Diet / Reducing calorie intake & milk supply?

[Serene123]

The biggest reason I haven't been on a diet is my milk supply (oh and food addiction). I am so afraid of losing it. I have eaten soooooo much since having Caitlyn that I'm afraid not eating so much / healthier will have an effect on my milk supply. Surely changing diet will change how your body works? I want to go back to eating not much and healthy but I'm afraid..

 

[marley2580]

Your body will continue to produce milk no matter what you eat - women in 3rd world countries breast feed their children for years. Keep up your fluid intake and go back to eating what you did before you were pregnant (with a little extra if you feel you need it).

 

[ryder]

You can diet, but you run the risk of running yourself into the ground while your at it.

TBH I remember you posting your height/weight I think awhile ago and you are by no means anywhere close to being fat...

Eat healthy and excersize.

 

[Margerle]

Your body makes milk from your body stores, like your body made a baby from nutrition stores (which is why we weren't technically eating for 2 ). It's not quite like you eat an apple and that apple converts directly to breastmilk.

In other words, the breastmilk you're making today is using 'food/fuel' you ate say, a week ago. So even if you absolutely quit eating today, you'd still make good breastmilk for a while, until your stores ran out.

You want to avoid this starvation scenerio though as it causes your body to hold onto nutrition tighter and actually makes you fatter. NEVER STARVE TO DIET.

Make sure you get 1800 calories with a decent number of 'meals' during the day. This will help keep your metabolism up and running through the day.

Exercise will help the metabolism too - and your burning up to an additional 500 calories a day just by making millk that your baby consumes.

A really good way to get the ole weight loss kicked into gear is to remove dairy from your diet. But if you do this, make sure you're also taking a probiotic as dairy helps keep the body's flora under control (ie. bacteria cultures on the body)

 

[WelshGirl]

What you need to do hun is just change what you are eating, but still eat plenty. To lose weight, it's not so much about calories but more about what makes up those calories ie Fat content ( if that makes sense). So eating 800 calories of rubbish is much worse & you'll gain more weight than eating 800 calories of healthy food.
Keep eating a similar amount of calories, but try and reduce the fat content of those calories. Apparently, breastfeeding uses up to 500 cals a day - an average woman needs around 1500 - 2000 cals a day - so you need to be eating around 2000-2500 cals to keep yourself healthy. Once Caitlyn is having less milk, you can gradually reduce your cals.

If you can get in a half hour walk each day too, that'd help loads.

xxx

 

[ryder]

I wouldn't cut dairy out... Even calcium supplements arn't as good as dairy.

I personally would go speak to a dietician about this if you would like to really change your eating habits. When you diet you need to think of your future (IE when your old) and alot of diet theories cut out too many important parts of nutrients.

Totally agree with what welshgirl said also!

Obviously if your eating chips and candy then you should cut that out.

Also remember Caitlin is only 4 months old, im sure you are not fat by any means and as you get out of your teens your metabolism slows down and people usually "fill out" a bit more.

 

[HatterasSarah]

When my son was 3 months old, i started working out and cutting calories. i was eating less than 1300 calories per day. My supply decreased DRASTICALLY! It was horrible. I did mostly cardio, so I sweated out a lot of fluids, but I drank about 60 ounces of water during exercising, which was on top of what I drank during the rest of the day.

Bottom line, i completely understand you apprehensions about cutting calories. I wouldn't do it until you're done BFing. It was very hard for me to get my supply back...but I did, and I'm thankful. I wish you luck on weightloss and continuing BFing!

 

[Holldoll]

I wasn't losing weight after having Bella, so I upped my calories to 1800-2000 and I started losing weight. You may not be eating enough. Check out www.myfitnesstrainer.com it has a program that, based on your exercise, it will adjust your calories and tell you how much to eat. It's very cool! I've been using it for over 2 years (not while I was pregnant though).

 

[claire1983]

Remember changing your diet will change the taste of your breastmilk so you can find your LO isnt so interested any more if your diet drastically changes. You should keep your calorie intake up while you are feeding but I agree as others have said if you cut some of the rubbish out of your diet and replace with healthier foods (dont have chips have a side salad) then it should be fine - everything in moderation though I wouldnt advise a complete overhall

 

[Margerle]

I wouldn't cut dairy out... Even calcium supplements arn't as good as dairy.

I wonder how those who are lactose intolerant or vegans get their calcium?

 

[ryder]

I wouldn't cut dairy out... Even calcium supplements arn't as good as dairy.

I wonder how those who are lactose intolerant or vegans get their calcium?

They dont. And then they end up with bone density issues when they age If its not necessary then why cut out an essential part of your diet?

There are other, healthier ways to lose weight.