Breasfeeding and Weight Loss

My aunt said she hung on to about ten extra pounds while she was breastfeeding and she guessed that that's just the weight her body needed to be at to breastfeed. Everyone is different.
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Breastfeeding can help you lose weight ladies. It can burn up to 500 cals a day. 3500 calories equals a pound, so if you are consuming too many calories in one day/week you won't lose weight! You still have to watch what you eat. Eating out or getting take out is detrimental to diet/weight loss success!! You might think you are choosing a healthy option, but often times the calories, salt, sat fat and fat in restaurant food is astounding. It takes time, but gather a shopping list and make food at home. When you have an energy burst cook batches of veggies and meals and put in fridge and freezer. When you are ravenous, a healthy meal is already made. I hope this helps.

It is happening to me. Same thing...breastfeeding, eating healthy, walking/jogging and no results. I think mine is a thyroid issue though. I hope you get yours worked out. I know how frustrating/depressing it can be. =)

Check out Dr Oz

http://www.doctoroz.com/

With my first daughter I wasn't able to lose the baby weight while nursing like they said. I found that the first month I stopped mursing I lost 5 pounds without trying. I think sometimes our bodies hold on to the fat to make sure we have enough to help with milk production. I'm also finding with my 6 month old that I have hit a plateau with weight loss and also work out. I think I will lose more once I stop nursing just like the first time. Everyone is different. Hopefully it will come off once you stop nursing.

I went through the same thing. It was very frustrating because I had heard the same thing - breastfeeding helps to lose the weight faster. I have to say, I did not eat as healthy as I should have because I was STARVING when I was nursing (I honestly think I ate more when I was nursing than when I was pregnant!!). I'm sure that had something to do with it as it was not uncommon to find me eating at 2am while I was nursing my son because my stomach was growling and he would just look up at me like, 'what was that?!?' After I quit breastfeeding most of the weight (5 more pounds to go) came off, I had to work at it, but I did lose it. Hang in there! It sounds like you are doing a great job with eating healthy and walking so much already!

I am on baby number 4 and had different experiences with all of them. All of my kids were breastfed and with the first boy, I lost the weight pretty much, not completely but I was very happy with how I looked. With boy #2 I had been on a serious health kick before I even got pregnant with him and although I gained 10 more pounds with him I dropped the weight within 3 months. I was in great shape like I was before he was born. With #3, a girl, I did all the same things as I did with #2 and didn't start to lose the weight until she was 1 1/2. Figure that one out! Now I am 40, pregnant with #4, I have gained 1/2 the weight I usually do with my babies and have no idea how it will be after.

In short, every one and every pregnancy is totally different. The only things I see that makes a total difference is what I eat, I can NOT cave, and work out EVERY day, to include cardio, weights (muscle burns fat), and walking. As soon as I waver I put the weight on again.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, just stick with a plan and your results will come through eventually.

Here is a list of food don'ts I used -
- watch your calories, keep it under 2000 per day
- no fried food
- no fast food
- no desert
- no alcohol, if you do drink have vodka in club soda & a squeeze of lime
- light on dairy
- light on red meat
- light on carbs (do not omit, too hard on your body)

Exercise tips -
- do something different every day
- mix up your cardio and weights
- make it fun
- do not miss a day

Hope this helps.

Good luck!

im sorry to inform you, but somebody told us a big lie when they said it keeps you skinny..( i recall seeing this implication on t.v., most recently was on desperate housewives where this woman is pounding down donuts, "cuase she can, because shes breastfeeding a 5 year old")...maybe AT FIRST it does, with the nipple stipmulation causing uteran contractions, that help to tighten that freshly loosened belly. But that stops. I never see skinny breastfeeding women. I think our bodies are kept soft by our nature, it stores fat as reserves to do what it is in our nature to do, which is nourish our baby.

Please dont let this stop you from breastfeeding.

I rollerblade every single day, do pilates 4 times a week, i eat a healthy vegetarian/organic diet based strictly on calorie consumption and fiber, and only ingest good fats, im very educated on the subject of nutritional health and i know i am not overlooking something.

