Hey girls if you are ebf eat an additional 500 calories a day and 300 once you add food. Add me ladies:)

Hey everyone! I'm new here. I just started using MFP about a week ago, again. I've lost 8 pounds, but I'm worried about my milk supply. I can't tell if he's getting enough or not. My goal is 1200 calories, and I put breastfeeding in as cardio at 250, I don't think I'm burning more than that, but it's hard to tell. He started eating cereal twice a day. Since I'm new at this, I'm confused and lost. I have about 37 lbs still to lose and it seems like everyone else I know has lost the baby weight already, and it's just not happening for me. I would love to hear what you all think, and would love a couple friends for support. Thanks! BJ

Welcome!
First I would probably choose the 300 calorie a day breastfeeding option if your son is also eating cereal (of course my duaghter still nursed 6x a day even after she started baby food- hell she nursed 6x a day and through the night until 17 months- and STILL nurses 2x a day at 25 months- she likes her "mommy milk" )
Second- some bodies hang on to calories while breastfeeding. I didn't lose hardly ANY weight after either of my babies until they started cutting down on the nursing sessions. It was like my body couldn't get enough fuel- but my milk has a lot of fat in it so maybe that's why (and I had 2 babies that were never less than the 95th percentile until after 2). I know a lot of breastfeeding mommies who didn't just drop the weight. The whole "you lose faster if you breastfeed" is kind of a misnomer for a lot of us- yes we are burning more calories, yes our uterus contracts when breastfeeding, but . . . well but we don't all lose the weight quicker.

Good Luck!

Hi Sunsine,

You can eat your chocolate snacks, just have one or two at most. There is no reason to deny yourself that satisfaction ( I eat chocolate protein bars and it does the job for me). If you eat milk chocolate, switch it up to dark chocolate (I personally don't like it much but it is MUCH better for your body, of course both in small amounts).

If you reduce your calories by too much, you'll see a dramatic weight loss at the first week but then it'll stop and you won't be able to lose weight until you eat more calories since your body is tricked into starvation mode (hold on to as many calories as possible because there is no food around). And when you do eat here and there, a couple big meals, you might gain the weight back faster. In addition, if you lose weight too fast, you risk reducing your milk supply and releasing toxins into your breastmilk (kinda like when people detox, they lose weight and toxins are expelled from their body via sweat, urine, body fluids etc). Anyways, when your body fat is broken down very quickly, it'll release components that'll end up in your breastmilk, these components might not be toxic to our bodies but for our baby's small bodies, can be toxic in large amounts. But don't be afraid to lose weight the healthy way (slow and steady, i'm shooting for 1 or 1.5 pounds a week).

I couldn't access "community" on iphone so I just end up adding people. Speaking of which, I shall add you P.S. I have a 7.5 month old baby girl her first two teeth just started erupting!