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So confused!!

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pinkrod
pinkrod Posts: 7 Member
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I gained 50 lbs while I was pregnant. This is my first baby, so I honestly am completely relying on the doctors to tell me how to lose this excess weight. 20 of these lbs came off due to having the baby and from what everyone tells me the other 30 should melt away with breastfeeding. By week 3, I managed to lose 1 lbs. I asked my OBGYN what workouts I should do and how many calories I should eat everyday. She told me that walking/running is good for me and that 1500 calories should be good. I did this. I've been walking/running about 20 miles a week for the past 3 weeks and within 2 weeks of starting this, my milk dropped dramatically. I haven't lost any weight. Today I went to the pediatrician for my baby's check up and she said I was doing it all wrong when I explained I was concerned about the sudden drop in milk. She said the only cardio I should do while breastfeeding is jumping rope (for maybe a minute at a time) and focus the rest on strengthening exercises. She also said I need to eat between 1800-2000 calories a day and nothing less....
I'm going to switch to the pediatrician's method as the OBGYN's didn't seem very helpful. Any thoughts on this?

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  • BuoyantSoul
    BuoyantSoul Posts: 117 Member
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    I don't understand why your pediatrician said you shouldn't do any cardio while breastfeeding. Frankly that's bull. People do it all the time, and not only is it fine, it's pretty healthy and will help you get back in shape and feel better. Just a guess, but she may have been concerned about the calorie deficit from a lot of cardio. It seems like your OBGYN put you on a really restrictive diet and you weren't getting enough calories, then you were burning up too many with your intense cardio. But to say you shouldn't do ANY at all is also bad advice. It's good for your heart and will really help you feel more energized throughout the day.

    I think maybe your milk production dropped initially because 1500 calories is WAY too low for both breastfeeding AND working out at such an intense level. You simply weren't getting enough calories to produce milk. According to Kellymom.com, if you are EBF'ing a newborn, you should be getting at least 500 extra calories a day just for breastfeeding, on top of whatever your base metabolic rate is plus whatever you are burning with activity.

    So to find out how many calories a day you need, you have to figure out what your BMR is, add in calories burned through daily activity including exercise, and then add ANOTHER 500 calories (at least) for breastfeeding, and that should be your daily calorie consumption. It will probably be well over 2000 calories. (ETA: That's to maintain, if you want to lose weight, then you'll need to subtract calories from that total to create a calorie deficit.)

    I also gained about 50 lbs. with my pregnancy and lost almost all of it within the first three months, with absolutely no diet or exercise. It was just through breastfeeding. And also I ate like a hog, all sorts of cakes and junk food (I know, I know, bad me) and still lost the weight. Around 6 months after giving birth though, I stopped losing weight and sort of hovered around the same for a long time, about 10 lbs. heavier than I was before becoming pregnant. Once I started on a workout regimen and changed my diet, that came off extremely rapidly and I got back in shape quite quickly. In fact it happened so quickly and relatively easily, that I wish I had done it earlier.

    I'm still BF'ing my 19-month-old toddler and I work out at a high intensity 5x a week. To maintain my weight I consume 2100 calories a day.
  • newmama_lols
    newmama_lols Posts: 18
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    You are not eating enough to maintain milk supply. You probably shouldn't overdo it on the cardio but you can get some in everyday. We all do some cardio, even walking.

    If I were you, I think you should put your baby first for a week or two, eat lots of healthy food, and build up your milk supply and establish breastfeeding well. Then, start introducing brisk walks everyday and slowly increase pace or time. You prbly shouldn't do it all at once.
  • dandelyon
    dandelyon Posts: 620 Member
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    The calorie recommendation is spot on. Maybe your pediatrician is a weight lifter and let in some personal bias? Some women do say that cardio hurts their supply, so if you see that happening then you could always cut back on exercise and see if it improves (although usually supply just appears to drop because baby's in a growth spurt and feeds like crazy and then your supply catches up to baby... so it would probably be THAT.. but anyway!)

    I lose eating 2100 and breastfeeding with no exercise, so definitely eat more.

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