Oh I am really unhappy about my bod,and the whole 9 months on 9 months off thing is just depressing I see women out looking like toothpicks with babys younger then mine..I thought Bfing would help with weight loss not so much I am having the hardest time,I know you need to eat healthy,but this bfing thing is making me crave food like some stoner chick..So I am gaining weight,and I am only 5'0 so a few pounds looks like 10 lbs on us shortys ya know?What do I do besides WW????

Focus hard on the quality of what you eat. Protein and fiber are both quite filling. I also have to keep a close eye on my portions. I am back to measuring everything. I heartily recommend the book The Volumetrics Weight-Loss Plan (well, something with the term "volumetrics" in the title anyway). Their basic premise--and they are research scientists, so it's not like they came up with the theory just for funsies--is that it is more the volume of the food that you eat that fills you up than the amount of calories. If you stop to think about it you'll see that there's at least some truth to the theory. Anyhow, what the book does is teach you how to add volume to your meals so that you can eat more, or at least an equal amount, iwth fewer calories. Very neat.

But don't think that breastfeeding is a magic weight loss bullet. For some women it works, but you MUST have some body fat stores to produce milk, which for some of us means a very difficult time losing weight. But it's the best start you can give your baby. Formula is poor nutrition compared to breastmilk, if absolutely nothing else. I look on breast feeding as the beginning of teaching my kids about good nutrition.

"Eat well, lose weight while breastfeeding" (Behan) is a book some mothers have found useful - 9 months does seem like a long time, although over the course of a lifetime (or a baby's lifetime) it is actually pretty short.

Thank You I will look for these books,the weight is really giving me bad anxiety,and my knees are starting to hurt from it....

I think a lot of us have had this problem - I know it caught me off guard! I feel especially bad sometimes when I see some of my bfing friends who have lost most of their baby weight, while my scale has been inching upward.

Definitely look at the quality of what you're eating - that's been the biggie for me. Rather than take the time to make myself something really nutritious, I was grazing on snacks all day because I was hungry but didn't feel like I had a lot of time. One thing that's helped me is making a big pot of veggie soup - chopped tomatoes, veggie stock and whatever veg you have on hand to throw in - and if I'm feeling hungry, I have a bowl of that soup rather than a handful of crisps. It makes a big difference for me.

And I've had to ban chocolate from my house altogether for awhile. My DH was bringing me chocolate all the time, and I really couldn't stay out of it. It gives me that little sugar kick to keep me going, and I just plain love eating it. So I've had to just ban it for awhile, until I've made a bit of progress and have gotten back into the routine of eating healthily.

While breastfeeding does help some women lose weight and if you need more reasons to breastfeed it is a great one, it has never really helped me...and I have been pregnant and/or nursing for 9 + years (only 3 children, not 9 I nurse a long time) and I weigh more now than I did when I started. I lost weight while pregnant...more conscious healthy eating, accompanied by a generous dose of morning sickness did that "naturally". On the bright side, the time you nurse beyond 6 months seems to bring more weight loss for some mothers. I hope the books help - breastfeeding does help you slow down and relax, and experience less stress - all helpful for weight loss. Plus it lowers cancer risks for women, always good.

I saw a loss for the first 3 months, but those cravings got me and I started gaining back! About 4.5 months PP I started WW. I didn't join online or the meetings - I found all the necessary information online to get started - for free! Since the end of December, I've lost 35 pounds (still have a ton to go!) and am feeling great.

Breastfeeding may help with weight loss, but it is not a reason to eat without paying attention to portions or quality of food. I also like the book Eat Well, Lose Weight While Breastfeeding, and in that book the author notes that even though it is recommended bfing women eat 2700 cals. per day, in reality, most women can eat much less and still have a great milk supply. And many women will gain weight at that level. My baby is 4 mos. old, and I gained about 45 lbs when pregnant and I've lost all but 9 lbs. However, I've been working very, very hard at eating healthy, keeping calories around 1700-1800 per day and exercising for 30 mins at least 6X per week, I dropped a lot of weight at first but my loss quickly leveled out to about .5 lbs per week.

Like you, I am also on the shorter/petite side and I just do not need that many calories. Unfortunately, some doctors and books have a one-size-fits-all attitude towards a breastfeeding diet and that is just not accurate.

I agree with what everyone says. With both of my children I didn't see any weight loss while nursing. My theory is that, for some people, the body does store fat to make sure that the baby receives nourishment. So many of my friends have slimmed down so much since they are finished having and nursing children. It's almost as if the body says, "Okay, no more kids. Now I don't have to store all this fat." Once I realized this I no longer stress about the fat, but focus more on eating well.

I stayed at 183, even with eating sensibly, until my dd was about 6 months old. Then the weight has slowly started to come off. It has been going off faster now that I am on LAWL. But it took a good 6 months to see ANY changes!!!!

You are not the only one. I had my baby 3 months ago. And while I kept trying to breast feed, my milk didn't come in fully... I was working out and eating what the doctor told me to eat. Well, I haven't lost any except the 20 lbs right after she was born. I have been at 250 lbs for the last 3 months. I am frustrated!!! So, I went back to the doctor. She told me about a lot of things that I was doing wrong. She I was working out too much! She explained to me that after giving birth woman should not be doing strenuous work outs, like I had been doing. She also said that I wasn't giving my body a chance to "heal" or let the hormones settle down. That giving birth stresses the body, then working out extensively makes it worse. She said that I would have better results with walks, bike rides,etc. Also, that a good time that I would start seeing any results would be about the 4-6 month PP timeframe.
This helped me a lot with my perspective! Hope this helps you.