New Baby, Breastfeeding and Weight Loss!!

No. Definitely dont start dieting right now. And dont do the Slim Fast Drinks. Give it a month or two, and then, if you feel the need, join Weight Watchers. They have a special program for nursing moms.

If you want to start something now, start walking, and increasing the amounts of fruits and veggies and lean meats, and decreasing the amount of sweets.

Congratulations!

If you eat healthy - and honestly - plus keep hydrated during breastfeeding, you should have no problems. Do not forget to add in some sort of exercise 2-3 times a week and go walking around the neighborhood with the baby.

Contact a Le Leche League group and IBCLC to ask what else you can do to slowly loose the weight while breastfeeding. I think Weight Watchers has a breastfeeding program.

I would not start any kind of active dieting while you are breastfeeding, your body needs the calories to feed the baby. You can start exercising once your doctor releases you to. On the plus side, many people do lose weight from breastfeeding. It also helps your uteris go back to normal size quicker. Congrats on the new little one!

Here is some information about Slim Fast: http://www.slim-fast.com/resources/common_questions/.

They indicate that you can safely eat Slim Fast products while breastfeeding (there is nothing "bad" in them) but to keep in mind your extra calorie needs while nursing. I believe I used the snack bars and shakes while nursing my second child.

I lost all my pregnancy weight and extra weight while breastfeeding my second boy (I'm nursing my third now but he's only a month old). I made sure to eat roughly 1600 or more calories a day (I never count them, just have a general idea and mostly watch portion sizes and food groups instead), ate frequent snacks, worked out for at least 30 minutes a day at least five or six days a week. Honestly, for me, the weight seemed to kind of melt off. I was hoping to get back into my college size (one size down from my pre-baby/post-baby size) but went down four sizes in about six months.

I'm only a month out, but I was getting really impatient myself and have had to be on my feet a lot with the older two kids (4 and 2 1/2) so have had to go sprinting outside after them and pick them up (my toddler is over 30 pounds) and I've had periodic increases in the heavier bleeding because of it. Today I'm having more abdominal cramping (which had stopped completely) because I was cleaning out the basement and moving heavy things. So, try to take it easy for now. I found using dumbbells while seated to be a good way to start toning without hurting anything. Good luck! :)

Kate,

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS on your new beautiful little one. Secondly, if you decided to breastfeed, not only will you be giving the best for your baby girl, but you are also helping your body get back to normal as well. After my second baby I decided that I was going to lose all the weight I had gained with my first baby. I read a lot and learned that calorie in/calorie out doesn't matter as much as carbs. If you don't process carbs, your body can't store fat. Change your diet and omit all the starchy foods and anything that breaks down as sugar. Stay away from ALL sugar (natural sugar from fruits and vegetables don't count so eat a lot of those). You want to limit your carb intake to less than 100g/day. I did that and lost 75 pounds and I have kept it off. Don't cook with vegetable oils and such because they have trans fats. Saturated fats are ok so eat lots of good meat like steak, hamburger, chicken and turkey. I have changed my diet and continue to eat like this and I now weigh 128 lbs and I'm down from 215. If you want an authority on this type of eating, check out Gary Taubes (spelling?). It is radically different than what most people say, but it has worked for me.

As far as the Slim Fast drinks, they are full of sugar and will make sure that you store fat.

I hope this helps you and again, congratulations on your little one.

