Hi there! I just found this forum - how great! I had my daughter on July 18, 2006 - she is 9 1/2 months old. I work full-time, and was pumping enough for about 50% of her daycare bottles - but recently that has taken a huge dive (with the return of TOM among other things). Now I'm pumping only about 4oz during the day, and I use that to top her off before bed, because I just can't keep up - so I would estimate she is about 50% breastfed at this point. I was about to throw in the towel - but I know that some breastmilk is better than none - so I will continue on, and I may even try to up my supply a tiny bit - we'll see.
I'm following the L.A. Weight Loss program - on a plan with more food due to the breastfeeding. I've hopped on and off a lot - so I'm on Day 2 - and plan to stick it out, with the help of these forums, and the blog I started here.
Also - we want to TTC this summer (probably July-ish) - so it's great that I can keep up with this forum during the next pregnancy and keep myself in check!
I look forward to getting to know all of you wonderful ladies!
Jessica I had a c with my first kid - it is tough. Remember that while you are healing you may need a little extra caloric intake and your water fluctuation may be more than normal. Ease back into exercise with walking and isometric stuff (tense the muscle only) Swimming is also good once the bleeding is totally gone.
Dawnyal - I thought you looked familiar! I had to go re-check the other forum and make sure that was you! So nice to see a familiar face!
By the way - I went to the center today and am down 1.8 from three weeks ago - which is awesome considering the first two weeks I was totally eating with reckless abandon - and have only been on track since Monday! That makes me 5.8 down so far - woo hoo!
I took Charles to the dr yesterday (skin problem) and he has reached 7 lbs. Woohoo! I could already tell he was gaining weight because his fingers are getting pudgy I'm thinking he has reached the 6wk growth spurt today because he's eating every 2 hours. I need sleep lol!
Hey, Ladies!
My name is Danika. My son was born October 13, 2006. I have been nursing since then. I have been trying to lose weight, but it is really hard to keep myself on track. My DH is ready to help me, finally! But like most men he looses the weight faster than me and he doesn't have as much weight to loose as I do. I will be starting Weight Watchers in October with my SIL sfter she has my neice, but I would like to loose a little weight before then.
I know that us nursing mommies use up to an extra 500 calories a day... so why can't I loose any weight? Any advice?
Hi Danika. My ds is only 10 days older than yours!
Are you tracking what you are eating? Yes you use extra calories when nursing, but your appetite increases too. Without even noticing it is easy to take in way more than you need. Start tracking your calories - 2000 is a good place to start when nursing and after a couple weeks adjust as needed.
FWIW I had stopped losing weight and started regaining by the 6 week mark and started tracking my calories and instantly started losing even though with the holidays and holiday parties I was eating an average of 2300 a day. So that means before I started tracking...without even knowing it I was eating probably about 3000-3500 calories, of mostly healthy food.
Jessica—somehow I missed your post. . I've had 3 c-sections and know what you mean about recovery. I found though that the more I got up and walked in small spurts, the better I felt. Of course I'm now 8 1/2 months after the last birth and am finally getting myself on track.
So far I've made it about 10 days of eating healthy and writing down all that I eat and it seems to be working. I had a pretty stressful day on Tuesday and started feeling like I deserved fast food because I was going to be so late to get home and eat but I didn't give in and instead grabbed a few baby carrots to munch on on the way home.
Yesterday I went with Lilly to an aquarium and brought my own healthy lunch. I had to go out to the van and pump while the everyone else ate. It was pretty fun and now I'm back on track.
Now I'm pumping only about 4oz during the day, and I use that to top her off before bed, because I just can't keep up - so I would estimate she is about 50% breastfed at this point. I was about to throw in the towel - but I know that some breastmilk is better than none - so I will continue on, and I may even try to up my supply a tiny bit - we'll see.
I'm also at about 50% breast milk now, but for different reasons. My toddler (13 months older than my now 2 month old DD) was having major issues with feeling neglected, as I was nursing for at least five of the ten hours DH is gone to work each day. And then my four year old was becoming irritable from all the crying and yelling coming from the toddler... and in turn the toddler was also hitting the baby... it was not good. So we tried pumping and bottle-feeding and things are going so much better. I still nurse to sleep, and nurse during the night after she wakes for her 2 or 3 a.m. feed, but all day we use bottles. I am able to pump almost enough but she is getting more formula each week it seems. My supply stays the same but her demand increases. But I will keep doing this until my milk just goes away or my hands give out from holding the pump. I have read that the less breast milk you make, the more rich it becomes in antibodies, and that just one ounce per day can provide health benefit. So, that keeps me going.
My weight loss is a whole 'nother story. Not so good. I'm not sure what's wrong. I have tried tracking my calories and even when I keep them under 2,000 per day (I weigh 230 lbs and am very active all day - hardly ever sit down til dinner time, and we go to the park and on a walk every day) I still do not lose, it stays exactly the same. And at 2,000 I am HUNGRY so I usually end up more around 2200-2400. According to calculators online this should be less than I would need to maintain 230 lbs without nursing. So, I think I will have to go back to South Beach. I like it but I'm trying not to eat as much animal product and it's pretty hard to do that on SB. But it's the only 'diet' that I've ever been able to successfully lose weight on.
I have read that the less breast milk you make, the more rich it becomes in antibodies, and that just one ounce per day can provide health benefit. So, that keeps me going.
I hadn't heard that - but I'm going to go with it - it's very inspiring to keep this going!
