Losing Weight While Breastfeeding: If you’ve just had a baby and you’re thinking about losing weight while breastfeeding, there are definitely some things you need to consider first. The good news is that losing weight while breastfeeding is possible and safe! The keys to losing weight while breastfeedings are moderation and patience.
For many women, losing weight while breastfeeding will come naturally. It’s natural to put on weight during pregnancy and it’s natural to lose it after. Breastfeeding burns calories, and if your diet does not exceed the number of calories you need to maintain your current weight, the calories you burn while breastfeeding will naturally cause you to lose weight over time.
You can burn about 20 calories per oz. of milk you produce and can burn about 500 calories a day feeding your baby! A pound of fat is 3500 calories, making losing a pound a week while breastfeeding perfectly possible without even trying!
Can you lose more? Yes, but not much. It is perfectly safe (and very healthy) to exercise after your pregnancy. This will not only get you back in shape and keep your mood positive, if you get creative you can find great ways to involve both you and your new baby. Exercising doesn’t have to be in the gym with weights and a stationary cycle. Losing weight while breastfeeding doesn’t have to be a cumbersome task. Have fun! Try going for a walk.
Play with the dog or your kids (if you have more than one). Do housework to music and make it fun instead of a chore. There are lots of ways to get out or get moving without stepping foot into a gym. If you are going to more intense exercise, do so after feeding your baby so your breasts are not so full and shower afterward because the salt in our sweat has been known to turn some babies off.
However, intensely losing weight while breastfeeding is not a good idea. Toxins that we consume can be stored in fat, and released into the milk you produce if too much fat is broken down in a short period of time. This is unhealthy for your baby. Remember that if you’re losing weight while breastfeeding you’re going to have to balance a few different goals at once. Sure, you want to lose weight, and cutting calories and doing fat-burning exercise is the best way to do that.
But, you also want to keep in mind that you’re going to be tired. Taking care of a new baby is not an easy job, and exercise may take a back seat to pig out on your favorite comfort foods. You’re going to need to eat enough to keep a positive attitude and a healthy body, for you and for your baby. Although the quality of food has been proven to not affect the quality of milk you produce, it can easily affect how you feel and thus your and your baby’s relationship.
This doesn’t mean however that you have to give in to every craving. A balanced diet (with a few treats!) combined with light exercise can ensure that you’ll be shedding a few pounds over the next few months.
Remember that losing weight while breastfeeding you just need a bit of moderation and patience. If this is something you’re still unclear on as far as what you can and can’t do or what is safe for you and your baby there are many experts and diet programs about losing weight while breastfeeding available on the internet. They’re just a few clicks away.
How to Lose Weight While Breastfeeding Your Baby
One of the things new mothers want to do right after giving birth is to lose their pregnancy fat. If you are breastfeeding, you might want to know if you can safely diet. Knowing that baby gets all his nutrition from the mother, it is only natural to think that dieting will hinder a baby’s growth and development. Fortunately, it is possible to lose weight while breastfeeding.
Mothers who breastfeed will be happy to know that breastfeeding actually helps you shed pounds. In fact, pregnancy fat is nature’s way of preparing the body for lactation. With breastfeeding, the fat is burned to produce breast milk. This helps you regain your pre-pregnancy weight more quickly.
If you want to start a diet program, it is best to wait at least two months to make sure that milk production is firmly established. Your body has to produce enough milk that the baby needs during the first 8 weeks. In addition, waiting two months will give your body sufficient time to recover from the stress of having a baby.
Doctors recommend that you take in 200-500 calories more than what you normally need to maintain your weight while you are nursing. Your body uses up body fat while you are nursing. That makes it easier to lose the fat on your hips and thighs. Mothers who breastfeed lose weight faster than mothers who bottle-feed their babies.
Avoid quick-fix diets while breastfeeding, such as liquid diets, low carbohydrate diets, or weight-loss medication. They are not good for you or the baby. Breastfeeding mothers need a healthy diet of whole grains, protein, fruits, and vegetables.