R.
WorkAtHomeLike.Us

The way that Slim Fast is meant to work (two meal replacements) would not work with BF. I would not consider anything with meal replacements while BF. After about two or three months, when your milk is established, you might consider calorie counting modifying +300 for BF. So about 1500-1800 cal. Until then, I'd just focus on letting your body shed the pounds naturally which it is designed to do. Start by cutting back a little, skip dessert and high calorie snacks, go for walks. After 6-8 months, if you find there is still a lot of weight to loose, then think about kicking it into high gear. I so get the hating being fat part after pregnancy, but don't be so hard on yourself so soon. See what your body is willing to give up with moderate effort and when you see were the chips have landed, go after what ever weight remains with a vengeance. Serious weight loss takes serious effort, and right now your efforts should be on bonding with baby. Most woman who BF will loose 2 lbs/month without effort. That puts most women at their preprenancy weight in about 8 months. My theory is, any fat that remains after the length of the pregnancy (so when baby is 9.5 months old), will have to be taken off with diet and excersise. I say don't stress about it until then not because its better to focus on baby, but also because you may find you are spinning your wheels. Our bodies were designed to put fat on to sustain us through breastfeeding, so even with extra efforts to loose, your body wants some reserves and may fight you on fast weight loss.

Yes you can do Slim Fast while breastfeeding. That is what I did with baby #2. I gained about 25 pounds and was holding onto the last 10 so I did Slim Fast and counted my calories. While BF you need to eat at least 1500 calories a day. Eating between 1500 to 1800 while BF will let you lose weight while not messing up your milk supply. It's when you go lower than this that you can run into problems. So I stayed right at 1500. Slim Fast has lots of fiber and vitamins in it so it's not bad for you at all. I did a Slim Fast for breakfast and Lunch. had a couple healthy snacks in between and then at a normal dinner. Again equaling a 1500 calorie intake for each day. And yeah after a couple months of this I was down to 107 pounds! While still having a healthy, chunky baby on my hands.

I'm doing weight watchers. As an exclusively breastfeeding mom, you get an extra 14 points a day. It's great and I don't feel like I'm on a diet or deprived. (I've already lost 17 lbs) WW is geared so that a breastfeeding mom only loses 1-2 lbs per week so you don't hurt your milk supply.

Work out! If you aren't a member of a gym (we just go the ymca, best thing ever), then do some workout dvds at home. I drank slim fast while nursing, but really, you have to increase your daily intake of foods. So my slim fast was usually like an after breakfast, before lunch snack. Just choose healthy foods, get some excersize and you will be fine.

My OB told me with each vaginal delivery to start working out when I felt like it -- I started post-partum 2 weeks with my daughter (baby #1) with my full workout regimen (spinning, weight training, etc....just started slowly). If you had a c-section, you have to wait until the 6 week PP appt to get the go-ahead (that was baby #2 for me). As for dieting -- it isn't suggested the first 6 weeks after delivery for breastfeeding moms because it is more important to establish a great supply and breastfeeding relationship. I would suggest getting out more (walks, etc) and concentrating less on cutting calories right now! Just eat sensibly and stick to healthy foods -- breastfeeding burns an additional 500 calories a day so the weight may just start coming off without dieting right now. Good luck! I will be there myself in a month with baby #3 :)

I know you can work on weight loss durning breastfeeding but I would suggest waiting a few weeks to start anything to allow your supply to build up. Try babyfit.com it has great resources for pregnant and nursing moms on getting and staying healthy. Congrats on your newest bundle of joy.

Try asking your OB/GYN... I am sure they get this question a lot from Moms.
That way, you can be sure to do it, correctly.
And while breastfeeding.

Your baby needs the fat and nutrients from you more so now than any other time and I think you should take the time to focus on that before trying to lose any weight. Nothing you do now will help any because your body isnt super human and to think that you will lose weight 2 weeks in is just nuts. Also you should be waiting until your 6 week post appt. to receive the go ahead from the doctor to resume working out. Like you said this takes time and IMO now is not the time to be worrying about this.
PS - Congrats on the new baby and I do think its great that you are breastfeeding
Good Luck

Congrats on your new baby!

You should talk to your doctor or her pediatrician about supplements, but I'd first start with just getting the nursing relationship going and then see how the weight goes. I found it beneficial to take walks with DD. We walked a lot (in the mall in bad weather) so not only was I burning something like 500 calories nursing, but I was also getting my muscles moving for more toning and weight loss.

Nurse her often full time. You will lose lots and lots of weight. You can begin exercising when she is six weeks old. Walking is a good start. Post partum yoga is also good.