Weight loss trouble while Breastfeeding

kmastello
kmastello Posts: 25
edited November 11 in Motivation and Support
Hey all, i have 5 children and I am currently breast feeding my almost 4 month old baby, and the past 3 weeks i have been really struggling with the weight loss. First of all, the cravings are horrid, and it seems like even though i stay under my calories and exercise the weight is still not coming off for the past few weeks. I have my activity level set at very active so i dont have to add the breastfeeding in every day, and it just like having 1200 calories a day plus the 500 for breast feeding, and i am always under. Just looking for other moms who may be in the same boat!

Replies

  • LinFarnholz
    LinFarnholz Posts: 9 Member
    I was stuck until my son was 5 months old then it began to melt! I changed my diet to be super healthy cals and aimed for about 1400 to 1500/ day!
  • Werglum
    Werglum Posts: 378 Member
    How far under are you? I found that I'd have to eat all the calories (or WW points as I started off with points) to stop feeling like I could eat my own leg off. Maybe you need more calories. My baby is now almost 9 months so is on solids as well and I'm having 300 calories for feeding her, plus my base is 1560 so that is 1860 a day, for a little baby 1700 a day may not be enough!
  • Jennifer0878
    Jennifer0878 Posts: 94 Member
    I have 3 children and am currently nursing my 7.5 month old. I was stuck on my weight loss journey until I cleaned up my diet. Feel free to add me as a friend (or just poke around in my diary) to get some ideas. I'm not the healthiest person in the world, but I do try. :)
  • CrankParent
    CrankParent Posts: 3 Member
    I think you need to be eating more. You need a minimum of 1800 calories a day whilst breastfeeding (many mums need more than this). Any less can affect your milk supply (quantity) and the quality of your milk (fat soluble toxins stored in body fat are released into your milk when caloric intake is reduced). It's safe to lose up to 1.5 pounds a week as long as you are eating enough. :-)

    http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/mom/mom-weightloss.html
  • Cysso
    Cysso Posts: 68 Member
    Maybe try changing your goal to lose only 1 pound a week (if your goal is higher than that). My dd is a year and I'm still breastfeeding. My base calories are 1460 (or something) and I get an extra 300 a day for BFing. Sometimes I have an extra 100 calories that I don't eat, but generally I eat most of them. That means that I eat about 1660-1760 calories a day, not including any exercise I might do.

    While I wouldn't say my extra weight is "melting" off of me, I am losing a little over a pound a week most times. It's possible you're not eating enough... Good luck!
  • Rielyn
    Rielyn Posts: 150 Member
    I think you need to be eating more. You need a minimum of 1800 calories a day whilst breastfeeding (many mums need more than this). Any less can affect your milk supply (quantity) and the quality of your milk (fat soluble toxins stored in body fat are released into your milk when caloric intake is reduced). It's safe to lose up to 1.5 pounds a week as long as you are eating enough. :-)

    http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/mom/mom-weightloss.html

    This^^^Definitely check out that link, kellymom is a great resource for all things breastfeeding!! I lost 75 lbs. while breastfeeding my oldest and I never went under 1900 calories, I exercised quite a bit but I was always eating back my exercise calories (or activity points when doing WW)
  • kmastello
    kmastello Posts: 25
    I am fairly consistently between 1400-1600 cal/day
  • kmastello
    kmastello Posts: 25
    @rielyn Thank you! I still have about 75 to go till my goal and I feel stuck!
  • Rielyn
    Rielyn Posts: 150 Member
    I am fairly consistently between 1400-1600 cal/day

    I think you should up it to at least 1800. Put aside the fact that you are hungry though, how is baby acting? Extra fussy etc. or content? I always took my cues from baby and ate more if I thought she was acting differently.
  • yesthistime
    yesthistime Posts: 2,051 Member
    Breastfeeding support groups on MFP:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/search?phrase=breastfeeding&order=0
  • Rielyn
    Rielyn Posts: 150 Member
    @rielyn Thank you! I still have about 75 to go till my goal and I feel stuck!

    I remember having 75 lbs to lose and thinking it would never happen, I gained way too much with my first daughter (60+ lbs.) It happened though, just stay consistent and I always had a day on the weekends where I would cheat a bit (still do!) that really seemed to help me curb the cravings the rest of the week!
  • barefoot76
    barefoot76 Posts: 314 Member
    Just wanted to send virtual hugs -- it was WAY harder to lose weight after having my fourth kid than my first. With the first, breastfeeding seemed to magically take all of it off. By my fourth child, I gained weight while breastfeeding! Part of it was me making poor food choices and gaining more and more weight with each pregnancy, but I think part of it was that my metabolism definitely slowed after having each child. Once I was done bf'ing #4, I really had to ratchet up my exercise regime to start to see the scale move (and move slowly it has).

    Good luck! You are a rock star for breastfeeding your babes! Keep up the good work!
  • joannea1988
    joannea1988 Posts: 73
    great on breast feeding, i bf my daughter for 10 months and in the 1st 3 months i lost 42lbs, then it stopped i really struggled, i started walking more but didnt get very far , sorry for not being much help x
  • gobichick
    gobichick Posts: 16
    I felt the same as you when my son was 4 months...I felt like I was stuck and the pounds weren't coming off. Then between 5 and 6 months I just started shedding weight and I didn't do anything different. I know at first I tried losing weight (exercising and watching what I ate) and then when I just focused on feeding the baby and just not eating a ton of junk the weight just melted off. Try not over focusing on it and eat when you are hungry...it is your body telling you that you need more calories especially when you are breastfeeding. Give it a little more time...the weight will come off.
  • JanSmelly
    JanSmelly Posts: 143 Member
    Yes, do eat more. Your body is going to take from you to make milk and then feed you. You are only doing harm to yourself by not eating enough.

