New here - nursing mom!

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kim_steffen
kim_steffen Posts: 2 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hello! I am going to try to get back in shape after having my baby. I have a question as to how to deal with the fact that I am nursing. Do you record calories burned for nursing as exercise or how do you address this? THanks for the help! I am excited to try this out!

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  • Collinsky
    Collinsky Posts: 593 Member
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    In your food log, you can do a search for "Breastfeeding" - it should pull up a few options. I use "Breastfeeding - Mom." (Leave the quantity at 1.) It automatically deducts 500 calories, which is what most woman burn, on average, exclusively breastfeeding a young baby. You just add that every day in your food log, and it takes care of the math for you.

    You want to make sure you get enough calories and nutrients, since your body is doing a lot of work and you want to make sure to keep your supply up for your baby.

    There is a book called Eat Well, Lose Weight While Breastfeeding - you might want to see if your library has it, or pick up a copy on Amazon or half.com.

    Good luck - you can PM me if you have any questions!
  • AlannaPie
    AlannaPie Posts: 349 Member
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    I have never had a child, but is it really that much of a workout?
  • kim_steffen
    kim_steffen Posts: 2 Member
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    Thanks for the help! I was able to find it in the food search. I appreciate it. I will have to check out the book you suggested as well. Thanks again and good luck to you!
  • Rainbow_Brite86
    Rainbow_Brite86 Posts: 313
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    HI !!

    Welcome!


    I am Domi.
  • acrx3
    acrx3 Posts: 7
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    Hi Kim! I'm new to this board and also to using the program too. I'm also nursing my baby boy who is 7 months old now. I'm an old pro at the BF-ing part but I have never been one of the lucky ones who are able to easily loose weight while doing so. I didn't know about the Breastfeeding entry that you can use in the daily log. That's definitely good to know, I just manually upped my daily allowance of calories by 500 which I still seem to come under my calories every day. It's nice to meet another nursing mom on the boards, good luck and hope to see you around!


    @Alanna, it's not a workout in the traditional sense where you are sweating or building muscle but BFing uses the nutrients and calories (units of energy) of the mother in order to produce milk. BF moms use about 500 additional calories a day.
  • poustotah
    poustotah Posts: 1,121 Member
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    I have never had a child, but is it really that much of a workout?

    It's not so much of a workout but when a woman is breastfeeding, it does burn a lot of extra calories. Especially the first few months. My baby is a month old and I sweat like a pig while breastfeeding.

    To the OP, there is an option when you select 'Breastfeeding' that also adds in the extra fat, protein and carbs that you need. Make sure you're eating good fats, good carbs and plenty of protein and watch those pounds melt away!!!
  • Collinsky
    Collinsky Posts: 593 Member
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    I have never had a child, but is it really that much of a workout?

    It's not a workout to nurse a baby -- it's not aerobic, etc. I guess the easiest way to think of it is that it adds to your resting metabolic rate. Just like your body uses energy to run the brain and heart and all the other functions, it's an additional function that the body has to perform throughout the day, requiring about 20 calories for every ounce of milk produced. For an exclusively breastfeeding mom of a young baby, that adds up to about 500 calories in 24 hours (on average.)

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