Any other breastfeeding mamas??

QuinnLynn7
QuinnLynn7 Posts: 5
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hi everyone,
My little guy is 3 months old now. I'm 5ft and before pregnancy was a bit underweight at 93lbs. I'm now exclusively breastfeeding and weigh 101lbs. This is my third baby and in my experience a few pounds are here to stay until breastfeeding is over. I'm fine with that so I'm focusing on staying right near 100lbs. I had been splurging during pregnancy because I was having trouble gaining weight...well now I decided it was time to get back to healthier eating. When I input my stats myfitnesspal suggest 1,500+ calories. I know during breastfeeding you are supposed to add an extra 500 calories for supply. 2,000 calories seems like a lot! What does everyone else do? What does your food intake look like? I'm also working out three times a week twice a day. Hope some others with this type of experience are on here:)
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Replies

  • brittneygreen562
    brittneygreen562 Posts: 13
    I also EBF and I eat around 1800 calories a day . I'm currently 201 (lost 4lbs so far) and I would like to get down to 140 in time enough for my wedding in 2015 . I'm pretty new to MFP but what I can say is I add in 500 cal under exercise for breastfeeding :smile:
  • QuinnLynn7
    QuinnLynn7 Posts: 5
    I'm glad you mentioned adding breastfeeding as an exercise! I had my activity level set to the highest to add the extra calories for nursing haha. Congrats on your upcoming wedding! The hubby and I have our 1st wedding anniversary coming up this Monday.
  • honkytonks85
    honkytonks85 Posts: 669 Member
    Hi all,
    I am exclusively breastfeeding my 2 month old. I add in 500 calories worth of 'breastfeeding exercise' each day and set my calorie goal to 1850. I gained about 30lbs during pregnancy and I am looking to lose about 60lbs overall.
  • tonyajohn
    tonyajohn Posts: 46
    Breastfeeding my 18 month old here. 5 feet tall and peaked at 144 lbs WHILE breastfeeding, ugh! I'd actually gotten down to 134 after giving birth (from 167 lbs) but within a year packed back on 10 pounds. My goal is 1200 cal a day to lose 30 pounds but adding the 500 breastfeeding puts it up to 1700. I originally only added 250 because I'm nursing a toddler BUT since she's still nursing every 2 hours or so around the clock (I know, she's such a boobie baby!) I noticed that my supply was suffering.

    Edit to say that I add my breastfeeding calories to my food diary.
  • QuinnLynn7
    QuinnLynn7 Posts: 5
    Tonyajohn- What caused you to gain the weight? I'm nervous to consume the 500 extra calories because I'm afraid ill gain weight from it. Also, how do you add them to you food diary? I've got so much to learn about MFP!
  • tonyajohn
    tonyajohn Posts: 46
    Sitting on my butt and stuffing my face. Lol. I went from having a very active, always on my feet kind of job to being a stay-at-home mom again. I didn't bother exercising and my portion sizes were out of control. I also never replaced my scale that broke back before I got pregnant so I wasn't even monitoring my weight. I was honestly eating out of boredom and just used my breastfeeding as an excuse to eat and eat and eat... Seeing that 144 lbs on the scale at my doctor's office was pretty eye opening. Not to mention that 2 years of wearing yoga pants has gotten pretty old. I'm ready to fit back into my pre-baby clothes because I'm certainly NOT about go out and buy a whole new larger wardrobe.

