Losing weight after pregnancy

rickiimarieee
rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I recently delivered my son 5 days ago, any tips on how to regulate my eating from when I was pregnant? Went from eating a lot, constantly to now wanting to watch my calorie intake.
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Replies

  • PennyP312
    PennyP312 Posts: 161 Member
    I totally understand wanting to get right to losing the pregnancy weight. I’m 3 weeks postpartum and have lost 10lbs after having an 8 lb baby 🤦🏼‍♀️
    He is my fourth, so I know my body takes time to regulate hormones, flush water weight, and just heal.
    I’m not sure if your breast or bottle feeding, but try and give your body some time to heal. If you are breastfeeding, please don’t limit your calories below maintainence as your milk can suffer.
    Be patient and kind to yourself (trust me, I’m trying my best to take my own advice!)
    Congrats!
  • jayniedecicco
    jayniedecicco Posts: 3 Member
    I agree with the other ladies. Take your time healing. Don't count calories, just take care with your food choices for a little while and then work up to worrying about calories. I had trouble eating while pregnant so after I had my baby girl, I ate... a lot. A lot of carbs and not the good kind. I wish I would have eaten better. Not less just better. (She's 4 mo now)
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    Teabythesea_ wrote: »
    Are you breastfeeding? If so then I'd eat at maintenance or slightly above and let breast feeding create the deficit. If not then it's as simple as doing what you would to lose weight normally. Remember though you're going to lose some weight in the coming weeks as your body goes back to normal. How much depends on the person.

    I am breastfeeding but not exclusively because I don't produce enough.
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    puffbrat wrote: »
    It's only been 5 days! Your hormones are through the roof right now and sleep deprivation, plus breastfeeding if you are doing so, can take a huge toll on your body. Also keep in mind that you are still healing and will naturally continue to lose weight up to 6-8 weeks postpartum as your body continues to get rid of excess fluids and swelling. Please please please talk with your doctor before diving into weight loss this soon after giving birth.

    Thank you. I actually did talk to my doctor and get cleared. She prescribed me phentermine but I don't want to take it plus you shouldn't take it and breastfeed.
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    bllaura10 wrote: »
    I’ve had two babies myself and my advise to you is don’t worry about that at all yet. Give your body at least 6-8 weeks to recover/heal from delivery. After that time I’d start watching my diet/exercise etc. I started with my LO about 3 months pp. cut yourself some slack mama you’ll get there.

    Thank you I'm trying. I've been cleared to diet but not exercise yet. I know I should cut myself some slack but it's hard and discouraging to see myself in the mirror even though it's only been a week!
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    aes1219 wrote: »
    I'm 2.5 months postpartum and down 40 lbs from when I delivered (I gained 19 lbs during pregnancy). I was able to start exercising a week and a half postpartum (approved by my doctor) and have been eating healthy. The weight just seems to be falling off. Everyone is different though. I would just try and eat healthy, take care of yourself and your sweet little baby. Exercise if that is something you enjoy (when you are cleared to exercise). And give youself grace. You just grew and delivered a tiny human which is pretty amazing!

    I was 125 before pregnancy which took me months to get to that weight and then ended pregnancy at 180 and I'm currently at 156. Lost quite a bit but still have a lot to go to get to prepregnancy weight. I've been cleared to diet, doctor even prescribed phentermine to help jumpstart my weight loss but I refuse to take that and you can't take it and breastfeed anyways.
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    PennyP312 wrote: »
    I totally understand wanting to get right to losing the pregnancy weight. I’m 3 weeks postpartum and have lost 10lbs after having an 8 lb baby 🤦🏼‍♀️
    He is my fourth, so I know my body takes time to regulate hormones, flush water weight, and just heal.
    I’m not sure if your breast or bottle feeding, but try and give your body some time to heal. If you are breastfeeding, please don’t limit your calories below maintainence as your milk can suffer.
    Be patient and kind to yourself (trust me, I’m trying my best to take my own advice!)
    Congrats!

