Losing Weight After Birth While Breastfeeding

However while breastfeeding does burn a large number of calories it also requires a daily intake of approximately 500 more calories than a pre pregnancy diet.

Losing weight after birth while breastfeeding. The eight weeks after your baby s birth are essential for establishing a milk supply and dieting may compromise your efforts according to the la leche league international. To help you in losing weight while breastfeeding try to work yourself up to 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week which is about 20 to 30 minutes a day of walking. You can also resume things like yoga or tai chi especially if you were practicing before baby.

While breastfeeding burns about 500 700 calories extra per day to fuel milk making this may not always contribute to weight loss postpartum many factors like pre pregnancy weight diet physical activity level etc will impact weight loss after birth institute of medicine 2002. Losing weight while breastfeeding should be approached with care and caution. Why you shouldn t aim to lose the baby weight while breastfeeding it s important to understand why your main focus shouldn t be on weight loss when you re breastfeeding.

According to a recent report published in the new york times rapid weight loss could cause a drop in milk supply increase fatigue and alter hormonal levels the. A deficit of 500 calories per day may theoretically help breastfeeding mothers lose around 1 pound 0 45 kg per week for. This leads many moms to wonder what steps can i take to lose pregnancy weight while also ensuring that my baby gets the nutrients she.

However by eating the right types of foods exercising and taking good care of yourself you can help support up your postpartum weight loss. Remember i aimed to include lean protein and vegetables during every meal. Breastfeeding will not initially help you lose any additional weight than is normal from loss of the placenta amniotic fluid and excess water which accounts for about 15 to 17 pounds in the first few weeks all told but it will help to contract your uterus and shrink it back down to its pre pregnancy size much more quickly.

I wanted to include a few recipes for things i ate regularly during my weight loss phase because i know how interested others are in what people are eating while they re losing weight. Calorie burn and weight loss. Whether breastfeeding can actually help you lose weight is still up in the air some studies find that breastfeeding exclusively can help you return to your pre baby weight faster while others.

Many new moms mistakenly believe that breastfeeding helps with weight loss after giving birth. While breastfeeding may actually expedite your weight loss you shouldn t make a concentrated effort to shed pounds during the first two months postpartum.