Nursing moms?

mikkimomof3
mikkimomof3 Posts: 224 Member
edited September 21 in Health and Weight Loss
Anyone else out there nursing and trying to lose weight? My youngest will be 6 weeks old on Sunday and I am ready to start getting some of the extra weight I gained while pregnant (along with the extra weight I was carrying around pre-pregnancy) off!! I entered my data in here, but shouldn't I be adding some extra calories in for breastfeeding? I never really 'dieted' while nursing my others...so I'm not sure how to do this.

Replies

  • EmilyStrick
    EmilyStrick Posts: 267
    i don't remember the medically quoted amount of calories consumed by breastfeeding each day (maybe around 300??), but i would just find that number and then add it to your daily goal and you should be good!
  • kuntrygrl_54
    kuntrygrl_54 Posts: 1
    I am still nursing my 7 month old, and I seem to remember being told with my older child that you have to comsume a minimum of 2000 calories a day or your milk supply will begin to taper off, you aren't taking in enough calories to support yourself and the kiddo. I have seen that in several places, but still not sure if it is right, try kellymom.com. I think I remember that nursing can use up between 250-500 calories, depending on the amount the kiddo eats. Hope that helps...
  • melodyg
    melodyg Posts: 1,423 Member
    I did Weight Watchers while nursing several years ago. The usual suggestion is to add 500 calories/day for nursing to your regular calories if baby is exclusively nursing. Once baby is eating more solid foods, add about 100 calories per nursing session (up to 500). (That is not a WW recommendation, though they do give a certain number of extra "points"... I gathered that info from a group I was on of nursing moms who were mostly using WW to lose weight). I second that kellymom.com is a great resource for all information related to nursing.
  • mikkimomof3
    mikkimomof3 Posts: 224 Member
    Thanks everyone! I hadn't thought to check Kelleymom...love that site! I was a bit concerned when I saw my suggested calorie consumption was around 1400 to lose 1lb a week...just seems pretty low if the baby is taking up to 500 of them from nursing. I will probably add in 500 and see how it goes for a few weeks and then adjust from there. Thanks again!
  • lesliemk
    lesliemk Posts: 382 Member
    mikkimomof3...

    I'm also a nursing mom (Finley is now 3m old) and I've been consuming 1900-2000 calories per day and losing about 1-2lbs per week. And funny, but we nearly have the same stats and the same end goal!!! I may shoot you a message--it might be fun to buddy up and maybe do this together?!
  • think48
    think48 Posts: 366 Member
    SO funny. When I woke up this morning I planned to start a thread for nursing moms. I log on and I already see 2 from this morning!

    I am nursing my 9 month old and am not losing ANY weight. I have tried cutting my calories back to 1500 and increasing them up to 2000, but nothing is working. I finally decided that I think my body is just holding onto everything it can and I'm going to focus on exercising for now, until he is weaned (3 more months....not too much longer!).

    The whole calories burned during nursing has always confused me too.
  • Cortni27
    Cortni27 Posts: 12 Member
    Hi I'm a nursing mom too- first timer. I was told that by nursing my baby, the baby weight would just melt off. That is hardly the case! I only weight 10lbs less than I was at the end of my pregnancy and my son is 3 months old. I can't wait to wear normal pants instead of maternity pants! :)

    I am just going to add 500 calories to my recommended calorie consumption to lose 1lb a week. That will put me at 2000 a day, which seems reasonable. I've had really good results with weight watchers in the past, but honestly I'm going to try counting calories on this site for the pure reason that they have a handy app for my phone and frankly I need something that will be easy to track and keep up!
  • ucaminax
    ucaminax Posts: 157 Member
    I had tried losing weight when my daughter was nursing more, and it was very hard. The weight didn't "melt off" like so many people said it would. I think that the problem was that it made me so hungry, and I did notice some dips in supply when I lost weight, though I didn't stick with the calorie counting for long when I was bfing. My friend said the same thing-she has 4 kids and she said her body seemed to hang onto weight until she weaned, then it came off. I am not breastfeeding now, and I feel like am not as hungry and it's a little easier. This is not to say MFP and counting calories wont work if your bf'ing-I'm sure it will-I just had trouble sticking with it lol!
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