BreastFeeding & Weight loss

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sgjohnson89
sgjohnson89 Posts: 9 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey! I've been at this for about a month and am still at the same weight, only maintaining. I'm 5'4, 143lbs and 23 years old. I entirely breastfeed my 6 month old son. My BMR for my weight is 1469 & it says I need 2000 to maintain my weight. Should I add in breastfeeding? I try and work out/ run/ walk when I can. So I consider myself lightly active. I've been eating 1700 calories give or take. Any ladies breastfeeding & having this same issue or advice? THANKS:)

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  • chantalb20
    chantalb20 Posts: 132
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    I'm breastfeeding my 14 month old only morning and night now., so i don't need many extra calories. When he was exclusively breastfed, i added about 500 extra calories a day. Drink lots and lots of water too. If your supply starts to decrease, you probably need to up your calories a bit. Good luck, and well done on breastfeeding :):flowerforyou:
  • sgjohnson89
    sgjohnson89 Posts: 9 Member
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    Thanks! I breast feed on demand now day & night. Hes a complete hog/ 6 months & 22 lbs! I do try to drink plenty of water. Ive read how some cant lose any while breastfeeding. Im wondering if Im one of those! I dont want to drop to low and it mess up my supply.
    Prepregnancy weight: 146.8
    At Delivery:170
    PostBaby 6months: 143
    I lost all of my baby weight within a week. I've been at a stand still for months. I just really started tryin to watch my intake recently. Any advice helps:)
  • chantalb20
    chantalb20 Posts: 132
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    Haha, WOW that's a big boy. My son was the same - breastfed on demand!
    I also lost all my baby weight within two weeks, i'm assuming from breastfeeding because i sure ate a lot!
    You'll know if your supply gets compromised, and upping your calories should correct it pretty quickly.
    i also found that eating a lot of oatmeal helped with my supply - maybe try that? It's yummy too which is a bonus! :)
    You've done really well in getting below your pre-pregnancy weight :).

    If you work out how much you should be eating (I don't really know how it works, but there are plenty of people on here who do!), and then add about 500 calories to it for breastfeeding, I'm sure you'll start to see results. Good luck!
  • Apresner
    Apresner Posts: 32
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    I add 500 calories. I lost 25 pounds of the 40 I gained within 2 weeks. It took me 14 weeks to lose 25 more and now my weight is crawling. I want to lose 25 more but it's going so slow now.
  • Mindmovesbody
    Mindmovesbody Posts: 399 Member
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    Hey! I've been at this for about a month and am still at the same weight, only maintaining. I'm 5'4, 143lbs and 23 years old. I entirely breastfeed my 6 month old son. My BMR for my weight is 1469 & it says I need 2000 to maintain my weight. Should I add in breastfeeding? I try and work out/ run/ walk when I can. So I consider myself lightly active. I've been eating 1700 calories give or take. Any ladies breastfeeding & having this same issue or advice? THANKS:)

    Hi there, first off, Conrats! I am breast feeding my 8 month old daughter about 5 times a day. I am 5' 4' and weigh 128.8 now. I am eating on average 1900 cals a day. I am so happy that you know your BMR and TDEE. When you figure out your TDEE, I usually suggest just going one activity level higher than you believe you are to accommodate for breast feeding. For example, if you feel you are lightly active, choose moderately active instead. This way your extra cals breast feeding are already worked into your TDEE. Then subtract 15% from your TDEE and you should continue to lose weight while maintaining a perfect milk supply!
  • Mindmovesbody
    Mindmovesbody Posts: 399 Member
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    I add 500 calories. I lost 25 pounds of the 40 I gained within 2 weeks. It took me 14 weeks to lose 25 more and now my weight is crawling. I want to lose 25 more but it's going so slow now.

