breastfeeding and losing weight
thekillingmoon777
Posts: 8
Has anyone got any experience or advice to offer in regards to losing weight while breastfeeding? I'm following the 1200 calories..but not counting my milk in tea and coffee because I know bfums need extra dairy. I'm also eating lots of fish and vitamin rich foods.
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Bfing mums*0
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For God's sake, eat more than 1200 calories.0
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My wife lost weight during breastfeeding, about 6 kg compared to before pregnancy. However she started playing handball and did lots of sports again, she didn't cut down on eating. But I don't think it would be a good strategy to use this as a chance. Take care on the baby first and make sure it gets what it needs.0
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You definitely need to eat more than 1200 calories... considering that breastfeeding can create a deficit from 300-500 calories on average (of course it's different for different women)... but you need the nutritents and the calories to support not only your baby but yourself otherwise your supply will suffer... Do not worry about losing weight at this point in time... particularly if your baby is a newborn.0
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you need WAY more than 1200 (I think you need to add 500 cals if you are nursing to your allotted amount)0
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most breastfeeding mothers need to eat between 1600 and 1800 calories, at LEAST. depending on your size and the amount your baby nurses you could probably even eat more and still lose weight.
Eating 1200 calories has the possibility of affecting your milk supply if you're not well established and making you malnourished and just hungry. Please eat more.
How old is your baby and what are your stats? height, weight...how much are you looking to lose?0 -
My other advice is this: Don't try to lose weight while breastfeeding. It's stressful and frustrating, both of which can affect the union you and the baby have while breastfeeding.
Focus on feeding your child, eating foods that meet yours and his/her nutritional requirements.0 -
Guiness (which is relatively low cal) and other dark beers are supposed to promote breast milk production. Capitalize on this. And for the love of God, you need food to make milk for your baby. You are the food factory!0
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Eat more for sure0
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I'm breastfeeding and I try and eat at least 1800 calories per day. It seems like your body holds onto fat while your are nursing to ensure there is enough for making milk. I wouldn't worry about losing weight right now. I would just focus on getting enough nutritious foods. Many women find that when they wean the weight drops off quickly.0
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hollydubs85 wrote: »My other advice is this: Don't try to lose weight while breastfeeding. It's stressful and frustrating, both of which can affect the union you and the baby have while breastfeeding.
Focus on feeding your child, eating foods that meet yours and his/her nutritional requirements.
I agree to an extent. Wait a long time to start trying to lose weight. Don't focus on calories, focus on your baby. This is one of the only times in a woman's life where she can eat a good deal and not gain weight. When your baby is a newborn you don't get that time back, it's best to spend it focusing on your child and loving every second....or trying to...
If you're still nursing passed a year and you still want to try to lose weight....i'd say go for it. Even passed 6 months. but not in the beginning.0 -
jenniferstlaurent907 wrote: »You should def be taking in more calories because bf burns a lot of calories. Are u exclusive or supplementing? Either way eat more lol and be careful with ur diary intake. It may cause fussiness in ur baby Espically if he/she is young, they can't digest it efficiently and it does pass to them from the milk. Of course I have to day as a mother of 2, just weaning my daughter from bf, keep up the good work! It is so demanding and u should be proud! (I only was able to make it 2 months, she is now all on formula)
Most mothers can eat dairy just fine without it affecting their little ones. This is only really true for babies that have an intolerance or an allergy. Which is a low amount.0 -
JustinAnimal wrote: »Guiness (which is relatively low cal) and other dark beers are supposed to promote breast milk production. Capitalize on this. And for the love of God, you need food to make milk for your baby. You are the food factory!
This is a myth.0 -
I was never able to lose weight while breastfeeding
You really should be eating more than 1200 calories a day though...at least until you have a strong milk supply established. Also be careful about exercising...many woman find that working out decreases their milk supply. 0 -
Ouch. Sorry, will advise the midwife.0
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hollydubs85 wrote: »JustinAnimal wrote: »Guiness (which is relatively low cal) and other dark beers are supposed to promote breast milk production. Capitalize on this. And for the love of God, you need food to make milk for your baby. You are the food factory!
