So I have been breastfeeding and trying to lose weight for about 6 months now. I thought I would share some of my tips that I have learned about how to safely breastfeed and lose weight at the same time.
My two top favorite methods for losing weight while breastfeeding is Weight Watchers is you can afford it or calorie counting which is free. I count calories and I use a service called calorie count to help me. It also gives me a good overview of what I have eaten for the day and if it’s balanced.
So for calorie counting it’s simple or what would seem to be simple math.Accumulation of Calories = Calorie Intake – Calorie Output
If you eat less calories than you body uses, your body will need to USE energy from it’s energy stores. It does so by removing some of the energy from your fat cells (and reducing their size) and somewhat by burning off protein from your muscles. One pound is roughly equal to 3,500 calories so in order to lose one pound per week this is the deficit that we will need. It’s important to remember that for breastfeeding and weight loss slow and steady wins the weight loss journey.
How many calories you need depends on how much you weight, what your age is and how active you are. I like to start with a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); the number of calories you’d burn if you stayed in bed all day. There are some calculators out there that take into account your breastfeeding but I have found most of them miscalculate calories needed. Here is the BMR Calculator I use. For me being 5 foot 3 inches, 27 years old and 180 lbs I burn 1600 calories a day not lactating and just laying in bed all day. This is my base number, to this I add 500 calories for lactating and then I add in any exercise I may do that day. Leaving me with a range of 2100-2300.
So to be perfectly honest, I only track my calories 4 out of 7 days and some days are way over and some of those days are right on.
According to Kellymom.com, a great resource for breastfeeding mothers, most healthy breastfeeding women maintain an abundant milk supply while taking in 1800-2200 (or more) calories per day. Consuming less than 1500-1800 calories per day (most women should stay at the high end of this range) may put your milk supply at risk, as may a sudden drop in caloric intake.
