Should I really add calories for breastfeeding?

I would do 500 a day until you start of solids several times a day and the reduce to 400. After a year old I would go down to 300, 200 at a year and a half and so on. I have lost weight right on track eating back breastfeeding calories for the past 6 months or so and maintained my supply.

Yes I have had success while breast feeding. I was doing weight watchers, which is pretty much the same as counting cals. With weight watchers, in order to lose weight on their program you can eat anything as long as you including the following to your everyday meals and stayed within your points (cals)
>2 cups of milk, 2 servings of fruit, 3 servings of veggies, 2 tsp of olive oil and enough protein and grains.
I did not eat an extra 500 cals. I knew that I was burning cals when I expressed milk but I didn't count it because every time I said, " Oh I’m ok, I can eat that, I just burned 500 cals, I ended up over eating so I stopped counting it. I exercised a few days a wk and stayed within my cals and I loss about 2 lbs each week. I based everything from the fact that I was still able to supply and produce enough milk for my baby and the fact that he was still gaining weight accordingly. This is what I did. I felt like you. My baby came 1st. My baby is 20 months now, but he is the 3rd child that I breast fed successfully until age 1. Unfortunately I didn't wean him off until 15 months. If you have any other questions or comments about my post or breast feeding, feel free to message me instead. Otherwise I won't know that you commented. Best wishes to you and your baby.

Yes, 500.
This podcast talks about it: http://www.themompodcast.com/2013/09/15/nursing-while-losing-weight/

I think you should not do it. Or really be careful. That is where I went wrong. My son was causing me to be starving. I totally over ate and now I weigh more than at the highest point in my pregnancy. I don't blame him though, just I over did it because this little boy could eat.

Good luck!

Thanks for all of the advice! I finally found something on the subject that made sense. It takes 500 extra calories of food a day to make breastmilk. Any milk made over that 500 calories, comes from fat stores. Yesterday, I added 500 calories to my day, even though I made 600 calories worth of milk. I only ate 300 of those calories and ended up losing. So, I think I'll stick with just adding the 500.

Thanks again!!

I'm a bit confused. This is my newie-ness showing, I guess, but why is it bad if the milk comes from fat stores? Doesn't that help you lose wweight and be healthier?

My baby is 6mo and still EBF. I'd like to keep on that as long as she'll let me;) Any advice welcome!

fat is only energy, the milk contains a lot of nutrients (for example calcium) and those nutrients have to come from somewhere i.e. food.

Thanks for all of the advice! I finally found something on the subject that made sense. It takes 500 extra calories of food a day to make breastmilk. Any milk made over that 500 calories, comes from fat stores. Yesterday, I added 500 calories to my day, even though I made 600 calories worth of milk. I only ate 300 of those calories and ended up losing. So, I think I'll stick with just adding the 500.

Thanks again!!

I'm a bit confused. This is my newie-ness showing, I guess, but why is it bad if the milk comes from fat stores? Doesn't that help you lose wweight and be healthier?

My baby is 6mo and still EBF. I'd like to keep on that as long as she'll let me;) Any advice welcome!

fat is only energy, the milk contains a lot of nutrients (for example calcium) and those nutrients have to come from somewhere i.e. food.

^^This, absolutely.

Does the body favor the mother or the child?

Im always wary of posts like this. I don't like the idea of deficits while breast feeding. Better safe than sorry, right? I mean, how much research has been done on post natal/partum dieting. I know nothing on the subject.

the scientific answer, is up to a point, the mother's body will put the child's nutrition first, i.e. the mother will suffer nutritional deficiency before the child in most cases, if she's not getting enough to eat during pregnancy or lactation. However, after a certain point, the body abandons the baby and saves itself. Rates of miscarriage go up drastically during famines, and the milk supply can dry up completely (which from an evolutionary point of view, is letting the baby die, even though nowadays you can give the baby formula instead)

That said, when breastfeeding, you can sustain a moderate deficit without affecting the milk supply, in fact the body stores fat during pregnancy that's supposed to be used for breastfeeding, and it's normal for a woman to lose weight while breastfeeding (though it won't happen in every case, some women find that they don't lose that fat until after they stop breastfeeding). You need to pay attention to getting enough of all the nutrients and remember that milk production uses a lot of calories (and 500 per day is an estimate based on averages, different sized/aged babies will take different amounts, and exclusively breastfed babies will take more than babies who get some of their nutrition from solids) and keep a close eye on supply. Remember also that when a baby's going through a growth spurt they'll be taking more milk. it's a good idea to eat extra on these days.

eating at a deficit while pregnant is not a good idea as you can't see if the baby's getting enough nutrition or not, whereas with breastfeeding you know if your milk supply dries up or if your baby suddenly starts suckling a lot more because they're having a growth spurt. For women who are obese enough during pregnancy to increase their risk of complications, they need to take advice from an ob-gyn or midwife. When breastfeeding, so long as the deficit is sensible and the mother's getting adequate nutrition and the milk supply is keeping up, it's safe to lose weight. (and like I said, some women lose weight while breastfeeding without even trying, because that's what the extra fat stored during pregnancy is for).