On july 3rd my baby girl was born after a very fast delivery of all of 3 and a half hours from start to finish and no real pushing. (she shoved her way into the world all on her own :P) Anyway I now weigh more than I ever have (besides the end of my pregnancy) and it is really bothering me. So I was wondering... what is the best approach to dieting while breastfeeding. I really don't want to lose my milk supply since I would like to nurse for the first year. Has anyone here done weight watchers? How did it work for you? I am just new here and haven't gotten around too much yet...

I personally suggest relaxing some initially, my favorite book I read while pregnant the first time was Vicki Iovine's "Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy" and she suggests following the "9 months on, 9 months off rule." (i.e. it took your body 9 months to put that weight on, give it 9 months to get rid of it as well!) I adapted that into my own life as "Focus on the baby when they're first born and don't stress yourself out about your weight. ENJOY the product of your labor!"

Around 9 month mark, the baby is more stable, sleeping through the night, eating some solid foods, your milk supply isn't inherently a crucial problem anymore albeit you should still pay some attention to it, ANYWAYS, THEN you can start berating yourself about your weight gain/loss issues.

Give yourself a break at first though! Relax, sleep when you get the chance to sleep, and focus on yourself and enjoy your new baby! Focus on eating HEALTHY vs losing weight


A guy I know from another forum who is becoming a personal trainer says its more important to think to yourself: "What can I add to my diet this week to be healthier" vs "What should I deprive myself of this week to lose weight" <---this concept is especially important for new moms I think.

There is a middle ground between "running a 1000 calorie a day deficit" and "Eating whatever, as long as it's healthy". I could, and I mean this quite literally, put on 50 lbs if I ate "whatever as long as it's healthy" for 9 months.

Congrats on your baby girl!! I had a baby girl in January, and I started trying to lose weight actively in June. I found I lost weight without too much effort the first couple of months after she was born (I breastfeed as well) and then I started putting a few pounds on, because I wasn't watching what I was eating at all, and I was eating WAY TOO MUCH. So since I started back on calorie counting, I have lost almost 25 pounds. I was concerned with milk supply, but so far so good, and I am still pretty much breastfeeding exclusively although just recently I have added a little bit of solids to her diet.

If you do WW, they will give you extra points since you are a nursing mother. As long as you follow the points, you should be fine - pay attention to how you feel, if you're extra hungry throw in a healthy snack...you will be more hungry during growth spurts. Good luck and keep posting!

obviously don't gorge yourself out on health food for 9 months. But you're going through A LOT when you first have a baby, and you're trapped in this body that you've never had before. I think its important to be a little easy on yourself for a few months. Sure, count your calories, but be easy on yourself if you don't get the results you'd like to see ASAP!

Your body has just went through A LOT! And you've performed something AMAZING! It deserves to be given some credit for that! Focus on taking care of it, not hating it or hate being in it because you didn't re-achieve super-model status within 6 weeks postpartum. (and we all have at least ONE friend who is wearing a bikini and looking awesome 4 weeks after giving birth and we're thinking WTF?)


This is the most important thing. Pay attention to your body and listen to it!

I'm in the exact same boat! I had my daughter on June 30 and am also nursing. What's working for me is moderate exercise (just started a 6 week challenge on my wii active) and tracking my calories. I try to keep them around 1600-1800 calories a day on average and it seems to be working. I'm losing an average of 1.5 pounds a week and my milk supply is doing great.

Definately don't push yourself too hard; I did that with my son and it backfired. My milk was poor quality so my son didn't gain (I restricted fats too much) and I couldn't lose.

Good luck! the "9 months on, 9 months off" thing is soooo true!

Same boat here! My LO is 2 months today and I have waited until now a) to establish my milk supply - I've had trouble with it with the last two babies, but it seems to be going well this time! and b) because I'm a little bit lazy. That's how I got here in the first place, right? (overweight - I was before I got pg) I have used WW in the past, so I'm going to do that.

same here. My son is 3 weeks old and I've been sticking to a little over 1,800 calories a day.
I've been having supply issues but its mainly due to his latch not being so great. I'm going to rent a pump today for a couple of months to help get my supply at a good enough place instead of supplementing with formula which has been giving my son constipation. I'm using the SNS system instead of a bottle at this point.