During my 1st pregnancy, I breastfed for 5 months but gained more weight instead of loosing weight. WHY?

Question

I am pregnant again and I am ready to breastfeed after my baby is born and plan not feed w/ any formula. But, how do I go about loosing some weight while breastfeeding? Please help! Also, I am not loosing weight to deprive my baby the nutrition. I want to loose weight for my health reasons. Are there any mothers out there that are experiencing the same situation and if so, did you find a solution?

Answer 1

be sure to eat enough calories, your body will actually go into fat storage mode if you don't because it is protecting the milk supply. Get a large number of your calories from high quality protein and complex carbs. Lay off the sugar and be sure to drink enough water.

I was starving my first year of nursing and preferred to eat lots of small meals instead of three big ones.

i am very guilty of not excercising, but carrying my baby in a sling or Ergo or MeiTai while i do stuff around the house and around town definately helped get my body back into shape sooner (still have a little way to go though;-).

Answer 2

I lost the weight breastfeeding without diet or exercise, but then again I breastfed my first for 11 months and my second is still breastfeeding at 14 months of age. They say it takes your body 9 months to grow a baby and 9 more months to recover after having the baby. My recommendation is to try nursing for the full year and see if that works. Also, exercising can help and it is perfectly safe while breastfeeding (okay, not while the baby is latched on necessarily, but you know what I mean! haha :) )

Otherwise, there are safe ways to diet moderately while breastfeeding, but please be careful -- you don't want to risk damaging your own health. Really, your body is more at risk from dieting than your baby's, since your body will make healthy milk from whatever it needs, and if your diet lacks what your body needs to make the milk, your own health will suffer. I put some links at the bottom for nutrition and dieting while breastfeeding. Good luck!

Answer 3

My educated guess would be, you used the need for extra calories while breastfeeding and ate things not so healthy, therefor the weight gain.

I would suggest buying whole foods and cooking from scratch, and leaving all the boxed and convient foods at the store.

I lost all my baby weight after baby was born, but still carry about 40 extra lbs I put on after smoking. I am working really hard now, baby is 31 months, to get the pounds off. I too ate to much junk while breastfeeding,

Answer 4

That will partly depend on genetics and metabolism. I'm breastfeeding my 11 month old baby and trying to lose weight also. I breastfed my daughter lost weight at first then gained most of it back. I think it's because I wasn't so careful about what I ate and didn't exercise regularly. Now I'm exercising regularly and am much more careful about what I eat and have managed to keep off the weight I lost. I'm trying to lose even more weight but it's not easy. Some women breastfeed and the pounds melt off and others (like me) have to diet and exercise as well.

Answer 5

When you breastfeed you are sitting down alot. You need to make better food choices, monitor how much you eat, go out for walks with baby for exercise, and drink more water. Remember, you aren't really eating for 2 when you are pregnant or breastfeeding. They say you are eating for 2 so you won't "feed" your baby garbage food.

Weight Watchers On-line has a program for breastfeeding moms. It really works!!! I lost 60 lbs in under 10 months while I was breastfeeding. It is even doctor recommended.

Answer 6

Personally I was STARVING while nursing the baby and ate like a pig. Sound familiar at all?

Answer 7

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