Any other nursing moms?

Options
BrandiH2007
BrandiH2007 Posts: 40 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Are there any other new moms out there that are still nursing and trying to lose weight? I'm having a hard time balancing weight loss and keeping my milk supply up. Any advice?

Replies

  • ZenInTexas
    ZenInTexas Posts: 781 Member
    Options
    How old is your baby? I'm a nursing mom but my baby is almost one so milk supply isn't as much of a concern. With a younger baby that is being nursed exclusively I think you have to be careful about making sure you're eating enough. I believe you need 500 extra calories a day while exclusively nursing but you can factor those extra breastfeeding calories into your daily log. There are also a couple breastfeeding groups on here you might want to check out. :) My advice would be to take it slow and make sure you protect your milk supply, since that's the most important thing right now.:smile:
  • BrandiH2007
    BrandiH2007 Posts: 40 Member
    Options
    My baby girl just turned 3 months on the 3rd. My supply is definitely number one priority. I'll have to try and find the breastfeeding groups. Thanks
  • Macyllehub
    Macyllehub Posts: 5 Member
    Options
    My youngest is 6 months and I've lost about 17 lbs over the last 3 months. While I'm sure a great deal of that was initial loss, water, whatever - I have been maintaining a healthy, exclusively nursing, relationship with my baby. First and foremost in my mind is water. Hydration when working out and getting active is critical, even more so when nursing. Second thing is caloric intake. It does take calories to nurse and you need a healthy balance to find yourself losing slowly but also supporting your little one.

    It can be done! Good luck!
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
    Options
    My youngest is 8 1/2 months, and I have lost 30 pounds this year while maintaining my supply. Staying hydrated while eating enough is the way to go. For me at 5'7.5" and starting at 214lbs, I found that I need to eat a minimum of 2100 calories a day to keep my supply and milk quality up. Know that there are some people whose bodies will not let go of a lot of weight while nursing, but you can still focus on making healthy food choices and making exercise a habit.
  • jumpyjavajawa
    jumpyjavajawa Posts: 36 Member
    Options
    I have a 5 month old and I started working out again when she was 3 months. I make sure to eat my 500 breastfeeding calories on top of whatever calories MFP allots me.
    If you go into food and add breastfeeding it will give you a bunch of options, where you are just choose -500 calories.
    I was skipping my 500 for a while and what I noticed is that my body decided to keep making milk and stop loosing weight. I'm super grateful it choose that instead of loose weight and lower milk production!
    Like the PP said, get your 500 and makes you to drink lots of fluids.
  • BrandiH2007
    BrandiH2007 Posts: 40 Member
    Options
    My youngest is 6 months and I've lost about 17 lbs over the last 3 months. While I'm sure a great deal of that was initial loss, water, whatever - I have been maintaining a healthy, exclusively nursing, relationship with my baby. First and foremost in my mind is water. Hydration when working out and getting active is critical, even more so when nursing. Second thing is caloric intake. It does take calories to nurse and you need a healthy balance to find yourself losing slowly but also supporting your little one.

    It can be done! Good luck!

    Thanks. I definitely drink a ton of water, besides my one cup of coffee in the morning, it's pretty much the only thing I drink. I've been netting around 2000 calories a day.

    Yesterday I actually wore my HRM for 22 hours to see what I burn in a typical day and it said 2364, not counting what I burned during my workout. I would assume that would take into account what I'm burning extra to make milk, but I feel like netting 2000 a day might be losing too fast, I lost 4 lbs last week.
  • jumpyjavajawa
    jumpyjavajawa Posts: 36 Member
    Options
    Everything I've read says that it's safest to loose 2 lbs a week while nursing. I don't think the HRM would count the calories burned during milk production, they're not really programmed to do that.
    I'd talk to a lactation consultant if you're worried about loosing weight too fast while nursing. They might be able to help you figure out a balance between weight loss and milk production.
  • BrandiH2007
    BrandiH2007 Posts: 40 Member
    Options
    Thanks everyone! Using the MFP calculation my daily activity uses 2110 a day (without the calorie deficit for loss), so I think this week I will aim for that and see how things go. But based on my HRM I burned about 2500 calories yesterday (that's calculating for 2 hours based on my 1.4cal/min while I sleep) I'm assuming that the HRM takes into account what I burn to make milk. I'm not really sure that the heart rate is actually faster (burns more calories) due to producing milk though.
  • 2littlesigners
    2littlesigners Posts: 3 Member
    Options
    My son is almost 11 months old and still nursing. I just go and under the food search and search for breastfeeding. I choose the "nursing an older baby" option for 300 calories. He's down to nursing 3x a day right now, so I haven't found that my supply has changed any. I just make sure to add the breastfeeding calories on top of my regular ones.
  • Stef836
    Stef836 Posts: 15 Member
    Options
    I went through this as well. I was told drink mothers milk tea. I hated it but it helped me reduce my food cravings (only because I was drinking so much) and increased my milk supply!
  • niknak2308
    niknak2308 Posts: 315 Member
    Options
    Hey,
    Still nursing my 17mth old during the day and I allow an extra 200 per day for it.
    Up until 9mths ish I ate an extra 500cals a day and kept hydrated and I've had no problems.
    I did notice low cal weeks led to her feeding more often esp at night - i think the milk quality worsened so eat those cals!
    Good luck with it all
  • mandypizzle
    mandypizzle Posts: 633 Member
    Options
    My daughter is 2 and still nursing once or twice a day. When she was EBF I increased my calories by 500. When she started on solids around 9 months, I increased my calories by 300. I never had issues with milk supply. I really struggle with losing weight at all while bf though. I am ALWAYS hungry! I hate it. I lost 25 lbs a year ago and gained most back. That has always been my struggle with nursing. :/ I lose easily when they wean.
  • joslin2005
    joslin2005 Posts: 138
    Options
    I am a nursing mom. LO is a few days shy of 8 months. Up until a month ago, I did not watch what I ate or exercise. I lost all the pregnancy weight (60 pounds) and now working on the extra 50 pounds I put on before pregnancy. My best advice is listen to your body. Eat when your hungry, don't eat if your not hungry, eat healthy, get some rest, drink lots of water, and take a good whole foods vitamin. I recommend Nature's Plus Prenatal. Vitacost.com carries these prenatal at a low price compared to other stores.

    Also, breastfeed on demand. Baby is a far better indicator of when they should eat than any doctor or anyone else. Not to mention, when a baby goes through a growth spurt, they tend to cluster feed which increases the mother's milk supply.

    A good site to check out is kellymom.com. It has tons of information on breastfeeding. Good luck!

Categories