New Mom to the group!

Options
Hi ladies!

I am new to My Fitness Pal and still trying to understand how this whole thing works. I have heard so many people rave about this app that I HAD to to try it out. :)

I am EBF my 15 week old son and also trying to lose the rest of the baby weight. Is there a section where I am suppose to be adding additional calories for nursing? Based on the weight I want to lose the app says I should be eating about 1,450 calories a day. Should I be adding 500 to that number because I nurse? If I do that, won't everything get thrown off?

I use the mobile version on m iPhone, is there a way to log into my groups ( such as this one) and my community from my phone?

Anyone have any great suggestions on how to shed those last few pounds while breastfeeding? Any great recipes we can share with eachother?

Looking forward to hearing from some of you as becoming "friends". :)

Thanks,

Christina

Mommy of two boys!!

Replies

  • ajzmann
    ajzmann Posts: 147 Member
    Options
    Welcome! My little lady just turned 7 months last week and aside from starting some veggies/fruit at 6 months, she's all EBF!

    There is a diary entry where you can log negative 500 calories into your diary. I have been eating all of those calories in addition to whatever MFP estimates what I eat to avoid dropping my supply. I've been back to work for four months now, so I pump three times a day while at work (and once in the morning). My life seems devoted to producing those ounces!

    I've lost the weight I put on while pregnant, but I definitely need to just shape up and get toned, and back in good physical fitness. That's my goal right now. Many days, I log only a walk., but I figure it's better than nothing! I'm getting back into running, as I have a half-marathon at the end of August.

    I love this recipe:
    http://www.takethemameal.com/blog/banana-oatmeal-breakfast-muffins.php They freeze really well, you can sub out the eggs for flaxseed (good for milk supply), and they are low in sugar for a baked good.

    I have been doing a ton of slow-cooker meats lately (a whole chicken/pork shoulder/flank steak) and using for all sorts of things. We do a lot of tacos in the summer with corn tortilla, lime juice, cilantro, and avocado (simple, and flavorful!) with a side of black beans.

    I also just made this: http://thehealthyfoodie.com/broccoli-apple-and-almond-salad/ It turned out great! No olives in mine, though, and I didn't cook the broccoli. I love it crunchy!

    Glad to have another mom friend who gets the whole breastfeeding challenges to a healthy life!
  • MrsMES10
    MrsMES10 Posts: 23 Member
    Options
    Hello! I'm also new to the group! My son is almost 12 weeks and EBF. I go back to work next week (sob!) so I am pumping quite a bit right now to make sure he has something to eat.

    Can you tell me more about the negative calorie entry? I adjusted my daily goal in the manual section, but is there a benefit to doing it one way or another? I've lost all but the last 5 of my pregnancy pounds, but I was working in losing weight before getting pregnant so I don't want to stall out or impact supply. I've plateaued a bit in the last few weeks though.
  • dandelyon
    dandelyon Posts: 620 Member
    Options
    Hi Christina,

    I'm breastfeeding my third son, who will be 5 months old next week. It's slow going, because breastfeeding makes me SO HUNGRY! But I am logging my food and doing the best I can. I've been using MFP for a long time and it works the way it's supposed to, sometimes I just don't follow the rules and then I don't see results :P

    If you just add 500 calories to your daily goal, the thing that will be thrown off is the message at the end of the day that says "if every day was like today, you would weigh blah blah blah in 5 weeks." You can input -500 for food or exercise. That throws off your macros a little (you'll always be over on your protein/fat/carbs/etc) because it doesn't give you more macros when it gives you more calories.

    You can't access forums from the app, but you can use your mobile browser. Thankfully it's a pretty "clean" site so I don't have any trouble using it on my iPad mini, but I don't know about your phone. That might be pushing it :)

    Welcome!

    Helen
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    Options
    Hi!

    I am also breastfeeding my 8.5 month old, I just added the extra calories to my daily goal, I just ignore that "if everyday was like today.." thing. Its been a bit of trial and error to get the amount right. For me the weight really didn't start coming off until about 5 months pp.. its kind of been a slow process, but everyone is different of course.
    Good luck! :)
  • Advaya
    Advaya Posts: 226 Member
    Options
    I added a section to my food journal for breastfeeding and I have two that I've used one is -300 and the other -500. Lately I've been sticking to the -500 but as my daughter gets older (she's 6 months and EBF) I'll consider dropping the negative calories if my weight plateaus.

    I set my daily calories at 1300 so with the -500 I'm getting 1800 a day. I am usually slightly under that, and I don't eat exercise calories back (because I think MFP over estimates.. so when I do eat them back I stay around 50%).

    I've lost 6 lbs is just over a month, and 20 some since my daughter was born in January. I haven't noticed a drop in supply at all at 1800 but feeding your baby is most important right now, so if you see a drop up your calories.
  • Mshukh
    Mshukh Posts: 24 Member
    Options
    I just added a new exercise in cardio. I started out with -500 cals when my son was under a year and nursing a lot. Then I went to toddler breastfeeding. I think there are actually some of these already prepopulated in the database so you can search for those. Then it just tracks these calories as exercise that you can eat back. This way the macros aren't really thrown off I think. I tried it both ways (adding to goals v. exercise) and personally prefer the exercise option.