Weight-loss While Breastfeeding

After I finished b/fing my daughter (now 3) I lost 10 pounds in the first month. I'm b/fing my 2 month old son now and I'm concentrating on toneing instead of losing actual pounds. I have to eat/drink a lot to keep my supply up so dieting is not in the cards right now. I exercise 4 days a week just to tighten thing up some.

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I do not understand what kind of change you are expecting if you already know that your body might need to keep weight. It is true, your body does keep weight to ensure that you have enough fat in your milk for the baby. How much, varies from person to person. Congratulations for sticking with it. Do not get hung up on the scale. Get yourself a measuring tape and use that instead. You can get back on the scale after you stop breast-feeding. That is my advise to you. You do not need unnecessary stress while you are nursing either. Exercise, eat right, and keep taking your prenatal vitamins, it will help you feel energetic and you spirits lifted. Stay off the scale, its a quick road to depression. You sound like a great mom with enough to worry about.

Good luck and God bless,

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I just finished a nutrition class for the nursing program at U of L, when breastfeeding you only need 500 additional calories a day. That's like a cheeseburger and a coke. Keep that in mind. I know when I was nursing I was constantly hungry, but instead of reaching for apples, peanut butter and crackers, or a salad, I was reaching for a Skyline Cheese Coney and a sweet tea. Needless to say, it took a while for the weight to come off :) (but it did!).

T.

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Dear S. R., I am a 56 year old grandmother who nursed my own children for 5 years consecutively because they were 2 and a half years apart and the first one was not weaned when the second one was born. I was involved in La Leche League as an officer for years during and after the nursing of the kids, and I have never heard of your theory that the body holds 5-10 pounds as "just in case of a famine" weight. It does sound as though it makes sense, but I really don't think I would put much scientific thought into this theory. It took so many calories out of MY body to nurse mine, that I actually lost weight and had to work hard to eat extra high protein snacks to keep weight on. Nor did I ever hear of this when I was active in La Leche League from other nursing mothers. Although I really believe that everyone is different and this may be the case for some, but I have never heard a nursing mother complain of not being able to keep their weight down. In fact, I learned that nursing is one of the best ways to eliminate the "baby fat" that is accumulated during that 10 lunar months of pregnancy. Just eat what your appetite leads you to eat...that is, when you are hungry and need a snack in between meals, get one, just make sure it is a healthy one. This is not the time for junk food snacks, of course, but have small snacks throughout the day to keep your blood sugar up, as the milk does take a few extra calories to make. Have a snack of some kind of protein such as nut butters, cheese, milk, and REAL whole wheat or multi-grained bread with it. But as far as nursing making you hold on to weight, I, personally just don't think so. Calories, in the form of milk are going out of your body, could in fact do just the opposite. Thanks for listening. A., retired nurse.

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Yes this is typical- at least it was for me. I lost 10 lbs within about 2 mos after I stopped breastfeeding. I wish I had of known this would happen, as I went out and bought all new clothes thinking I would just carry around the extra weight forever! :)

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I SHRUNK while I was breastfeeding. I drank Ensure to make sure my body was keeping enough good stuff for my boys, but after a few months of nursing, I lost a lot of the pregnancy weight and, at one point, was smaller and weighed less than before I got pregnant. It also took some of my chest away, which I love b/c I've always been pretty top-heavy with Double D's and weighing in at 100 lbs! It will take a few months, but breastfeeding naturally boosts that metabolism, you'll be burning calories in your SLEEP in a couple months :)

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S. when I was breast feeding my son in the beginning the pounds fell of, but then I hit a wall and I stopped losing. Actually after I stopped I started to gain. He nursed for 13 months, (and if he hadn't have bit that one last time, I would have gone longer). I guess it just depends, not all women are the same. My biggest problem was that being large breasted from the start, my boobs just got bigger and never went back down to their "pre-pregnancy" size.

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Don't know how true this is, I guess everyone is different. My daughter is 8 months and I still nurse her and have steadily been losing weight. I am down 12 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. Not sure if it is due to breastfeeding or the fact that I am up and down all day. Keep with it and keep eating right and I am sure you will see a change in the scale soon!

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Yes that is true. I am going through this right now with my 2 child. He is 4 months old and the weight is coming off slowly. You can lose weight while nurseing but it takes longer. With my daughter I lost all the baby weight within 6 weeks then when I stopped nursing when she was 10 months old I lost even more weight. I was overweight when I got pregnant. This time around my son is 4 months old and I still have 12 more lbs to lose to be at my pre-pregnancy weight. It is frustrating but it is worth it for the health of the baby. I don't know if you work out but I workout 5 days a week and it in the last 2 months I have only lost 10 lbs. You burn more calories so your body holds on to weight so it can feed the baby. Thats why you are so hungry when you nurse. I hsve spoken with several other nursing mothers who experience the same thing.

