Losing weight by breastfeeding

In many different places I have read and heard about breastfeeding
helping you to regain your shape and lose weight after having a baby. Is
this really true? Has it worked for anyone? I wasn't able to bf Nolan
for long enough to really tell. (only 2 months) I know I did lose quite
a bit of weight during that time but it could have been from all of the
swelling going down and simply from giving birth. I know bf-ing burns a
lot of calories but you have to eat more calories than usual to preserve
the quality of the milk supply. If you are on a "diet" and restricting
your caloric intake isn't that bad for the milk? So are you better off
bf-ing or stopping bf-ing and going on a diet, in terms of losing
weight?

Wendy
Mom to Nolan 7-11-03 and baby girl due in Nov.

It really was true for me! I gained 48 pounds, and on my pre-pregnancy body
of 110 lbs., that was a lot. I did not *one* thing, other than bf my baby,
and lost every bit of it and more by the time he was 7 months old. I can
not say that wouldn't have happened if I wasn't nursing and I guess I'll
never know. But I definitely credit it to bf.

As always, it varies from person to person.

Good luck!

--
Sue & Benton, 3 yrs. old!

"Wendy" wrote in message
...
In many different places I have read and heard about breastfeeding
helping you to regain your shape and lose weight after having a baby. Is
this really true? Has it worked for anyone? I wasn't able to bf Nolan
for long enough to really tell. (only 2 months) I know I did lose quite
a bit of weight during that time but it could have been from all of the
swelling going down and simply from giving birth. I know bf-ing burns a
lot of calories but you have to eat more calories than usual to preserve
the quality of the milk supply. If you are on a "diet" and restricting
your caloric intake isn't that bad for the milk? So are you better off
bf-ing or stopping bf-ing and going on a diet, in terms of losing
weight?

I wasn't one of those who lost a bunch of weight while breastfeeding
unfortunately. However, there is no reason that you can't diet while
breastfeeding. Weight Watchers has an excellent program that myself and many
others here have had good success with. Just don't start too early, make
sure bf is well established and keep hydrated. Chances are, your supply will
be just fine.

JennP.

"newfy.1" wrote
However, there is no reason that you can't diet while
breastfeeding. Weight Watchers has an excellent program that myself and
many
others here have had good success with. Just don't start too early, make
sure bf is well established and keep hydrated. Chances are, your supply
will
be just fine.


I am getting ready to start dieting- have been bf-ing for 2 and a half
months now. I am going to be really careful though, to lose weight slowly
and to eat well every day and keep hydrated.

I can't say this is breastfeeding related, but I weighed 30 pounds less than
I did before pregnancy, one week after giving birth. THAT surely wasn't bf
related, but it's been 2 and a half months, I eat a TON, and I have not
gained any back- I am not exercising yet either.

"Wendy" wrote in message
...
In many different places I have read and heard about breastfeeding
helping you to regain your shape and lose weight after having a baby. Is
this really true? Has it worked for anyone? I wasn't able to bf Nolan
for long enough to really tell. (only 2 months) I know I did lose quite
a bit of weight during that time but it could have been from all of the
swelling going down and simply from giving birth. I know bf-ing burns a
lot of calories but you have to eat more calories than usual to preserve
the quality of the milk supply. If you are on a "diet" and restricting
your caloric intake isn't that bad for the milk? So are you better off
bf-ing or stopping bf-ing and going on a diet, in terms of losing
weight?

Wendy
Mom to Nolan 7-11-03 and baby girl due in Nov.


It might not work for everyone, but it sure worked for me and most of my
friends who have bf.
As for calorific intake - so long as the calories are coming from healthy
foods then there isn't a problem. I know Weight Watchers have a program for
bf mothers where you add on a certain number of points per day whilst you
are exclusively bf, and reduce them as baby starts solids.
I bf for 18 mo (but had started putting on weight with this pg), and it sure
helped me fit back into my jeans quickly (all pg weight gone in 2 weeks plus
a further 10 kg dropped over the course of the next 12 months). The only
time my milk seriously dipped in supply was when I had a stomach bug and
couldn't eat for a day or two ... other than that my supply was just fine on
what I would normally eat plus perhaps an extra tub of yoghurt and maybe I
had morning tea more often than I would normally.

I personally wouldn't compromise the health and wellbeing of my baby in
order to lose my weight by strict dieting, but then for me, breastfeeding
was the easiest weight loss method I've ever tried

HTH
Amanda

--
DD 15th August 2002
1 tiny angel Nov 2003
EDD 19th August 2004

Wendy wrote:
In many different places I have read and heard about breastfeeding
helping you to regain your shape and lose weight after having a baby.
Is this really true? Has it worked for anyone?