I cant lose 10 lbs to save my life, although 40 lbs is what im trying to lose ( i want to be back down to 135),,,,,(foolish i know)

I am still breastfeeding, my baby is 21 months old, i plan on stopping when she is ready. When you stop is up to you, but please dont do it to lose weight, you will regret that being why.

You and I just need to keep doing what we are doing, we wont breastfeed forever, and we wont be soft forever.

It is common to hang on to 3-5 pounds when you are still breastfeeding. I think it is our body's way of protecting the milk supply if we don't eat.

I think it depends...With my daughter I lost all my baby weight and then some. With my son I gained weight AFTER I had him! I wasn't sleeping well for a long time after I had him though and I think it messed up my metabolism. If you aren't sleeping, that could be a big part of the problem.

Best of luck~ You'll get there!

I do think that it is a myth that women lose weight breastfeeding. I was told that too, but I don't know any women that lost weight breastfeeding until at least 4 months if ever. My dr told me that I will retain water weight while breastfeeding, so to expect to see a weight 'loss' of 6-10 lb whenever I stop just from that. I am still nursing, so I don't know if that will happen.

I have lost about 8 lb since my son was born 10 months ago, but I think most of that is because I have been so busy at work I don't have time for a big lunch. Now that I don't need to spend my lunch break pumping (my son is down to only 1 5oz bottle at daycare), maybe I'll see that loss slow down. I still have another 12-14 lb to go to reach my pre-baby weight.

I couldn't lose ANY weight while I was bf-ing either of my girls. For the first we lost milk supply @6 months so it wasn't so noticeable, but with DD2 we squeaked by for a year (almost)...so it was very frustrating. About 6 weeks after she was completely weaned (around 13-14 months) it finally started to come off slowly. Now, I have a hard time losing weight anyway and it goes very slow, but in the past 5 months I made it down 10 pounds, which included a couple really big hiccups like an eating and drinking spree on a vacation in Vegas and again on my birthday (week.... haha).....

So hang in there. Even with eating perfectly, exercise, sleep etc I just could NOT lose it while bfing. Not more than a pound which would inevitably come back. Sadly the bf-ing and weight loss don't come for everbody :(

I didn't go back to my original size until I had completely finished breastfeeding at 16 months. For the first year I was just too hungry feeding the two of us and too tired to exercise much as I had a bad sleeper. It bummed me out to see some mom's go back to their original weight within a few months but there wasn't much that I could do about it. It was just a slow and steady journey of healthy eating and long walks. Good luck.

some people i know lot the weight right away from breastfeeding. some lost the weight when they stopped breastfeeding (only like 5 pounds though) that their body was holding onto.

me, i gained a few pounds when i stopped and was 31. i guess i was eating the same after i stopped, and taking in too many calories. i was so mad.

dont go crazy, just keep breastfeeding until you are done, then go on a more strict diet, and once you get to your goal weight, find a nice maintenance. everyone is so different when it comes to weight. also take into your age, where your metabolism may have naturally slowed sometime recently, but between pregnancy and after, you havent had a chance to really notice.

and with my first, who i bottle fed, i didnt get back to normal(although it was still more than before pregnancy) until about 18 months, but i was in my twenties and i def think there was a difference. good luck, dont worry, it will work out:)

Wow Amanda G., that is some interesting information. I am still nursing my son who is 28 months old. At didn't lose any weight until he was 8-10 months old and I nursed ALOT! I lost all the weight I gained while pregnant and I actually looked thinner than I had before I got pregnant (a trainer told me it was probably due to muscle loss).
Anyway 18 months later I am not that thin...I have gained approx 20 lbs and I am working out more now than I did then. Plus I went up a size or two in my pants ); major bummer...I did think I was lucky and eat anything I wanted to when I started loosing all that weight (similar to that episode of desperate housewives - Lol!) So I know my eating habits are partially to blame. However one would think if I am still nursing maybe not as frequently, but still 4-5 times a day that I would be able to maintain the weight loss or at least not gain 20 lbs! Lol. Oh well...guess that's the way it goes. You are doing something great for your child your body will eventually come around just eat healthy (unlike me) and keep up on the walking.