Breastfeeding and MFP

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keko08
keko08 Posts: 8
edited November 2023 in Getting Started
Hello- I was wondering what others have done while nursing and using MFP. I am currently nursing two kids (youngest is 10m if that matters) I'm trying to loose the baby weight and get back to being healthy but don't want to loose my supply. Any tips/advice btdt? Thank you!

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  • tonyajohn
    tonyajohn Posts: 46
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    Nursing a 19 month old here. My advice, just make sure you add 500 extra calories to the daily baseline that MFP gives you. I started out only adding 250 because I'm not exclusively breastfeeding anymore and my milk supply definitely suffered. Once I went up to 500, my milk came back and I'm still losing 1-2 pounds a week.

    1200 cal (MFP daily recommendation for me) + 500 cal (extra for breastfeeding) = 1700 cal (what I eat daily to keep my milk up AND still lose weight).
  • keko08
    keko08 Posts: 8
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    Ok now I'm confused. I didn't under eat today by any means. But it's the end of the day and the calculator says I have over 800 additional calories to eat. I didn't exercise today (every other day) didn't eat super healthy or limit calories and even had a slice of pie... The one child nurses on demand and averages 5times a day and at least twice a night. The other child nurses anywhere from 1-4x a day avg being twice a day. So I did 500 cal for the baby and 250cal for my toddler. Does that make sense? Am I doing something wrong?
  • tonyajohn
    tonyajohn Posts: 46
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    I would start with 500 extra and go from there. You might need to add even more, maybe 750 total extra for both. Are you adding your breastfeeding calories into your exercise or food diary? You don't ever want to under eat because MFP already creates a deficit of 500 calories a day for weight lost (if you've set it to lose a pound a week, that is).
  • shirukitsune
    shirukitsune Posts: 25
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    yes! im doing it now. all u have to do is to make sure u add that ur breastfeeding to adjust Ur calories to get to ur goal and still breastfeed. its under food for some reason . you should add me :)
  • keko08
    keko08 Posts: 8
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    I added the 500(baby) and 250 (toddler) with breakfast- found it. lol. I actually put the weight loss at .5lb a week to avoid messing with my supply.
    for the last 3-4weeks I've been working out every other day on the elliptical until I hit 500cal and then the one day on the weekend when my husband is home I hit 1000cal. then I do just over a 100 crunches every other day too and have seen ZERO weight loss (hence the need for MFP! lol) After seeing the intake no wonder I haven't lost any weight. I feel like I eat a lot though...
  • VictoryGarden
    VictoryGarden Posts: 194 Member
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    Awesome job w/the tandem nursing!! :flowerforyou:

    It's a very fine line, at least for me. I'm nursing an 8 month old who eats solids well once a day, and only slightly at 1 "snack". Nurses 2x at night and 7x during the day. I add 400 cals for this.

    I am a bigger gal, but I need 1900 bare minimum to not tank the supply. 2100 ideally. You may need to play around some w/ your cal's to find what works for you. Setting MFP to a 2 lb a week deficit is too much to start. Go w/1 lb a week at first, and then bump it up to 1.5 a week if the 1 lb a week goes well.

    Add me if you'd like. :smile:
  • servilia
    servilia Posts: 3,452 Member
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    Is your 10 mo th old eating any solids yet? If so, you can add 300 instead of 500 for that.
    It would be easier to give advice if you opened your diary but that's up to you.
  • tonyajohn
    tonyajohn Posts: 46
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    I hear you! I don't feel like I'm dieting at all. I think I really just needed help with portion control and I needed to curb the eating out of boredom. I actually GAINED 10 pounds over the last year while I was breastfeeding. I think you should just go week to week and tweak it here or there to make sure that you're not only losing at a healthy rate but also able to sustain your supply. Feel free to add me and/or check out my food diary if you think it might help.

    And kudos on the tandem nursing, that's amazing.

    PS: I don't always eat back all of my exercise calories just because I'm not 100% sure how accurate they are.
  • keko08
    keko08 Posts: 8
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    10m old is eating solids. So should I do 500 for both kids? I have it set at half a lb a week to start.
    How do I open my diary? is that just my food diary?
  • keko08
    keko08 Posts: 8
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    I don't loose weight while nursing either and I tend to gain. :/ But I'd really like to get back into shape, ya know?
  • keko08
    keko08 Posts: 8
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    ok- made nursing 500cal ate another snack and I'm only neg 300+
    how will this work for tomorrow when I work out though?
  • hstoblish
    hstoblish Posts: 234 Member
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    I've only been doing this for just over a month now and am nursing one 10 month old who is also eating solids, so take my advice with a bit of a grain of slat because I'm pretty new. The exact calories you need to make sure you're getting enough of everything is going to be personal. I know before I was overproducing, and I got my period back just around the time I started MFP, which can decrease your supply, so I both had some wiggle room in that extra supply and had a confounding variable to deal with. It's taken me a bit of time to see that I need 300 extra calories to maintain the right supply for my baby and to lose weight. You can add breastfeeding under food. I would add in at least 500 calories given that you're tandem nursing to start and if your supply starts to decrease, add in more. And, of course, make sure what you are eating is nutrient rich so that you're not depriving yourself of anything important.

    Good luck!
  • tonyajohn
    tonyajohn Posts: 46
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    You could do 500 for each baby if you wanted and see if you're losing after a week. I think I would start with 750 and see how it went for a few days. I could tell within a couple of days that my milk was lower so I upped my calories and it came right back. My little one still nurses every 2 hours even at night (for comfort, mostly), though she's eating lots of solids too, so I should have known that I would still need to eat the extra 500.

    If you want your food diary public or viewable by friends go to: My Home --> Settings --> Diary Settings --> (scroll down) Diary Sharing.
  • hstoblish
    hstoblish Posts: 234 Member
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    ok- made nursing 500cal ate another snack and I'm only neg 300+
    how will this work for tomorrow when I work out though?

    I know some people who eat back their workout calories while breastfeeding, but I don't. I usually eat back around half, unless I've done something crazy like go for a long hike with the baby on my back and burned > 1000 calories, in which case, I treat myself.
  • keko08
    keko08 Posts: 8
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    made diary view-able by friends.

    On the one day a week I burn 1000cal just on the elliptical I do treat myself. :D
    I can usually tell within a few days if I'm not eating or drinking enough as well so I'll keep an eye on it. When I was just nursing my older child my supply was pretty touchy with working out so I just didn't. But I'm just not happy with that. I'd like to at least be toned ya know.
    p.s. Hi fellow bw-ing mama!
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