Counting calories while breastfeeding.

SabrinaJ89
SabrinaJ89 Posts: 20 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm starting my fitness pal again after having had 2 children and I am currently nursing my 5 month old. Yesterday I tracked my calories, I had a goal of 2150 and ate 1507 leaving me with 643 extra, I used the breastfeeding "food" giving me -500 calories. I know that you are supposed to eat at least 1800 calories a day while breastfeeding in order to keep up supply. So my question is does that 1800 including the -500 for breastfeeding?

Replies

  • ragenhay1
    ragenhay1 Posts: 158 Member
    The minimum actually varies by person. Some women can go as low as 1500 but most need between 1800 and 2500 calories. I am also a mother of two. My youngest is four months. I eat 1800 per day which includes my breastfeeding calories. It took some trial and error to find what worked for me without compromising my milk supply.
  • SabrinaJ89
    SabrinaJ89 Posts: 20 Member
    Thanks, I think I'm gonna need more, today I pumped 2oz less than normal.
  • Purplebunnysarah
    Purplebunnysarah Posts: 3,252 Member
    I have a 10 month old. He's just started dropping nursing sessions in the past 2 weeks so I now eat a base of ~1800 calories plus 400 for breastfeeding plus exercise (Fitbit adjustment). With those numbers I lose 1-2 lbs per week as long as I follow the plan.
  • mmarie_3
    mmarie_3 Posts: 57 Member
    Yes definitely listen to your body! I found when I went below 1600 my supply decreased, you will definitely know. "Dieting" is so hard when breastfeeding.
  • tasaiar1
    tasaiar1 Posts: 79 Member
    I'm also a mother of 2 my youngest is 4 months. It took a lot of trial and error to find what's best for my body. I found that when eating 1300 with -500 for breastfeeding (total 1800) i lost no weight at all (as well as excersizing when I can)

    So now I take brewers yeast supplement for my milk and I'm on roughly 1300/1500 calorie diet without adding breastfeeding calories. But I do eat up my excersize calories. I hope that helps :)

    But i suggest you try a few different things and see what works best with you.

    Ps. To add on, now at 1300/1500 calories I'm losing very slowly. Around 250g a week
    I think with my bossy breastfeeding makes it harder to lose weight
  • SabrinaJ89
    SabrinaJ89 Posts: 20 Member
    I also started taking brewers yeast suppliments a few weeks ago, I've noticed an increase by an oz or so. It also seems like when I drink Gatorade that helps my supply too. I've thankfully lost the baby weight and am actually 1.5lbs lighter than when I got pregnant with my first, so I'm happy about that! But my fiance and I are getting married in October and I would like to slim down before the wedding. But I don't want it so bad that I will quit nursing. So I suppose I will try a few things and see what works best. This is so different from when I used MFP before and only eat 1250 calories a day!
  • jamesniki5
    jamesniki5 Posts: 1 Member
    I am nursing a 7 month old and I've always had a good supply. But I've also never really TRIED to lose weight while nursing. I have been limiting myself to 1700 calories (not counting exercise or nursing calories).....I have been losing almost 2 lbs a week (14 lbs in not quite 2 months)...I'm super excited about that but my milk supply is shriveling!! Looking at all of these posts makes me definitely think I need to up my calorie intake!!!!! Thank you all!

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