Struggling with weight loss due to breastfeeding

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c_ness
c_ness Posts: 1 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hey everyone! I know what some of you may be thinking. Struggling with weight loss while breastfeeding? What? I thought it made you burn calories ? You're right! It does! But some of us mommas who had fast metabolisms and were lean before pregnancy can often find ourselves in this situation. Prolactin, the hormone which stimulates milk production, can also have a huge affect on your thyroid , which stimulates your metabolism. Many times, our thyroïde will slow down while breastfeeding to preserve fat as beforehand, there wasn't much. You may find yourself unable to lose weight despite your best effort, or, even gaining some. If anyone has any questions or is struggling, please reach out!

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  • Sarahh10101
    Sarahh10101 Posts: 6 Member
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    I'm struggling to lose weight due to breastfeeding because I'm always so hungry! I can just eat all day and never feel full :( my baby is 3 months old and is already 16lbs so that probably has something to do with always being hungry. Either way I wish I wasn't so hungry so I could lose this extra baby weight.
  • artbyrachelh
    artbyrachelh Posts: 338 Member
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    Sarahh I can relate. My 7 month old is 22 lbs already, nurses like a champ all day! I think a high protein and high fat diet is excellent for milk supply, don't cut carbs completely, because I heard that can mess with supply, but start by lessening carbs. I hope this helps
  • jaroby
    jaroby Posts: 152 Member
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    Yes!! This was me!! For both babies!! This second time around I just stuck at the lowest calorie intake I could manage without my milk drying up (2400cal) and continued working out and eating nutritionally. My workouts include HIIT and lifting as heavy as I can with dumbbells and no spotter. I workout 5 days a week.

    I lost very little weight but a fare amount of inches over the course of 9m. After I weaned the baby I leaned out QUICKLY & have lost about 8lbs. I'm still not where I want to be but it's always very nice to read posts like this and have my experience validated!

    Because sometimes it IS true and even with your best efforts it's either your milk dries up or you keep the calorie count where t needs to be and sacrifice the speed at which you want to lose weight.
  • TaniaMTaylor6
    TaniaMTaylor6 Posts: 16 Member
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    I found that breastfeeding in the first year made me very hungry. I felt I needed to graze all day long but looking back, I probably should have increased fluids more than I did. It has gotten easier as time went on and now they only feed once a day (night time and the 2 year old through the night too).

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