adding "empty" breastfeeding calories?

rima933
rima933 Posts: 151 Member
edited November 12 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey I have been adding breastfeeding calories to my diary, and it subtracts 350 calories but doesn't add any nutrition to it. The carbs, fat etc remain unchanged! Any advice? This is making it look like i go over all of my goals a day.

Replies

  • StarryEyed500
    StarryEyed500 Posts: 225 Member
    You could add it as exercise instead. That should recalculate your Macros.
    You'll probably need to create a manual exercise.
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
    You can probably tell from my picture that I have never had this issue. There are people on the site who have! You can find some of them here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/197-breastfeeding-support
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    If you're doing the same amount every day you could just increase your calorie goal.
  • rima933
    rima933 Posts: 151 Member
    You could add it as exercise instead. That should recalculate your Macros.
    You'll probably need to create a manual exercise.
    I have tried too many times to create my own exercise it doesnt work and noone can help me. i asked and noone gives me an answer
  • StarryEyed500
    StarryEyed500 Posts: 225 Member
    On the excercise tab, click 'My Exercises'.
    Click 'Create Exercise'
    Enter a name - "breastfeeding x year old" is a good one, then you know you can change it as your child ages.
    Enter the time, throughout the day, you usually feed.
    Enter the calories 350.

    Each day, you will be able to pick it from the list and amend it if necessary or keep it the same.

    You could always up your calories as Elizabeth said, if you feed the same every day. To do that, go from 'My Home' to 'Goals'. Click 'Change Goals'. Select 'Custom' and then manually change the calorie count to include your 350.
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
    EDIT: nvm - re-read and understood better.
    i wouldnt really worry about going over your other goals, tbh. i do it all the time. unless youre under strict drs orders, i would just worry more about feeding your little one :)
  • MrsNoir
    MrsNoir Posts: 236 Member
    I've never counted off the breasfeeding, and I'm still breastfeeding. I was losing steadily, but lately I'm going up and down ... tomorrow I'm starting a strict fast diet, last time I tried my baby was only 3 months and I felt very weak, but that's because I did exercise, but I shouldn't have as at the end of the day I might have had far too many calories, and that's what made me feel so weak the day after.This time I'll do the diet, and add some extra calories to it, to avoid what happened last time. :D
  • rima933
    rima933 Posts: 151 Member
    On the excercise tab, click 'My Exercises'.
    Click 'Create Exercise'
    Enter a name - "breastfeeding x year old" is a good one, then you know you can change it as your child ages.
    Enter the time, throughout the day, you usually feed.
    Enter the calories 350.

    Each day, you will be able to pick it from the list and amend it if necessary or keep it the same.

    You could always up your calories as Elizabeth said, if you feed the same every day. To do that, go from 'My Home' to 'Goals'. Click 'Change Goals'. Select 'Custom' and then manually change the calorie count to include your 350.

    Thanks. However, i have done this many times and my problem is that when i click search in my database its not there. Then i try saving it again and searching. It doesnt show up when i search for it.
  • rima933
    rima933 Posts: 151 Member
    I've never counted off the breasfeeding, and I'm still breastfeeding. I was losing steadily, but lately I'm going up and down ... tomorrow I'm starting a strict fast diet, last time I tried my baby was only 3 months and I felt very weak, but that's because I did exercise, but I shouldn't have as at the end of the day I might have had far too many calories, and that's what made me feel so weak the day after.This time I'll do the diet, and add some extra calories to it, to avoid what happened last time. :D
    if thats you in the pic you dont need to lose any weight!
  • cindy4mica
    cindy4mica Posts: 777 Member
    Off the specific topic, please don't get discouraged if you lose a ton of weight while you're nursing, then come to a screeching halt when you stop completely. I thought I was wonder woman, melting of the pounds like a champ. But once I stopped breastfeeding, I had to work extra hard in order to maintain/lose. Just wanted to give you a heads up.
  • amyrobynne
    amyrobynne Posts: 64 Member
    I nurse my toddler at naptime and during the night, which I figure gives me maybe 150-200 extra calories. I ended up setting myself as active instead of the more accurate lightly active and it gives me a higher calorie limit. I'm losing the amount that my goal weekly loss says, so I figure it's working.

