l have a theory about why some moms lose weight while breastfeeding, and others don't!!?

Question

Yesterday I was talking to my BF who has lost tons of weight bfing, I have not. I started thinking about how big her son is & in addition how much milk she pumps each day with a high quality electric pump. my DD has very small appetite and I rarely use my manual pump - on the days I do, i only get a few oz.
Quite simply, our bodies burn calories for each ounce of milk it produces. It stands to reason that the more milk you are producing, the more calories you burn. So that 500 calories a day idea cannot really used to describe every mom.. If your baby is a big eater and you pump many oz/day as well, you are going to burn more calories than a mother who doesn't pump and whose baby has a smaller appetite.
Care we test my theory? Have you lost weight - or not? What sort of appetite does your baby have? If you pump - how often & how many ounces do you produce?

of course diet & exercise & other factors are involved with weightloss - This was meant to just sort of poll - Thought it would be interesting to see if there was any correlation.

Answer 1

All i have to say is I want to milk like a cow, sell it so it repays for the expensive pump I bought, then if I can make a gallon a day, I can go from 280 to 105 in a few months and forget Jenny Craig and all the rest, I am going to open a Creamery and make some dough on this stuff, I think mine are hanging to the floor, OH YEAH and I want to make enough money so that when my milk runs out I can get a boob job so I can quit trippin on them when i climb stairs.

Answer 2

When I was pregnant with my second child I only gained 20 pounds and I lost that in the delivery room. I gained 75 while breastfeeding her. Noone told me how hungry I would be. I still haven't lost it and she ate like there was no tommorow. I didn't pump with her either. Wasn't able to. I'm currently breastfeeding and pumping for a 2 month old, who doesn't eat as much as the last one did and I've lost 15 pounds. I just started pumping within the last 2 weeks and can only get an ounce or two at a time, if I'm really lucky.

Answer 3

correct! in order to lose weight while breast feeding you have to breast feed atleast 3 or 4 times a day and for about an hour. some people think because you do it a while you will lose the weight but that is not true.
Breastfeeding can help you shed your excess weight while eating your regular diet. Producing milk uses 200 to 500 calories a day, on average. That may not sound like much, but it equals the calories burned running a couple miles a day or doing 30 laps in the pool. just as pregnancy requires a certain amount of calories to create a healthy baby, you need a specific amount of calories to produce milk.
You need to consume a minimum of 1,800 calories per day in order to produce milk for your baby.
Cutting your calories lower than that while nursing won't be good for you or your milk supply. Let your increased activity level and the milk-making calories help get the weight off.

Answer 4

my daughter isn't a big eater, she's 7 mos old and eats about 4 oz of milk at a pop (4hours or so) but she's eating solids. I pump much more then she eats. I pump 4 times a day and I pump 12-14oz each time. when my daughter was nursing exclusively I was producing very little and she was nursing for an hour at a time just trying to get enough to eat. that was when I started pumping to get my production up. I can eat anything I want and I havent' gained anything. it's like a deal with the devil, it's that good!

Answer 5

I think everyones different... its so hard to tell how much theyre taking in.

My son ate very often, but not very much at a time. He was always at about the 50th percentile durring the first 6 mo and then he was in the 75th percentile @10 mo. I don't know what hes at now (14 mo) ive been waiting for flu season to pass before taking him back in (more effective than a flu shot, ill tell ya!)

So... I was like 170 when i delivered... and by 7 or 8 months I was 115. I had to eliminate dairy though, due to an allergy, and thats when the weight really just fell off me. Plus, im eating 100X better than i ever have before.

Have you looked at you and your friends diet?

Answer 6

I didn't need to do hardly any pumping, I stayed at home with both my kids. I don't think their appetites were really explosive, only during growth spurts.
Anyhow, breastfeeding didn't help me lose any weight at all. I found that it increased my appetite. I lost all my baby weight after I stopped bfeeding. I didn't think it was good to be dieting while I was doing that.

Answer 7

I lost 65 pounds in the first three months of my baby's life while I was exclusively pumping. I would have to get 8 ounces out in every pump session. He's almost 4 months old now and he's 17 pounds.

Answer 8

I nursed all three of my kids and was down to my pre pregnancy weight in less than 2 months. Granted I wasn't toned but I had definately lost the weight. Just because you are nursing doesn't mean you need to eat like crazy, as long as it is healthy and you get enough nutrients/calories. My kids ranged in appetites, my son nursed for 4 months because I got sick and couldn't get enough milk produced for him, my daughters nursed for 5 and 6 months. My youngest ate constantly.

Answer 9

My son was 8lbs at birth, 20lbs at 4 months, and is now 28ish lbs at a year. He is still almost exclusively breastfed though he does eat some solids, he really didn't eat solids regularly until about 10 months (which is normal and healthy FYI any idiots reading this question, not you question asker --I'm just sick of "my baby would have starved to death if I had delayed solids").

I lost weight while pregnant. (30-40lbs -I had it to loose and had severe morning sickness and my metabolism was higher during pregnancy). Until 6 months pp I could tell my metabolism was still very high. Then it started dropping, I started to experience depression again and eating worse. I have gained about 30lbs in the last 6 months (my babe just turned one). He still nurses every 30minutes to 2 hours night and day except for one 4-6 hour stretch at night -if I am lucky.

So umm weigh that into your calculations, pun intended.

Answer 10

My infant has a really good appetite but I must admit I don't pump much. I haven't lost much weight at all maybe ten pounds since I gave birth. but I want to test this out I have a breast pump I think I'll try pumping more often and see what happens!