Any breastfeeding mom'a out there

vegamina
vegamina Posts: 27
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey every one
Please help me with few things.
1-how to log breastfeeding in MFP
2- i give my baby formula milk the entire day she is 4 months old and at night i feed her mine that is twice or thrice.
3- i dont know how many calories i should be eating currently am on 1200 and since 12 days i haven't lost a pound.
4-its my first baby am confused am frustrated because of too much weight gain which is not comming off its been 4 months.
Please be kind to help me get fit make a rite choice not only for myslf but for my family. Have a good day.

Replies

  • mamamc03
    mamamc03 Posts: 1,067 Member
    Welcome to MFP.
    Congrats on the baby! I had my 2nd in October. A couple of questions....are you pumping during the day? If you are, then by all means, include a deficit of 300-500. Otherwise, budget for 200-300. You aren't really "burning" calories, but you are expending more nutrients and energy. Since you are BF'ing part time, I'd say you need to be eating about 1600-1800 cals. Make sure you drink plenty of water and eat clean. It will even itself out.
    I nurse my son once or twice a day, but still have to give him a bottle afterwards, so I don't even count it.
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    Congrats on your new baby!

    1 & 2 - If you go into the food diary and search for breastfeeding, there are several options for calorie counts. If you are exclusively nursing, the count is between 300-500 calories per day. Since you are only nursing a few times a day and your baby is 4 months old, it probably wouldn't be 500 cal, but you just need to make a guess. 4 months is still a big growth period, so you want to make sure you are eating enough. 300 might be a good estimate to start, you can always increase or reduce.

    3 - You don't say how tall you are or how much you want to lose, but 1200 is probably not going to be enough. You need 300-500 cal for nursing above and beyond what you are eating. When you enter breastfeeding into your food diary, it will appear as a negative count and increase your calorie intake for the day. You need to eat back your breastfeeding calories to avoid having supply issues. If you are only eating 1200 and burning 300-500 from nursing, that means your net calories (not counting exercise or general activity) would be only 700-900 calories per day. Your body is not getting enough calories, you need to eat more.

    4 - You didn't put on the weight in 4 months, so why would it come off in 4 months? 1-2 lbs a week is considered safe weight loss. It's going to take time to lose the weight, and it's actually better to go slowly. I'm still carrying baby weight from 20 months ago and the world hasn't ended. You don't want to spend this time stressed out about weight, you should be enjoying your baby. Once you figure out your correct calories the weight will start coming off.

    ETA: I'm still nursing as well, but only twice per day, three times at most and only off one side. I don't add calories into MFP due to her age, but when she was nursing more often a few months ago I added some in.
  • vegamina
    vegamina Posts: 27
    Thank you so much, well am 5'4" and 105kg my goal is 65 kg but i am aiming smaller goals as in 10 kgs first .
  • vegamina
    vegamina Posts: 27
    Thank you so much , thats was motivating! Just want to figure out what's gana work for me.
  • jascar7
    jascar7 Posts: 5 Member
    I've had 3 kids--each time it took about 9-12 months to get back to my starting weight. I got frustrated with the first two times; especially the second because I was really tracking calories and putting a lot of focus on the slow moving weight change. I think our bodies are just not what we're used to with the hormone changes, sleep deprivation and new demands. So with the third I just tried to eat somewhat healthy and when I was hungry. It took about the same amount of time but with less stress.
  • getinmykitchen
    getinmykitchen Posts: 11 Member
    I agree with the others that you might not be getting enough calories. It seems counter-intuitive but I notice a big difference when I am eating enough! Even if its just adding a couple of small snacks or something. I did not know that we could log breastfeeding so I am going to try that!
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    I've found this group to be helpful: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/972-mom-on-a-mission

    One mom on there suggested eating at "maintenance" and not adding in breastfeeding calories. That way, your breastfeeding becomes your cut. This also provides a natural taper to true maintenance.
  • vegamina
    vegamina Posts: 27
    Thank you so much every one thats a gr8 help

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