How to "log" breastfeeding
bessmartinmk
Posts: 1 Member
Hey ladies, how do you track your breastfeeding? I'm trying to figure out how to track calories eaten, and calories burned, so I keep within a reasonable calorie/exercise amount per day. So far, I'm 3 monthes postpartum and haven't lost anything in the past month. (I lost about 20 lbs the first month, but since then, nothing.) Help?!
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I log mine as a cardio exercise to keep it seperate in my mind from my food calories.0
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I think some people add an extra up to 500 calories for their daily allowance. Unluckily I seem to be one of the ladies that breastfeeding and its hormones dont make me lose weight or need that extra 500.So I stick to the calories mfp calculate and seem to lose about one to two pounds a week with no affect on milk supply.1
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I just looked back at the record & I added 350 calories to account for BF to my daily goal. I logged exercise separately (ie walking w/ infant). Not sure how I decided on that number but it seemed to work. I lost weight steadily and kept up my supply. Now back on MFP due to post-breastfeeding weight gain.0
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I add in "Breastfeeding - Exclusively nursing" in my daily food log. That way I can adjust if I pump extra. That entry isn't correct since it says 1 cup equals 500 cal so I adjust it to what I estimate I have fed/pumped. For every oz of breast milk it is 25 calories.I pump during the work day so I can estimate how much during the week. Not sure about your situation but this works for me.0
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Here is an interesting formula for figuring out calories burned by breastfeeding:
*Updated to add: A reader studying for her lactation consultancy exams wrote in to tell me that the production efficiency is 80%, and I was able to find other studies that back up this number. Therefore, if you pump 20 oz, you would multiply that by the 20 calories that is in the milk, and then divide that by .8. So your total calorie burn from breastfeeding would be:
(20 oz * 20 calories)/0.8 = 500 total breastfeeding calories
From here: http://exclusivepumping.com/2014/03/13/losing-weight-while-exclusively-pumping-part-1-how-many-extra-calories-do-i-really-need/
I pump and nurse so I can only estimate the nursing calories but I hope this is helpful those who do both or exclusively pump.0
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