Not losing weight while breastfeeding :(

I am a mother of a 4 year old and 6 month old.  I gained over 70 pounds with the new baby, and have only lost 35 pounds (20 of it within the first 6 weeks).  I nurse on demand,  around the clock.  I do 40 minutes of cardio (stair climber/elliptical) 4-5 days a week.  To maintain this weight, I need over 2000 calories/day, not counting extras for nursing.  I am fairly sure I do not exeed this amount of calories, but I am going to start counting to make sure.  The weight is just not coming off, like I would like.  Does anyone have any advice or have been in a similar situation?  It's a little frustrating to have such a large baby, and still be so overweight myself. 

YES!! This happened to me with my first one. Get your thyroid checked. I found out with my second baby, finally, that I have hypothyroidism, common after pregnancy (you get it for life, though). The prescription is very very cheap (like $16 for three months) and there's no risk.

If the first doctor won't do it for you, go around looking for a more enlightened one. I had three doctors tell me I should just expect to be exhausted and depressed all the time because I was a single mom. Bah! I feel a hundred times better now that I am on thyroid hormones as I should be!

Christa, also a yogini mama

I, too, had this happen. After my first child, my doctor found my thyroid count was low during a routine blood test at my annual physical (at 3 months PP). I went in and had a thyroid scan that found several small (benign) cysts on my thyroid. I was not prescribed any medication and I eventually lost the weight after I stopped breastfeeding and was very strict with my calorie intake.

I have just recently had my second child and have found myself in the same weight-loss pattern as my first child. I immediately lose 20-ish pounds and then plateau. My 6-week PP checkup this time around did not show any thyroid issues (I'm not sure my doctor checked for any problems). I have lost 3 pounds between my 6 week checkup and now (3 months PP).

I'm not sure my thyroid is causing my weight issues. I simply think (and I've stated this on several threads) that I cannot lose much weight while breastfeeding. I just make sure I'm eating well, drinking enough water and slowly introducing exercise back into my routine (I had c-sections with both babies). I'm okay with not losing the rest of the weight until after breastfeeding because (to me) breastfeeding is more important than losing the weight.

Having your thyroid checked may not be a bad idea. As christathin said, it's fairly common to have thyroid issues after pregnancy. Should you choose to have this test run and it doesn't show any problems, you may just have a body like mine that wants to hold onto that weight while breastfeeding!

Good luck!

*edited to correct spelling

Totally never lost all the weight until I was completely done breastfeeding and free to restrict my calorie intake as needed. Never had my thyroid checked?!?! Can't hurt if you are working extremely hard and getting no results.

Good luck!!!

I am going throug the exat same thing. After I had my first baby in which I gained about 70 lbs. I lost it all fairly quickly and then started piling on lbs about a year later. Turned out my thyroid was way off. I went in to a hyper mode right after the baby (resulting in losing the weight quickly) and then went into an hypo mode. this time around my thyroid levels all check out. I gained about 60 lbs this time around and only lost about 25 in the first 6 weeks. I haven't lost a thing since then. It is very frustrating. I have been exercising but not consistenly. Well about 3 weeks ago I started exercising consistenly and watching what I was eating and still no weight loss. I will lose a lb and then gain a lb. Yet my milk supply has gone down from dieting. I am just convinced my body will not let go of the weight until I quit breastfeeding. i am trying to establish healthy exercise habits right now so that when I am done breastfeeding I will have those habits and it will help me lose the weight then. At least I hope so.

I found the same thing with both my children, but the problem wasn't my thyroid. There is a theory that a woman's body holds onto some fat during breastfeeding for times of famin, obviously not relevent to todays food supply. However, thousands of years ago there were many times throughout the year when food supply was less and the theory says that our bodies have changed to accomodate for this. As soon as I stopped breastfeeding the weight came off rather quickly.

Well, how long did it take you to loose the weight the first time? My dad told me after my first baby that you can expect it to take about twice as long to get the weight off as it did to put it on.

So, loosing half of your pregnancy weight in 6 months is AWESOME!!!

Try tweaking your cal intake. Your body may be in a plateau. Baby should be starting baby foods soon, so the demand on you should be down. You could probably start cutting your cals by, oh, 300 or so. That should jumpstart the weight loss again.