New mom breastfeeding and trying to lose weight

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  • AprilBurns86
    AprilBurns86 Posts: 60
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    As a mom of 6 and I did breastfeed all of them for 14months-2.5years.

    I just wanna say that this is really amazing to me. Congratulations on doing the best for your babies!! =)
  • danifo0811
    danifo0811 Posts: 542 Member
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    Do the same thing as you would if you were not breastfeeding but add 500 calories.

    What I would do, if I were breastfeeding, is set my goal to "maintain current weight." You will burn calories by breastfeeding, creating a deficit.


    this. I find if I go below 1800 my baby gets cranky because there isn't enough milk.
  • misslouisiana
    misslouisiana Posts: 37 Member
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    like someone else said, go walking! any exercise will help you. yoga!

    i had a carrier strapped to my chest for when i walked around the mall, that made me tense my abs/back the entire time.


    I love that idea. It sure beats taking a stroller out every time.
  • Recovering_for_cupcakes
    Recovering_for_cupcakes Posts: 57 Member
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    Everyone here is saying it perfectly. Take healthy steps to make you feel good about your efforts and your progress but try and remember that like someone said: "You need to eat the healthiest food to make the healthiest food." I was too worried about my body and my weight when I was BFing and I tanked my supply and couldn't get it back. My daughter is wonderful and healthy and happy and nursed for 4 months but I regret almost daily that I wasn't able to do what was best for her.
  • Lainn
    Lainn Posts: 281 Member
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    Congrats on your little one!
    What I suggest (and what I did) was to set my calories at 1700. It might seem high, but while nursing every 2-3hours your body really needs that to maintain it's supply. One of my friends on here even found me an article that said bf moms shouldn't go below 1650. So until my daughter was older and only nursing a few times a day that is what I did.

    Or you can set it lower and then add breastfeeding (you can find it under foods) which gives you a added 500 calories for the day.

    As for exercise like pp said walking with the stroller is great! I have a mommy group that meets every thur at the park and instead of driving my kids and I walked. I started walking to the grocery store instead of driving and things like that. Since I have younger kids my rule was if it takes longer than 30min (walking) we will drive. Luckily we live in a pretty central area and restaurants, library, grocery store, ect are all in walking distance.

    If you want a more intensive exercise you could always ask your OB when you are allowed to do such exercise and maybe even get tips on how to ease back into harder exercises.

    Don't push yourself too much...your body does need this time to heal from birth and to return itself back to a postpartum state (takes about one year).
  • theaimster30
    theaimster30 Posts: 63 Member
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    #1, your milk supply is more important than your weight loss. You can focus more on your weight after weaning.
    #2, OATMEAL is an excellent choice for breakfast. Healthy AND it boosts milk supply. Not sure why this is, but I learned it in my Breastfeeding meetings.
    #3, Mothers Milk Tea & Fenugreek are great for increasing milk supply. They can be found in health food stores & health food sections of some grocery stores (Kroger/Fred Meyer, etc. ) For the Fenugreek supplements to be effective, take 3-4 capsules 3-4 times a day.
    #4, have a glass of water everytime you sit down to nurse.


    I hope that helps!
  • sbrBirdy
    sbrBirdy Posts: 224 Member
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    Congratulations!!

    Everyone has already given you great advice - I would just add that I had a very difficult time losing weight while breastfeeding, as I was starving all the time. Definitely avoid crash dieting. If you stick with clean, healthy foods, I would say eat as much as you need. You'll be sleep deprived so you might not feel like doing crazy workouts, but strap the baby in a carrier while you're doing chores or getting some fresh air outside. It's soothing to them and will help you burn calories.

    Best of luck to you and the new little one!
  • AprilBurns86
    AprilBurns86 Posts: 60
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    Eating stuff like oatmeal is good for you and good for your supply.

    Yes, I forgot to mention this!! Steel-cut oats, Mother's Milk Tea, and Lactation Cookies can all help with supply, should issues arise.
  • mmmyotwnz
    mmmyotwnz Posts: 119 Member
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    Congratulations on your new addition!

    As far as loosing weight for a diet, there isn't really anything you can do. You have to have the extra calories for milk production or your supply will become limited over time. Be aware that around 8 & 12 weeks your baby will probably hit a growth spurt and you will increasing your milk supply. You may be doing a lot more nursing/pumping than you realize. That being said, there are a lot of things you can do to tone up. One of the benefits of breastfeeding is that your body will help take care of some of the baby weight for you.

