Did stopping breastfeeding stall your weightloss?

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creesama
creesama Posts: 125 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I may be close to weening my babe, but worry my weight-loss will stall or even a weight gain might happen. I've been staying around 1700-1900 calories with exercise calories being eaten back and rarely being in the red (mfp is set at 1350). I've been fairly consistently losing around 2lbs a week since I started in June. I guess I'm just curious what others have experienced? And also curious about how much hormones shifting affected you?
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  • harper16
    harper16 Posts: 2,564 Member
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    I gained weight while breastfeeding. I lost weight when I stopped breastfeeding. I average a lb a week. If my hormones shifted I didn't notice.
  • creesama
    creesama Posts: 125 Member
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    harper16 wrote: »
    I gained weight while breastfeeding. I lost weight when I stopped breastfeeding. I average a lb a week. If my hormones shifted I didn't notice.

    Thanks for sharing your experience! This is all new to me.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,649 Member
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    Breastfeeding consumes energy. The more milk being produced, the more energy. Thus when you stop producing milk your energy expenditure will reduce unless replaced.

    That said a target of 2lbs a week may or may not be appropriate depending on how many energy reserves one carries and depending on their total energy expenditure for the day. Larger deficits are not always better.
  • creesama
    creesama Posts: 125 Member
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    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Breastfeeding consumes energy. The more milk being produced, the more energy. Thus when you stop producing milk your energy expenditure will reduce unless replaced.

    That said a target of 2lbs a week may or may not be appropriate depending on how many energy reserves one carries and depending on their total energy expenditure for the day. Larger deficits are not always better.

    I'm at 247lbs, sedentary lifestyle outside of deliberate exercise. My calorie consumption so far hasn't been leaving me feeling hungry and I've been at it for 2 months, so the 2lbs a week is fine right now. When I get closer to a healthy goal, I'll reevaluate my rate of loss to keep it in a healthy range.
  • ExistingFish
    ExistingFish Posts: 1,259 Member
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    I don't know. I lost the majority of my weight while breastfeeding a hungry baby (between 6 months and a year). I'm still nursing him, he turns 3 this week and I'm weaning him after his birthday. It was super easy to lose weight, I averaged 1-1.5lbs a week at some points without any issue. I'll let you know how the weaning goes...

    I think it may help me about 100 calories a day at this point, but I'm not sure. He only nurses at night.

    I'm anxious about the changes it's going to make, honestly. Hormonally, with my mood...
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    My weaning happened very gradually so it didn't make a difference for me. I had to drop about 200 cals I think so I added a bit of cardio and it was all good.
  • creesama
    creesama Posts: 125 Member
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    4legsRbetterthan2 wrote: »
    If you know your output you burn about 20 calories/ oz of breast milk. Exclusively breastfeeding is estimated to burn about 500 calories a day, but if your little is already started on solids and eating well you may be below that at this point.

    Since you are losing 2lbs a week steadily you should be averaging 1000 calorie a day deficit. You weight loss may slow when you wean since it's not contributing to your TDEE anymore, but I don't think it should stop all together, but may lessen to about 1 lb a week/ a daily deficit of 500 calories.

    I actually lost a bit of weight when I weaned, hormone changes and breasts emptying out. However, I cold turkey weaned so went from producing about 25 oz a day to stopping all together. You experience may vary depending on your situation. I would definitely encourage you to try not to get too hung up on your weight for a few weeks as you wean, your hormones will have to adjust and its really hard to predict how that will effect water retention and such. After a few weeks things will settle in and you can re-evaluate how you are progressing and if you are happy with it.

    That's good advice, I'll try to not put too much stock into fluctuations when the time comes.

    Thanks for all the responses everyone 👍
  • ixchelkeshet
    ixchelkeshet Posts: 36 Member
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    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Breastfeeding consumes energy. The more milk being produced, the more energy. Thus when you stop producing milk your energy expenditure will reduce unless replaced.

    That said a target of 2lbs a week may or may not be appropriate depending on how many energy reserves one carries and depending on their total energy expenditure for the day. Larger deficits are not always better.

