To ask about your experiences of breastfeeding and weight loss...

[Gennz]

DS was born in November (he's 20 weeks). I put on approx 3 stone while pregnant, and about 2 came off in the weeks following his arrival. Have since lost a few pounds both nothing substantial - have about a stone to go to my pre-preg weight (which wasn't super skinny, just average/healthy BMI).

DS is largely BF, though he gets one formula bottle at bedtime. Is it likely I will see a sudden dramatic decrease on the scales anytime soon? Just as a resul of breastfeeding I mean. I'm not constantly stuffing my face or anything but I'm definitely not dieting or hitting the gym, though I try to swim or walk regularly ... but there's a fair amunt of grazing happening & a steady reliance on chocolate at about 4pm.

Or do I need to accept that the remaining weight won't move til I wean him & make more of an effort with diet & exercise? My sister BF-ed her DS2 til a year and reckoned it took til 9 months to get the miraculous weigh loss at which point she lost a stackload.

Had convinced myself I would be one of those people who get down to their high school weight while stuffing face 24/7 with dairy milk choc.

Similar to some above-at about 6 months the weight began to fall off-this also coincided with me starting a LCHF diet but it carried on even when my willpower with the diet waned! At my lowest I was the lightest i'd been since I was about 16 -a stone lighter than I am now!

...Also, has anyone else noticed that their body shape is now different? I am nearly the same weight as I was to start with but I have a lot more arse at this weight than I did, even though my face is much gaunter now than it ever was. I also seem to still have larger feet than before I was pregnant and only fit about three pairs of my pre-preg shoes.

Best I could have written yours! Got down to pre preg weight relatively easy but it has redistributed itself so I look more like a haggard Perrier bottle.... And don't get me started on the shoes... Oh well.

Within a month of DC1 being born I was about a stone lighter Than my normal pre pregnancy weight. I didn't do any exercise and I was living on a diet of chocolate and cake. (Literally) it was the skinniest I had ever been since I was a child. My weight did slowly creep up though.

With DC2 I only went back to my pre pregnancy weight and didn't lose any extra. This was also without dieting or exercise. I've just been really lucky.

I've been breast feeding for nearly 4 years now (2 year age gap) so I can't answer about what happens after I stop.

Whatismylife I hate you!

Although I obvisouly have a bit left to lose I think my body shape has chnged too - upper half looks pretty much as it did pre-preg, maybe even slightly smaller. Arse and thighs are massive and calves are, how should I put it, piano-esque.

I couldn't lose weight v easily while breastfeeding, last half stone came off when I stopped.

Are people generally saying that at six months they start losing that last bit of weight (prays with hands together as baby is 5 and a half months)!

I didn't put any weight on in my first two pregnancies and 7lbs in my third. I was quite sick but ate what I liked. As a result I was quite a bit lighter once they were born but by the time I had finished breastfeeding I was back up to my pre pregnancy weight (which was not where I wanted to be!).

I've been bf for 10 months and my body has stubbornly held on to 10lbs which won't shift no matter what I do.

I've wound down and planning to stop completely in the next few weeks. So I'm hoping my body will let me lose it then.

Question for those who lost weight after stopping - what did you do? Did you diet? If so, what kind of diet?

I didn't lose any! I didn't put much weight on during pregnancy, but what I did put on was only lost once I stopped BF and swapped to formula, and could have a normal eating routine again.

I've lost 2 stone since baby was 7 weeks, didn't weigh myself while pg as I knew it would depress me. I've just stopped bf, baby is now 13 months, so it's taken best part of a year. Body is a different shape now though. I'm interested to see if I lose any more now I have stopped.

I've gained about 1.5 stones of "me" weight in each pregnancy. It takes me about 9 months to get to the top of my normal zone, but over a year to feel like me again.

I get SPD, so have to build my fitness up from the begining, starting with walking to the end of the road. Gradually the pram walks get longer, I can join buggy fit, and as the naps get more reliable I can do short Dvds as they nap. When I'm fitter and my babies go a few hours between feeds, I can go to a fitness class. When Ds2 was 7 months, I was fed up of puffing myself slowly up a short hill near home. The SPD had finally fucked off and I could lift my leg to walk without limping, so I started the C25k.

It was more work the second time, and I had to be more mindful about what I ate. I didn't diet, but was careful about snacks, going for proteins like nuts, yoghurts and babybels over sugar rushes.

My appetite is increased when BFing, but I try to keep portions normal, and be careful with snacks. I was naturally munchy at 5pm and 3 am.

I think building up muscle tone again is really important for kick starting your metabolism, especially when pregnancy has really compromised your mobility.

