Breastfeeding and calories?

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betza04
betza04 Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys...I'm breasfeeding and I want to loose like 10lbs not so much but jus be toned and loose this belly fat. Shud I still follow what my fitness pal tells me as far as the calories? I'm jus wondering if it's still safe to do this and not loose my supply.

Replies

  • danyholmes86
    danyholmes86 Posts: 1 Member
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    Hey there I was just wondering the same thing! Did you get any answers?
  • betza04
    betza04 Posts: 8 Member
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    Nope not yet.. :/
  • thedafftone
    thedafftone Posts: 12 Member
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    How old is your baby?

    You can set MFP up to lose and add breastfeeding as an exercise (or a negative calorie food) or you can just set to maintenance and let breastfeeding create a deficit. Either way you don't want to drop your calories too much. General advice is no less than 1500-1800 for exclusive breastfeeding. I lost easily eating over 2000 a day.
  • betza04
    betza04 Posts: 8 Member
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    Baby will b 3months.. ok so I set it to maintain. Weight and add breasfeeding as an exercise or food?.
  • FreyasRebirth
    FreyasRebirth Posts: 514 Member
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    I would set it to maintain or add 500 calories as exercise, not both.
  • betza04
    betza04 Posts: 8 Member
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    Ok thanks for the advice! :)
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    Some women are more sensative to cutting back while breastfeeding and their supply suffers quickly. Usually to maintain while primarily breastfeeding baby you do maintenance plus 500. It is wise to slowly decrease from that number and watch your supply to make sure it doesnt drop drastically. It may be helpful to have alternate nutrition for baby on hand if that does happen. If you see a big drop go back to maintance plus 500 for a couple days to get it back up, then slowly decrease back to where you were before the drop.

    I believe there are a few "food entries" in the database that account for breastfeeding if you want to log it that way, or you can just manually set your calorie goal under the goals tab.
  • JaiDessaT
    JaiDessaT Posts: 74 Member
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    1600 is the lowest you should go when nursing. I did this while nursing & easily dropped about 30 lbs in 3 months, & kept my supply robust.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
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    JaiDessaT wrote: »
    1600 is the lowest you should go when nursing. I did this while nursing & easily dropped about 30 lbs in 3 months, & kept my supply robust.

    That all depends on your stats. Calories needed is not a one size fits all solution.
  • SpringSun7
    SpringSun7 Posts: 1 Member
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    One thing I did wrong the first time I tried to use MFP and breastfeed, was that I overestimated the calories I was burning / needed for breastfeeding. I did not lose weight.
    I found my appetite was very high as I breastfed and I couldn't restrict calories. So I actually started up my diet and tracking calories after I stopped breastfeeding and it worked much better. I was less hungry and wasn't worrying about making sure baby and I got exactly what we needed. Just my experience but wanted to add it. Good luck!
  • Harbin2017
    Harbin2017 Posts: 32 Member
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    SpringSun7 wrote: »
    One thing I did wrong the first time I tried to use MFP and breastfeed, was that I overestimated the calories I was burning / needed for breastfeeding. I did not lose weight.
    I found my appetite was very high as I breastfed and I couldn't restrict calories. So I actually started up my diet and tracking calories after I stopped breastfeeding and it worked much better. I was less hungry and wasn't worrying about making sure baby and I got exactly what we needed. Just my experience but wanted to add it. Good luck!

    Same thing was my experience. I now lost almost 2 kg without much effort really once i stopped breastfeeding. When my child was 3-4 months i was at my my "highest" appetite, bcs this is the time the baby drinks higher amounts thus making you super hungry.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    If you look at the calories in the amount of formula a baby your age would be eating if you weren't nursing? That amount is the minimum you're spending in making milk. By 6 months, a baby is taking something like 500-600 calories a day (and a 3 month old in a growth spurt may well be taking that much too).
  • betza04
    betza04 Posts: 8 Member
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    Yea I think I'll jus wait till after I stop nursing...I am hungry all time...one thing for sure is ill jus eat better nutritious snacks and exercise. I dnt want to risk my baby's nutrition. Thanks all u guys for the inputs.
  • annacole94
    annacole94 Posts: 997 Member
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    Be patient. I ended up losing the weight by six months via bfing without tracking. Track when you quit. I got used to eating for two and gained post weaning. It is around 500 calories burned between 3 & 9 months, and remains high as long as baby is nursing a lot.

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