If you want to lose weight while breastfeeding, limit it to one or two pounds per week. Drastic weight loss can affect your milk supply. Besides, it is best to shed extra weight gradually. Remember that you gained weight over a period of nine months. Expect to take 9 to 12 months to lose the excess fat.
Moderate exercise while breastfeeding can also help you lose weight. Exercise will help tone and build your muscles and fight postpartum depression. Most medical experts recommend that a vigorous exercise regimen should not start until six weeks after childbirth, at the very least. This should give your body enough time to heal.
Breastfeeding is good not only for the baby but also for you. If you want to lose weight while breastfeeding, all you have to do is eat the right kinds of food and follow an exercise program that will ensure an adequate milk supply for your baby.
Weight gain during pregnancy is recommended because it is good for your developing baby. Now that you are nursing your baby, you will definitely want to lose weight while breastfeeding and regain your pre-pregnancy shape. Here are some tips to apply that will enable you to lose weight while you are breastfeeding your baby.
Breastfeed your baby
Exclusive breastfeeding is a veritable means of burning excess fat. Your body produces milk using the nutrients you consume. This process requires a lot of energy, meaning that more fats and calories will be burnt down for more energy to be released to the cells of your body for their proper functioning. Breast milk also contains fatty acids. These fats that would have been stored in your body are given out through breast milk for the nourishment of your baby. Breastfeeding, in other words, helps you to cut down an extra pound.
Eat balanced diet
Your breastfeeding period is not a time to go on a diet or to start fasting in order to lose weight. You may feel that you are eating more than you should. There is nothing wrong with that. You will easily become hungry because more fats are burnt down and the nutrients that are used to produce breast milk need to be replaced quickly. In order to make sure that you are well-nourished, you should consume a balanced diet and snack more on fruits and vegetables. This will ensure that your body obtains all the essential food ingredients, vitamins, and minerals from the food you eat.
Drink enough water
If you want to lose weight while breastfeeding, it is important that you drink enough water. First, taking much water will help to keep you hydrated because you are giving out a huge quantity of water through breast milk. 50% of the content of breast milk is made up of water and so you need to replace the lost water by drinking enough water.
Engage in some exercise regime
Doing some exercises will also help you to reduce weight and regain your pre-pregnancy shape while you are breastfeeding. Regular exercise improves the metabolic process of your body and helps you to obtain lean muscles easily. So, you should add exercise to your post-pregnancy plan. The type of exercise to do depends on your health status. Strolling around or doing some form of yoga is a good option for you. You can discuss this with your doctor or a fitness expert to advise you in this regard.
Have time to relax and reduce stress
Being stressed up while breastfeeding can make you add more weight. More stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are produced by the body when you are stressed. These hormones reduce the rate of digestion; increase your heart rate and decrease the circulation of blood to digestive cells. This will make you gain more weight. It is, therefore, important that you avoid stress when you are breastfeeding your baby.
Here Are 7 Killer Methods of How to Lose Weight While Breastfeeding
Most new moms are very eager to return to their pre-pregnancy weight. However, if you are a breastfeeding mom, you may be a little anxious about cutting back or dieting while you are nursing. Well, relax. Not only is it perfectly healthy to diet while nursing, but it is also the best time for a new mom to drop that baby weight. In fact, it is easier for a breastfeeding woman to lose lower body fat than a mom who is formula feeding.
- The body of a breastfeeding mom will take nutrients from the mom to ensure that the milk is best for the baby. If you are worried that cutting calories while you are breastfeeding will take nutrients away from your baby, relax. Actually, the opposite is true. The mom’s body will send nutrients to the breast milk first so that the baby gets the most nutrition possible even if it means taking nutrients away from the mom. Actually, unless the mother is severely malnourished, her milk will be fine for feeding her baby.