    I think you're gonna do just fine. I wouldn't worry about that extra 500 especially since you're already being so proactive about it and monitoring your intake, weight, etc. I also didn't start to put on my extra weight until after my baby stopped exclusively breastfeeding. I was losing or maintaining until after my daughter was 6 months old. You can always reevaluate as your little one gets older and starts solids.
  • QuinnLynn7
    QuinnLynn7 Posts: 5
    Thanks for sharing! That's a good point to re evaluate once baby is a little older. Perhaps when he starts solids.
  • touchafaith
    touchafaith Posts: 112 Member
    Hi ladies! Another breastfeeding mama here. I'm currently breastfeeding my 8 month old, I'm not in maintenance but thought I'd duck in and say hi. When my daughter was 3 months old I weighed 185lbs and was exclusively breastfeeding. She's now 8 months old and I weigh 154lbs. I add my breastfeeding calories in my food diary instead of exercise but think it all works out the same way in the end. Hopefully I'll get down to maintenance one day but the weight is coming off a little slowly.
  • Slasher09
    Slasher09 Posts: 316 Member
    im exclusively breastfeeding my 11week old. You can add breastfeeding if you search foods under breakfast....but I started changing it from -500 to -300 because I havent been losing the last month, so I think I'm accounting for too much somewhere. Im down 28lbs...but I put on 48 so I still have a bit to go.
  • jr235
    jr235 Posts: 201 Member
    I'm not BFing now, but I was about 2 years ago. I wasn't tracking my food intake then, just eating really well. Fruits, veggies, lean proteins, and whole grains while concentrating on getting back some stamina. I had a difficult pregnancy and delivery so this was plenty. I was told several times that I looked like I was losing weight, but I'm pretty sure I lost 15lbs with the delivery, and about another 10 over the course of 8 months while BFing, then the last few after that. I started the couch to 5K program when the little one was 3 months and completed it in about 3 months.

    So anyways, I recommend eating and concentrating on fitness. Its not worth it to mess with your supply, imho, unless maybe you have a lot of weight to lose and your body can handle it.
  • shapefitter
    shapefitter Posts: 900 Member
    I joined a month ago. My daily intake is 2000 kcal a day. In United Kingdom, it is suggested a breastfeeding mother should consume more than 2000 kcal a day. Calcium is especially important, so plenty of milk, cheese and green veg is good.
  • DarthPato
    DarthPato Posts: 29
    My 11m son still nurses on demand. I log breastfeeding, but use the "older child-minimal feeding" option which adds 200 cals back into my diary. I have my daily goal set at 1640. So I eat 1840. I'm also about 80lbs overweight (gross). For awhile I thought I was using the breastfeeding cals as a crutch so for a week I stopped logging it. I couldn't go without. By the end of the day I was incredibly hungry and shaky. So I'm logging it again and only losing on average a lb a week. I think if you are bit on the underweight side 2000 sounds reasonable. I have other bf moms who are at their goal weight and they are eating about 2200 cals a day and maintaining.
  • honkytonks85
    honkytonks85 Posts: 669 Member
    Sitting on my butt and stuffing my face. Lol. I went from having a very active, always on my feet kind of job to being a stay-at-home mom again. I didn't bother exercising and my portion sizes were out of control. I also never replaced my scale that broke back before I got pregnant so I wasn't even monitoring my weight. I was honestly eating out of boredom and just used my breastfeeding as an excuse to eat and eat and eat... Seeing that 144 lbs on the scale at my doctor's office was pretty eye opening. Not to mention that 2 years of wearing yoga pants has gotten pretty old. I'm ready to fit back into my pre-baby clothes because I'm certainly NOT about go out and buy a whole new larger wardrobe.

    I think you're gonna do just fine. I wouldn't worry about that extra 500 especially since you're already being so proactive about it and monitoring your intake, weight, etc. I also didn't start to put on my extra weight until after my baby stopped exclusively breastfeeding. I was losing or maintaining until after my daughter was 6 months old. You can always reevaluate as your little one gets older and starts solids.

    I had the same problem with my first, I managed to gain a lot of weight but as you say it was just out of boredom (it's kind of hard when you are at home all day with a baby to not be bored at times!) and an excuse of 'well I'm breastfeeding so I need the extra energy' - even though I was probably eating a good 1000 extra calories per day. I have a definite tendency to snack my calories away - all the snacking just adds up.

    This time tracking my calories I am hoping that the '500 calories extra a day' requirement is applying to me and I will lose weight without a huge caloric deficit.
  • cinloo87
    cinloo87 Posts: 7
    Hello other breastfeeding moms! I have a 3 month old and exclusively breastfeed. I also was wondering what to do as I can't find an option on MFP for taking breastfeeding into consideration. I now weigh 225lbs which was my starting weight when I got pregnant, and have a goal of losing 1.5lbs a week until I'm at 175lb which I haven't been in years. MFP has a calorie goal of 1550 a day for me but I'm going to start adding 300-500 a day under additional exercise and see how that goes.
  • tonyajohn
    tonyajohn Posts: 46
    Hello other breastfeeding moms! I have a 3 month old and exclusively breastfeed. I also was wondering what to do as I can't find an option on MFP for taking breastfeeding into consideration. I now weigh 225lbs which was my starting weight when I got pregnant, and have a goal of losing 1.5lbs a week until I'm at 175lb which I haven't been in years. MFP has a calorie goal of 1550 a day for me but I'm going to start adding 300-500 a day under additional exercise and see how that goes.

