Breastfeeding & Weight Loss

Wondering if anyone can shed some light on this.  I've been exclusively breastfeeding my son since he was born - four months now.  I have also been working out like I was pre-pregnancy, cardio and weights at least four times a week for about an hour total.  I am also still about 25 pounds above what I weighed before I was pregnant.  If I'm being really honest with myself, I am really more like 30 lbs more.

So I figure that the breastfeeding burns about 500 calories per day and my workout burns about 400 calories, and when I was losing weight before I ate about 1700 calories per day and lost the usual amount: 1-2 lbs per week.  So should I be adding on the breastfeeding calories on top of that to lose weight again?  I'm just starting to count calories again after being pregnant and post partum.  Has anyone had success losing weight like they did before?  I feel like my body is being really stubborn with the fat.  I also want to make sure that I am eating enough to keep up my supply since I do want to exclusively breastfeed for at least a few more months.

I think I might just pick a number, like maybe around 2200-2400 calories and see what happens after a couple of weeks.  Any advice??

This is a hard question to answer because everyone's body is different.  I cut down to 1500 calories a day, work out an hour a day and breastfeed exclusively also and produce alot.  Kennedy is 9 weeks this Monday and I honestly was back down to normal within two weeks cause I only gained 20lbs and worked out the entire time.  But I was told at first to eat 300 over my pregnancy calories and I did at first and the weight was coming off fast and then of course it just stopped after two weeks with like 3lbs to go.  Slowly I started cutting back on calories to get the fatty tummy back to normal and when I did the weight slowly started coming off and my milk production was never hurt.  But seriously, I can lose 2-3 lbs a week if I wanted to before breastfeeding and now there is no way possible, about a pound a week if I am lucky.  I tried to ass more calories two weeks ago to test it and began gaining weight.  I would say play with the number of calories, if you lose the weight then do it, if not slowly lose calories and if your production slows then maybe the weight will stay on till you wean your baby.  This is all the stuff my doctor and my friends that have breastfed told me.

Today is my last day breastfeeding my son. He turns 1 tomorrow. I've done a lot of reading on breastfeeding the last year so here's what I know.

First of all, I'm 5'3" and was 128 before getting pregnant. I gained 40 pounds during my pregnancy and lost it all by 4 months postpartum. In order to lose weight AND keep my milk supply up, I had to eat at least 1900 calories per day and I'm not nearly as active as you are.

After about 6-12 weeks if you have a normal milk supply (enough to feed your baby with little or no excess) or after 6-9 months if you have an over supply, your milk production switches from being hormone-driven to being supply and demand. The more milk you produce, the more calories you burn. I read that a rough estimate is 20 calories per ounce of milk produces. I was able to easily gauge how much milk I was producing because I was pumping at work. I burned 650-800 calories a day.

I did have a point where my weight loss stalled between 6 and 12 weeks postpartum. I was restricting my calories too much and once I upped them, my milk supply doubled and I started losing weight at about 3 pounds per week without exercise.

After my first child was born, I had trouble losing the weight despite breastfeeding. I think that was because I was eating too little.

I think your idea of picking a number between 2200 and 2400 calories a day is a good starting point. You can slowly decrease them if you maintain/gain until you find just the right number. And as your baby starts eating more solids, you'll probably have to reevaluate the numbers again.

I've also heard that women's bodies hold onto roughly 10 pounds until breastfeeding stops. Like emergency reserves. I know I've had an extremely hard time losing past my prepregnancy weight. I'm trying to make it to about 115/120 and can't seem to lose it.

Hope that helps!

I think my main problem is that I quit counting calories when I was pregnant.  I only gained about 40 lbs, but have only lost about 15lbs of that.  I was very active during my pregnancy and only stopped working out (but still walking and doing easy stuff) at about 38 weeks.  Before I was pregnant I would eat about 2000 calories to maintain, if, like poster #1, I cut down to 1500 calories I would probably pass out.

