Breastfeeding Diet - Felicity,OH

The south beach diet book has a section about how to follow the plan while breastfeeding - you are supposed to have extra milk and extra calories, just get those calories from a lot of vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, "good" fats like olive oil, etc., and limit sweets. Like others have said, a healthy diet is great for you and the little one, but don't try to cut calories!

Eat whole foods, nothing boxed or processed. Your diet and health will improve. Eat fresh produce vs canned. Frozen isn't as good as fresh, but better than canned. Avoid anything with hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup. Eat natual sugars like honey or real maple syrup if you need a little sugar, but keep it limited.

I second Alma. MY doc told me that you should actually be eating MORE while nursing than when pregnant. Healthy food is key. It will fall off eventually.

When breastfeeding you need about 600 extra calories for milk production. If you regular diet is around 1800-2000 calories for weight maintenance (depends on your activity level) that would add up to 2400-2600 calories a day.
I just had a regular healthy diet while breastfeeding with some additional snacks and lost all of my baby weight.
The "dangerous" time is when your baby reduces milk intake and/or you start weaning. I gained about 10 lbs back after weaning because I fell back into old fast food habits and did not adjust my intake to account for lower need.
If you maintain a healthy diet the pounds should come off automatically with a little excercise...

Weightwatchers does take breastfeeding into consideration and allows you more points. I actually found that I wasn't even eating enough to reach my points on some days so it was good to follow in that sense.

I was never able to loose a significant amount of weight while breastfeeding, infact my youngest is almost 3 and I am still working on loosing the last few pounds!!! I did follow weight watchers and it really helped keep me from eating either to much or not enough. Like one of the other mothers said stay away form sweets. Working out will also help to shed those pounds. Make sure you are eating enough between the demand on your body from nursing and working out can cause your body to want to hang on to everything and you will not be able to loose anything.

Good luck!!

A.

Simply dont eat sweets!

I was told by my pediatrician to never diet while breastfeeding. I know you want to loose the weight, but you will if you continue to breastfeed. It took me about a year until I was my old weight, but well worth it. She also told me that the number one reason why women's milk dries up is because they are not getting enough fat while nursing because they are dieting. And while nursing she said that you need as much nutrients & fat as when you were preggers. Nursing & walking are the best diet I ever tried.

Eat healthy and nurse nurse nurse for as long as you can. Remember, it took you 9 months to gain the weight and it will take at least that long to lose it. Forget everything you've read or heard about celebrities and super models who shrink right back up (they had help most likely either from surgeons, trainers, nannies, photographers, etc). Here's some good info: http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/mom/mom-weightloss.html

I'm breastfeeding and I've managed to lose all of my baby weight. Well, all the weight from my second. I'm still hauling around at least and extra 20 lbs from my first! LOL! I just ate healthier. Just because you need to eat more food doesn't mean to eat more junk food. I cut out all white bread and am slowly making the switch to whole grain pastas (my 3 year old does NOT like them!) I snack a couple of times a day, but I try to be healthy. Instead of grabbing the bag of chips, I grab a banana or low fat cottage cheese with peaches. Another favorite snack is peanut butter on a piece of whole wheat bread. You need to eat more calories because you're giving life to another human. They baby is taking some of those calories away from you, just like when you were pregnant. My daughter is 6 months old and just by being careful and watching what I eat, I had lost the 30lbs I gained with her in about 5 months. I don't do any real exercise to speak of, other than chase my toddler around and climb our stairs about 10x a day. Relax, it took you 9 months to put the weight on, it will take some time to take it off. You need to take into account how much you are running. You still need the extra calories to feed the baby. If you absolutely feel you HAVE to diet, Weight Watchers has a diet plan for breastfeeding women.