    With my twins I didn't lose the weight until they were over a year old. My body was holding onto all my fat to feed them. If I dropped my calories, then my milk also decreasd. I went on to breastfeed them until over 2.

    My 19 month old is still breastfeeding and I lost all the weight by 4 months.

    Maybe I will hold onto the weight next time, but I am not going to worry about it because my main job is provide nutrition to my child.
  • kmastello
    kmastello Posts: 25
    Wow! Thanks for all the support. I will take the advise and attempt to up the calories. So nervous that it'll make me gain weight, but worth a try!
  • Honey_gold_queen
    Honey_gold_queen Posts: 23 Member
    You will definitly plateau if you don't get enough cals. Your body panics thinking it won't have enough food to make milk, so it stores fat for you, and uses your food consumption for breast milk. The extra cals will help. just remember, calories are energy. As long as you are getting healthy energy (whole wheats, couscous, quinoa, hearty vegetables) you will be able to start losing again.
    It seems scary but once your body realizes you are eating enough to fuel you and baby, it will let go of the stored fat.
    I hope it helps you past the fear of too many calories. It is really hard. But you can do it, and you will both benefit! :)
  • improve2012
    improve2012 Posts: 15 Member
    I know you've already got great responses, just wanted to tell you don't be scared of eating more. Last week I lost 3 pounds and I was eating an average of 2500 a day.
  • missfitp
    missfitp Posts: 33 Member
    Hello all,

    I don't want to hijack the thread, but I have a quick question on this. I had my daughter exactly 4 weeks ago and I have been mostly breast feeding. I already dropped all the weight I gained while pregnant, which was almost 40 lbs. Is this healthy? Or should I be worried? 40 lbs in 4 weeks seems a lot to me and I'm afraid of getting the loose skin.
  • Werglum
    Werglum Posts: 378 Member
    Hello all,

    I don't want to hijack the thread, but I have a quick question on this. I had my daughter exactly 4 weeks ago and I have been mostly breast feeding. I already dropped all the weight I gained while pregnant, which was almost 40 lbs. Is this healthy? Or should I be worried? 40 lbs in 4 weeks seems a lot to me and I'm afraid of getting the loose skin.

    It may not be too fast, but it depends. Is the 40 lbs from before giving birth or after? Assuming it is after, lot of the initial weight loss is things like your blood volume returning to normal (you get something like a third again as much blood when pregnant!). Also you can suffer from water retention (I lost 15kg (33lbs) in 2 weeks after my first baby because of water retention - I had terrible swelling before my baby was born). Even if you didn't retain water during pregnancy you can from pain relief medications (for example if you had an epidural).
    If you are breastfeeding you should be making sure to have an extra 500 calories a day on top of your base rate, which will make sure you don't have any supply issues.
    As far as loose skin goes, you may have it anyway! There is noting quite comparable to child birth in terms of losing weight fast!
  • Sytera
    Sytera Posts: 75
    Hello all,

    I don't want to hijack the thread, but I have a quick question on this. I had my daughter exactly 4 weeks ago and I have been mostly breast feeding. I already dropped all the weight I gained while pregnant, which was almost 40 lbs. Is this healthy? Or should I be worried? 40 lbs in 4 weeks seems a lot to me and I'm afraid of getting the loose skin.

    From the sound of it, you mean that you dropped 40 lbs since the morning you were last pregnant. A lot of that was obviously baby, placenta, etc. A lot of the rest was extra blood & water weight. You may still have some fat, too, as fat weighs less than muscle. My third is 6 months old and exclusively breastfed. I've lost all the weight but am still not the size I was because there is fat in places instead of muscle. At, 4 weeks, I wouldn't worry about anything. You still have a couple weeks before you should be hitting exercise hardcore anyway.
  • KatFierce
    KatFierce Posts: 252 Member
    I dont think your eating enough calories. I am exclusively nursing my 5 month old, I weigh 184, Im 5 5 and eat roughly 2300 calories a day!!!!! I have lost all my baby weight plus about 15lbs.
    How old are you? How tall? Weight? How active are you? These are all factors in determining your BMR wich is the bare minimum number of calories your body needs just to function then you need more for nursing and exercising. My bare minimum is 1600 plus the 500 for nursing.
  • EJsMummy26
    EJsMummy26 Posts: 101 Member
    Every oz of breast milk has 25 calories. When I was nursing my son (if i pumped exclusively for a day) I'd get anywhere from 30-35 oz a day. Which means 750-875 calories was milk my body was producing.

    So if you have any idea how much you produce, even a rough idea you will have an idea of how much you need to eat to keep your milk production up.

    My lbs melted off of me when I was breastfeeding, I know it's not that way for everyone.
  • missfitp
    missfitp Posts: 33 Member
    Thank you ladies for your input. I'm not sure how much milk I actually produce but I feel like a cow being milked every 3-4 hours. I'm 5'2 and I'm currently 216 lbs. Trying to now loose the pounds I had from before I was pregnant. I have heard of women saying that breast feeding helped them loose weight but I was skeptical. Now I think it's true. I feel like I'm shrinking faster than when I had my first one, whom I couldn't really breast feed.
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