Calling all Moms!

I've always heard the rule of thumb is to add 500 calories on top of what you're already "supposed" to eat. That's if you're nursing full time but I suppose that if you were giving formula or solids, you could stand to eat somewhat less.

Hi Lisa,

First off, congratulations! After I had my second daughter, I lost 35 lbs with weight watchers. It was crazy how my body just CRAVED carbs and fats.

The best advice I could give you is to know your hunger signals. What does it feel like to be hungry vs bored, what foods make you feel satisfied, what foods are 'trigger' foods for you. When I first went on that weight loss journey while breast feeding, I focused only more on achieving that 'satisfied' feeling (NOT 'full' or 'stuffed') with good, healthy, clean, whole food. I logged, logged, logged, and kept to a reasonable amount of calories - gosh I think it was 2800 - in hindsight that seems like SO MUCH lol! But I didn't get really crazy about counting calories or restricting my diet until I was done bf'ing. And I still lost, even at 2800 calories, about a pound a week at first.

You'll have to look up what the bf'ing calories are - i think you can just google it. Then, set up mfp as if you were NOT bfing, and then add them in everyday as exercise - breastfeeding - 1000 calories, or whatever you find out. That was, as you begin to wean, you can drop the cal's down by about 200 each week or so, whatever works for you.

Good luck!

I breastfed my son for 18 months, and didn't lose any weight or gain. I didnt exercise either. But I did eat about 300 extra calories a day. You will probably have to tweak it a bit until the weight starts coming off. I was hungry the whole 18 months, lol

you burn between 300-500 calories a day with breastfeeding, so adjust accordingly. Just be careful to not lose too fast. I started to and my milk dried up. I had to rent a hospital grade pump to bring it back (plus eat more). I was reading how you should not lose more than 1.2 pounds a week max because of milk supply and because of the toxins your body releases that gets passed on through the breast milk (your fat stores toxins, for example all the pesticides you ingest, so when you lose the fat it is put back into your body and in your milk). Or so according to the research I have done, but this includes national sites like La Leche. Good luck!