Breast feeding

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haleymcc82
haleymcc82 Posts: 2 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi! So long story short I gained a ton of weight during pregnancy due to bed rest and not watching my diet.
I’m trying to get back on track and I’m looking for advice on my calorie intake to lose weight whilst still breastfeeding. I’m only 5 2” and I currently weight 98kg (urghhhh) the tracker here says 1200 calories a day but I read that I shouldn’t eat less than 1500 while breastfeeding? Can anybody help and give me some advice?

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  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    I have no personal experience with this, but I have often seen women post that they set up their account for maintenance, and let breastfeeding create their deficit (it burns calories). For many women that seems to be plenty, at least when the baby is 100% breastfeeding. I'm sure others will come along with their personal experiences. Congrats!
  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,219 Member
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    You need about 500 extra calories per day for breast milk production. So, if the tracker says 1200 cal/day then your real target should be 1700. If you want to lose weight and not compromise your babies nutrition, then take it slow, focus on quality nutrition in your meals.

    Also, congratulations and enjoy the amazing new human being you created!!!
  • FlyingMolly
    FlyingMolly Posts: 490 Member
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    I know you want the weight gone, but losing it too fast will compromise both the quantity and the quality of your milk supply. I’d recommend eating at maintenance at least (a bit more if you feel hungry) and taking it slow. For some women, nursing just melts the extra weight right off; for others it doesn’t. Until you know which kind you are, a patient and cautious approach is best.
  • haleymcc82
    haleymcc82 Posts: 2 Member
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    Oh I’ve been doing it four months now, it’s not melting off me unfortunately. I’m not in any rush at all, just looking for the right calorie amount so I can get healthy again and still nourish my baby :)
  • 12Sarah2015
    12Sarah2015 Posts: 1,117 Member
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    I've been feeding for 18 months now. In the beginning it's very important to eat around 1500 calories. After six weeks is recommended for exercise. I find that I lose the weight very slowly (I've been average bmi for a while now) and need to do exercises for stomach toning. The weight comes off weigh more quickly when not feeding for me. Other mums are really different :)
  • shaumom
    shaumom Posts: 1,003 Member
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    haleymcc82 wrote: »
    Oh I’ve been doing it four months now, it’s not melting off me unfortunately. I’m not in any rush at all, just looking for the right calorie amount so I can get healthy again and still nourish my baby :)

    In my experience, I would honestly do as one of the gal's said - maintenance. There's an old saying: 9 months to put it on, 9 months to take it off. Your body has been healing itself up after the birth, and is now making food, and you really, really want to make sure your body has the nutrient and calories to do this, you know what I mean?

    If you don't get enough calories and nutrients, your body will try to cannibalize YOU to get them. And if there isn't enough to do that, then you simply have breastmilk that isn't as good for the baby, honestly. I know there's the saying 'breast is best,' but that's really poorly worded. Breast is AVERAGE. Formula is a bit less than average, but so is breastmilk if we're not eating a fantastic diet. Breastmilk if you have a really good diet and enough calories - that's best, if that makes sense?

    There CAN be an issue where the body works really hard NOT to lose weight while breastfeeding. I know a few moms where this happened, and they just couldn't lose weight without getting dangerously low calorie intakes, not until they eventually stopped feeding, and then it came off quickly.

    For me, though, I had very little weight loss the first few months, but then it started picking up around 6 months. By 1 year after birth, I had lost 60 pounds without doing anything but nursing. Not saying this always happens, but 4 months is actually very little time, in the whole scheme of things, when your body has gone through such an enormous stress, and is still adjusting hormone levels and all that jazz.

    I know it feels like forever, and it's frustrating after being big and round for months, but it truly can be good to just, hmmm, treat your body like some star athlete making you money: let your body do what it needs to and just support it while it does. It can pay you back with some nice weight loss after it finishes all the work. :-)





  • Strongfitmama100412
    Strongfitmama100412 Posts: 90 Member
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    3rd time breastfeeding mama here. Breastfed until age 2 for all of them and was able to get down to pre pregnancy weight by 3-4 months post partum

    I always ate 1800-2000 when i was breastfeeding. I added 500 calories in. I put it in as breastfeeding under exercise

    When breastfeeding the first year i ate breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and sometimes snack at night. It wasnt until they hit a year and basically feeding morning and night and comfort/snacking feeding during the day i was able to drop my snacks and saw vanity pounds weight loss. Im at 1400 calories now

    I also didnt eat my exercise calories. I never do.

    Now i eat 3 balanced meals.

    Good luck and enjoy the breastfeeding journey.


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