Breastfeeding plateau. Help!

OrionMama
OrionMama Posts: 19 Member
edited November 11 in Health and Weight Loss
Why can I not lose weight!? I have a fifteen month old. I gained 65 lbs. during my pregnancy, was only 98 lbs. before. I lost most of the weight within the first 6 weeks, but the last 20 lbs. to my goal weight of 105 Will Not Budge! I am a vegetarian. I don't eat great, but compared to most I think I eat fairly healthfully (except for my little sweet tooth!) I am breastfeeding 5-6 times a day on average, but not logging it. I have been trying to break the plateau with changes in diet/routine, but nothing seems to help. I think my body is holding onto fat for breastfeeding, the core of my body (know what I mean?) feels different, tighter and stronger than before pregnancy, but there is are big zones of fat covering it. Will this not go away until I stop nursing? My latest plateau busting push included upping my exercise a great deal...this resulted in me gaining 8 lbs. I know people will say I need to eat more, I have tried that already, I upped my calories from average of 1200 to an average of 1500 with no change. I have opened my food diary to public...here we go. Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • OrionMama
    OrionMama Posts: 19 Member
    Bump
  • StarryEyed500
    StarryEyed500 Posts: 225 Member
    You're not eating enough. You need to eat your breastfeeding calories or your body won't let go of the fat it's holding on to. Give it longer than a week at 1500 net and see how you do in a month. Your body may increase your weight while it adjusts to extra calories but after that, it will start coming down again. You'll be using around 400 calories breastfeeding. If you eat 1500, it will give you a net of 1100, which is better than the 400-500 you're currently on.
  • OrionMama
    OrionMama Posts: 19 Member
    Thanks, StarryEyed500. I will start entering my BF calories and see if that helps. I get a little nervous eating so many calories when the scale begins to inch up I usually get freaked and cut back again!
  • OrionMama
    OrionMama Posts: 19 Member
    Bump
  • raevynn
    raevynn Posts: 666 Member
    NOTHING is more important than feeding your baby. Don't focus on the scale now... just eat healthy for your baby.
  • sparkie2bfit
    sparkie2bfit Posts: 40
    First Kudos for breast feeding as long as you have, just remember to breastfeed you body produces more tissue. This same tissue and milk adds weight, so saying that you may not see the last 10lb shed until you stop breastfeeding. That is as it should be because you want to be health while giving your baby the best too.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    Wait! How tall are you and whats your body fat%?
  • samf36
    samf36 Posts: 369 Member
    I agree with the other as a long time bf mom your body is holding on to that fat to feed your child.
  • SafireBleu
    SafireBleu Posts: 881 Member
    You really need to eat more. You are not getting enough calories for your own daily living. Your body is storing fat to give you and your baby what you need. You need to eat more healthy foods and well balanced meals. When you eat enough your body will start to let go of the extra fat it is storing. Give Dan your stats. He will help you figure out how much you need to eat. Then up your calories, take measurements, continue working out and feeding your baby.

    The 8 lb gain when you upped the workout was muscle which is why you feel so much stronger. If you keep working out you'll get stronger and more toned than you ever have been but you need to feed your body.
  • Sytera
    Sytera Posts: 75
    First, way to go nursing! As you lose the fat & build up muscle, your weight will go on a rollercoaster because muscle weighs more than fat. You may not get back down to 105 if your muscle mass is greater than it was before. I also agree that you need to give more calories a try. I've seen a lot of comments on different threads here about needing to take in more to breastfeed because otherwise your body starts to store fat to produce milk & provide your body with enough to live.
  • OrionMama
    OrionMama Posts: 19 Member
    I am 5' 3" and a half. I have no idea my body fat %, as I have never before had any reason to know it. I have a very thin frame, and have been told by doctors prior to pregnancy I was of a healthy weight at 100, I think my BMI was 18? You may say that is too low, but I was VERY active/fit at that weight, not waifish. I was a wildland firefighter and outdoor adventure leader.
  • mommynmotion
    mommynmotion Posts: 149 Member
    Hi!

    You don't really need calories for breastfeeding a 15 month old. I nursed 4 babies till they were 14-16 months old and by the time they are a year old, you really don't need the exra calories anymore. That's assuning that the toddler eats a fair amount of solid foods. I also pumped about 6-8 times per day, inbetween feedings starting when they were infants (even in the middle of the night), so that I could donate milk to a human milk bank to help sick babies...even with all of that pumping, by the time they were a year old, I wasn't getting extra calories.

    You do probably need to eat more though. I would think that you should just have a deficit of 250 calories per day and eat you exercise calories back...all of them.
  • Soon2Bfitmamaof3
    Soon2Bfitmamaof3 Posts: 1,911 Member
    From one nursing mama to another you're definitely not eating enough. I eat about every 2 hours, I was at 2lbs a week loss with logging 300 calories for nursing but hit a plateau in August and just got the scale to budge in January. I upped, yes upped my calories by lowering my goal to 1 lb a week and only add 150 nursing calories. I have a long way to go but I'm pretty sure you need a minimum of 1200 calories just to function
  • OrionMama
    OrionMama Posts: 19 Member
    Thanks everyone! I appreciate all your advice! I need to give upping calories a shot, it's just so hard when you start gaining to stick with it!
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