,687 Member
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    i think its different for everyone

    This is very true! I lost all of it breast feeding, then gained it back when I stopped.
  • SarahBeth0625
    SarahBeth0625 Posts: 685 Member
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    Right around 6 months postpartum with all 3, I found myself well below my pre-pregnancy weight. I have heard of some women having issues losing the weight though, so it's not out of the question. I am eating back my 600 calories a day (allowed for tandem nursing). I know it helped me to be nursing, but now that I am maintaining my weight, I make sure I eat the calories back. I never had a problem losing the weight, though, and found I had to eat so much more food so I didn't feel like I was starving. Good luck! :)
  • nancycaregiver
    nancycaregiver Posts: 812 Member
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    I lost weight quite rapidly while breast feeding. I thought everybody did. Guess I thought wrong as it seems most did not lose or even gained while breast feeding.
  • SarahBeth0625
    SarahBeth0625 Posts: 685 Member
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    After nursing for 5 years + now, even while pregnant, I am going to have to get used to my "normal" eating once I am done! Hah! That will be my biggest challenge, but I plan on a gradual wean for these two anyway. And since I'm logging calories and weighing in, I can tweak my caloric intake as needed. :happy:
  • broox80
    broox80 Posts: 1,195 Member
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    nursing made me gain. so I am pretty much starting out with my weight loss. my guy is 7 months. I wanted to have all of the baby weight gone by.the time he is a year. so I need to lose another 20 by late October!!! just focus on baby for now and kick some bootay later!!!
  • UrnAsh
    UrnAsh Posts: 207 Member
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    My daughter is almost 5 months old and I've been losing weight. When I delivered I was like 210 and now I'm 163.
  • unifil
    unifil Posts: 39 Member
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    It is different for everyone.
    I lost a lot with my first daughter. You could almost see it every day!
    But with my second one it was the other way around - I was even gaining weight and did the same like with my first child.
  • BarbieAS
    BarbieAS Posts: 1,414 Member
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    I'm glad I found this thread, I was looking for some more experiences on this.

    I'm nursing my 21 month old daughter still, though we've been down to nursing only once per day before bed for the last 7 months or so. Prior to that, I was pregnant with my son straight into nursing him for 18 months straight into being pregnant with my daughter, so for 4 years and 8 months STRAIGHT w/o a single day of break I've been pregnant or nursing or both.

    No matter what I do - upping calories, lowering calories, more cardio, less cardio, more lifting, Fitbit - my weight loss has been agonizingly slow. A full year of effort, less 3 or 4 ~2 week breaks, has netted me 24lbs of weight loss, despite putting in the effort for 1-2lbs of week of loss for the other 44 weeks in the year.

    I think I'm finally ready to shut down the milk factory for good (even though I don't think my daughter is, lol). I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I'm wishing wishing wishing that all of my weight loss struggles have been hormonal and once I get her fully weaned the weight will start coming off, even though I'm barely nursing now so it probably couldn't have that much of an impact. What I think is more likely is that it will slow even more due to the loss of that extra ~75 calories per day I'm burning producing milk, sadly. Fingers crossed!!
  • spangs89
    spangs89 Posts: 1 Member
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    I had 4 children (now 20, 18, 17 and 10) and no matter how hard I tried, I could not lose weight while breast feeding. However, as soon as I was done it was a breeze to drop 15. Sad thing is when I worked hard no one could see and got tons of credit when I was not trying. It seems I was in that low percentage that stored weight around thighs, the chest and belly. I found this post because I am suspecting the same is happening because of an IUD. I have taught Bodypump, kickboxing, step, yoga, an others for 14 years now. I am 5'4 and I add or drop a few but hover around 155. It's is very frustrating and started thinking that the last time I was the size I was comfortable with was 8 years ago, before I had an IUD. The strange part is my chest got bigger and is never affected by any weight loss. Anyway, just as some actually lose weight when they are pregnant or end up smaller after the baby comes, we are all different. I'm considering having it removed but would like to take part in a study if I can find one. I have had my levels checked and although I have successfully raised my vitamin D, not much has changed. I tried the Xyngular 8 day about 8 times and same. I have even been told I was not eating enough and try to eat 1200 per day. Sad thing is I still feel guilty that I don't have it under control.
  • danalin26
    danalin26 Posts: 13 Member
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    I have 4 kids and have breast fed them all. I'm currently still breastfeeding my 10month old still. My first two were boys and I lost like crazy with no dieting. I ate whatever I wanted too but as soon as I weaned them my weight came back QUICK. My second two are girls and I could hardly lose anything with dieting and exercise. I think it's all hormonal. Just hang in there mamas!
  • Klarini
    Klarini Posts: 9 Member
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    It really is different for everyone.
    I breastfed both of my children and I was able to lose weight but only with calory restriction. So, breastfeeding made no difference in terms of weightloss compared to my non-breastfeeding state. However, I found that I just could not lose the final 5-10 lbs no matter what I did. It was just impossible to lose any more. So I figured that my body held onto that final amount of excess fat in order to sustain breastfeeding. I was able to lose that fat only when i stopped breastfeeding.
  • Th3stral
    Th3stral Posts: 93 Member
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    I'm another who put on weight, about 10lb in total I think over 6 months of breast feeding. I just couldn't shift anything. Nothing happened for about 4 weeks after I stopped then I had my first TOM and the other side of that I was 12lb lighter. It kept going from there until I got nearer my goal and slowed again!

    Hormones can be wicked things to us girls so just go with it I say, make as many healthy choices as possible now and when your done then think about actively dieting!
  • doodlingdaisies
    doodlingdaisies Posts: 1
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    I'm still breastfeeding my 22 month old, and even though I'm eating between 1200-1400 calories a day and exercising, it's a slow trudge to lose weight. It was like this with my 2 previous kids, but I only was able to breastfeed them for 3 months. Then, I lost no problem. I just keep holding on to the fact that I'm making good choices and that will continue when I stop BF, so it should come off then...
  • Sjenny5891
    Sjenny5891 Posts: 717 Member
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    Hi all,

    just looking for some weight, have been trying to lose weight for over a month now on 1200 calories a day plus extra 400 for breastfeeding and have been sticking to this pretty much with some exceptions. I have gone up and down a few pounds but am the same today as I was one month ago.

    Looking back to my diary when I had my son it seemed to be the same and I didnt really lose any weight until I stopped breastfeeding when he was 5 months.

    Is it possible that for some reason I cant lose weight while I am feeding and I am just going to have to wait until I wean my daughter around 6 months??

    Thanks for any advice!!

    It worked for me. I ate the 1200 plus my 600 for breastfeeding plus 200 burned exercising
  • dannie138
    dannie138 Posts: 4 Member
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    I'm breastfeeding and have hit a plateau. It's so frustrating!
  • purple_tux1
    purple_tux1 Posts: 250 Member
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    I lost tons of weight - easily during breastfeeding. Sadly, when I stopped I gained it all back.

    I wish someone would hand me their twins to feed - would be easier than dieting!
  • lockebrogan
    lockebrogan Posts: 1
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    Help! I'm 40 yrs old and I stopped nursing my 1yr. old 8 weeks ago. I have been exercising and following (Weight Watchers) for 5 weeks and have seen very little results. Is being 40lbs overweight my fate? I can't figure out if my struggle is being 40 or if my hormones could possibly still be off.? I have had 5 monthly cycles so I would think my hormone levels would have returned to normal.
    Any insight would be much appreciated!

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