    The things you can do....
    Walk, walk a lot! Not only does the baby love being outside but the she/he will be soothed by the stroller, especially if it is a fussy day. This allows you to increase your heart rate, work up a sweat a bit and kick up your metabolism and you will benefit from the endorphins from exercise.
    Drink tons of water....more so than the recommended 8 glasses. Don't forget to take your vitamins and eat plenty of veggies, fruit and protein.
    Stretching- nothing saying you can't stretch your muscles out, you have had a busy 6 weeks.
    Yoga/Pilates - very good for working out the muscle groups. Go easy at first.
    While the baby is napping- you can do lunges with some low weights, push ups, crunches(taking care if you had a C) reverse crunches, jumping jacks etc...

    Good Luck.

    I've nursed all 4 of mine, including a set of twins.
  • Mindmovesbody
    Mindmovesbody Posts: 399 Member
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    Congrats!!! When I first started I just used MFP's calorie settings, added in the food diary 'breast feeding' and it gives you an extra 500 calories. As long as you are eating enough you can safely exercise, breast feed and lose weight! Make your calories count when you eat! Good luck!!!
  • Jezebel9
    Jezebel9 Posts: 396 Member
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    when I tried to lose weight by restricting my diet when I was breastfeeding, I lost my milk supply and had to scramble to do things to get it back. I think I might have done better if I tackled exercise first, and modified my food choices slowly and gently.
    Good luck!
  • jahall76
    jahall76 Posts: 328 Member
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    Congrats on your new addition.

    From my personal experience with breastfeeding both my kids (and I stress this was "my" experience and everyone is different), when I started to cut back on my calories, my milk dried up and dried up quickly. With my 1st child, I was unaware that a calorie deficit would have such an inpact in my body. I was anxious to lose the baby weight and set too many restrictions on calories. I definitely should not have done that. Breastfeeding alone burns so many calories. I definitely encourage eating healthy good foods, just make sure you are eating enough calories.

    This was a few year ago and prior to MFP. All of the prior posts offer good suggestions, as far a setting increases to your calorie settings intake on MFP, etc. However, my opinion is not even count calories at this point. Just eat healthy choices, and drink plenty of water!

    Good luck!
  • bkknights
    bkknights Posts: 93 Member
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    Kellymom.com has great resources. I suggest LOTS of water, oatmeal (old fashioned) and supplements. I used More Milk Plus. Its expensive but I saw a difference. I'm nursing my second now and have noticed a dip so I need to follow my own advice :)
  • CajunNino
    CajunNino Posts: 269
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    My sister is a lactation consultant and runs one of the parish breastfeeding coalitions and my wife and I just had another baby girl, to which she is baby number three to be breastfed. Point is: I probably know more about this subject that most men would even want to know...lol. My wife has maintained a balanced diet of lean proteins, fiber, and lots of veggies and water.... and has dropped 65 lbs. My sister says her boost is from breastfeeding, where she can lose 500 calories a day.

    I'm just trying to catch up to her. If interested, I can give you more detail of her diet and routine.

    Nino
  • CajunNino
    CajunNino Posts: 269
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    My sister is a lactation consultant and runs one of the parish breastfeeding coalitions and my wife and I just had another baby girl, to which she is baby number three to be breastfed. Point is: I probably know more about this subject that most men would even want to know...lol. My wife has maintained a balanced diet of lean proteins, fiber, and lots of veggies and water.... and has dropped 65 lbs. My sister says her boost is from breastfeeding, where she can lose 500 calories a day.

    I'm just trying to catch up to her. If interested, I can give you more detail of her diet and routine.

    Nino
    Forgot to add that my wife's milk supply hasn't been harmed in any way as she still gets healthy calories in, plus there has been plenty for baby.

    Funny story, when my 6 yr-old daughter saw mommy breastfeeding she was excited to tell me: "Daddy, guess what is coming out of mama's boobies? Milk!! But it's not chocolate or anything, just white milk." LOL

    (Yeah, I was kinda bummed to find that out)
  • awheat2012
    awheat2012 Posts: 2
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    Thank you for all the great advice and well wishes, I really appreciate it!!!
  • AprilBurns86
    AprilBurns86 Posts: 60
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    Funny story, when my 6 yr-old daughter saw mommy breastfeeding she was excited to tell me: "Daddy, guess what is coming out of mama's boobies? Milk!! But it's not chocolate or anything, just white milk." LOL

    (Yeah, I was kinda bummed to find that out)

    Bahahaha! I can totally see my 7 year old daughter saying that. She has a 6 month old little brother who is breastfeeding lol. And I can see my husband being bummed, too...hahahahha

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