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I know that this is probably not what you want to hear but my daughter is 8 months old and i still have about 20 lbs to go. I have heard alot of moms talk about loosing all there baby weight
but it is not uncommon for you to keep the weight till after you stop breastfeeding I have also heard that it takes nine months to put on so give it at least nine months to come off. I hope this helped some. you could try a website www.kellymom.com it has loads of breastfeeding information

I found that to be exactly true of my first-born. Lost everything within, I dunno, 4-6 months, except five or ten pounds. I was still at that normal+5lbs weight when I got pregnant again. This time I lost all the extra in 4-6 months and five or ten pounds more. I weigh less now than when I got pregnant with the first! Part of this I attribute to not taking birth control pills this time. Seems like they would account for a 5-10 lbs weight gain...

I actually had the opposite happen. I am still breastfeeding (7 months) and my weight just fell off, very quickly. Other friends of mine NOT breastfeeding have had a harder time getting baby weight off. I guess it just depends on the person.

I haven't read the other responses yet, but I think for a lot of women that extra weight seems to be in your breasts anyway. I nursed for 15 months and especially by 6 months, my weight was all gone, except for my breasts (which was new for me, being an "A" cup before). Usually breastfeeding helps lose weight instead of keeping any on. Thats what I have read anyway.

I tend to agree with Adra, the Nurse's response. For ME, breastfeeding made me drop weight immediately. I breastfed my first child for 15 months...as soon as I stopped I actually GAINED weight! I'm still breastfeeding my second child now who is 13 months old and dreading stopping because I might gain weight again! I guess its true, everyone is different.

For me, I held onto 5-10 pounds. Once I weaned, I lost 5-10 within a week!

Hi, yes that is true. When I stopped feeding my son, in about two months I dropped an extra 10 pounds. I am breastfeeding my second child now and have not been concerned about the extra pounds because I know it will come off when I am done.

I think also it is that while I am breastfeeding I make sure I eat enough to produce milk, but when I stop, I am less concerned about "eating enough", if that makes sense.

Amber

Oh, S.! I think it's a beautiful thing that you are such a great mom by putting your baby's health first! Don't forget that breastfeeding helps your body recover quicker, too! If you continue to eat healthy, lower calorie meals and do a little exercise (like taking walks), the weight will come right off. I breastfed my first baby exclusively for his first 5 months. By the sixth month it was like he had sucked everything right out of me! I was smaller than I was pre-pregnancy (I had gained 31 pounds while prego). It was awesome! Give it some time and enjoy this precious bonding experience, because this phase will be over sooner than you think. And feel free to toss that awful scale out the window! Congratulations and God bless!

I have to share a funny story about this with you. I gained the right 29 pounds during pregnancy and it couldn't have been more average...except the 10 lb baby that came out - reluctantly - at the end :) Many of the women in my family have kept the baby weight and never lost it so I was really nervous about not being able to lose the weight.

I didn't like breastfeeding proper -- I pumped exclusively and fed my son through the bottle. So I don't know if it was the pumping or if I'm a freak of nature, but I pumped 18 oz AT A TIME!!!! :) So I lost about 50 lbs from producing milk :)

My doctor said that I was going about this whole nursing thing the hard way since I had to spend 20 min. pumping and another 20 feeding. Then I told her how much I expressed and she said "well, youare a little heiffer, aren't you???" :)

So I lost 50 lbs from breastfeeding in about 2 months. So The whole "your body holds onto 5 lbs to produce milk" thing...not sure I buy that :)

Good luck! it's the BEST thing you can do for them! But even if it does come froma bottle, the bonding time is still there :)

I haven't heard this. I breastfed my daughter for over a year, and all of my baby weight came off within a couple of months. I just ate more while I was nursing to get in those extra calories.

Breastfeeding actually burns about 500 extra calories per day and you can generally take off all the baby weight and more while breastfeeding. I lost down to 10 lbs below what I weighed before I got pregnant and a friend of mine who breastfed for a full year went from a size 14 pre-pregnancy to a size 10 during this time.

S.
Break your addiction to the scale
Your child is More inportant then 5or 10 extra pounds
I breast fed both My daughters . My oldest is 15 and My youngest is now 12. Every child is different .
I did lose weight while breast feeding both of them.
But the weight loss didnt wanter while I was breast feeding.
Face it your body is the babys food factory until you deside to ween the chiold off your breast until then enjoy the time with the baby breast feeding youll never get it back again
Happy Mothering
C.

S.-
I have found that in my 3 experiences with breastfeeding, I would generally stay the same weight until my babies were around 5-6 m,onths old. At that time, because the nutritional requirements of the baby are so much higher, the weight would begin to drop off in major proportions. I went from a size 12 (postpartum) to a size 4 by the time my babies were 6 months old. But I have to say that everyone is different. try a little cardio exercise to burn up a little more calories and it will probably get the ball rolling.

Theoretically yes, breastfeeding DOES make you burn more calories and can result in weight loss... but most people simply eat more to compensate, so don't expect any miracles. ;)

Some people lose a little, some people don't lose any at all and a few actually gain a little. If you want to lose (don't we all), the best thing to do is try to work a little exercise into your routine. See if you can break the stroller out and enjoy the sunshine a little by taking your sons around the block once a day or so?

The biggest thing you have to worry about in breastfeeding (not so much this early, but you may as well start now) is getting enough protein and healthy fats in your diet, because the nursing will (literally) just suck it right out of you. You should be sure to eat plenty of protein every day and probably taking an Omega supplement daily would be helpful. Good luck!