breast feeding while counting calories?

cjwolfjen
cjwolfjen Posts: 323 Member
edited September 25 in Health and Weight Loss
Anyone else try to cut back on calories while breast feeding? My baby is 4 months old and I breast feed although not exclusively. The Dr told me I would burn about 500 calories a day to make the breast milk. Should I continue eating 2000 a day or should I eat more or less?

I find myself hungry a lot. I think its because I'm breast feeding. What should I do?

Does anyone know some snack foods under 100 calories that are actually filling?

Thanks!!

Jen

Replies

  • malissaperkins
    malissaperkins Posts: 23
    I'm breastfeeding too, you need an extra 300-500 per day. If you are hungry, listen to your body, and eat!! When I first started MFP, I was hungry all the time, I increased my cals, and I started losing weight too. So my advice, is up your cals, gotta feed the baby!! :)
  • mommynmotion
    mommynmotion Posts: 149 Member
    Hi! I nursed 4 babies while losing my pregnancy weight. Not all at once...over an 8 year period. I gained 80 pounds with my first and lost 90! I would take the number that MFP gives you and add 400 (since not exclusive) to your net number and adjust it in your setup, where you can customize your calories. So, if it says you should eat 1300, customize your net to say 1700. Also, set it for a pound per week, instead of 2 pounds per week. I've seen a lot of posts where people say it made a big difference an dthey lost better with it set for less per week.Then don't forget to put in your exercise calories daily and eat them back. If you don't eat enough, your milk supply could suffer. If you burn about 300 with exercise, then yes, you'll be eating about 2000...enjoy it! YOur body is working hard to make that milk. You actually burn more calories when nursing ( about 500) than you do when you are pregnant (about 300)!

    Feel free to frend me... I was like a cow when nursing and donated gallons and gallons or milk to a human milk bank! If you have any questions...just ask!
  • dtcauley4
    dtcauley4 Posts: 110 Member
    The way I have seen it done is to add breastfeeding to your food diary, like a food. It adds a negative calorie amount to your diary, that gives your more calories to eat every day. Does that make sense???
  • Sareya
    Sareya Posts: 1
    Breastfeeding alone will cause you to lose weight. Try to maintain a healthy balanced diet and eat when your hungry. The main thing is to drink LOTS and LOTS of water!
  • Monda
    Monda Posts: 271 Member
    bump
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,019 Member
    Breastfeeding alone will cause you to lose weight. Try to maintain a healthy balanced diet and eat when your hungry. The main thing is to drink LOTS and LOTS of water!

    No, it won't. For some women, breastfeeding causes them to lose weight. For others, it makes their body horde. My own opinion, is that it depends on the woman's pre-pregnancy eating habits.

    personal example - Was a chronic undereater unless paying attention, gained 68 lbs while pregnant, lost 28 immediately post-birth, gained 10 lbs during 8 months of exclusive pumping (equivalent of BFing). Didn't start to actually lose until significantly after this period when I started paying attention to diet and exercise.

    To the OP - Yeah, add the calories to your daily total, or enter them under a food option for neg calories.
  • Sden1231
    Sden1231 Posts: 61
    I'm breastfeeding exclusivey, my daughter is 13 weeks. Feel free to add me and check out my food diary. I eat pretty much all day, and sometimes it's hard to eat all my calories, but I try to stay above 1800 calories
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
    If you aren't breastfeeding exclusively, you aren't burning 500 calories doing it. The range of calories burned by breastfeeding is generally 200-500. As your kid starts to consume other things besides breastmilk, the calories burned go down so it might be around 500 when you first start out but it doesn't stay that high.
  • cjwolfjen
    cjwolfjen Posts: 323 Member
    Thank you everyone! Wonderful advice!

    I agree that sometimes BFing (breast feeding) does help you lose weight, and sometimes it does not! With my son, I breast fed 3 1/2 months and lost all 25 pounds I gained while pregnant, plus an extra 10 pounds! This time around, with my daughter, I gained 40 pounds while pregnant and have only lost 20. I had major milk supply issues at first, and since then I've been sick twice, had surgery to get my gall bladder removed plus she was a C section baby, where my son was a vaginal baby... so my recovery with her was much slower and I have not been as active in my everyday life since having her. Both my kids are under 2 years old right now so I have 2 in diapers and I'm always ALWAYS exhausted... so needless to say I haven't been doing nearly as many things as I did after having my son. I can't wait to get this weight off. I was silly to think I would lose it all naturally again like with my first baby. Your body is always changing. Doesn't always do what you want!

    How do you guys fit in exercise with your children? With breast feeding a baby and having a 21 month old son I feel like I can hardly plan my life let alone plan time to exercise.
  • Sden1231
    Sden1231 Posts: 61
    The only exercise I can get in is ripped in 30, which is Jillian micheals new DVD and it's 30 mins. I did the 30 day shred before that. And I barely have time for that. I have a 18 month old and a 13 week old, so I know how you feel. And usually I have to wait till nap time (i have them go down for an afternoon nap at the same time) or till hubby gets home and he deals with them for a hour.
  • cjwolfjen
    cjwolfjen Posts: 323 Member
    Yea I try to wait until the end of the night then I'm so tired I don't work out. We have a XBOX with Kinect though and I play the work out and sports games on there man that gets you sweating and its actually FUN. I'm trying to find the time to do it all. Are you a stay at home mom as well?
  • fouchou09
    fouchou09 Posts: 154 Member
    The way I have seen it done is to add breastfeeding to your food diary, like a food. It adds a negative calorie amount to your diary, that gives your more calories to eat every day. Does that make sense???

