Did you lose weight or gain weight after you stopped breastfeeding?

[Reidfidleir]

I'm currently bfing my lo once a day. As I lost the pregnancy weight within two weeks but then gained ten pounds later on I'm kind of dreading what's going to happen when I stop bfing.
Please help me know what's coming! Ive heard both happens.
I'm 28 if that helps.

 

[Button#]

I gained weight. Not a lot but I did go up a clothes size in some shops. I'm not exactly doing much to combat it though so it's my own fault!

 

[Shadowy Lady]

I stayed the same. I lost all pregnancy weight by 2 weeks also but lost a lot more after 2 months due to intense exercising mostly. bf'ing (and not bf'ing) didn't change my weight by much TBH. I stopped bf'ing at 11 months when I went back to work.

Just for reference, I'm 31.

 

[jd83]

I've lost weight since stopping bf. I lost weight initially with breastfeeding, but then it plateaued for a while and I didn't lose anymore. Honestly, I think I just had too much appetite with needing to keep up with milk demands to lose more at that time, and I was okay with that because bf was important to me. After I stopped bf, my appetite decreased a TON over the next few months, so now I am back to eating like a normal person should, and have lost the rest of the baby weight. I haven't really done much exercise as I just don't have much extra time, so its mainly just been the major difference in how much I'm eating at meals. I still want to lose more, but I think I will need to actually make time to exercise to do that. I have slowed down with the weight loss from portion control alone, so I think to lose more it would take exercise in addition to the diet.

 

[MrsPear]

I lost weight after finishing. I think it was because I started work full time and my eating pattern changed, rather than the fact I finished breastfeeding. X

Ps if it's any use I'm 27 and stopped at 15 months. And I was about 6lbs above my pre pregnancy weight at the time I finished. I think I'm around my pre pregnancy weight now. X

 

[lau86]

I lost weight, I just seemed to be hungry all the time whilst feeding! I stopped at ten months, went back to work, LO started nursery and there was a good while where we were ill all the time, think that did it too.

 

[babyjan]

I lost weight! Literally straight away and still breast feeding my almost 2 year old x

 

[Brieanna]

I think it depends on what you do when you stop bfing.

A lot of women stop to go back to work and so they are (potentially) a lot more active and also on more of a schedule (can't just get a snack whenever they want, lol)

If stopping bfing is the ONLY thing you do differently then I think your results would be different, iykwim?

I haven't stopped bfing yet, but have cut down a lot because my supply has decreased, but since I am pregnant it is hard to tell. I CAN say that I seem to be gaining at about the same rate as when I was pregnant with dd so bfing isn't really affecting me.

 

[PitaKat]

Stalking this thread. My supply is decreasing so I don't know how much longer we'll be nursing.

 

[superfrizbee]

I still BF once a day too and have gained weight as I cut down feeds. In the early weeks/months I lost weight drastically and end up 0.5 stone lighter than pre pregnancy, which I didnt need to lose, wasnt planned and no matter what I did I couldnt stop losing or put back on. since cutting back BFing I've put on about a stone from there and would like to lose a few pounds (after christmas!) but nothing major.

 

[sandilion]

Lost it! Mind you BF made me eat a lot and crave sweets, but it also in general made me really retain fluid. I loved everything about BF apart from the weight carrying and cravings.

 

[pinkstarbinks]

When I trialled stopping bf ages ago I lost weight. Back to bfeeding for around 90 percent of feeds and weights up, confident it would go down if I stopped x

 

[Seity]

I put I lost weight, but the reality is that I lost way too much breastfeeding and after stopping still couldn't put it back on. So when I stopped, my weight didn't change.

 

[Reidfidleir]

Thanks for all your replies so far ladies! Ya I guess I should have put a third option there for unchanged. Sorry about that!

 

[sequeena]

Gained but I didn't help myself either!

 

[seoj]

All depends on you hun- I didn't gain or lose while pumping (but I was also eating like crap!)- lol- I had cut myself a break the first 2mos due to holiday and just not wanting to put too much pressure on myself-- I didn't pump long either- as BF didn't work for us- and I hated pumping... but did it as long as I could manage before going back to work. Once I did go back to work- I lost weight ONLY because I watched how many calories I ate, and pumped up my workout (slowly) and did the work. I am actually thinner now than I've been in YEARS and about 15lbs thinner than I was when I first got prego. Go figure!

 

[bananaz]

You're missing a "No weight change" option. I'm still BFing once a day but I'll be surprised if my weight changes at all once I do finally stop. There's a big difference in caloric output between nursing an EBF newborn and nursing an older toddler, and I doubt my daily 10-15 minutes of breastfeeding is having a significant effect on my metabolism.

 

[d_b]

Lost weight but like some others I went back to work at that time, so less snacking and more planned meals. I was also stressed with putting LO in daycare and readjusting to work so I was eating less.

 

[SarahBear]

I won't be done breastfeeding for a long time, but I have pants that fit me pre-pregnancy that don't fit me now. I suspect I will gain when I'm done.

 

[seaweed eater]

I voted "gain" even though I'm still pumping at about half my full output. But I gained weight when I lost supply. But I also hope to go back to more normal eating habits when I stop pumping (I'm eating a ton now and my output went down when I tried to cut back) so maybe that will mitigate the weight gain.

ETA, I'm 26, normal weight, and my lowest pp weight was 10 lbs over pre-pregnancy. I'm thinking all of the 10 lbs are accounted for by boob growth