This is a myth.
Guiness ( is delicious, but over 150+calories) so no...bad mama
Find out your BMR- and eat about 200-300 calories over that while you are BF, after you stop BF, I would eat between 100-2000 -
You won't be breastfeeding forever, focus on dieting after you are done. For now breastfeeding is helping you lose weight in a healthy way, it also helps your stomach shrink down(I HATE that loose jelly belly you get after having the baby).
But, be careful eating fish, make sure it is farm raised because of mercury levels. And please eat more than 1200, do it for your baby.0 -
Beer does help increase let down according to my doctor. I've had two different doctors advise it. I don't think it's a myth.
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I might add that they were OB doctors at that.0
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Why yes...I do have experience....a LOT of experience breastfeeding and losing weight (5x's).
Others have said not to worry about losing weight while you are breastfeeding. I agree and disagree. First of all, we all want to look good and feel good again after having a baby. That's only natural. Just as when we were pregnant, however, we still have this little one that is dependent on us and our bodies for their health. My advice would be not to "worry" about losing weight but to go ahead and "be smart" about it.
Cutting calories too low and/or cutting out too much good fats and dairy from your diet AND/OR working out to vigorously WILL affect your milk supply. You will either lose it altogether, or it will become watered down (like feeding your baby skim milk) and not very nutrient dense. This can result in your baby being very hungry and wanting to eat WAY MORE OFTEN than it normally would, had it been fed a more "filling" meal, or it will not gain weight like it should. You don't want that.
Here would be my advice....which has worked for my 5 times over, try to eat a moderate diet, get regular exercise (the more rigorous, the more water and calories you need to consume), and watch for clues that your baby is satiated (gaining weight, going 2-4 hours between feedings, etc).
If you need a "number", try setting up your MFP account with your usual statistics (weight, height, your weight loss goal, etc) then add to that 500 calories (if you are exclusively breast feeding. If you are supplementing with formula or once your baby starts on solid foods you will want to decrease that number down to between 300-400 extra kcal). (example---is 1200 calories is the number MFP sets for you, bump it up to 1700kcal, if exclusively BF-ing---if not, set your goal at 1500kcal-1900kcal)
Give that number a go and see if it works for you.
If you continue at 1200 calories I can almost guarantee you will lose your milk supply and/or your baby will have a difficult time thriving.
Excellent question!0 -
JustinAnimal wrote: »Guiness (which is relatively low cal) and other dark beers are supposed to promote breast milk production. Capitalize on this. And for the love of God, you need food to make milk for your baby. You are the food factory!
Brewers yeast or fenugreek are much better ways of doing so.... A nutritional expert at Texas Children's Hospital told me this.0 -
I created an "exercise" called Breastfeeding and gave it about 400 calories, and I just log that in to my day each day. My daughter is 18 months now, and still nursing a lot! I love the Moms into Fitness workouts for post-partum and nursing workouts and info! The best thing is to eat nutritious, healthy foods, and if you're more than 6 weeks postpartum and have the ok, start working out, but listen to your body. I still don't feel good doing a lot of jumps, it's like I still have loose joints from pregnancy. ;-) Good luck!0
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Colemanlo1 wrote: »I might add that they were OB doctors at that.
OBs are generally not very knowledable about breastfeeding oddly enough....It was in the past thought to help supply, but it has been found that it actually can harm a weak supply. Alcohol inhibits let down and slows it down.
that said there is nothing wrong with a breastfeeding mother drinking, but its best to make sure her supply is well established before she seriously indulges.
There are a lot of other things that a mother can consume to boost supply, however most women don't need the help, they just need to nurse, nurse, nurse. The best thing for a low supply is a nursing baby, making milk is about supply and demand. The more you remove the milk, the more your body makes. If you have a low supply you need to see an LC and check out the baby's latch first and foremost.0 -
Another note,
#3 out of 5 babies was very touchy. If I lifted weights too much (resulting in a lot of lactic acid build up (aka really sore muscles)) he would reject my milk. It's almost as if the acid in my body changed the taste and he didn't like it.
