calculating breastfeeding calories?

mama2goose
mama2goose Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
i can't quite figure out how i am suppose to get mfp to calculate extra calories for exclusively breastfeeding? can someone help me out

Replies

  • Codilee87
    Codilee87 Posts: 509 Member
    You can add it to your food diary and it will automatically 'delete' the calories you burned.
  • livb528
    livb528 Posts: 55 Member
    Following... I didn't know there was a breastfeeding option. I just set MFP at losing 1 lb a week and was given 2200 calories which so far doesn't make me feel starving, baby is happy, and I seem to be losing weight. And I always eat back my exercise calories and drink lots of water. If I had been feeling too hungry or my milk supply was down, etc I would've added more calories.
  • mama2goose
    mama2goose Posts: 4
    ah it gave me an amount of 1200 and i know thats too little while bfing lol
  • livb528
    livb528 Posts: 55 Member
    Sites I've read said that you need bare minimum 1800-2000 while nursing because you burn 500 a day from breastfeeding alone. It also depends on how old your nursling is, too. If your baby is itty bitty, I'd error on the higher side of calories and see if that lets you lose weight and then slowly decrease as they get older. My baby is 9 months and taking in one meal of solids per day so I feel a little less pressure since she's not relying on me 100% anymore.
  • mama2goose
    mama2goose Posts: 4
    my lo is 8m but only nibbles at food so he relies heavily on breastmilk, still nurses every 2 hours at least if not more so i definitely need to be careful to not effect my supply. i will try to add the 500 and if i notice my supply being effected i'll up my calories by 100 and go from there.
  • livb528
    livb528 Posts: 55 Member
    Your baby sounds like mine! Prefers mommy over food :) I read this article and it said nursing moms shouldn't go below 1800 which makes sense. I know I'd be way too starving for that, lol. Hope it helps. http://www.webmd.com/baby/features/8-tips-for-losing-weight-after-pregnancy?page=2
  • anacd
    anacd Posts: 38 Member
    You burn 20 calories per ounce of breast milk you produce, so you can just estimate how many ounces your baby drinks every day and multiply it by 20. For example, my baby drinks about 20oz per day (some days he drinks more, but I prefer underestimate and get calorie credit on my diary than overestimate and get debit lol), so on average I burn 400 calories (20oz x 20 calories) just by breastfeeding :smile:
  • anacd
    anacd Posts: 38 Member
    Oh, and what I did to add this to MFP was just creating a Cardio exercise called Breatfeeding lol
  • NFMendoza
    NFMendoza Posts: 39 Member
    Hi im confused.. Why do people say u need to eat back your exercise calories? Don't u need a deficit to lose weight?
  • WednesdayJanuary07th2015
    WednesdayJanuary07th2015 Posts: 163
    edited February 2015
    NFMendoza wrote: »
    Hi im confused.. Why do people say u need to eat back your exercise calories? Don't u need a deficit to lose weight?

    If you have a deficit in Calories, without exercising; you'd lose weight anyway. I believe that eating back exercise Calories, is a way to treat yourself; without gaining or just maintaining one's weight. You don't "need" to eat back the exercise Calories, if you've consumed enough Calories; to maintain a healthy daily Caloric intake but if you burn too many Calories, while exercising; it's then necessary to eat some of them back.
  • MaryPoppinsIAint
    MaryPoppinsIAint Posts: 157 Member
    Look in the database for a food entry called "Breastfeeding - Infant + 2 year old, approx 40 oz/day". I created it originally when my son was about 15 months, and it was just him, figuring he got 15 ounces a day, or 20cals per ounce. I created it as a negative value food entry because that allowed me to also compensate for the extra carbs/protein/fat/etc in the milk that my body has to draw from somewhere. Now I just adjust the serving size to reflect the most educated guess I can make as to my two nurslings' breastmilk consumption. My son is 3 now, & baby sister is 7 months. I am losing weight at around 800 extra calories per day. Slowly, 'tis true, but the baby weight is gone (I gained around 20lbs) and you don't want to lose fast while you're nursing anyway, it can jack up your supply.

    I can look up all my calculations again tomorrow if you like? I'd tell you to create your own negative value food entry, but I tried when my daughter was born & the system doesn't want to allow it anymore.
  • Codilee87
    Codilee87 Posts: 509 Member
    NFMendoza wrote: »
    Hi im confused.. Why do people say u need to eat back your exercise calories? Don't u need a deficit to lose weight?

    When you set up your MFP account, it asks you what your goals are and then automatically adjusts your calorie goals accordingly. If you want to lose weight, it will set your goal at a deficit so that if you eat only that much, and maintain your usual daily activity (not adding exercise or being less active than normal) you will lose weight.

    If you add exercise on top of your usual daily activity you will burn more calories and therefore be able to eat more food while still mainaining a deficit.

    I personally tend to eat back 30-50% of my exercise calories because I think MFP overestimates the calorie burn on some exercises. You want you NET calories to be at least 1200 per day or you will risk burning out, or binging.
  • leahannhorton
    leahannhorton Posts: 20 Member
    Its technically a "food", so when you are adding new foods for the day search breastfeeding, or exclusively breastfeeding (cant remember the exact title, but its easy to find).

    I exclusively pumped for 8 months (so.... much..... work.......), so I was able to accurately know exactly how many ounces I was making a day. Some of the breastfeeding entries let you put in exact ounces produced, which is far more accurate than the standard 300-500 extra calories a day. It all depends on how much you are really producing. Like someone else stated above, its 20 calories per ounce. For me, the 500 extra calories a day just did not work because I pumped between 50 ounces and 70 ounces a day, equaling almost 1400 cals extra a day!
  • mama2goose
    mama2goose Posts: 4
    how would i have any idea how many ounces if he is BREASTfeeding? lol i dont pump i just feed him from the tap..

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