Slim-Fast While Breastfeeding

I would wait - it's only 4 more months. In the meantime definitely excersise and eat healthily, but I wouldn't 'diet' until your daughter is weaned - or at least able to drink regular milk. I don't think there's anything harmful in it, but I do rememeber reading on their website that they do not recommend using their products while pregnant or nursing.

I lost weight with Slim-Fast before getting pregnant too and plan to use it once again AFTER my baby is weaned. I just figure it's more important for her to get as much breastmilk as possible than it is for me to look good in a bikini ;)

While it's not as fast, it's better for you and your daughter to lose weight the traditional way of eating well, exercising, and breastfeeding. Nutritionally, it's better for you both.

I think if you really want to loose weight while breastfeeding, you should do it the "old fashioned way" of going for walks, eating right and drinking lots of water.

Right now your body is working VERY hard to take care of you AND make breastmilk. It's an amazing entity. Don't put unnecessary stress and pressure on your body right now to try to lose weight too by cutting back on nutrition.

I too am a BFing Mom. I have cut out most sodas and treats, been eating more fruits and veggies, less grains, almost no white breads/crackers and TRYING to hydrate with water as much as possible. I have been walking or playing with my kids more. It's a PLAN and a process.

I hope this helps you. Don't worry about the weight! Take care of yourself and your baby. It will do LOADS to just get up, off your butt, eat good and it will happen on it's own.

Just in case you didn't know this - your body is DESIGNED to retain weight when you BF. It's a biological safety so in the event there wasn't enough food, your body would use the body fat to convert to energy and make breastmilk. So please know that your body is doing what it's supposed to do by holding onto SOME weight naturally.

I would go with Luna Bars and eat healthy. I dropped 12 pounds just switching to a Lunda bar and organic milk for lunch :)

Slim fast - not so sure about . . . You don't want to super-constrict your diet.

The only diet program that I know if which is approved for nursing moms is Weight Watchers. They have certain eating guidelines (and points) specifically designed for nursing moms.

I don't know of anything else my doctor would have let me try while nursing, and Slim-Fast is pretty extreme calorie limitation, especially during the first 2/3 of the day. Even more than losing your milk supply, do all you can to avoid dehydration.

I would wait to try anything that restricts your calories until after you are finished breastfeeding. My experience is that your body is REALLY reluctant to let go of those extra pounds while you are nursing, you are likely to have an easier time and more success if you just wait a few months. Eat healthy foods now, and get plenty of exercise (if you can with an 8 month old!) and save the dieting until you wean your daughter.

Dieting and being pregnant or nursing is typically a no-no. But, if you are eating healthy, exercising and still nursing, the extra calories used for both nursing and exercising should burn weight off and help you lose until you wean your baby. If you are the type that tends to crave high calorie foods and actually gain weight while nursing, I would recommend a totally different diet approach.

There's a book called Real Food, What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck. She also wrote a book called Real Food for Mother and Baby. Since we started eating real food, we have all lost weight, my husband's cholesteral has gone down and my 10 month old twins whom I am breastfeeding are still gaining weight and thriving. We are all much healthier and I get to eat all kinds of satisfying foods that I used to avoid. It's more a lifestyle change than a "diet," so we've been able to stick to it as we have gradually made all the changes. First by buying only organic fruits and vegetables. Then switching to grass-fed beef and no industrial beef. Then eating farm eggs instead of store bought. Switching to raw, whole milk. Etc, etc. It's been amazing, but the cost was getting to be a bit much.

Now we buy our meat in bulk from local farmers and we started making our own bread which save a ton of money. We also started following the Nourish Kitchen Real Food Challenge.

It's been a lot of fun!

What worked for me while I was breastfeeding was Weight Watchers. I lost all of my baby weight and then some and breast fed the whole time.
While on weight watchers I cut out bread and ate whole milk yogurt and lots of fruits and veggies and lean meats. The weight came right off and I wasn't really exercising at all. I would stay away from slim-fast because of all chemicals in it, you don't want your baby getting those. The one thing I really liked about Weight Watchers was weighing my food, because I found I was really eating more than I should be.

I did with both of my kids and they were chubby, happy nursers (and I could probably have fed about five more at any given time) so I had no issues with milk production. I found nursing was really the best thing for me, coupled with watching my total calories (never less than 1500) and exercising every day. Slim Fast is convenient and tasty, and I don't think it has anything harmful, but double-check the manurfacturer information. Their website might have information about nursing and using Slim Fast.

I actually ended up eating a lot of Clif Bars while nursing because you can get them in chocolate and they have a lot of protein, which I struggle to get enough of. But yeah, breastfeeding usually requires at least 500 extra calories a day, so factor that in with some exercise and drinking lots of water and eating well, and it can work wonders for you. (Or it did for me--I guess it doesn't for everyone).

I sometimes want a Slim Fast shake...pregnant again so waiting, but they're tasty!!

UPDATE: Actually, I know I looked at their website when I was breastfeeding and went with whatever their recommendation was (to eat or not). The several years have been blurs of pregnancies, nursing, and brief times of "normalcy" in-between. :)