    With my last child, I lost 5 lbs when I quit nursing even though it was December and I was eating everything in sight, so bodies react differently to nursing and weaning.
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
    On the excercise tab, click 'My Exercises'.
    Click 'Create Exercise'
    Enter a name - "breastfeeding x year old" is a good one, then you know you can change it as your child ages.
    Enter the time, throughout the day, you usually feed.
    Enter the calories 350.

    Each day, you will be able to pick it from the list and amend it if necessary or keep it the same.

    You could always up your calories as Elizabeth said, if you feed the same every day. To do that, go from 'My Home' to 'Goals'. Click 'Change Goals'. Select 'Custom' and then manually change the calorie count to include your 350.

    Thanks. However, i have done this many times and my problem is that when i click search in my database its not there. Then i try saving it again and searching. It doesnt show up when i search for it.
    you souldnt have to search for it - it should just be there when you click on Cardio >add exercise. Underneath the add checked button. is it not there at all?
  • Veronica__S
    Veronica__S Posts: 18
    Sent you a PM :wink:
  • wurgin
    wurgin Posts: 241 Member
    love all the nursing mama's chiming in! YAY! BTW I do not account for BFing my toddler in my cals because its way nominal at this point
  • kristinL16
    kristinL16 Posts: 401 Member
    I am breastfeeding my (almost) 5 month old and just choose a "food" item that subtracts 500 calories, since I have always read that moms who are breastfeeding exclusively need 500 more calories. I am usually pretty close to the goals set for me so never really thought much about it other than the additional calories.

    This is my 4th baby. I usually lose weight pretty easily throughout the first 10 months or so then start gaining when they are nursing less but i still eat the same. Not going to do that again!
  • amyrobynne
    amyrobynne Posts: 64 Member
    KristinL, that's my problem too. I have 3 kids and I've always gained a bunch after the baby turns a year because I was eating as if I was the only source of food still, but I'm not. In the past 9 years, I've only been neither nursing nor pregnant for one year, but a couple more years were toddler nursing. I think I forget how to eat like a normal person after awhile and when the kids want snacks, it's easy to keep eating myself while I'm there, or eating their leftovers.

    Now that I'm counting calories, I think my 19 mo old eats more calories than I do sometimes. I hope he's going through a growth spurt.
  • Willpowerofsteel
    Willpowerofsteel Posts: 20
    If you go to "Goals" and click "custom" (not "guided"), you can enter your own calorie goal. Just add 300 calories to whatever goal you were previously using, or 500, or whatever you are estimating for how often you breastfeed.

    Another option is to estimate your activity as "very active" which will add on several hundred calories for you.

    I really wish this site had a built-in mode for breastfeeding. WW and MyFoodDiary.com both have that feature but those sites aren't free. ;)
  • kristinL16
    kristinL16 Posts: 401 Member
    Amyrobynne--Wow! That sounds so much like me. My oldest turns 9 on March 31. The only time I have not been pregnant or breastfeeding since I was pregnant with him was the time when he was between 9 months (That's when I stopped pumping since he was not actively BF) and 17 months when I got pregnant with my second. I breastfed my second and third until they were 3 and 2.5 and was pregnant both times when I stopped.
  • rima933
    rima933 Posts: 151 Member
    On the excercise tab, click 'My Exercises'.
    Click 'Create Exercise'
    Enter a name - "breastfeeding x year old" is a good one, then you know you can change it as your child ages.
    Enter the time, throughout the day, you usually feed.
    Enter the calories 350.

    Each day, you will be able to pick it from the list and amend it if necessary or keep it the same.

    You could always up your calories as Elizabeth said, if you feed the same every day. To do that, go from 'My Home' to 'Goals'. Click 'Change Goals'. Select 'Custom' and then manually change the calorie count to include your 350.

    Thanks. However, i have done this many times and my problem is that when i click search in my database its not there. Then i try saving it again and searching. It doesnt show up when i search for it.
    you souldnt have to search for it - it should just be there when you click on Cardio >add exercise. Underneath the add checked button. is it not there at all?

    nooo its not there at all. Only my recent ones are there. And those are not my personal exercises.
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