BFing and losing wt

[jjbeck]

Now before Ava was born, I heard lots about one of the benefits of BFing was wt loss after pg. Now, I have always been on the thin side and pretty tall. The 1st HG pg I lost lots of wt and post pg, it took a a good year before I was able to gain anything no matter what or how much I ate.
This PG I gained 80 plus pounds despite the fact I was vomiting just about daily until the day I delivered. I am guessing the steroids blessed me with the ability to reserve...
Anyway, the 1st two weeks I lost 15 pounds..lots of fluids I suspect, but then I gained 5 to 10 back. Anyway. I have just started losing again( it has been more than 4 months), but only becasue I have seriously changed my diet. But even before I change of diet, it was not making sense to me that I was not losing wt with all I heard about BFing , as well, I had always lost wt very easily in the past.
So, does BFing ever cause a woman to maintain her wt for whatever reason? Like a survival type of thing.

[Laurie]

This might be a question for Aimee but I wonder if the steroids are still in your system?

The reason that bf helps you lose weight is that it burns 500 calories a day just to make milk. So, in theory, if you maintain your regular caloric intake and are bf, you should lose weight. Most moms do have an easier time losing wt while bf than when not. I will caution that those last 5-10 lbs are usually stubborn though and typically won't come off until totally weaned.

http://www.breastfeed-essentials.com/weightloss.html

[jjbeck]

Yeah I knew about the 500 cals. I would just think where I am normally very thin, normally lose wt easily, some excersize and with BFing...I would think I would not have such a hard time losing this wt. I have been off of the steroids since nov so really they are no longer in my system. Maybe once I weaned myself off of the steroids one of my other hormones increased or something. I dont know. It is just odd. last 5 to 10 pounds...gosh I wish. I am looking at at least 70 more.

[HGx3]

My experience with the whole bf weight loss thing has been that of which I do not lose weight. For some reason, when I am nursing I have a furocious appetite. I am sure I am eating the 500-700 calories extra that I am burning. In fact, I have gained 10lbs since Josh was born...isnt that a booger!!!!!!!

There seems to be three categories to this, at least based on all the nursing moms I know and have talked with.
1) they lose all thier pg weight and then some
2) they dont lose any and may even gain a lilttle
3) maintain a weight

I obviously fall into the 2nd group, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Anyhow, that is my experience, of course, this is NOT based on anything other than what I personally have seen or gone thru. Hope it makes you feel a little better at least!

[jjbeck]

Thanks Lisa. I guess I would fall into grp # 2 as well.
How are you feeling thise days?

[HGx3]

I am doing okay, just really tierd all the time. How is Ava doing? I cant believe how fast time is flying now that we arent pg anymore!!!!!!!!

[yellowm3]

With my first I only lost maybe a total of 10 of the 51lbs I gained while BFing. When I weaned him at 18 months that's when the weight REALLY dropped! It came off fast too!

I'm now at the 2 month mark with #2. I lost 22lbs in the first few weeks and I have a feeling the rest will come off after I wean like they did with my first.

[kohlby]

Some women do have trouble losing while breastfeeding. Though bf burns calories, I know women who were more hungry so they ate more or their bodies seemed to hold on to the last 10 pounds or so while bf. I did lose weight while bf, but it was due to exercise, not bf, for the first 6 months. As time went on, breastfeeding played a greater and greater role in my weight loss.

I gained 70 pounds when pg last time. (Didn't have HG and was always hungry. I did have morning sickness then though, only 2 pounds of that was first trimester!) I marathon trained, so exercise definately helped. At my lowest, I had lost 85 pounds! DS was 18 months old, nearly exclusively bf, and weighed 35 pounds at that time. I was also at the height of my training. When DS started eating solids worth counting, I cut down how much he bf so I could get my fertility back. I also stopped marathon training, but still exercised. I quickly gained 10 pounds back.

[helen-l-a]

I did not b/f my first son for longer than 2 weeks.. my next two I b/f for 10 months and nearly 18 months (she didn't want to stop!)... I found I lost weight quicker by bottle feeding than b/f and came to the conclusion that you would only lose weight b/f if you ate extremely healthy meals and no puds and lets face it, who has time to prepare a slap up healthy option when you are starving, have a screaming baby and another child/children to deal with too plus anybody else that needed seeing to and want a chocolate fix??? or is that just me?.. anyway I didn't lose the weight as quick

Helenxxx

[emily]

I lose weight super fast breastfeeding. At my two week post-partum appointment, I had lost 27 lbs (I gained 8 during the pregnancy). I lost another 2 lbs this past week and fully expect to lose 1-2 lbs per week for the next while (I lost 50 lbs in the 4 months following delivery day nursing my first). I don't have much of an appetite and so it is easier for me to manage my portions (I always eat pretty healthy despite being overweight, it is more of eating too much). I gained all of that 50 lbs I lost with dd plus a couple more when I stopped nursing. So, some of us do lose weight dramatically while nursing. But, that certainly isn't the case with everyone.

LOL I have to add, my baby has gained 2 lbs in 2 1/2 weeks!!! He is 11.5 lbs now!!!!! I told my dh all of my fat just goes right out my boobs!!!