Location: Orignally from Central Ohio area now going to school in Utah
Posts: 86
S/C/G: 250/see ticker/150
Height: 5'5
I am hoping everyone has a great month as well!! I'm new here but excited to have found a forum and esp one with an area for nursing mothers!!! I'm 1 week and 1 day into my calorie counting and I'm doing great so far! I have so much energy and I'm excited to continue
Okay ladies, I need some advice. Its been awhile since I've posted (a long while actually) so I apologize for that.
Here's my dilemna. My doctor's advised me that I need to follow a low carb diet and eat 6 small meals a day in order to keep my blood sugars from crashing like they have been. He ran several tests to rule out hypoglycemia, diabetes, thyroid, etc. and they were all normal, save for a fairly low fasting blood sugar. I'm trying to find information on how many calories a nursing mom should eat, coupled with how much % wise of those calories should be from carbs if I'm eating low carb. Any suggestions?
I don't know about the percentages, but the rule of thumb is that a nursing mom should never drop below 1800 calories. It takes anywhere from 300-500 calories per day to make milk (depending on how often you're nursing, etc.), so that's like a normal person eating 1300-1500 calories per day.
I've been eating close to the 1800 calorie goal, but honestly, am finding it hard to hit that. I've been using Fitday to track my intake and honestly, I barely top 1600 most days, assuming I'm tracking it correctly. My weight is constant and milk production is okay. I imagine if I'd eat more, it would be better. I'm just conflicted between eating a lower fat/high protein diet and a low carb/high fat diet. I'd rather my body get the fat it needs for milk production from me than the foods I eat! I've always struggled with weight loss and even before pregnancy I'd only eat 1200 calories a day and never lose. I'd try eating more, and still the scale wouldn't budge. Its just frustrating beyond belief to not know what's going on with my health and to not know what/how to eat to help weight loss.
I don't know about the percentages, but the rule of thumb is that a nursing mom should never drop below 1800 calories. It takes anywhere from 300-500 calories per day to make milk (depending on how often you're nursing, etc.), so that's like a normal person eating 1300-1500 calories per day.
Do you know what resources that are saying not to go below 1800 calories? I thought you're supposed to do a calorie deficit to lose the weight?
Do you know what resources that are saying not to go below 1800 calories? I thought you're supposed to do a calorie deficit to lose the weight?
First of all, it's more important to talk to your or even better yet, your babies doctor. I talked with a nutritionist after talking to my dr (who is also the babies dr.), the dr said 1800, the nutritionist said because of my weight and the abundant supply I have that I could safely go down to 1600... I seem to do best at 1800-2000 a day.
You need to remember before you even worry about losing weight, you need to worry about the baby that you are feeding, esp if you are your baby's only source of nutrition. In most women, going below 1800 not only makes your milk supply drop or dry up completely, it is hard to get all the nutrients that your baby needs from less calories than that. Yes you can take vitamins to help make up those nutrients, but the fact is that your body doesn't absorb pill form nutrients as well as it does natural nutrients that occur in a healthy diet.
Location: Orignally from Central Ohio area now going to school in Utah
Posts: 86
S/C/G: 250/see ticker/150
Height: 5'5
I have also talked to my daughter's doctor and a nutritionist and they both said because my daughter is "older" and is eating solids 2-3 times a day that I could go from 1500-1600 when taking my weight into consideration... My daughter is 8 months old and I plan to only nurse her for another 3 months and I have an oversupply due to pumping... But like findingfawn said it is important to first consider your baby and then your weight loss and I found it important to consult with professionals first (even though we are told to do this all the time before starting a weight loss program or exercise program it is really important in this case!)
Of course we all want to do what's most healthy for our babies. I just didn't realize we needed that many calories to produce milk!
I do have a question, how often have you lost pounds? What I mean is that are you all seeing your scales decrease once a week? I'm finding that my weight fluctuates a lot more now that I'm BF because it depends on when I feed her or how much water I've drank the day before. I started a portion-control diet, lost a few pounds initially but now I'm in a plateau.
I lose a consistant 1-2 pounds a week.. sometimes more. I started counting calories in July and have lost about 30 pounds now, I'm expeciting when I weigh in on Monday to be down to 220 from 251 just 12 weeks ago. I honestly wouldn't lose anything on just portion control. You can eat a serving of fatty hamburger and have eaten 200+ calories, or you can eat 4 oz of chicken breast and only eat 120 calories... that over the course of a day can make a HUGE difference.
ETA... Oh.. and just to answer your question specifically, some weeks the scale doesn't move at all, some weeks the scale moves down a pound every two days... sometimes I have had weeks where I didn't appear to lose anything at all, but then the next week woosh, 4 or 5 pounds were gone. Many people can not weigh in every day, I have to, it keeps me on track, but many can't because they allow the scale's numbers to control them.
For me, this is all about a life change, and I'm involving everyone in my family. My hubby has lost 40 pounds in 12 weeks because I have cut out bad and empty calories from our house. My kids are all better for it as well, and they are learning good nutrition for life so hopefully they never ever fall into the horrible eating habits I grew up with.
Last edited by findingfawn; 10-09-2009 at 09:40 AM.
Down another pound this week at weigh in! I'll take it... I'm happy with myself that I lost weight while being on vacation!
Mommy2bandc, while nursing I've been losing 1-1.5 lbs per week while doing weight watchers. When I wasn't nursing (pre-baby), I lost more like 2-2.5 lbs per week. Most people that I've talked to say it's way harder to lose weight while you're nursing. Your body really wants to hang on to those extra stores. Just take it a day at a time!
Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I got off track for a few weeks. But I am back on! I stopped calorie counting because it was making me really neurotic, so I'm am just doing intuitive eating now, and the 30 Day Shred, boy that video kicks my butt. I'm happy to report that while on hiatus I didn't gain any back! I'm trying not to get myself down about how much weight I could have lost during my vacation, I am just moving forward! I'm glad to hear everyone is doing well!
I agree that it's harder to lose while nursing... but for me, I'm not so sure it's that my body wants to hold the fat stores, I have a hard time not binging! There are days where I'm just not very hungry at all, but then there are days that I am wanting to eat everything in site.. even if it means eating my 5 month old, because I can't get enough food...lol.
BFers losing weight - Oct.