    So true! Very insightful and I hope this will be helpful to others. Breastfeeding along with taking my baby on long walks and healthy eating helped me get down to a size eight. Which, since I had been slightly overweight or worse my entire life, was quite an accomplishment. When I had to stop breastfeeding due to a health issue of mine, I regained my weight. Knowledge is power. Use it. Hugs!
  • creesama
    creesama Posts: 125 Member
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    Update: I stopped breastfeeding this week and what I was worried about is happening :( Huge weight fluctuations, at one point it was a 5 lb gain, in a matter of 6 days. Also, hormones are wreaking havoc causing cramps, headaches, and crappy moods. Trying to ignore the scale, but man it's disappointing to watch your hard work slip.
  • eatyogarun
    eatyogarun Posts: 59 Member
    edited September 2020
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    Did you stop abruptly or have you been gradually weaning to this point?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,902 Member
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    creesama wrote: »
    Update: I stopped breastfeeding this week and what I was worried about is happening :( Huge weight fluctuations, at one point it was a 5 lb gain, in a matter of 6 days. Also, hormones are wreaking havoc causing cramps, headaches, and crappy moods. Trying to ignore the scale, but man it's disappointing to watch your hard work slip.

    Are you able to up cardio? That helps me with crappy moods, etc.

    If you're currently ovulating or premenstrual, you could be retaining water due to that.
  • Raegold
    Raegold Posts: 191 Member
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    The weaning transition is tough... And making the breast milk burns a lot of calories, so to continue to lose weight, you will have to eat less calories. I was using WW at the time, but I was able to wean and continue to lose weight, it can just be tough at first to realize you don't get as much food.
  • LoveyChar
    LoveyChar Posts: 4,335 Member
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    I was heaviest while breastfeeding because I thought I had to eat like a horse to maintain supply, although not true. I was still within my normal range of BMI, fortunately, though on the higher end. When I stopped breastfeeding I could eat as little as I wanted without feeling compelled to overeat in order to maintain supply. I breastfed for 16 1/2 months with my last baby, now 2. After I stopped, I dropped about 10 pounds over the next several months and that put me on the lower end of the normal range for my BMI where I happily remain. It may take time and it's very much an emotional process too but in a sense, you reclaim your body. I now chase a toddler and I'm grateful that I've got incredible energy to do so.
  • gradchica27
    gradchica27 Posts: 777 Member
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    After the first 3 -4 mo of nursing, I didn’t see much impact from breastfeeding on my weight loss. Especially as I neared or exceeded the 1 year mark, it was negligible in terms of calories when I was only nursing about twice a day. I did notice an almost immediate drop of 2-4 lbs after I stopped nursing—probably some fluid loss and, I think, the hormone shift signaled that it was okay to drop those last few extra pounds bc I was no longer having to produce milk so the only one who’d go hungry would be me.


    Same pattern w all 4 babies...missed the magic breastfeeding weight loss.
  • Jacq_qui
    Jacq_qui Posts: 429 Member
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    Yes, I gained weight after I stopped, but it took time, I was bf for a long time (had two babies in succession) and just got very used to eating a lot more calories. My babies were absolute milk monsters who couldn't get enough of it, but when bf reduced, I didn't alter my calorie intake -schoolgirl error!
  • AshHeartsJesus
    AshHeartsJesus Posts: 460 Member
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    Give your body time to adjust horomones are very real in this situation. Keep consistent with healthy food choices and exercise it will work outv💪
  • Courtscan2
    Courtscan2 Posts: 498 Member
    edited September 2020
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    Quite the opposite - I couldn't lose weight while breastfeeding, as I was so hungry I had little control over my intake! I weaned both my bubs at around 12 months, and immediately the weight started to fall off me as I went back to "normal" eating.
  • ExistingFish
    ExistingFish Posts: 1,259 Member
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    I lost like a lb when I weaned my youngest on the 11th of August. I'm finding myself less hungry. My weight trending app says I'm losing like 0.5lbs a month now, it's trending down. I'd been breastfeeding for 7.5 years straight. I also lost all my weight while breastfeeding, and maintained for a year and a half, so it is possible.

    I'm also finding my eyesight changing.
  • gentlygently
    gentlygently Posts: 752 Member
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    Interesting how different everyone’s experiences are. In the long term I gained weight after stopping breastfeeding. I guess that daily cake/biscuit habit I gained whilst breastfeeding wasn’t that helpful...

    You mention a big initial weight gain in your second (?) post - which I imagine is hormones adjusting (water weight etc) and I hope it settles soon for you.

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