    You can go into your food diary and add 'breastfeeding' through the search function. It will deduct 250 to 500 calories depending on which you chose.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    I nursed both my kids for 3 years. It did take me 8 months to take the weight off (with just aquacize and walking for exercise and not real effort). But after that I couldn't eat enough to keep weight on. As they get bigger they eat a LOT. See what your body does.
  • DarthPato
    DarthPato Posts: 29
    Hello other breastfeeding moms! I have a 3 month old and exclusively breastfeed. I also was wondering what to do as I can't find an option on MFP for taking breastfeeding into consideration. I now weigh 225lbs which was my starting weight when I got pregnant, and have a goal of losing 1.5lbs a week until I'm at 175lb which I haven't been in years. MFP has a calorie goal of 1550 a day for me but I'm going to start adding 300-500 a day under additional exercise and see how that goes.

    You can go into your food diary and add 'breastfeeding' through the search function. It will deduct 250 to 500 calories depending on which you chose.

    What she said. Search for it like its a food.
  • touchafaith
    touchafaith Posts: 112 Member
    Hello other breastfeeding moms! I have a 3 month old and exclusively breastfeed. I also was wondering what to do as I can't find an option on MFP for taking breastfeeding into consideration. I now weigh 225lbs which was my starting weight when I got pregnant, and have a goal of losing 1.5lbs a week until I'm at 175lb which I haven't been in years. MFP has a calorie goal of 1550 a day for me but I'm going to start adding 300-500 a day under additional exercise and see how that goes.

    You can go into your food diary and add 'breastfeeding' through the search function. It will deduct 250 to 500 calories depending on which you chose.

    What she said. Search for it like its a food.

    This is the way I do mine too. I add mine under breakfast so I know how many calories I have left for the rest of the day.
  • VictoryGarden
    VictoryGarden Posts: 194 Member
    I'm BFing my 7 mo as well. I started out with my goals set to -2# a week, but that made my supply tank, so I'm set to -1.5# a week now, and that seems to be better. I have 100+ to lose, and I need to get started asap for health reasons, so I am walking a fine line of max weight loss and nourishing baby. :)

    To the OP, maybe do a trial of a few weeks with the extra 500 calories and see what that does? You can adjust it from there.

    I set up a food diary category called "nursing" and add my BF as a food under that category.

    It's nice to see so many BFing mamas here!:flowerforyou:
  • QuinnLynn7
    QuinnLynn7 Posts: 5
    I love hearing everyone's stories and experience! I added the extra 500 calories in and like lots of you mentioned I'm going to see how it goes for a bit. I've really increased my veggie and fruit intake over the paste week. My little one is currently going through a growth spurt and surprisingly I'm keeping up well with it so I think this is going to work out nice. I've added a lot of you as friends. If I missed you and you want another breastfeeding friend please add me:)
  • DarthPato
    DarthPato Posts: 29
    I'm BFing my 7 mo as well. I started out with my goals set to -2# a week, but that made my supply tank, so I'm set to -1.5# a week now, and that seems to be better. I have 100+ to lose, and I need to get started asap for health reasons, so I am walking a fine line of max weight loss and nourishing baby. :)

    To the OP, maybe do a trial of a few weeks with the extra 500 calories and see what that does? You can adjust it from there.

    I set up a food diary category called "nursing" and add my BF as a food under that category.

    It's nice to see so many BFing mamas here!:flowerforyou:
    I set up a seperate entry for bf too lol! I also had to adjust in the beginning to find the right cal goal so I wasn't gaining and also not losing my supply. I also have 100 to lose. Can I add you?
  • lisamarquez1
    lisamarquez1 Posts: 1 Member
    First off, I don't think you need to lose weight. You are within the healthy range already. Maybe just tone up if you're unhappy. The extra 500 calories is a myth. Each woman is different. I am 5'1 and I was eating 1800-2000 calories and not losing anything! In fact I was steadily gaining weight. I switched my calorie intake around a few times. What works for ME is 1386 calories. I have NOT experienced any milk Supply decrease. I eat a lot! I eat fruits, veggies, whole grains, and lean meats.

