Nursing

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mommyskis
mommyskis Posts: 277 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I just joined and am wondering if my calorie intake should be adjusted because I'm nursing. Is there a way to do that on my information? My baby is 9 months old, so I will be quitting in the next few months anyway. Although secretly I have thought about continuing for longer just to keep burning calories:laugh: I can just mentally add 200 calories or so to my daily total, but it's depressing to see it go over!

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  • mommyskis
    mommyskis Posts: 277 Member
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    I just joined and am wondering if my calorie intake should be adjusted because I'm nursing. Is there a way to do that on my information? My baby is 9 months old, so I will be quitting in the next few months anyway. Although secretly I have thought about continuing for longer just to keep burning calories:laugh: I can just mentally add 200 calories or so to my daily total, but it's depressing to see it go over!
  • lyla29
    lyla29 Posts: 3,549 Member
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    You might be able to add it to your exercise under inputing an exercise that is not listed and then put in the approximate calories you would burn that day and add it to your exercise log so it will adjust the calories that you will need.
  • kmbabywt
    kmbabywt Posts: 11 Member
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    You also need to consider how often you are nursing. By 9 months it wasn't that often for me and the less often, the less calories burned. Once I found that out, it was a little easier to give it up!
  • mommyskis
    mommyskis Posts: 277 Member
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    That's true; I guess it is only 4 times a day now. I probably won't worry about it. Maybe it can be a little extra insurance.
  • colleenm
    colleenm Posts: 5
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    Your post just caught my eye, I am a lactation consultant so I can't help putting my two cents in. While nursing full time you burn 500 extra calories a day. A normal baby who nurses regularly feeds about 8-12 times in 24 hours so you are down to about half the feedings. So, I guess only a bit of added insurance in your day calorie wise. But, the American Academy of Pediatrics does recommend breastfeeding for the first year so I have to say my bit here and encourage you to keep going just for the great benefits to your baby. You are doing a healthy thing for you and your baby regardless of calories! Keep up the good work!
  • pam0206
    pam0206 Posts: 700 Member
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    I truly support your decision to nurse your baby. I nursed both of my girls (#1 for 11 mos and then my second one stopped at 8 mos), but I will tell you that some of my baby weight didn't come off until I stopped. The calories burned nursing were not that beneficial to me. Stopping is not easy. I didn't want to with #2, but what are you gonna do? GL. :flowerforyou:
  • ariannedavis
    ariannedavis Posts: 520 Member
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    Kudos for nursing! :flowerforyou: I don't think this can be said enough.

    I only got to nurse exclusively for about 2 months with another weaning so I could go back to work. It was a tough job, and I too felt guilty for stopping, but made a good transition. I have a healthy little boy and wouldn't have given up those 3 months for the world!

    I'm with you on the calories. It's nice to know you have a little cushion, and your target intake is just that, a target. As long as you are maintaining the 500cal/day deficit, you will continue to lose weight. Do not beat yourself up over a couple hundred calories!
  • mydogmesa2
    mydogmesa2 Posts: 205 Member
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    I add 500 calories to account for breastfeeding but i add it to my daily allowance. You can do so by going to Home then goals, change goals, custom, and add it to calories. Thats what I am doing. I just finished my first week and Ive already lost 8 lbs!!!! So it must be working!


    Good Luck:wink:
  • k12lasater
    k12lasater Posts: 1
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    I too am breastfeeding four times a day. I don't quite understand how to figure that into my food/exercise journal. With breastfeeding, I am burning calories, right? So, that's good. From reading some of the posts, it seemed like people weren't burning calories from breastfeeding. Maybe I just took it the wrong way. Anyways, can someone also explain the "bonus" calories? I saw a post on it and I was really confused.
    Thanks! Patsy
  • colleenm
    colleenm Posts: 5
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    I too am breastfeeding four times a day. I don't quite understand how to figure that into my food/exercise journal. With breastfeeding, I am burning calories, right? So, that's good. From reading some of the posts, it seemed like people weren't burning calories from breastfeeding. Maybe I just took it the wrong way. Anyways, can someone also explain the "bonus" calories? I saw a post on it and I was really confused.
    Thanks! Patsy
    I am fairly new to the site so I am not sure about the questions on how to figure it into your journal or the 500 "bonus" calories. However, I do know you are burning calories. It would not be the same 500 cal/day you would burn if you were nursing more often (like in the first few months). I don't know exactly how many you use at this point but it would seem to make sense that it would be half or maybe a bit less. I think they should work just like exercise. Maybe you could click "add new exercise" and enter in breastfeeding and give it 200 calories (Just make up a time or add up how long on average you nurse per day) then it would add it to your daily allowance just like it does when you walk for half an hour or ski or whatever. Does that make sense? You would have to add it every day so I guess it would make sense to do it on your profile if you could. Anyway, good job on the breastfeeding, its great for your baby!
  • rem1979
    rem1979 Posts: 344 Member
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    You burn about 500 cals when nursing all the time. The more you cut back, the less you burn. Just factor them into your Burned calories and make sure you are replacing them or you might not produce enough milk. My son is 13-1/2 months and I just finished nursing him. He never took the bottle. At 6 months he was already drinking from a sippy cup.

    They say nursing will help you lose that pregnancy weight. It did for me right after. I was up to 230 lbs. right before delivery and 10 days later, I was down to 205 and then gained about 10 lbs back just from lack of excercise and poor eating.

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