I'm just frustrated because it is seemingly harder to lose now that it was before.  Also, I'm mad at myself for getting bigger again.  I'm pumping at work and breastfeeding when I'm with him, and I just barely have enough to keep him from formula so that's why I worry about supply.  I want to keep him breastfed as long as possible.

My son has had one bottle of formula a day since I went back to work. I just couldn't pump enough for his 4 daily feedings while I was away. I think it's frustrating because breastfed babies take more milk per feeding when it's out of a bottle than when they're at the breast. At least, that was MY biggest frustration: knowing that when I nursed him, he was content but emptying both breasts into one bottle wasn't enough milk for him.

It was hard for me to get started counting calories again after my pregnancy. I went a little overboard with it and had to stop counting because I was being too restrictive. Now I'm ready to get back into it!

Original Post by bier:

Not to digress, but i am in the exact same boat! my LO turned 3 months today and i've been pumpng at work and nursing at home and the milk is *barely* enough. When i was breastfeeding him directly the milk was more then enough and now I have to supplement with formula every so often. It drives me nuts!!

I gained about 25 pounds during pregnancy and have lost about 20 lbs to be back at 126lbs ..the last 5 lbs just dont seem to be going..frustrating! I"m on a 1700-1900 cal diet and no time to work out.

We went in for our 4 month check up and the pediatrician told me that she didn't think I would have to supplement.  She said that around 3-4 months, most women start to think they're going to have to, but then the supply goes up.  So I'm holding out.  I'm taking 2 capsules of Fenugreek four times a day, drinking Mother's Milk tea, and taking another herbal supplement called Mother's Lactation Tonic.  I think it's working: sometimes when I pump I get 3 oz, sometimes 5 oz.  She also told me that I should be taking enough Fenugreek that my pee starts to smell like maple syrup. 

My real question comes down to this: can I eat at a deficit enough to lose weight and not have my supply suffer?  It seems like enough new moms lose weight after pregnancy that it's possible.  I do exercise a lot and have been eating around 22-2400 calories a day to gradually lose the weight. 

I tried Fenugreek. I took enough that my sweat smelled like syrup. It increased my supply for a couple days and that was it. Sometimes it just doesn't work. I just had to pump as much as I could and on a regular basis to maintain my supply.

I couldn't have much of a deficit because it did impact my milk supply. I tried going down to 1500 or so (I'm only 5'3") and I went from pumping 3-4 ounces per session to 1-2 ounces. As soon as I upped my calories, my supply went back up. I also had to eat more healthy fats.

I basically ate my pre-pregnancy maintenance calories and let my nursing burn rate be my deficit. Maybe you should try that and see how it goes.

Original Post by dog_lady:

 I'm pumping at work and breastfeeding when I'm with him, and I just barely have enough to keep him from formula so that's why I worry about supply.  I want to keep him breastfed as long as possible.

One thing you need to understand is pumping isnt as efficient as nursing.  There is only so much milk  you can extract while pumping.  Baby's are much better at it then an artificial method will ever be.

That being said I dont know how you ladies in the States manage going back to work after 4 months :(   Seems so unfair to the health of your babies.

Here in Canada if you pay into Unemployment Insurance and have enough weeks then you can take 1 year off and still return to your same job or an equivalent position at the same wage you left at.

I only took 7 weeks off :( The money stopped coming in after that and I would lose my insurance benefits until I went back.

Anyway, pumps are definitely not as efficient as baby. My kids would only nurse on one side and be content but I would have to pump twice as much. Check this out from KellyMom (http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/pumping_de crease.html):

Most moms who are nursing full-time are able to pump around 1/2 to 2 ounces total (for both breasts) per pumping session. Moms who pump more milk per session may have an oversupply of milk, or may respond better than average to the pump, or may have been able to increase pump output with practice. Many moms think that they should be able to pump 4-8 ounces per pumping session, but even 4 ounces is an unusually large pumping output.

It is quite normal to need to pump 2-3 times to get enough milk for one feeding for baby (remember that the pump cannot get as much milk as a baby who nurses effectively).