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Losing weight too quickly, need help with calories/ meals

sw6709
sw6709 Posts: 60 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I'll start off with my current stats to give you a better idea of where I am.
23yo female, 5'5, 135lbs (lost 43lbs in 10 weeks, was 178 the day I had my son). Eating ~ 1900cal a day.
I am exclusively BF my 10 week old and I seem to be losing too much weight too quickly, sometimes 1+ pound a week. I have lost my pregnancy weight and now continue to lose. I keep increasing my calories but still steadily lose I'm eating roughly 400 calories over what my maintenance was prepregnancy. I was pretty active and now I am fairly sedentary with the exception of 2-3 hour long walks a week as I'm concerned about losing even faster with more exercise. I'm rarely ever hungry eating like this and when I am I do eat more. My family is becoming concerned as im becoming very thin, but I don't know what to do if im not hungry (let alone find the time to prep food and eat with a 2 month old who refuses to nap). I'm looking for some help as to how much more I should be eating and what I can add/ change to help me achieve this. My diary is open, and I would love suggestions if you have them.
Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • PixelPuff
    PixelPuff Posts: 902 Member
    I cannot view your diary.

    Maybe it would be good to talk with your doctor? And while you are not outright exercising, maybe taking care of the baby itself is giving you quite the unexpected workout.
  • sw6709
    sw6709 Posts: 60 Member
    Sorry I have opened my diary again, must not have worked the first time.
    As for talking with my Dr he said he is not concerned because it's probably from my little one eating so much and gaining appropriate weight so I should just try eating more...
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,055 Member
    Peanut butter and cheese are good quick, high calorie foods.
  • sw6709
    sw6709 Posts: 60 Member
    Please note, last few days there were not typical food choices (kfc/ pogos) I was eating up what was in the house/ freezer before going shopping today. I usually only eat out 1-2 times a month and make most of my meals
  • sw6709
    sw6709 Posts: 60 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Peanut butter and cheese are good quick, high calorie foods.
    Thanks for the reply!
    Peanut butter is one of the things I'm using to boost my calories already, I sometimes have 1-2 tbsp a day
    day and ~50g of other seeds/ nuts
  • triciab79
    triciab79 Posts: 1,713 Member
    You just had a baby, your body is just adjusting. Are you breast feeding? If so the results can be even more dramatic. Exercising is an excellent way to increase your appetite. Try lifting. It makes me ravenous and doesn't burn much. Just be careful, your hormones are doing this to you at the moment but when they flip back the other way you will need to adjust your calories back down.
  • sw6709
    sw6709 Posts: 60 Member
    triciab79 wrote: »
    You just had a baby, your body is just adjusting. Are you breast feeding? If so the results can be even more dramatic. Exercising is an excellent way to increase your appetite. Try lifting. It makes me ravenous and doesn't burn much. Just be careful, your hormones are doing this to you at the moment but when they flip back the other way you will need to adjust your calories back down.
    Thanks for your comment, yes I am breastfeeding. At the moment I am not concerned with exercise as im struggling to maintain my weight as is and I don't really have the time right now. I'm trying to figure out how many calories I need and how I can get to that number without feeling "over stuffed".
  • janjunie
    janjunie Posts: 1,200 Member
    You should probably re post this in the gaining weight or maintaining weight section.

    Just wanted to say I've been there with my second daughter I lost a ton of weight breastfeeding. At first people were like "you're so lucky" then no one said anything when I got to 102 lbs. I ate everything in sight, but my baby was a milk monster. The only thing that helped was weaning her at 13 months....I'm not saying you should wean your baby now, 10 weeks is too young IMO. But if you can work out how many minutes your baby is breastfeeding, enter that as a cardio exercise and see how many calories you've burned. I'm currently breastfeeding my 3rd baby who is 8 months old, I'm 5'5 as well but weigh less than you and my maintenance calories are 2160. I tend to snack lot. My food diary is open to friends you can add me if u want.
  • Azurite27
    Azurite27 Posts: 554 Member
    Do you eat back calories for the long walks? I eat back 70% of Runkeeper's estimate. You may want to try that. Also, breastfeeding requires additional calories. Ask your doctor how many extra calories you need to be taking in for that. I've heard 200-300 on other threads but have no personal experience in this area.

    Also, feel free to peek at my diary for food ideas. I eat 1900-2200 cals most days (in maintenance).
  • sw6709
    sw6709 Posts: 60 Member
    janjunie wrote: »
    You should probably re post this in the gaining weight or maintaining weight section.

    Just wanted to say I've been there with my second daughter I lost a ton of weight breastfeeding. At first people were like "you're so lucky" then no one said anything when I got to 102 lbs. I ate everything in sight, but my baby was a milk monster. The only thing that helped was weaning her at 13 months....I'm not saying you should wean your baby now, 10 weeks is too young IMO. But if you can work out how many minutes your baby is breastfeeding, enter that as a cardio exercise and see how many calories you've burned. I'm currently breastfeeding my 3rd baby who is 8 months old, I'm 5'5 as well but weigh less than you and my maintenance calories are 2160. I tend to snack lot. My food diary is open to friends you can add me if u want.
    Thanks so much it's nice to know I'm not alone. I really do not want to stop breastfeeding and I'm determined to get this figured out so I will again try and increase my calories. I'll have a look at your diary to get some ideas.
  • sw6709
    sw6709 Posts: 60 Member
    Azurite27 wrote: »
    Do you eat back calories for the long walks? I eat back 70% of Runkeeper's estimate. You may want to try that. Also, breastfeeding requires additional calories. Ask your doctor how many extra calories you need to be taking in for that. I've heard 200-300 on other threads but have no personal experience in this area.

    Also, feel free to peek at my diary for food ideas. I eat 1900-2200 cals most days (in maintenance).

    Prior to getting pregnant I was maintaining on ~1600-1700 cals and am now eating 1900+... I will have a look at your diary aswell, thanks!
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,597 Member
    edited June 2015
    Google says milk is 10ml = 6.8 Cal or about 20 Cal per fl oz. Also 300 to 500 Cal a day for breastfeeding in general.

    You mention eating 1900.

    1400 to 1600 seems like a low maintenance level for someone who isn't breastfeeding.... most people maintain at between 2000 and 2500, that's why they values that are typically used to calculate food labels.

    Dunno. Sure sounds like maybe your maintenance is closer to 2500 than 2000 right now....
  • sw6709
    sw6709 Posts: 60 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Google says milk is 10ml = 6.8 Cal or about 20 Cal per fl oz. Also 300 to 500 Cal a day for breastfeeding in general.

    You mention eating 1900.

    1400 to 1600 seems like a low maintenance level for someone who isn't breastfeeding.... most people maintain at between 2000 and 2500, that's why they values that are typically used to calculate food labels.

    Dunno. Sure sounds like maybe your maintenance is closer to 2500 than 2000 right now....

    Thanks for your thoughts, I was just going by what I was maintaining at before pregnancy, I maintained for about a year on approx 1600 cals some days more some days less. So I added ~350 to that as a starting point to figuring out what I should be eating... So with that being said I just went back through my log for the last month.
    Since June 4 I have lost 6.8lbs as of yesterday morning so 23 days.
    6.8 x 3500 = 23800 calories
    23800/ 7= 1034 calories extra each day
    In those 23 days I logged 42813 calories (I ate more but didn't log so I'll use this number)
    42813/ 23= 1861 calorie average
    1861+1034 = 2895 calories
    This seems ridiculous for someone who aside from breastfeeding and 2 hours of walking a week is fairly sedentary... Or did I do this wrong?
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