    You probably need more calories and don't realize it!
  • sgjohnson89
    sgjohnson89 Posts: 9 Member
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    I've been wondering if that is what I need to do. Up my calories needed. From what MFP it recommended 1200 & then I'd add the 500 for breastfeeding so a total of eating 1700 calories. I calculated what you said for going up an activity level -15% and its saying 1935 calories. I've been doing the 1700 (on weekends we do bbq some & go venture out and try new foods. We are stationed in Germany!) SO my weekends tend to be a little higher in calories. But other than that they maybe less or 100 calories more than 1700 during the week.
  • akyooper
    akyooper Posts: 22 Member
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    With both of my kids, I didn't count calories while breastfeeding. I was able to (slowly) return to my pre-pregnancy weight with both of them, by eating healthy and exercising, but would then level out there. I just weaned my youngest in January (at 21 months), and that is when I started MFP. My advice would be to not get hung up on calories right now---eat healthy, be active, and enjoy your baby!
  • laurelderry
    laurelderry Posts: 384 Member
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    Hey! I've been at this for about a month and am still at the same weight, only maintaining. I'm 5'4, 143lbs and 23 years old. I entirely breastfeed my 6 month old son. My BMR for my weight is 1469 & it says I need 2000 to maintain my weight. Should I add in breastfeeding? I try and work out/ run/ walk when I can. So I consider myself lightly active. I've been eating 1700 calories give or take. Any ladies breastfeeding & having this same issue or advice? THANKS:)

    I only lost 8 lbs when I first started breastfeeding and hung on to the rest of the weight I had gained in pregnancy until I stopped. Unfortunately there are some individuals whose bodies respond differently. I'm quite petite, and when I'm not pregnant only weight about 120lbs, I do wonder if that was a factor at all. But regardless, don't let it get you down! It will come off eventually :)
  • Mindmovesbody
    Mindmovesbody Posts: 399 Member
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    I've been wondering if that is what I need to do. Up my calories needed. From what MFP it recommended 1200 & then I'd add the 500 for breastfeeding so a total of eating 1700 calories. I calculated what you said for going up an activity level -15% and its saying 1935 calories. I've been doing the 1700 (on weekends we do bbq some & go venture out and try new foods. We are stationed in Germany!) SO my weekends tend to be a little higher in calories. But other than that they maybe less or 100 calories more than 1700 during the week.

    Sounds like a good plan! I was eating at MFP recommended 1200 when I started. I was starving so I started adding the 500 for BF then eating back exercise cals. That worked great until I lost 9 lbs and hit a plateau. I upped my calories and started losing again. Now I go into the settings and set all my own goals based on being more educated on calorie intake. At the weight I was I should have been eating about 2100 a day when I started!
  • tmauck4472
    tmauck4472 Posts: 1,785 Member
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    I lost a ton of weight breastfeeding my son..I was shocked that all of it was done without even trying. Of course it all came back + a ton more. I had no appetite while breast feeding, had to make myself eat in order to keep my milk up for him. I wish now I could breast feed just to get back to no appetite. You know every one's different.
  • sgjohnson89
    sgjohnson89 Posts: 9 Member
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    I'm not looking to lose alot while breast feeding. My son is my first priority. However eating healthy & keeping fit is my goal while maintaining a healthy supply. I've been breastfeeding for 6 and half months now. Id just like to lose the healthy recommended weight while breastfeeding. Id like to lose at most 15lbs. With my first son I was 147 pre pregnancy. Two babies down and I am 143. Im okay with where I am, but Id like to be 130.
  • sgjohnson89
    sgjohnson89 Posts: 9 Member
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  • MelMena
    MelMena Posts: 152 Member
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    As a Mom of 3 kids all of which were breastfed past 1 year I will tell you that you need to eat A LOT! You are supporting a 22 pound human with that milk!! The average is 500 calories, but is that average for a 10 pound baby? Like you I had GIANT babies and when I ate good healthy foods - in large amounts - the pounds came off. (My babies were all around 25 pounds at 7 months - over 30 when they were weaned) Good luck!
  • nicospoon
    nicospoon Posts: 5
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    It's suggested that you don't lose more than 1lb a week (deliberately) as it could affect your supply. As long as your weight loss is slower than this there won't be any problems. I did weight watchers when bfing as they factor that in but its equivalent for 500 cals a day for EBF and I just reduced the amount the more feeds my babies dropped. With both kids I lost about 1lb a month while feeding.
  • JLPearce12
    JLPearce12 Posts: 23
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    I, also, NEVER lose weight because I am breastfeeding like some of the lucky ladies around me. I didn't read every post so I am not sure if someone already mentioned this but you can enter breastfeeding in your food journal. Just search for it and then MFP gives you options as to frequency and calculates the calories for you. I am not sure how accurate it is but using this helped me as I am an "always hungry nursing Mom" and needed to eat those calories. Good Luck!

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