Calling for support PLEASE (and advice from nursing mamas)

Personally I have tailored things according to how often they were nursing. 500 extra if they were exclusively nursing, 300-500 extra once solids were introduced, and now after nursing for two years I don't really eat anything extra and things are fine...but he also only nurses once per day, sometimes only once every few days. This is how things have gone for me with all three children and I've had no issue having ample supply. I also give this basic advice to new moms I work with (I'm a doula) and it seems to work across the board for everyone.

Oh yeah, since baby girl is eating holida now I'm not consuming as many calories. Thanks for that reminder. Awesome advice here!

Congrats on your baby!
I gained a lot too, 60lbs to be exact. I've lost 53ish lbs since then in the last 10.5 months so its doable but it can take time. I nursed too (still am) and what I did was add 500 to whatever my cal goal was to my MFP goal. So when MFP gave me 1300 I'd eat 1800 etc. there's a food option for breast feeding in the database and you can add it to your diary.
Good luck!

sorry, was typing fast, many mis-spelt words (ooopppsss!!!!)

I am going to go back and read responses...

I ate like crazy during my first pregnancy and gained about 70 lbs. I lost over 100 by the time my son was 13 months old, so well below my pre-pregnancy weight. I slacked a little on diet and gained back about 10, then I gained 75 lbs during my second pregnancy! I ate better but could not exercise due to bleeding issues, so I think my metabolism tanked. I actually ate better during my second pregnancy but gained more. Hm. I think some of us just gain weight like crazy during pregnancy.

I mostly formula-fed my first, which gave me the ability to cut calories very low (and made me grouchy, honestly), but my second has been exclusively breastfed (now he gets some solids), which has been a hindrance to my weight loss. In nearly 7 months I've lost 40 lbs. Compared to my first postpartum loss, I should be 15-20 lbs ahead of where I am now - but so be it. I've learned to be patient, though I still need regular reminders from time to time.

Nursing is a tough job on top of the already tough job of being a mom. Be kind to yourself, eat well, drink LOTS of water, and get back to moving when your body is ready (and you're cleared for exercise) and you can manage it. It's tough to find time to work out with a baby, but as your baby gets bigger it gets easier to carve out that time for yourself.

Kellymom.com (a great BFing resource) suggests going no lower than 1800 calories/day. I find that my supply tanks if I go lower than that. Even though I count my BFing burn as 400 instead of 500 now that he's eating solids 2x/day, I still don't go below 1800. I try to eat back most of my exercise calories.

There is help and support! I recommend two groups on here:

Post-Partum Pack http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/656-post-partum-pack

Breastfeeding Support http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/214-breastfeeding-support

Congratulations, and best wishes!

ETA that I don't mean to scare you away from BFing by saying it's slowed my weight loss. For a lot of women it helps with weight loss, and there are tons of health benefits for both you and your baby! I don't mind nursing, and admittedly I'm not in love with it - BUT I've been the mom on the other side of the fence in tears, feeling guilty about her lack of supply, and shelling out $$$ every month for formula, and I would MUCH rather BF! Once your supply is established it is SO much easier than formula feeding! I don't demonize formula (and this isn't the forum for that even if I did), but all of the above reasons are why I've decided to make this temporary sacrifice of my happiness in my self-image. I promised myself I'd nurse until 6 months, and now I'm beyond that, so I'm going for a year or until he self-weans, whichever is earlier Then I can fuss over the scale!

*waves* Hi, love! My son is two, and I'm currently about 15 weeks with my next one. Toddler is still nursing to sleep for naps & bedtime & occasionally during the day.

My pregnancy-weight experience was kinda nutty, and I appear to be repeating the pattern this time. Wicked, WICKED morning sickness during the first trimester (with my son it went on clear to 20 weeks, this one thankfully eased off right before the 1st tri was over), so I barely eat. Once I feel like eating again, baby is big enough that eating a full meal all at once is a bit uncomfortable. Instinctively I go mostly vegetarian while pregnant, I develop a pretty gnarly meat aversion, so it's mostly fresh produce, grains, nuts, & so on. With my son, I started pre-preg at 222lb, dropped 20 pounds basically from being sick all the time, and took the rest of the pregnancy to get it back, so I walked into triage 4 pounds over my pre-preg weight. Nobody believes me.

I actually gained my "baby weight" after he was born, because someone (a medical professional in only the loosest sense of the term) convinced me I had an inadequate milk supply and put me on Domperidone without telling me that it would make me crazy hungry all the time. I got up to about 245 before I said enough. Calorie cut, started working out more, by February this year I was somewhere around 235. Had my gall-bladder out (nightmare all by itself), and portion control became my very best friend overnight. I dropped a little more, started to stall out, got upset...

Then I found the original version of this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13

And found out that I was eating way too damn little food. I started eating at TDEE-20% plus extra for breastfeeding, but NOT for exercise (TDEE works your average exercise schedule into your calorie allowance), and the weight just started melting off. Honestly I don't work out much. I keep a garden in the summer, which is a lot of work, but I don't have time for a gym or a lot of walking. My most regular "exercise" was the negative value food item I created to allow the extra carbs/fat/protein/calories needed for breastfeeding. And it still worked, effortlessly. Between mid-February and when I turned up pregnant in September, I lost thirty pounds (regained and relost about 10 in there over the summer), and when we got that positive pregnancy test, I weighed 218 pounds. Wanna know what my calorie allowance was?

I'm 5'3". My Net (that's right, NET) caloric intake was over 1900 calories per day. And I lost thirty pounds doing that. In a year. How many women do you know who can say they lost every ounce of their baby weight plus four pounds more before conceiving their next child?

I do not tell you this to brag, honey. I tell you this so that you know it IS possible, it doesn't have to be complicated, you don't have to go hungry (honestly there were plenty of days where I was hard-pressed to eat that much, but I had more success week to week when I did!), you don't have to eliminate all your favorite treats, and you do NOT have to drag your exhausted new-mommy self to the gym three times a week. Lifting weights helps, don't get me wrong, but you can lose and keep off a significant amount of weight with healthy eating alone. Note that I did not say "diet". I kind of treat that as a dirty word, it's got so many wacked out unhealthy connotations.

TDEE involves some math and a measuring tape to get it set up, but after that it's simple, and it works. For about the first month, measure/weigh EVERYTHING that you're going to swallow. Don't guess, don't eyeball it, measure. For thirty days. By then your eye and your brain will have a better idea of what serving sizes actually look like, and while they're going to look "small" at first, they're bigger than you think.

Basically? You're 4 weeks ppm. Take your time. Eat healthy, because you need it and your baby needs it, but don't stress. In about two weeks baby's gonna hit a growth spurt that's gonna leave you thinking you're not making enough milk. Don't panic, that's the big nasty growth spurt, and your body will adjust. If you feel the need to get some exercise, put baby in a wrap (Moby is good for winter) and take a walk.

My pre-preg with this kid was 218. I'm down to just over 208 thanks to another gnarly first trimester and a round of the flu I'm just getting over. I will not be falling for the "I'm not making enough milk" trap this time around, so hopefully I can start from around 218ish after this kid is born in June and start making progress from there.