To wonder WTF is going on with my weight pp?

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7 months pp, before bubs used to just do intermittent fasting when I wanted to lose a pound here or there. Currently about 3.5stone overweight for my (short) height but occasionally still breastfeeding a couple of times a day, so can't just skip breakfast for a couple of weeks to start shifting the weight in case it tanks my milk supply.

I'm being super, super good about my diet, and eating very varied, good & healthy mix of foods, but nothing i do seems to have an impact on the scales! I've logged it in MFP and I'm eating about 1800 calories a day which I think is balanced for my 5' 2" height.. yet it's not shifting at all! I've been eating "well" like this for about 4 months, and nada!

AIBU to be wondering what's going on pp with my body? I like to think I'm fairly clued up on having a varied, rich, fresh/filled-with-filling-but-low-cal foods... but I'm bamboozled.

1. Did anyone find that their understanding of how THEY can lose weight changed after a baby? Am I mental or is that possible, for the body to just shift into needing a different approach?

2. Is simply eating "healthily" pp isn't enough sometimes?

I'll paste a "typical" day for me below - rip it to shreds and tell me I'm mad if needed.

--

Breakfast:
Usually 2x wholemeal toast with 2x pat's of butter
Banana
Filter coffee just with a splash of semi-skimmed milk

OR

Bowel of self-made porridge (no sugar, just oats and half milk/half water to cook)
Sometimes 1x TSP of honey

OR
On weekends, 2x wholemeal toast w 2 scrambled eggs or kippers

Lunch:
2x wholemeal bread slices
Tin of veg soups (usually carrots or mixed veg. Occasionally oxtail or mulligatawny or lentil soup)

Dinner:
Varies hugely, but typically:
1 Fish cake with chips (quarter of plate), plus half plate of salad (spinach, tomato, chopped carrots, pickle onion or cabbage, gerkin), tbsp of coleslaw
OR
First size baked potato w similar salad, 1x tin tuna, similar fist of grated cheddar
OR
Tin salmon, half a plate of frozen veg, boiled baby potatoes
OR
Liver, onion, 2 eggs, chips, half the plate full of salad
OR
Fish curry w bowl of veg added, salad, 1 small naan, tbsp mango chutney
OR
Homdemade spag bol w half mince/half soy mince, bowl of spag that is like a small saucer to about 2cm depth, salad, 3 slices of garlic bread (i.e. just less than half a baguette)

Snacks/supper (usually two of per day):
Apple with hot drink
Banana
Third of a punnet of grapes
Tub of raspberries
Whole mango sliced up
Couple of fresh pears
Greek yoghurt
Rarely: 3x square crackers with 2x palm size slices cheddar

Drinks
*only tea and Americano with splash of milk, or tap water or a glass of semi-skimmed milk. No juice, no fizzy drinks at all, no alcohol, no sugar in any drink, no added salt or oils or flavourings.

Couldn’t lose weight breastfeeding either no matter what. Only started to shift the baby weight when I stopped for good.... sorry it’s more common than you think, just no one likes to advertise that fact in case it undermines the whole breast is best message....

If you are still breastfeeding in the middle of the night it might be harder to lose weight as your prolactin levels will remain high.

I've breastfed long term and after each baby I've lost about a stone in literally 3 or 4 weeks once that night feed goes and my periods come back. This has been between 13 and 20 months post partum. Each time I've got pregnant with a few weeks too so can't say if the weight would stay off longer term.

That said, 1800 calories at 5'2" seems quite a lot. The breastfeeding burning 500 calories a day is probably not true for you any more now your child is getting their calories mostly from food and/or formula.

It’s worth noting that when you’re pregnant your body becomes incredibly efficient at extracting calories from food-it’s why we need far fewer extra calories than we think! In some women this continues for a while postpartum. It may be you just need to wait a little longer for your hormones to stabilise.

And at my guess its more than 1800 cal too

1800 kcal is way too much. I am way taller than you but if I was having 1800 a day I would be gaining weight. In my opinion I need to reduce to 1000kcal a day if I want to loose at least something so I doubt you would lose anything with having 1800!

Far too many calories. I’ve struggled and struggled and this week have used meal plans from the college nutritionist. Lost 3.5lbs, not hungry and don’t feel the need for snacking. It’s about 1200 cals a day. Her basic formula for every meal is 2 cups veg, 4-5oz protein, 100-200 cals for fat. Starches only once per day.

As example a day this week looked like

2 fried eggs, 1 apple, 1 Oz cheese

5oz turkey slices, 2 Oz cheese, 20 baby carrots

6oz chicken breast or shrimp, 2 cup of beans, 1 cup of broccoli, 1/2 cup cooked wild rice

Snack if you want of 250 cal protein bar

Blimey, food on here is scary! I don't think that seems like a lot of food at all - seems like a reasonable amount to me. I'm always concerned when people start recommending a calorie intake of 1200 calories or less - that really is low. You could try reducing intake by 100 calories or so and see how you feel and whether that starts things moving. But as previous posters have said, some women hold on to the weight until they stop breastfeeding, which seems really unfair!

Don't believe mfp op. The calculations are rubbish

Go to macrosinc.net/services/macro-calculator/ and then follow the links to their group. Am not affiliated these guys know their stuff

I couldn't lose weight at all whilst breastfeeding. My body wanted to hold on to a certain level of fat. Didnt help that I was constantly constantly starving!

I stopped at 17 months pp and lost 2 stone within about a month without even trying.