    I do bottle and breast. This is my second so I know I don't produce enough milk for him to suffice. I lost about 24 pounds so far but gained over 50
  • mbcieslak87
    mbcieslak87 Posts: 206 Member
    Girl! NO ONE looks great after just having had a baby. Those pics you see of celebrities who bounce back immediately are airbrushed 99% of the time. Focus on being healthy for you and your baby, not weight loss, right now. Often enough the pounds come off on their own in time, and if not, you can focus on weight loss later. One week after having my daughter I was still in maternity pants, and at two weeks, and three weeks... but slowly the pounds came off and my normal clothes began to fit. I didn’t do anything special... I went for short walks beginning around 3 weeks postpartum and began a postpartum-geared workout at six weekend pp once cleared by my doctor. Other than that I tried to incorporate lots of veggies in my diet but didn’t restrict myself. There is no magic trick and it feels unfair, but your body just did something so amazing! Give it time to heal and love the process. I know that’s hard to hear because waiting isn’t easy but it’s so important in this case.
  • f1tforever
    f1tforever Posts: 39 Member
    One week! After 3 babies, please give yourself time . I wouldnt look at the scale and just focus on healing from birth and bonding with your new baby until your 6 week appointment. Your body is going through a temoundous change getting your organs all back in place and with feeding/sleep schedule off. Give yourself at least 6 weeks and congratulations
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    mbcieslak87 wrote: »
    Girl! NO ONE looks great after just having had a baby. Those pics you see of celebrities who bounce back immediately are airbrushed 99% of the time. Focus on being healthy for you and your baby, not weight loss, right now. Often enough the pounds come off on their own in time, and if not, you can focus on weight loss later. One week after having my daughter I was still in maternity pants, and at two weeks, and three weeks... but slowly the pounds came off and my normal clothes began to fit. I didn’t do anything special... I went for short walks beginning around 3 weeks postpartum and began a postpartum-geared workout at six weekend pp once cleared by my doctor. Other than that I tried to incorporate lots of veggies in my diet but didn’t restrict myself. There is no magic trick and it feels unfair, but your body just did something so amazing! Give it time to heal and love the process. I know that’s hard to hear because waiting isn’t easy but it’s so important in this case.

    Definitely hard to wait. I've been looking forward to not being pregnant anymore because of a lot of medical issues but also because I couldn't wait to not be huge. It's hard because I gained over 50 pounds while I was pregnant. A lot water retention but a lot because I was on bedrest and unable to keep active. I was 125 before pregnancy and ended at 180. Currently at 156. Definitely hard to wait because for some reason I did just expect to return to normal afte a couple days which I know wasn't gonna be the case but that's what I told myself blindly.
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    f1tforever wrote: »
    One week! After 3 babies, please give yourself time . I wouldnt look at the scale and just focus on healing from birth and bonding with your new baby until your 6 week appointment. Your body is going through a temoundous change getting your organs all back in place and with feeding/sleep schedule off. Give yourself at least 6 weeks and congratulations

    Thank you. I'll definitely wait to get back into it, my doctor did clear me to diet but I'll give it a few!
  • busyPK
    busyPK Posts: 3,788 Member
    Start with small things. Having fresh fruit and veggies on hand to snack on while you are bonding with your new little one. It will take time to lose the baby weight so give yourself some grace here.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,332 Member
    Your non fat (water weight due to baby accoutrements) loss continues still. At the very least for the next few weeks.

    You literally do not know yet how much of what you weigh today is going to be staying with you.

    Congratulations on the baby but please be patient little bit.

    Wait until at least all the parts have gone back to their new positions and your ligaments have recovered and your hormones returned back to somewhat normal before fully evaluating where you're at!!!
  • MostlyWater
    MostlyWater Posts: 4,294 Member
    Were you overweight to begin with, or did you gain a lot?

    I gained 19 1/2 with my first and 21 1/2 with my 2nd. I was 108 when I got pregnant and kept 5 lbs from each baby. I wasn't big but it wasn't easy to lose either.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,332 Member
    Incidentally, 6 months with a 500 Cal deficit is 26lbs of weight loss.
  • lemonwater1
    lemonwater1 Posts: 72 Member
    Wtf. I wouldn’t take the meds. Meet with a lactation cosuktant- you can probably get more of a supply by supplementing less. Breastfeeding is supply and demand. Breastfeeding exclusively burns about 500 calories per day. Plus, at 5 days pp your weight is going to be off, you probably still have a lot of water weight on board. But, you just had a baby! Don’t stress so much about weight loss! Enjoy your new little one. Congratulations!
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    rickiimarieee wrote: »
    aes1219 wrote: »
    I'm 2.5 months postpartum and down 40 lbs from when I delivered (I gained 19 lbs during pregnancy). I was able to start exercising a week and a half postpartum (approved by my doctor) and have been eating healthy. The weight just seems to be falling off. Everyone is different though. I would just try and eat healthy, take care of yourself and your sweet little baby. Exercise if that is something you enjoy (when you are cleared to exercise). And give youself grace. You just grew and delivered a tiny human which is pretty amazing!

    I was 125 before pregnancy which took me months to get to that weight and then ended pregnancy at 180 and I'm currently at 156. Lost quite a bit but still have a lot to go to get to prepregnancy weight. I've been cleared to diet, doctor even prescribed phentermine to help jumpstart my weight loss but I refuse to take that and you can't take it and breastfeed anyways.

    This is shocking to me. There is no way it's healthy to be eating at a deficit and taking phentermine 1 week after giving birth, I have nothing nice to say about your doctor right now.

    You mentioned in one of your threads that you are supplementing BFing because you aren't producing enough milk. It's quite possible your supply is low because you aren't eating enough.

