breastfeeding moms

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How many calories are you eating? When you set up your goals what did you put in lose apound a week or mantain? I'm really wanting to get the weigh off but don't want it to effect my milk suppy. Any advise?

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  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
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    Hi:) I'm currently breastfeeding my 8 month old, and by base before exercise but with breastfeeding calories is 2290 (1890 + 400 for breastfeeding - she's eating between 12-16 ounces of solid food, and still has around 8 full nursing a day). I'm 5'7.5", currently 184.4, and set at lightly active, as I'm at home on mat leave and chasing after my 26 month old all day long. My weight loss is set to .8 pounds a week, so a deficite of -400 a day, so in essence, I'm eating at maintenance without accounting for breastfeeding.

    Before mfp, I was eating around 1800 calories a day, and while the volume of my supply was good, my milk quality was not the best - my daughter was gaining around 3 ounces a week, and when I upped my intake, her gain increased to the good 6-10 ounces a week (this was before I started her on solids). Since you are so close to your goal, I would set yourself to .5lb/week, and include breastfeeding calories (If you don't know how, search breastfeeding in the food database and select the option that best suits your situation.
  • bm99
    bm99 Posts: 597 Member
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    I would suggest maintaining until your supply is firmly established, then maybe drop down to .5 a week, then 1 a week but watch your supply as you lower your calories. Make sure to log that you are breastfeeding!

    Just make sure you are getting adequate nutrition and fat! Baby needs your milk to be as nutritious as it possibly can be, and it can't go in your milk if you aren't eating it. Try to skip nonfat or "diet" foods.

    ETA: It seems safer to just eat at maintenance and not log breastfeeding. That will create it's own deficit and you don't want to risk baby's supply or nutrition.
  • kristinL16
    kristinL16 Posts: 401 Member
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    I am 5'0 tall and weigh 144. I have my calories set at 1700. MFP put me at 1200 then I added 500 for breastfeeding. When using a calculation of TDEE minus 20% then adding 500 it is not much different than that, so I just kept that goal.
  • kristinL16
    kristinL16 Posts: 401 Member
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    How old is baby?
  • Mindmovesbody
    Mindmovesbody Posts: 399 Member
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    I figured out my TDEE and set my activity level one higher than it is to account for breast feeding. I am eating at a 15% deficit of my TDEE for a one pound a week weight loss. It's going great. I'm 5'4" currently 128 lbs and eating approx 1900 cals a day.
  • JennsRAQ
    JennsRAQ Posts: 132 Member
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    I have my goal set to 1lb a week and then add 500 calories to my food diary (Search for "breastfeeding" and there are several options) which shows as negative 500 so it adds it to my daily goal. I usually eat around 1900-2100 cals and my baby is 7 weeks old. I've been doing it since 5 days postpartum... my weight loss in my ticker is from that day to now. :)
  • RawCarrots
    RawCarrots Posts: 204 Member
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    The usual suggestion is to add 500 extra for exclusively breastfed baby. Not sure how old your little one is but if you are in the first couple of months of breastfeeding tbh I would make sure first you get enough nourishment and concentrate on healthy foods, and worry about the calories later. I know I'm probably going to be slated for saying this, especially on a site like MFP, but you really do need your energy those first few months! (if this is not your first breastfed baby you probably already know this so excuse my unwated advice ;)

    I have a 10 month old and he barely has 3-4 bf in 24 hours so I'm not adding any extra calories. I do know my body very well though, he is my 3rd and in any sign of supply dropping will up the calories slightly. I also know *heavy* excercise may affect your supply, no personal experience there as I never excersiced *blush* but couple of times a week, or a walk every day shouldn't bother the baby ;)

    I'm one of those people who put on weight while breastfeeding as I'm forever starving!! I was way skinnier after the birth than I was 6 months later
  • Flafster
    Flafster Posts: 106 Member
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    I think it's actually really hard to calculate.
    Children feed in completely different ways, as with everything else baby related. Your body will also react differently.
    My firstborn was ALL about the milk. She fed so much I was hungrier than I had every been in my life, including pregnancy. I had to learn to bake as I was getting through serious numbers of cakes a week. I still lost about 2 1/2 stone. The biggest losses came after a year though as older children have bigger bellies to fill. Annoyingly, my second child was much more relaxed about milk and I put on all the weight I lost the first time.

    In general, aim for maintenance, aim for healthy living. Don't do any drastic dieting and see how your body responds. In most cases, the body will prioritise the milk production over your health, just as in pregnancy. It takes serious malnutrition (for you) to significantly alter the composition of the milk. You'll feel like crap though if you're not eating enough good stuff.

    As Rawcarrots says though, it's a tough time having a young baby / child. Be kind to yourself and listen to your body. Take care of it and feed it good stuff when you can, get good snacks around for those days when you're too busy chasing your tail to cook well, or those bored 'itchy mouth' moments where and if you properly have The Hunger, eat.
    :)
  • mami2threeboys
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    jus the thread i was looking for, i am going to just add 500 cals to my suggested intake =) good luck mamas!
  • noynoyavery
    noynoyavery Posts: 342 Member
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    exactly as Flafster said. My little one is 9.5 months now and only feed 2-3 times a day and if he wakes at night, hes almost full weaned onto food now (blw) at the beginning g i didnt count calories or anything until we started weaning about 6 months? And i lost almost a 1lb every week, to me that was my time to enjoy just being a post birth mummy and when he wanted food it was like oh ok he's getting older now, im "allowed" to and should do something else , so i just cut out junk which helped and i still lost 1lb a week from then on, its been the last 2 months ive only lost maybe 1/4 of that , enjoy your boob feeding journeys , little one definatly seems to be losing interest more each week
  • abetterjune
    abetterjune Posts: 219
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    Here's my opinion:

    Your child will only be breast feeding for a limited amount of time.
    You'll have quite a bit of time when they're done to lose weight.

    My suggestion would be to log all your intake and exercise but not aim for a specific calorie goal. Aim for nutritional goals like 8-12 veggies and fruit, good quality whole grains, lean proteins. That way, you can enjoy breastfeeding (such a special and short amount of time, imo!!) but when your child weans, you'll already have a great base for beginning weightless.

    Also, from my own personal experience, I dropped all the baby weight (except 5 lbs) in less than 4 months breastfeeding with little to no exercise (three leisurely 4 mile walks a week). And, I gained 65 lbs in my pregnancy. Soooo just saying.

    Good luck.
  • him1025
    him1025 Posts: 44
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    i wished i had seen this thread when i was nursing my youngest. my body latched on to calories when i was nursing. my advice would just add 500 extra caloried and make sure you add that you are nursing like pp have said and when you get to the point where baby isnt nuring much anymore or when you wean then i would drop your calorie count.
  • AmandaBroach
    AmandaBroach Posts: 3 Member
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    I'm so glad I found this. All of your advice has been most helpful! My body likes to hang on to the extra wt after my babies and I struggle to get it off. I'd like to get it all off by my daughter's first birthday (which is 20lbs in 5 months) and then finish to my weight loss goal.