Breatfeeding and calorie intake?

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AmyG27
AmyG27 Posts: 23 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have 4 1/2 month old and breast feed him full time. What should my calorie intake be to maintain a good milk supply and still be able to drop the lbs.

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  • mrssabre113
    mrssabre113 Posts: 24 Member
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    Hi there! I breastfed my daughter for 2 years. I wasn't logging or tracking my intake at all at the time. The problem you can run into is not eating enough and having your supply drop. You should be eating the same amount of calories as you did while pregnant, add 300 calories to a normal calorie intake. Your body burns about 500-1000 calories per day just by making milk. So you should be able to lose weight without trying, although some women hold onto a few extra pounds the whole time and lose the last little bit once they have completely weaned. Just make sure you are eating enough healthy foods and drinking enough water and you should be ok. Feel free to add me or message me if you have any questions.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    I would speak with your doctor about this.
  • mrssabre113
    mrssabre113 Posts: 24 Member
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    I am a la leche league leader, Here is a great link.http://www.llli.org/nb/nbmarapr04p44.html
  • WinterSkies
    WinterSkies Posts: 940 Member
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    I am currently nursing my almost 10 month old. She nurses 4 times a day, but also eats a fair amount of solid food. I know that isn't quite your situation. For what it's worth, I add back 300 calories from the goal MFP has set for me. Seems to be working well enough so far. As a previous poster mentioned, it is worth speaking to your doctor or perhaps a dietician about this. Mine told me it was ok to try and lose some weight, but she didn't provide any guidance about calories.
  • ds6099
    ds6099 Posts: 98 Member
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    Just be aware that not everyone could lose weight breastfeeding.
  • toriaemily
    toriaemily Posts: 1 Member
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    I'm feeding twins on a 1600 calorie diet. My supply hasn't dropped, I'm just making sure I take my vitamins and minerals and earring wide variety of protein, veggies and said foods. I'm losing 1.5lbs per week. My girls are older than you LO, I was definitely not a person who benefited from weight loss while breast feeding.
  • janjunie
    janjunie Posts: 1,200 Member
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    Depends on ur height, activity level, how often ur little one nurses. I personally need 1900 calories bare minimum to feed my baby. I eat a lot more on days when I exercise. FYI I'm 5'5 and thin...I'm maintaining my weight. I would never recommend 1600 calories to anyone breastfeeding unless they were under 5' tall. It's not just your supply you have to worry about, baby will take all your nutrients and if you aren't left over with enough you'll suffer, low energy, bad skin, shedding hair.
  • ds6099
    ds6099 Posts: 98 Member
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    toriaemily wrote: »
    I'm feeding twins on a 1600 calorie diet. My supply hasn't dropped, I'm just making sure I take my vitamins and minerals and earring wide variety of protein, veggies and said foods. I'm losing 1.5lbs per week. My girls are older than you LO, I was definitely not a person who benefited from weight loss while breast feeding.
    I recently stopped EBF my 3 month old twins but I wasn't losing an ounce! And I was super careful. Now that I stopped I'm down 5 lbs already.
    How much did u have to lose?

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