    Most of the women I've seen post about it here have eaten their maintenance level calories and allow the breastfeeding to create their deficit for at least 6 months. Producing milk can burn in excess of 500 cals per day for some women. Congratulations BTW :smile:

    Yeah I was confused as well on why the doctor prescribed it but I have no interest or need for it. It's not cause I'm eating too little, I didn't produce enough with my first son either. It's just my body I guess. I'm not eating at a deficit right now, plus I eat lactation cookies and bars as well.
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    lemonwater1 wrote: »
    Wtf. I wouldn’t take the meds. Meet with a lactation cosuktant- you can probably get more of a supply by supplementing less. Breastfeeding is supply and demand. Breastfeeding exclusively burns about 500 calories per day. Plus, at 5 days pp your weight is going to be off, you probably still have a lot of water weight on board. But, you just had a baby! Don’t stress so much about weight loss! Enjoy your new little one. Congratulations!

    Thank you and I have met with one. I've tried everything. Unfortunately I'm just one of those women that can't produce enough. Tried oatmeal and more water, fenugreek and lactation bars, cookies and teas, flax seeds, etc. yeah I didn't even get the prescription filled.
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    aes1219 wrote: »
    rickiimarieee wrote: »
    aes1219 wrote: »
    I'm 2.5 months postpartum and down 40 lbs from when I delivered (I gained 19 lbs during pregnancy). I was able to start exercising a week and a half postpartum (approved by my doctor) and have been eating healthy. The weight just seems to be falling off. Everyone is different though. I would just try and eat healthy, take care of yourself and your sweet little baby. Exercise if that is something you enjoy (when you are cleared to exercise). And give youself grace. You just grew and delivered a tiny human which is pretty amazing!

    I was 125 before pregnancy which took me months to get to that weight and then ended pregnancy at 180 and I'm currently at 156. Lost quite a bit but still have a lot to go to get to prepregnancy weight. I've been cleared to diet, doctor even prescribed phentermine to help jumpstart my weight loss but I refuse to take that and you can't take it and breastfeed anyways.

    The weight is already falling off you if you have lost that much weight so quickly! Just keep breastfeeding and eating healthy. How tall are you?

    Take this time and focus on your baby. Don't waste time worrying about losing weight. You will never get this time back with your newborn baby.

    I'm 5'3
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    snickerscharlie wrote: »
    rickiimarieee wrote: »
    puffbrat wrote: »
    It's only been 5 days! Your hormones are through the roof right now and sleep deprivation, plus breastfeeding if you are doing so, can take a huge toll on your body. Also keep in mind that you are still healing and will naturally continue to lose weight up to 6-8 weeks postpartum as your body continues to get rid of excess fluids and swelling. Please please please talk with your doctor before diving into weight loss this soon after giving birth.

    Thank you. I actually did talk to my doctor and get cleared. She prescribed me phentermine but I don't want to take it plus you shouldn't take it and breastfeed.

    What kind of doctor gives a 1 week postpartum breastfeeding woman a prescription for phentermine?
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    snickerscharlie wrote: »
    rickiimarieee wrote: »
    puffbrat wrote: »
    It's only been 5 days! Your hormones are through the roof right now and sleep deprivation, plus breastfeeding if you are doing so, can take a huge toll on your body. Also keep in mind that you are still healing and will naturally continue to lose weight up to 6-8 weeks postpartum as your body continues to get rid of excess fluids and swelling. Please please please talk with your doctor before diving into weight loss this soon after giving birth.

    Thank you. I actually did talk to my doctor and get cleared. She prescribed me phentermine but I don't want to take it plus you shouldn't take it and breastfeed.

    What kind of doctor gives a 1 week postpartum breastfeeding woman a prescription for phentermine?

    That was exactly what I was about to post! :huh: :noway: :grumble:
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Wow on the drug prescription!

    Yeah not entirely sure why she prescribed it, I won't get it filled. I wasn't sure what it was entirely when she prescribed it but I looked it up because she gave a very vague description on what it was.
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    Teabythesea_ wrote: »
    rickiimarieee wrote: »
    f1tforever wrote: »
    One week! After 3 babies, please give yourself time . I wouldnt look at the scale and just focus on healing from birth and bonding with your new baby until your 6 week appointment. Your body is going through a temoundous change getting your organs all back in place and with feeding/sleep schedule off. Give yourself at least 6 weeks and congratulations

    Thank you. I'll definitely wait to get back into it, my doctor did clear me to diet but I'll give it a few!

    Is this by chance the same doctor that prescribed you phentermine one week post partum? If you are already having supply issues as you mentioned in your other thread I would highly advice against eating at a calorie deficit. Additionally, I would seek the guidance of a lactation consultant who has a better understanding of your needs and how dietary changes impact your supply. I don't mean to be so blunt but just like with pregnancy you have to remember it's not all about you, but you and your baby. Yes, everyone wants to look nice, but you just had a baby and that baby is 100% dependent on you. This is not the time to stress over your physical appearance and restrict calories. You've lost the weight in the past so you know its possible to do it again. Give your body some time. You may be pleasantly surprised at the amount you lose simply from caring for a new baby.

    Yes same doctor. I'm not eating at a deficit or anything yet! I see a lactation consult already, did with my first as well. Unfortunately I'm just one of those women that can't produce enough. I've tried everything.
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