    I have now lost 12.5 pounds. It is slow weight loss but is working for me.
  • cinloo87
    cinloo87 Posts: 7
    http://www.livestrong.com/article/208286-does-breastfeeding-help-you-lose-weight-faster/

    Found this article interesting about breastfeeding and weight loss. I agree every woman is different with how many calories they burn while breastfeeding but it is most certainly true that no matter what, you burn calories by having your body produce milk. That being said, I still believe you need to eat appropriately and portion your meals to lose the weight.
  • cjw0219
    cjw0219 Posts: 1 Member
    Hi bf mamas. I'm ebf my 4 month old and have my calories set to 1500. I'm new and I've only done this 2 weeks. However, I'm so hungry! How do you all keep yourself full and not over eat? I'm 5'2" and weigh 126 lbs and need to lose 15 lbs.
  • chantelkiana
    chantelkiana Posts: 1
    hi, im new here, just had my second baby and am exclusively breastfeeding my 4 month old. I gained 58lbs and have lost about 35 so far still have about 20 to go to reach my pre pregnancy weight which was 140lbs. Im 5.6 but my ultimate weightloss goal is 130lbs. With my first i gained 70lbs and lost it all but it wasnt untill i stopped breastfeeding when he was 6 months old that i was able to lose the last 10lbs. they say you lose weight from breastfeeding but i felt like that was not the case for me haha.
  • tonyajohn
    tonyajohn Posts: 46
    Hi bf mamas. I'm ebf my 4 month old and have my calories set to 1500. I'm new and I've only done this 2 weeks. However, I'm so hungry! How do you all keep yourself full and not over eat? I'm 5'2" and weigh 126 lbs and need to lose 15 lbs.

    In my opinion, you should probably be eating more. Especially if you're still hungry. We're roughly the same size. I'm 5'0 and 124 lbs with 10 lbs left to lose. I eat 1850 calories a day and I'm losing 1 - 2 lbs a week at this rate. Since you're still exclusively breastfeeding, I would definitely increase your calories to +400 to 500 a day, regardless of whether it affects your supply or not. Your base caloric intake before the increase from nursing should be at least 1200 calories. So you should be eating 1200 + 500 = 1700 calories. That should help with the hunger AND help keep you from overeating.
  • tonyajohn
    tonyajohn Posts: 46
    hi, im new here, just had my second baby and am exclusively breastfeeding my 4 month old. I gained 58lbs and have lost about 35 so far still have about 20 to go to reach my pre pregnancy weight which was 140lbs. Im 5.6 but my ultimate weightloss goal is 130lbs. With my first i gained 70lbs and lost it all but it wasnt untill i stopped breastfeeding when he was 6 months old that i was able to lose the last 10lbs. they say you lose weight from breastfeeding but i felt like that was not the case for me haha.

    I've always had the same problem. I would lose quickly at first but my body would always want to hold onto that last 10 - 15 lbs while I was still nursing. Here's hoping that this time it will actually come off without me having to wait until my little one weans.
  • cbmae
    cbmae Posts: 19
    I'm EBFing my 10 week old. I'm not maintaining though, I hit my highest weight (235 lbs) at the end of pregnancy. I lost 40 lbs the first week and have been stuck at 195. I believe my healthiest weight to be 150 so that's where I'm aiming to get.
    MFP suggest 1200 calories a day and instead of adding exercise I just edited my calories to 1700. It must be working well for us, I lost 4.5 lbs this first week and haven't had any supply issues :)
  • kawickham85
    kawickham85 Posts: 62 Member
    I'm 28 years old and breastfeeding my 26 month old daughter. She breastfeeds on demand and averages about 5-8 times per 24 hour period. i'm 5'8" and 118 lbs. i found that breastfeeding helped me shed weight like crazy (prepregnancy I was 132 and by 1 year post partum, i weighed 115). I have no intentions of weaning my daughter any time soon but i am terrified at the idea that when it does happen, i'm going to gain weight back. Feel free to add me as a friend, breastfeeding moms!
  • quiltlovinlisa
    quiltlovinlisa Posts: 1,710 Member
    Just cheering all you breastfeeding mamas on!

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