Weight loss while breastfeeding

If you're nursing full time, I would set mfp to lose 1 lb a week and then add an extra 500 calories a day for breastfeeding. There are entries in the mfp food database for it. Once baby is eating more solid food drop to 300. These numbers aren't set in stone. If your milk supply goes down, eat more. If you're not losing, eat less. Depending on your fitness level, start slow and work up to more intense exercise. I ate back half of my estimated burned calories from exercise.

I was personally able to lose weight easily while nursing. My baby just turned 1 and I've lost 77 lbs since he was born. I weighed my food and logged very accurately though. He's still nursing!

Thof84 wrote: »

Breastfeeding helping to lose weight is a myth. It's 50/50. Prolactin triggers milk production, which burns calories, but the hormone also triggers the body to store fat. This is why it's not a golden ticket for everyone. Pay attention to your supply. If it drops, eat more. Make sure you get LOTS of protein!

Agreed. I could not cut any calories without noticing an immediate drop in supply.

aggelikik wrote: »

Lauriz2306 wrote: »

I'm 4 months postpartum and ready to get back into shape. Any tips on how to exercise and diet while exclusively breastfeeding my baby?? Help!

Breastfeeding helps to lose weight. The problem is that it also can make you hungry, and being tired means you (generic "you", not you "you") are probably eating whatever is available, not paying much attention to calories. Plus there is the old myth of needing to eat for two to have milk. I have seen breastfeeding relatives eat insane amounts of food, and expecting breastfeeding to make it all transform into milk A cousin was shocked I refused a secong (huge) serving of cake once when nursing my then newborn: "But you are breastfeeding, you need the calories!" Uhm, no.

Set MFP to maintenance. Breastfeeding will create a reasonable deficit for you. If after a couple of weeks you see absolutely no weight loss, lower you calories a bit, like 200 or so, if you are losing too fast, eat a bit more, reevaluate after a few more weeks.
Unless you starve yourself, your milk will be fine. Staying well hydrated and nursing on demand are far more important for ensuring you have a good supply. Just do not attempt any crazy 700 calorie diet etc.
As for exercise, unless your dr has mentioned any restrictions, you can exercise as much as you like. Just nurse before any intense workout, or you will end up soaked in milk.

This is true. When I was nursing one of my babies (I've nursed four babies so I don't remember which one lol) I tried cutting calories and my milk supply plummeted. I immediately thought oh I can't diet when breastfeeding. But really I was not weighing my food and I probably was way underestimating and eating too few calories. And when I'm not counting calories I have way more urges to snack when breastfeeding so I wouldn't lose anything. Now that I've been weighing my food and logging accurately I've been successful. I was eating 2000-2200 calories a day for a while and still losing quickly. But it's been a year of being very meticulous with calorie counting. I think it's even more important to be accurate when breastfeeding.

I'll be very honest, although it may not sound good. I'm also 4 months part partum, but i started at bang on 6 weeks pp.

It took a lot of trial and error to discover what worked best with my body. To start with, when i breastfed my first child I lost no weight at all. Despite many claiming the eight will just drop off. >. < ugh

Anyway for me when I added my breastfeeding calories I lost no weight. I now have MFP set to 1200 and I'm not extreamly strict. So I think I may be actually eating around 1400. But most days, if not everyday I'm strict with not eating over 1600.


I don't know why but when I set my target to 1600 (including BF calories) I tend to go over. But with only 1200, I tend to not exceed what I need.

Alsooo I need more food because add you can imagine 1200 isn't much for baby and I, so I excersize more so I can eat more.

I'm 8 months PP and have not lost any weight since leaving hospital! I also breastfeed and I am just now deciding to get serious about losing weight. I honestly think if I just start eating better food I'll lose some. So we shall see! Good luck to you. I'm glad to see other breastfeeding moms out there!

Hello all, I'm new to all this so forgive me if I seem to be asking something that may be answered elsewhere.
I'm BF my 4month old but have a lot of weight to lose. I don't want to jeopardise my milk supply but I have no idea what numbers I should be working to.
My goal says I should be eating 1560 (I entered a desired 2lb a week loss) is this too ambitious? I have been adding on 500 in "exercise" along with my steps from my garmin, after doing all this I still seem to have calories left at the end of the day.... Should I be eating these? I will attach an example from this week. Thank you in advance for any help you can give me x

lizloolaa wrote: »

Hello all, I'm new to all this so forgive me if I seem to be asking something that may be answered elsewhere.
I'm BF my 4month old but have a lot of weight to lose. I don't want to jeopardise my milk supply but I have no idea what numbers I should be working to.
My goal says I should be eating 1560 (I entered a desired 2lb a week loss) is this too ambitious? I have been adding on 500 in "exercise" along with my steps from my garmin, after doing all this I still seem to have calories left at the end of the day.... Should I be eating these? I will attach an example from this week. Thank you in advance for any help you can give me x

1560 is still probably not enough - think 1200 minimum for a woman if you're not nursing, plus 500 a day for nursing, is 1700 minimum, and that's net, never mind exercise. If you have a lot to loose, 1700 is probably not enough - 1800 to 2000 may be better so you don't jeopardize your supply.

lizloolaa wrote: »

Thank you for taking the time to reply to me. I will take note and increase the calories. Since posting my question I weighed in and had lost 5lb in that 1st week, so agree that was probably too low. Hoping supply hasn't been affected. Thanks again X

Also, you can add breastfeeding in as a "food" if you wanted to instead of an exercise. Just type in breastfeeding and find one that is -500 calories.

I'm on baby #2, and have exclusively breastfed both. With my first, I didn't actively try to lose any weight until she was about 10 months old and by that time my supply was very well established. I was already below my pre-pregnancy weight. I set MFP to lose a pound a week, and my calorie allowance was around 1500 a day. I didn't do anything to adjust that amount because of nursing, I just knew it would give me a little wiggle room with that #. The only exercising I really did was occasional walks around the neighborhood and sometimes an exercise video in my living room while baby napped. I lost about 12-13 pounds in three months or so, actually got down below my pre-pregnancy weight AND below a weight I hadn't seen since sophomore year of high school.

Now with #2, who is a little over two months old, I've started using MFP again. Because my doc wants me taking in around 2,000 calories to help with my milk supply, I have MFP set up as "maintenance", which gives me around 1,900 calories a day. I'm nursing 5-7 times a day, so I know I have A LOT of wiggle room with that amount, but I try my best to not take in more than that. I've only been logging my food for a week and a half now, and so far I've lost 4 pounds. I'm only 11 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, so I know if I keep this up I can do it! My supply hasn't been affected at all.

My tips are to keep healthy snacks around, and eat things that have some nutritional value rather than just empty calories. For instance, yesterday I got hungry between lunch and dinner, and instead of grabbing crackers or pretzels, I drank a small glass of Fairlife chocolate milk (my favorite "treat"), because I knew it has a good amount of protein. Dont' have bad things available to you and you can't eat them! But nursing will definitely make you hungry, so stock up on good stuff (greek yogurt, cheese, nuts, homemade healthy muffins/breads, etc.)

Not an expert here, but I did breastfeed both of mine for two years each (yeah, I'm one of those crazy ones) and I did get down to my normal weight quickly... however, it may have just been that I was too busy/distracted to snack all the time like I do now. I'm not sure. But anyway, I would expect that following the same guidelines that you normally would to lose weight would work just as well, maybe not restricting calories quite so much.

The only advice I can really give is to eat a balanced diet, don't stress too much and enjoy the baby right now, because they grow up fast! You will have plenty of time to get your figure back. Congrats!!