When my water retention had gone after Ds1, despite being a couple of stones heavier than normal, my legs were thinner, because they had wasted so much, and that won't help with weightloss.

Breastfeeding enabled me to get back to my high school weight.

I wasn't overweight when I got pregnant, but I was heavier than I would've liked to have been, and I ballooned with both pregnancies. It then fell off after DC1 (I was so surprised), and then with DC2 only arriving 18 months later, the same thing happened. I lost all the pregnancy weight, and then some.

I really did not expect it. I EBF'd both DC for their first 6 months, and for 13 months and 16 months (in total) respectively in total.

DC2 is now 4.8, and our combined weight is still 10 kilos less than our combined weight the day before I went in to get induced (to be fair, I am tall). I freaking love breastfeeding for its weight loss properties!

never lost weight while bf. too much sitting down to burn off any calories.

I know my OP says I'm not stuffing my face, but I have actually just taken stock of how much I have eaten today... I am amazed I'm not putting on weight. I'm like a very greedy labrador.

YY to greedy Labrador! I didn't put on too much weight while pregnant (very sick) so lost that weight pretty easily plus some more. But then I never adjusted the greedy lab phase so ended up putting it back on again – particularly when I gave up the BF after 15 months.

This time round I intend to take advantage of the calorie-burning wonder that is BF and munch on nuts and bananas like a little monkey, instead of fourteen packs of marshmallows. But I'm so HUNGRY!

I was almost back to pre pregnancy weight about a fortnight after birth (sickness had meant relatively low weught gain and a lot of what I did gain was water!) I then put on 3-4kgs which at 7m has now gone again. Counterintuitively I found it helped to eat bigger meals so I didn't have a permanent cake craving!

Had two babies whom I BF. The weight fell off me, especially with no 1. I hadn't put on masses anyway as didn't have much of an appetite when pregnant and wasn't drinking.

Been ebf for 12 weeks and I've not lost a single pound but ive been overindulging in cakes and biscuits.... actually surprised I've not gained weight!!!

I've been eating healthily but I've been eating crap as well as my healthy food.

Started a health kick last week, even bought some new trainers so I can get some serious walking in.... sadly I still have about 3st to lose.

I was a 2 st overweight to begin with.. didn't gain much in pregnancy but have a mountain to climb now.

the only time I have dramatically lost weight from breast feeding alone was when I was tandem feeding - the fat dropped off me, regardless of what I ate. Sadly not true of the other times I've breastfed!

Fed DS1 for 9 months. Went back to work FT when he was six months weighing 7st 4lb - about a stone lighter than pre-pregnancy. Fed DS2 for 27 months without such dramatic effect, but still lost the weight quickly and easily. Having said that I didn't gain more than a stone or so with him and 2 stone first time.

I dramatically lost weight while breastfeeding too - I was about 50 kilos after 3 months from an 80 kilos while pregnant and settled on 49 kilos until I got pregnant again 16 months later and decided to stop breastfeeding dd1 at that point. A combination of healthy eating and walking a lot with the baby in a carrier and the pram helped too. While breastfeeding I felt I could eat what I liked and I never saw any weight gain but I'm very interested to hear people say otherwise and I wonder if it will be the same second time or if it was just chance

I'm just starting to think about loosing the last stone as I'm in the process of weaning and don't want to be breastfeeding forever. I put on 4 stone whilst pregnant, lost 3 stone without any effort but haven't lost anymore for a while. (DS is 7 and a half months old)

I've just got a fitbit, so have been recording how much I eat compared to how much I need (it has a setting online - not on the phone app - that allows you to set it to breastfeeding which is helpful).

What I've worked out is with my snacking I am pretty much eating exactly what I needed to maintain my current weight. I've been snacking a lot as I've been ravenous. In order to loose weight the snacking is going to have to knocked on the head especially when I stop breastfeeding.

I think my body has naturally kept my appetite at this level but that's my worry. Will I carry on eating like this out of habit and put weight on, rather than loose it?

All the stuff about breastfeeding making you loose weight only works if you are eating less calories to make it possible afterall.

I'm going to go for a gradual plan to cut back on the snacks without starving myself and be sensible about how I do it as I am still breastfeeding. I definitely think I need to be more conscious about what I eat than I have been though.

The received wisdom is that breastfeeding helps you lose weight but it isn't true for everyone.

I breastfed each of my kids for exactly a year, and always GAINED weight during this time. It made me constantly and ravenously hungry. I know that's not what anyone wants to hear or believe but it was the case every time for me. I always lost the baby weight when they were weaned. In one pregnancy I had hyperemesis and so when the baby was born I'd actually lost weight - but then still gained more whilst breastfeeding.

I have PCOS though which causes insulin resistance and that may be a factor?