Never feel full due to breastfeeding:(

cheeri0z
cheeri0z Posts: 8 Member
edited November 20 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm naturally a petite lady. Pre pregnancy I was 104lbs and when I gave birth I was 160lbs. I ate a lot of junk food during the pregnancy e.g. fries, cake, pizza, burgers..

Now I'm stuck at 140lbs and my baby is 3 months old.

I am home all day and am constantly hungry because of breastfeeding. My baby also constantly wants to be held so I reach out for quick unhealthy snacks to keep me from feeling like I'm gonna faint.

Please helpp . I really wanna get back to my pre pregnancy size .

Mfp says I should eat 1500 calories but I always surpass that and I am 100% sedentary.

Replies

  • Sarahh10101
    Sarahh10101 Posts: 6 Member
    I feel like I could have wrote this myself! I am also in the same situation as you, sorry I can't be of any help but just leaving this here cause I would also like to know what to do! Breastfeeding makes me so hungry too :(
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,396 Member
    @TheWJordinWJordin is right, you MUST add at least 500 calories for breastfeeding. I breastfed for 16 months and I felt the exact same as you, always starving. I didn't worry about the weight till my son was closer to about 9 months old and starting to eat a little more solids. It was more important for me to make sure my milk supply was good. Don't be so hard on yourself, you created a human and it's nutrition is now produced solely from you. It's a big deal, and it's amazing! My suggestion is to make sure you're eating and drinking enough, and pre plan "healthy" snacks, fruits, nuts, etc. and to have them on hand so you don't just grab whatever's there and then feel bad about it.
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    Agree with much of what has already been said. Make sure you are adding breastfeeding calories to your goal and eating enough to sustain supply if continuing to breast feed is important to you. This post has alot of great information on breastfeeding calories in the second half if you need it.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10176233/gaining-weight-during-pregnancy-and-losing-it-post-partum

    MonkeyMel has some good tips. In situations like your making sure healthy options are on hand and trying to not provide yourself with the unhealthy stuff you are trying to stay away from is essential. Willpower goes out the window when you are stressed and hungry, so set yourself up for success instead of failure. Make good decisions at the grocery store and take the time to meal/snack prep when you have someone around who can help out with the baby so you have plenty of go to healthy options.

    Good luck!
  • tgcakef
    tgcakef Posts: 111 Member
    As people have said, make sure you're upping your calories to account for breastfeeding.

    Some questions: what's your loss set to? Maybe try to lose less weight every week? Do you have to lose the weight right now? Maybe you could eat at maintenance or slightly less, and work on losing the weight when you're dialing back on the breastfeeding, and you (hopefully) have some extra time for healthy snacks.
  • jenniferhugheswork
    jenniferhugheswork Posts: 10 Member
    I hear ya darl!! I breastfed for 18 months
  • SmithsonianEmpress
    SmithsonianEmpress Posts: 1,163 Member
    I EPed for 10 months. I was starving pretty often as well in the beginning until I learned I had to eat. You have to eat and eat often so you need to have food available to just grab. Make as many "good choices" as you can. It's very hard in the beginning to be 100% focused on your health...doable for some and hard for others. For me at 3 months pp I could not even focus on losing weight and all that. I just needed to make sure my baby was fed and properly nutritioned and that I showered. Lol! It's very early for you to be looking to drop all your weight. Realistically it will probably take you a year to 18 months to reach some of your goals unless you're a beast and YES they do have women that reach it sooner. I wasn't one of them though. Try and focus on one thing at a time. Baby and your health first....losing weight second.
  • jayemes
    jayemes Posts: 865 Member
    I breastfed both of my kids, one for 13 months and one for 16 months. Being able to do that was super important to me and I worked really hard in the beginning to make it happen. You have to take care of yourself and prioritize. If you really want to continue bf'ing, eat those extra 500 calories and maintain right now. Go for walks with the baby in a stroller. Eat back the exercise calories. But don't beat yourself up right now. You created a person and you're feeding that whole person! That's freaking amazing!
  • ChiliPepperLifter
    ChiliPepperLifter Posts: 279 Member
    Focus on your relationship with your baby and take it easy for now! I know the desperation of wantin to get back to pre pregnancy weight, I am still about 20 lbs away from mine and my baby just turned one! I am still breastfeeding too. But honestly the first year is hard enough without trying to lose lots of weight. Cherish those early baby moments and make good food decisions, eat when hungry, and log your food if you have time. Weight loss can come after! Good job mama, nursing isn't easy.
  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
    TheWJordinWJordin wrote: »
    MFP also tells you to add 500 calories for breastfeeding. There is an entry for that: breastfeeding calories. Give it time, the weight will come off. For now, baby is #1.
    And you are not sedentary. You are cleaning bed sheets, going grocery shopping, vaccuming, etc.

    This, but also make sure you are drinking plenty of water. Sometimes what feels like hunger is actually thirst.

    Also set yourself up with some high volume, low calorie, convenient snacks that you can eat one-handed while cuddling or feeding your baby: popcorn, single serving packs of almonds, hardboiled eggs, veggies and hummus, grapes... Buy the premade fruit or veggie trays from the supermarket if you don't have time to prep them yourself.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    SmithsonianEmpress wrote: »
    I EPed for 10 months. I was starving pretty often as well in the beginning until I learned I had to eat. You have to eat and eat often so you need to have food available to just grab. Make as many "good choices" as you can. It's very hard in the beginning to be 100% focused on your health...doable for some and hard for others. For me at 3 months pp I could not even focus on losing weight and all that. I just needed to make sure my baby was fed and properly nutritioned and that I showered. Lol! It's very early for you to be looking to drop all your weight. Realistically it will probably take you a year to 18 months to reach some of your goals unless you're a beast and YES they do have women that reach it sooner. I wasn't one of them though. Try and focus on one thing at a time. Baby and your health first....losing weight second.

    This!! All of this! Enjoy your baby.... They get big quickly and you will always have time for weight loss.

    I agree with keeping things on hand that are healthier but for me, I couldn't be bothered and I only focused on making sure I was making enough milk to feed my baby.

    I didn't start losing until after I weaned and even then, sleep was a priority and its coming off slowly.
  • ruqayyahsmum
    ruqayyahsmum Posts: 1,513 Member
    My sons 18 months and still breastfeeding

    He was 15 weeks premature so for the first 9 months i concentrated on eating plenty to keep my milk supply up ( i also had to express so i saw the dips in supply when i didnt eat enough after a few days) i was his sole source of nutrition so making plenty of milk was important to us

    After that i switched to trying to slowly lose a little weight. I have to stay close to maintenance of my supply still dips ( i still express milk to use in meals for him ) so now breastfeeding creates my deficit

    I keep things like chopped chicken, boiled eggs and yogurt pouches in the fridge, fruit in a big bowl and my lactation cookies close at hand along with my kitchen scales so ive always something to hand to stop me diving straight into the biscuit barrel ( i LOVE biscuits and the midwifes were giving me 4 per hour in the weeks before and months after delivery for hypoglycaemia, a habit i was so sad to have to break
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Buy healthy, calorie friendly snacks like yogurt, fruit, veggies, and protein bars. They are just as easy to grab as chips and cookies, right?
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