I'm 5 2 and need to eat 1200 to lose (slowly)

I think losing or gaining weight is far more complex than a mathematical formula. It is too simple to say energy in Vs energy out results in weight gain or loss. 2 of my kids struggle to put weight on an eat huge amount of calories. My other child eats even more calories and he seems to convert calories to muscle. I myself will inexplicably lose weight for no apparent reason and other times despite high levels of exercise lose nothing. My advice is try not to focus too much on calories, eat well, exercise and take a good supplement. Also sleep is important for weight maintenance. Stress is the enemy of weight loss so don't stress too much about it.

I doubt intermittent fasting would affect your milk supply at two feeds a day.

It's a lot of food tbh.

And bfing a few times a day doesn't really need extra calories. I found that I didn't lose that last stubborn stone until I stopped, however I lost 2 st over 12 months following slimming world fairly painlessly.

Also fruit isn't the best thing to.snack on to lose weight. Half a punnet of grapes is a lot of sugar.

I also went out walking with ds in a sling a couple of hours a day.

You want lots of veg, lean protein, a measured amount of dairy, a small amount of fat and a very small amount of sugar. Don't limit veg and salad, fill up on that as much as you can. Then small amounts of other stuff like pasta or rice or potatoes plus some protein.

That is a lot of calories! To maintain my weight I can’t eat more than 1650.

tdeecalculator.net

Work out how many you actually need to maintain then -around 20%

I'm short and I gain steadily on 1800 even when I'm active and busy. You need to be looking at 1200-1300 to lose.

I'm losing around 3-4lbs a week low carbing and my calories are averaging 1400 a day.

Have a look at team rh on Facebook. It's pretty cheap to do, uses mfp and will work out what calories you should be aiming for. I'm losing weight on 1700 cals but I have to do 10k steps a day and 3 weight based work outs. I'm around 11 stone.

I'm about 7 months pp too and weight plateaued at 4 months. Gave up real butter, just that one food, and its dropped about 8 pound in 2 months. Maybe I would have dropped it anyway, but I think it was connected.
Not a crazy butter eater but on garlic bread, toast etc, it is delicious and I probably eat more of that food with it on there.
Replace with a non dairy (ie not so delicious) spread. I use Lidls olive spread now and see if it makes a difference.

I'm still eating normally the rest of the time.

I would say you've got far too many carbs in there. I've lost 20kg this year, mainly by cutting down carbs - I am a complete carboholic and can eat any amount of pasta and rice. Try restricting yourself to no more than six units of carbs a day. One unit is:

1 small slice of bread
25g dry rice or pasta
1 small potato - about the size of a large new potato

Fruit is full of carbs so you can't eat it in huge quantities. 3 pieces a day or 80g berries = one apple orange or pear. 1 banana = 2 pieces.

I'm 5 foot 2 and need 1200 calories to lose and 1650 to maintain. Any more than 1650 and I put weight on.

At 5'2" your required calorie intake will be lower than the 2k cals often recommended for women. Significantly so if you actually want to lose weight. I'm just under 5'3" & have to eat around 1000-1200 daily if I want to lise. Even then, it's slow & only really goes any faster if I work out hard (which I normally can't as I'm disabled).

Nearly half a baguette of garlic bread is a lot. If I have new potatoes with anything, I usually have 2 or 3 about 1 inch diameter. I don't ever double carb. If I'm having any kind of dessert that isn't just fruit, I don't tend to have carbs with my main meal - one or the other.
How much porridge oats do you use - I have 40g & try to have berries rathan honey sometimes. If you mix frozen raspberries into the porridge when it's nearly cooked, it goes a lovely pink, very pretty!
I rarely have bread, & only eat wholemeal proper bakery stuff (rarely as it's pricey) or make my own - white bread in particular is just not good for feeling full for more than about an hour. I try to look at any carby elements in my meals & consider if it's actually necessary for the taste, balance of the meal - if not, I replace with veg, salad etc.
Soup is good - definitely try making soup if you can, with vegetables, lean meat, minimal fat for frying anything. The high water content is more filling. Use no creamy ingredients, it's achievable by blending up certain veg. This recipe is good if you like mushrooms. Sage & butternut squash is also good & creamy, filling.

I couldn't lose weight while BFing, either, though. I was just too erratically hungry, mostly for carby rubbish.

It doesn’t sound like a healthy diet at all :s
Too much bread, rice, chips, naan, white processed carbs. No where near enough protein.
Try much lower processed carb and higher protein. Half veg on a plate.
What you’ve listed is not a diet, that’s excessive food and what you’d expect a ‘before’ diet list consisted of.

I stick to 1400 cals a day and 12k steps to lose 2lb a week. I'm 5'3".
I put on weight if I eat 1800 cals.

My metabolism completely changed after having my twins. Symptoms of thyroid issues and hormone imbalance all over the place.

I’m 5’2”, eat very little and never stop moving and it has taken me a year to lose a stone and the rest that I need to lose (another stone) will not shift. At all.

I waited to start intermittent fasting until my son was 1 as I worried about supply. I needn't have, it didn't effect it at all. I'm still breastfeeding at 21 months.

Intermittent fasting is the only thing that works for me. I easily lost the 3st of baby weight and am maintaining now.

fist of grated cheddar but do you actually weigh it? Cheese is calorific. A tiny 20g portion is 85 cals
3 slices of garlic bread (i.e. just less than half a baguette) baguette is hugely calorific then add in the garlic butter....
2x wholemeal toast with 2x pat's of butter
banana -is your bread around 96 cals a slice? With 2 butter pats & a banana your breakfast could be near 400 cals.
2x wholemeal bread slices
Tin of veg soups- Heinz mulligatawny soup 234 cals, add the two bread (without butter) then your lunch is over 400 cals
Fish cake with chips (quarter of plate) you need to weigh you chips 100g (which is a tiny amount) of my oven chips =165 cals.

I would say you over estimated the amount of calories you need in a day to lose weight but you could well be eating over that amount if you aren’t accurately weighing everything.