I was thinking I might try to up my supply a bit because lately even if I pump 3-4oz during the day - I have to add a few more oz of formula to that for the last bottle of the night - I feel like I'm hardly nursing at all anymore! I'd rather just nurse when she's home (at least during the week). Plus - we are going on our first family vacation - flying to VA to visit family. I hate the thought of relying on formula most of the time - it's so much easier to just nurse!!! I think I've gotten spoiled nursing all this time!
Has anyone else heard that fenugreek lowers your blood sugar? It does help me a bit with my supply, but I also craved sweets like a fiend on it. Someone said "Oh it's because it makes your blood sugar lower." Is this true? It'd make sense... but it also sucks because it makes me want to eat anything chocolate. I even considered eating a half-bag of two-year-old chocolate chips at the back of my cabinet.
ennay~
That is awesome that you DS is 10 days older than my DS!! By October 3, I was praying he would come out. I was in labor since September 30!! We went to the hospital, but got sent home even though I was in labor, I had not dialated!! With my first son, I went into labor and had him 13 hours later, not 2 weeks!!!
Actually I have been tracking what I eat since Sunday. I am keeping my calorie intake between 1700 and 1900. We are eating healthy, too. All of the food groups and enough of each.
Right after having DS I lost 36 lbs!! I was so excited, but I was starving! I ate everything I could! I really wish I hadn't done that, but my hunger seemed uncontrollable! I am sure that I was getting way more calories than I needed! I gained back 30 lbs!!
DH and I are exercising every evening. I know we should probably excercise in the morning, but I can hardly pull myself out of bed to get my eldest son off to school! I don't get much sleep at night... my darling little angel has sleeping issues. I caught him playing this morning at 3am in his crib! He had only been asleep for about 2 hours!! What a stinker!!
Thank you for the advice! I feel much better. This morning I put my clothes on and they are loose!! I don't weigh until Sunday, but I bet I lost something.
Hello everyone,
I feel so down about my weight I just don't want to be fat forever. Is anyone losing weight while breastfeeding and what are you eating and how many calories.
I have been up and walking I have 2 other kids age 8 and 6 so sitting very long just does not happen lol.. I just don't like going to there school being so fat. At delivery I weighed 375 and I have never weighed this much before. I weighed 280 before pregnancy which I know is heavy but not as bad as I am now. Very sad and imbarrising.I do not know what I weigh write now I know I have lost some but feel so fat..Sorry to ramble it is just very upsetting to be to have to struggle with my weight so much.
Well I am off hope everyone has a great day!
Jessica: It can be rough when you have older kids in school. I finally told myself that this is me for better or worse. I try not to let my fatness be an issue. A couple of years ago I went and picked up my SS from school and one of his friends mouthed off something about me being fat and I just let it bounced off me. I'm about the same weight as you right now and I'm trying to stay between 1800-2500 calories. I haven't really set an "official" limit on how many calories a day, instead focusing on changing my meals to eating healthier meals. It was so discouraging after I had Nate because I had a great weight loss but my hunger overtook and I just kept gaining and gaining, getting within a couple pounds of my highest weight ever. I've tried to start getting healthier at least 5x since I've had him and this time everything seemed to just fall into place and it's working. One thing I am doing is I try to eat every 2-3 hours, I plan out my meals and I log all my food into fitday. I even carry around a notebook and write down what I've eaten for when I'm not near a computer.
Hmmm - I hadn't heard about fenugreek lowering blood sugar. I was kinda half-a$$ taking it - but I know that doesn't do any good. I'm still debating trying to take it, and eat my oatmeal, or just basically throw in the towel. Emma isn't too interested, and it doesn't help that it is taking longer and longer for me to let down... Even in the morning - she barely nurses anymore (probably because there's barely any milk because she is up 2/3 times a night minimum)...
. Glad to see you are over here too.
I'm thinking he has reached the 6wk growth spurt today because he's eating every 2 hours. I need sleep lol!
. I've had 3 c-sections and know what you mean about recovery. I found though that the more I got up and walked in small spurts, the better I felt. Of course I'm now 8 1/2 months after the last birth and am finally getting myself on track.
And then my four year old was becoming irritable from all the crying and yelling coming from the toddler... and in turn the toddler was also hitting the baby... it was not good. So we tried pumping and bottle-feeding and things are going so much better. I still nurse to sleep, and nurse during the night after she wakes for her 2 or 3 a.m. feed, but all day we use bottles. I am able to pump almost enough but she is getting more formula each week it seems. My supply stays the same but her demand increases. But I will keep doing this until my milk just goes away or my hands give out from holding the pump. 
I have read that the less breast milk you make, the more rich it becomes in antibodies, and that just one ounce per day can provide health benefit. So, that keeps me going. 
... my darling little angel has sleeping issues. I caught him playing this morning at 3am in his crib! He had only been asleep for about 2 hours!! What a stinker!! 
It can be rough when you have older kids in school. I finally told myself that this is me for better or worse. I try not to let my fatness be an issue. A couple of years ago I went and picked up my SS from school and one of his friends mouthed off something about me being fat and I just let it bounced off me. I'm about the same weight as you right now and I'm trying to stay between 1800-2500 calories. I haven't really set an "official" limit on how many calories a day, instead focusing on changing my meals to eating healthier meals. It was so discouraging after I had Nate because I had a great weight loss but my hunger overtook and I just kept gaining and gaining, getting within a couple pounds of my highest weight ever. I've tried to start getting healthier at least 5x since I've had him and this time everything seemed to just fall into place and it's working. One thing I am doing is I try to eat every 2-3 hours, I plan out my meals and I log all my food into fitday. I even carry around a notebook and write down what I've eaten for when I'm not near a computer.