    I do this, it's been working for me!
  • WildcatMom82
    WildcatMom82 Posts: 564 Member
    The way I have seen it done is to add breastfeeding to your food diary, like a food. It adds a negative calorie amount to your diary, that gives your more calories to eat every day. Does that make sense???

    I do this, it's been working for me!
    Me too :) I have my goals set to lose 1 lb a week plus add the Breastfeeding Infant 6-12 months option for -300 cals. Normally I lose more than 1 lb, too. As far as workouts, I have no idea what I'm going to do when there are two! My daughter is generally a good napper and goes down for 2-3 hours so I hop on the treadmill or do a boot camp DVD, Just Dance on the Wii, etc.
  • cjwolfjen
    cjwolfjen Posts: 323 Member
    Where and how are you adding breast feeding? I tried searching it under exercise and nothing came up. I've been just mentally noting that I can have 200-400 extra calories than what the website says but its throwing me off!
  • Sden1231
    Sden1231 Posts: 61
    I log it under breakfast
  • nicolenoel
    nicolenoel Posts: 25 Member
    Its listed in the foods section. I have my weight loss set at a lb a week and enter Breastfeeding a 6-12 month infant. It deducts 300 calories.

    My baby is almost 7 months and still exclusively breastfed for the most part. I'm have a very hard time getting back to my prepregnancy weight. =(
  • WildcatMom82
    WildcatMom82 Posts: 564 Member
    Its listed in the foods section. I have my weight loss set at a lb a week and enter Breastfeeding a 6-12 month infant. It deducts 300 calories.

    My baby is almost 7 months and still exclusively breastfed for the most part. I'm have a very hard time getting back to my prepregnancy weight. =(
    My daughter is 10 months old and I still have 18 lbs to go. Not everyone loses weight easily while breastfeeding....someone told me the other day almost half have a harder time losing because their body needs the extra fat storage for milk production. One of my coworkers is a twig and she said she didn't lose one lb of pregnancy weight until she weaned, so I'm still holding out hope :P If your baby is still mostly nursing you may want to try 400-500 cals extra. I use the 300 and my child only nurses 4 times a day. It could be you're not getting enough!
  • briar_rose
    briar_rose Posts: 149 Member
    I am breastfeeding 3-4 x a day (my baby is almost 10 months old) and I haven't had any issues with supply or felt hungry etc. during my journey here. I just make sure to eat back many of my exercise calories. I haven't had problems losing weight but I have been exercising lots and eating as well as I can. I think breastfeeding *may* be helping my weight loss but it sure didn't for the first 6 months when she wasn't even eating solids. It wasn't until I took control of my eating habits and started to exercise that weight loss actually began. Good luck to you!
  • cjwolfjen
    cjwolfjen Posts: 323 Member
    Ok I feel really silly... and dumb... lol, but I can't find where and how to add breast feeding into my dairy so it calculates the extra calories... I've searched and searched and I just can't figure it out. Every time I search breast feeding whether its in the food or exercise sections nothing comes up... what am I doing wrong? I'm new to this site so I'm still figuring it all out
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,019 Member
    Ok I feel really silly... and dumb... lol, but I can't find where and how to add breast feeding into my dairy so it calculates the extra calories... I've searched and searched and I just can't figure it out. Every time I search breast feeding whether its in the food or exercise sections nothing comes up... what am I doing wrong? I'm new to this site so I'm still figuring it all out

    Search for "nursing".
  • fitmom4ever
    fitmom4ever Posts: 130
    I am still nursing my daughter, who will turn 1 in May. If you pump at all or can estimate the amount of ounces you produce a day there is an entry in the food database labeled "Generic- breastfeeding mother (by oz) rq" that is the most accurate info I have found after consulting with several breastfeeding consultants. Your body will burn about 20 calories per ounce. You can add it in your food diary & it adds calories back into what you can eat.
    I have had some great results & have rarely felt hungry- the baby has been growing well too! Make sure you still take those prenatal vitamins though to make sure your body is getting enough calcium & iron right now. Good luck on your weight loss, you can do it!
  • mommynmotion
    mommynmotion Posts: 149 Member
    HI again! If you still can't find it under food...just use the number they have already given you, 1300 (just as an example) calories probably, and add 400 (for nursing) to it...1700. Then customize your goal...in the menu bar, go to goal and do customize. You can make your net calorie goal be 1700...then when you put your exercise cals in, it will add those too. Then you don't have to add them everyday as food, to your diary.

    As for when to exercise, I have 4 children and I homeschool (they are 2,4,8 and 10). I used to get up earlier then them and do it. Now, since my older ones can help out more, they kind of keep the littl eones busy for me for a while. I try to get up early and do yoga, since it's quiet. We are living in a tine cabin in Alaska right now. I can't run outside because everything is frozen and inside I can't make noise while everyone is sleeping....I do videos during the day. I agree that the Jillian videos are great and Bob Harper has some good ones too. You just have to make time for you!!!!!!
  • cjwolfjen
    cjwolfjen Posts: 323 Member
    Thanks, I found how to to do it. :)
  • elphalba
    elphalba Posts: 3 Member
    Thanks for posting this! I know that I was not supposed to lose over a pound a week due to the fat stores of toxins being released into the breastmilk and I wanted to be sure I was eating enough food. I've nursed five children including twins but this is the first time the weight stayed with me!
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