Also, with #4, I was unable to do ANY type of chest exercises (push ups, chest presses, etc) without causing clogging of the milk ducts, which is excruciatingly painful. Again, the swelling of the chest muscles, plus the build up of lactic acid, would cause the ducts to swell and become clogged. Very painful. I didn't have any such problem with any other baby.
Keep your chin up. Keep in mind that not one body, or baby, is alike and it will take a bit of trial and error to figure it all out.
Good luck!!!!!! 0 -
veganbettie wrote: »jenniferstlaurent907 wrote: »You should def be taking in more calories because bf burns a lot of calories. Are u exclusive or supplementing? Either way eat more lol and be careful with ur diary intake. It may cause fussiness in ur baby Espically if he/she is young, they can't digest it efficiently and it does pass to them from the milk. Of course I have to day as a mother of 2, just weaning my daughter from bf, keep up the good work! It is so demanding and u should be proud! (I only was able to make it 2 months, she is now all on formula)
Most mothers can eat dairy just fine without it affecting their little ones. This is only really true for babies that have an intolerance or an allergy. Which is
False- my child does not have an allergy but was very fussy/gassy when I over did it with dairy products. Espically cows milk. Just some advise not looking to be black and white here.0 -
jenniferstlaurent907 wrote: »veganbettie wrote: »jenniferstlaurent907 wrote: »You should def be taking in more calories because bf burns a lot of calories. Are u exclusive or supplementing? Either way eat more lol and be careful with ur diary intake. It may cause fussiness in ur baby Espically if he/she is young, they can't digest it efficiently and it does pass to them from the milk. Of course I have to day as a mother of 2, just weaning my daughter from bf, keep up the good work! It is so demanding and u should be proud! (I only was able to make it 2 months, she is now all on formula)
Most mothers can eat dairy just fine without it affecting their little ones. This is only really true for babies that have an intolerance or an allergy. Which is
False- my child does not have an allergy but was very fussy/gassy when I over did it with dairy products. Espically cows milk. Just some advise not looking to be black and white here.
it is not false....most mother can eat dairy just fine with out it affecting their children. There is no reason to tell a mother to cut it out of their diet unless there is an allergy.
Babies are gassy creatures, humans are gassy creatures. Babies get fussy because they aren't used to having gas bubbles in their body so they need to work it out and get used to it. The best thing that you can do is help your child work through it by bicycling their legs, or rubbing their belly, eventually in most cases if there is no allergy or intolerance your baby won't get fussy or upset when they are gassy.
If cutting out the dairy worked for you, that's awesome, but most women do not need to watch their dairy intake.0 -
MelanieMamaof5 wrote: »Another note,
#3 out of 5 babies was very touchy. If I lifted weights too much (resulting in a lot of lactic acid build up (aka really sore muscles)) he would reject my milk. It's almost as if the acid in my body changed the taste and he didn't like it.
Also, with #4, I was unable to do ANY type of chest exercises (push ups, chest presses, etc) without causing clogging of the milk ducts, which is excruciatingly painful. Again, the swelling of the chest muscles, plus the build up of lactic acid, would cause the ducts to swell and become clogged. Very painful. I didn't have any such problem with any other baby.
Keep your chin up. Keep in mind that not one body, or baby, is alike and it will take a bit of trial and error to figure it all out.
Good luck!!!!!!
huh that's interesting I've never heard that before.0 -
veganbettie wrote: »hollydubs85 wrote: »My other advice is this: Don't try to lose weight while breastfeeding. It's stressful and frustrating, both of which can affect the union you and the baby have while breastfeeding.
Focus on feeding your child, eating foods that meet yours and his/her nutritional requirements.
I agree to an extent. Wait a long time to start trying to lose weight. Don't focus on calories, focus on your baby. This is one of the only times in a woman's life where she can eat a good deal and not gain weight. When your baby is a newborn you don't get that time back, it's best to spend it focusing on your child and loving every second....or trying to...
If you're still nursing passed a year and you still want to try to lose weight....i'd say go for it. Even passed 6 months. but not in the beginning.
My baby was 1 in December
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I realise I didn't include much information in my post, my supply is well established as my baby is 1, and having 3 meals a day herself as well as her milk.0
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