Caterpillar didn't start eating an appreciable amount of solids until she
was 10 months old or so. Until she was a year old, I ate constantly, never
exercised, and still lost a pound a month. (She also reacted to dairy and
wheat in my diet, and a restricted diet generally will have fewer calories
than an unrestricted diet, but I saw that same weight loss pattern before
identifying her allergens.)

She nurses much less now (almost 14 months), and I seem to have plateaued at
11-12 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight. I was right at the top end of
"normal" BMI before getting pregnant, and gained about 30 pounds, all of
which was gone by my 6 week check.

Phoebe
--
yahoo address is unread; substitute mailbolt

In many different places I have read and heard about breastfeeding
helping you to regain your shape and lose weight after having a baby. Is
this really true? Has it worked for anyone? I wasn't able to bf Nolan
for long enough to really tell. (only 2 months) I know I did lose quite
a bit of weight during that time but it could have been from all of the
swelling going down and simply from giving birth. I know bf-ing burns a
lot of calories but you have to eat more calories than usual to preserve
the quality of the milk supply. If you are on a "diet" and restricting
your caloric intake isn't that bad for the milk? So are you better off
bf-ing or stopping bf-ing and going on a diet, in terms of losing
weight?

Wendy
Mom to Nolan 7-11-03 and baby girl due in Nov.

Unfortunately, after the intial 30lb loss (one week after delivery)....I
haven't lost a pound. I have gained 5lbs.

I eat allot of sweets and carbs. I feel horrible about myself. I believe
it is causing depression.

~Carol Ann
http://tinyurl.com/33uk7 ---Recent Pictures of Morgan born 3.24.04

Carol Ann wrote:

I eat allot of sweets and carbs. I feel horrible about myself. I believe
it is causing depression.

I would worry about the sweets way more than the carbs. Sadly, I've got
a major sweet tooth thing going on right now, too. :-( Sweet cereals
and ice cream are my two real problems. I just can't get enough of
either. I hope that this goes away after the baby is born. ;-)


~Carol Ann
http://tinyurl.com/33uk7 ---Recent Pictures of Morgan born 3.24.04

Very sweet picture up there on the initial page! (I haven't registered
so I haven't seen the whole album) Morgan is so cute! Ah, see, that's
why you want sugar all the time... Morgan is just too sweet! ;-)

"Carol Ann" wrote

I eat allot of sweets and carbs. I feel horrible about myself. I believe
it is causing depression.

I haven't lost any more after the initial weight loss (which happened in one
week postpartum!) either, which was 30 pounds.

I am also craving more sweets and sugar than EVER before in my life. It must
have something to do with breastfeeding/hormones....I crave donuts so bad
that my jaws ache and it is all I can think about- it becomes an obsession
until I relieve the craving. I never did eat many donuts before. And what an
empty calorie, junk food! Krispy Kreme donuts, pure sugar and lard. Get
this-- I ate a WHOLE dozen by myself, in TWO days!!! I have not gained a
pound....but still need to lose 15. (To get back to my pr-pre pregn weight)

"Jill" wrote in message
.com...

"Carol Ann" wrote

I eat allot of sweets and carbs. I feel horrible about myself. I
believe
it is causing depression.

I haven't lost any more after the initial weight loss (which happened in
one
week postpartum!) either, which was 30 pounds.

I am also craving more sweets and sugar than EVER before in my life. It
must
have something to do with breastfeeding/hormones....I crave donuts so bad
that my jaws ache and it is all I can think about- it becomes an obsession
until I relieve the craving. I never did eat many donuts before. And what
an
empty calorie, junk food! Krispy Kreme donuts, pure sugar and lard. Get
this-- I ate a WHOLE dozen by myself, in TWO days!!! I have not gained a
pound....but still need to lose 15. (To get back to my pr-pre pregn
weight)



See if you let dh have that last one you would have lost! Hehe just
teasing.. I was told by the OB the other day that I need to gain some
weight this pregnancy but if I can eat 1 gallon of icecream made into milk
shakes and 5 donuts in a week I dont know exactly what I could do to pack on
a pound or 2.. She said I should be glad that they want me to gain a little
since it is the only time in my life I will hear that I am hoping BF will
work to help me lose a few pounds.. more like 200 lbs really and I would
still prefer to lose it naturaly rather then by surgery.

Tori

--
Bonnie 3/20/02
Xavier due 10/17/04