after pregnancy can breastfeeding help you lose weight?

Answer 1

Yes it can. Breastfeeding burns lots of calories.

Answer 2

Absolutely! Breastfeeding burns on average an extra 500 calories per day. This is equivalent to an hour of moderate exercise. It depends on how much milk you produce and how frequently you are breastfeeding. I lost around 40 lbs after I had both my girls but as soon as I stop breastfeeding the weight loss pretty much stop.

Answer 3

OMG YES! I gained 61 lbs. with my first pregnancy, by the time he was 3 months old I had lost 50 of it!! Second time around I gained 47 lbs. and had lost all of it before he was 9 months old. Mind you they are only 18 months apart and I NEVER exercised or went on any diet!! So the only reason I lost it was from breastfeeding. My new baby is 3 months old (I gained 65lbs.) and so far I have lost 40 of it.

Answer 4

Yes breastfeeding can help you lose weight. All of my friends done it.

Answer 5

Right after childbirth your body needs to recover. Your iron and vitamin and mineral stores have been depleted. Seventy percent of new mothers are anemic. Therefore, you shouldn't think of dieting for two to three months after childbirth.


Immediately after the baby is born, you will lose about 11 pounds. You will then lose 9 to 11 more pounds over the next few weeks in fluids, a shrinking uterus, etc. Then your goal should be to lose no more than one to two pounds a month for the first six months. Losing more than 4 1/2 pounds a month is unsafe.


Different women lose different amounts of weight after childbirth:


Skinny moms who gain 30 to 35 pounds lose most of their pregnancy weight in the first three months.
Borderline overweight, older moms, third- or fourth-time moms who gain between 35 and 75 pounds, lose most of their weight between the third and sixth month. It is especially important for these moms not to remain more than a few pounds over their pre-pregnancy weight.
Overweight moms will lose most of their excess weight 6 to 9 months after childbirth.

So weight loss takes time. The key to remember is to eat right. You need to keep your energy levels up and you need to keep your serotonin levels up (these are the neurotransmitters that determine your mood) with a diet rich in complex carbs. This is not the time to go on a protein diet. You should be eating about 2000 calories, 50 to 60% of which should be complex carbs, 25 to 30% of which should be fat, and 20% of which should be protein.


If you are breastfeeding, you are burning 750 extra calories, so you should be eating 2,500 calories a day and you need 12 to 15 grams of extra protein. This means two glasses of milk or two extra eggs. Breastfeeding is not a weight loss guarantee, because for the first four months, prolactin, the hormone that stimulates milk production, also stimulates appetite and breastfeeding women tend to retain fluid.


The good news is that after four to six months, prolactin levels drop, but a breastfeeding mother's metabolism retains high. This means her body will burn fat and this is the one time in a woman's life where she will burn the fat in her thighs. So stick with breastfeeding for more than four months and it will be beneficial to your weight loss.


The bottom line is you need to eat right with as many fresh foods as possible, watching your calorie intake, but do not diet.

Answer 6

sure it can. ive had 2 babies in the past 14 months and i have been breastfeeding my youngest son for his whole 10 weeks of life and weigh less than i did before my first pregnancy. of course i still have bumps i didnt have before but exercize will solve those

Answer 7

Eat 5 6 small meals a day instead of 3

Answer 8

Yes it definately can...but try walking every day too. With my first I got skinnier than before I fell pregnant as I didn't have a car and would walk everywhere in our small town to get where I wanted to go along with feeding my son every 2 hours. Hope I have the energy to walk with my 3 kids when feeding the one I am pregnant with now! Doubt it though.

Answer 9

Yes, because your body body burns about 500 extra calories a day to produce the milk. It also helps your stomach "shrink" a little more quickly because it makes your uterus return to normal quicker.

Answer 10

Stop counting you re not going to be lose weight overnight Just concentrate on diet and exercise