- Eat lots of calcium-rich foods. Calcium is vital for building strong teeth and bones. However, the proteins that are in cow’s milk are harder to digest and can pass through breast milk to the baby. They can cause food allergies, although this occurs in a very small percentage of babies. Yogurt and cheese may still be OK if you find a problem with cow’s milk, but you do need calcium. Broccoli, nuts, spinach, and canned salmon are all great sources of calcium. It also wouldn’t hurt to add a calcium supplement to your diet. You need about 1,000 mg of calcium if you are between the ages of 18 and 50, even if you aren’t breastfeeding. Another boon for breastfeeding, though, is that nursing mothers do lose some bone mass when they breastfeed, but within a year after weaning, research shows that not only is the bone loss restored, but the bones are stronger. Breastfeeding has been shown to protect women from osteoporosis.
- Drink lots of water. Drink when you are thirsty, but drink water. Ideally, 6 ounces to 8 ounces is what you should consume. If you drink too much water you actually run the risk of decreasing your milk supply.
- When breastfeeding, you need to take in 200 to 500 calories in excess of what you needed prior to becoming pregnant to maintain your weight. If you want to lose, you can cut back some, but don’t drop your caloric intake below about 1,800 calories a day. Breastfeeding burns quite a few calories and as you nurse you will lose weight.
- Don’t rush it. Don’t even try to cut back on calories or do any type of dieting until at least 2 weeks postpartum. At about 4 to 6 weeks postpartum you can cut back on calories, but maintain a healthy diet and keep taking your prenatal vitamins. Don’t try to lose weight too quickly either. A pound or two a week is all you should ever try to lose when you are nursing.
- Exercise regularly. Moderate exercise has been shown to be very beneficial to nursing mothers. You may need to plan a little more, such as exercising after nursing so your breasts aren’t uncomfortable and full, wear a good sports bra and drink a glass of water both before and after your workout. Take it easy until you are released from the doctor. Maybe start out walking.
- Eat fresh and lean. This really goes without saying. Include plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet as well as whole grains and lean meats. You should also incorporate fish into your diet at least two times a week. Salmon is a great choice but go with wild salmon. Farm-raised salmon has been shown to have a higher concentration of mercury so you want to steer clear of that.
Final Verdict
If you are trying to lose weight, but you just had a baby, then it is widespread for you to be trying to learn how to lose weight while breastfeeding because you certainly aren’t the only woman in the world who is trying to. For you to do this you definitely need to know some things first for you to get started, and the good news is that you most definitely can lose weight while breastfeeding.
All you need to do is have patience and you can do it. For a lot of women, burning fat and losing weight while they are breastfeeding is something that is going to come naturally, and it is very natural and healthy for women to put on weight during their pregnancy. A lot of women don’t know this but the activity of breastfeeding burns calories.
Also, an added bonus is that if you are on a diet that is not having you eating fewer calories than what you are burning, then you’ll still be burning calories because you’ll be breastfeeding and you’ll be amazed at how much weight you’ll lose naturally as time passes. For every ounce of milk that you provide for your newborn baby, you will be burning 20 calories per ounce.
One pound of fat is over 3000 calories, so while you are providing breast milk for your baby you will be losing 500 calories at least on a daily basis so you will be losing weight without even trying. Now you can of course lose more weight if you want to begin exercising after you have had your baby.
Exercising after pregnancy isn’t only going to get you back in the body that you want, but it is also going to help you stay positive while you are taking care of your newborn baby. After pregnancy, it is best for you to take up walking as your weight loss exercise, and of course, make sure you shower after you’re done with this exercise because no baby wants to taste sweet.
Now I advise that you don’t do any strenuous exercises when you are trying to lose weight while breastfeeding because if you are burning too much fat you will be releasing toxins into your body which can go into your breast milk. This of course isn’t healthy for your newborn.
Remember that since you are going to be cutting calories by exercising, know that after a pregnancy doing this is going to make you tired especially since you have a newborn baby taking up most of your time. This is why you need to make sure that you don’t start going for your junk food when you don’t have time to exercise.
Because it is going to be very common for you to get those hunger cravings when you are taking care of your baby, you may not have time to plan out a healthy meal for you to eat. All you need is patience and focus when you’re trying to lose weight while breastfeeding, and I recommend that you speak to your doctor as well on this issue if you are still in any way uncertain on how to go about doing this.
