To wonder WTF is going on with my weight pp?

[IronicalCallSign]

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.

If you're only feeding twice a day I wouldn't worry about milk supply too much.

Fwiw I intermittently fasted for all 3 dcs from about 6 weeks , all exclusively breastfed. It didn't have any effect on my supply. Check out the 5:2 boards for more advice.

Look up Team RH on facebook, they work out properly what your body needs both in terms of calories but also protein, carbs, fat and fibre and loads of sound advice and all very cheap

1800 cal seems a lot for your height .

also, you are having a lot of carbs. bread (some days 4 slices). Your dinners are full of chips and other processed unhealthy things. canned soup is full of calories and crap.

I think you would lose weight if you eat less and if the less food would be more healthy/less processed and more nutritious.

I am not surprised you are overweight on that diet.

Hmm. For now I'd sub out chips and bread for something healthier. But like PP I couldn't lose a thing except my mind while BFing. Started 5:2 after DD stopped feeding and lost 14kg over 8 months. Now slimmer than I'd been for years. So I'd personally leave the "proper" weight loss for now, just concentrate on healthy eating and maybe a bit of exercise if feasible.

canned soup is full of calories and crap.

Not necessarily - I sometimes have canned veg or noodle soups at around 200 cal/tin.

Is it normal to spread your weetabix with butter? I've not tried it but it sounds nice

I'd gain weight eating all that. I'm 5ft4 and my maintenance is 1389.

I need to stay well under 1200 to lose.

First thing I'd do is cut the bread out OP!

Don’t cut out carbs. You need carbs. I lost 3 stone while eating carbs. Just don’t eat loads of them. People who cut out carbs are eating unhealthy

1800 calories for your height is maintenance if you are lucky, surely? I’m five inches taller than you and v active and that would be maintenance for me. I have to cut to less than 1500 to lose weight.

I’m 5ft 1, my TDEE (amount I can eat without gaining / losing) is around 1500. If I walk more it goes up a bit. So if I was eating 1800 calories a day I’d gain weight. Check your TDEE and minus 500 cals a day to lose weight. Not sure what allowances you make for breastfeeding but I think you’re eating too many calories for a calorie controlled diet. I can’t eat more than 1100, but usually it’s closer to 1000 to lose. That’s just me though. Everyone’s different. But you aren’t in a calorie deficit with what you’re eating now or you’d be losing weight

I couldn’t lose a thing while still bfing. It’s not unusual to be like that.

It all came off very easily once I’d stopped.

One thing that I found interesting was the number of times post-baby that I would just have a biscuit or two at baby groups, finish baby's dinner that they didn't eat or grab an extra milky coffee at Costa and think it wasn't doing anything. In truth, I was consuming an extra 200-400 calories per day even using MFP. Everything that goes in your mouth counts as extra calories. And the breastfeeding at 7 months doesn't increase the amount you need AT ALL.
Sorry.

Also, at 5'8", I only need 1400 to maintain so 1800 at your height seems like a lot. If you are consuming 600 extra calories per day, you are gaining a pound every 6 days!

Try to take it really slow. It took 9months to gain the weight, and IME, it took twice as long to burn it off. Also, try doing some weights (no abs if you still have a sore tummy) a few times a week.

I found the Primal Coach on IG really helpful. He shows that "health" food, if eaten in too large quantities has the same effect as "bad" food.

Just to buck the trend, I lost weight while BFing, no problem. It’s when I stopped I put some of it back on! Probably because this coincided with the babies/toddlers starting to be more mobile and wanting to walk everywhere, so I wasn’t getting as much exercise as before.

OP my advice would be to cut yourself some slack, you said it yourself you had a traumatic birth and are sleep deprived. Your baby is still small. Be kind to yourself - you’ll have plenty of time to lose weight once baby is bigger and you feel better.

I’d concentrate on trying to get more mobile (if possible) - brisk walks with the buggy are awesome! I’m a big fan of YouTube workouts too. And eat healthily, but don’t stress too much just now

Also carbs are not as evil as a lot of posters seem to think

Christ don't fast if you're recovering from a csection - even 7 mo on, you need to be careful especially if you're only just getting back to walking properly. you'll be exhausted crabby and hungry.

You've had some good advice (some!) and seem to have taken the sensible stuff on board.

Please remember, Mumsnet eating/diet threads attract people who have unhealthy attitudes to food (both ways) so please don't do anything too drastic, remember you need to maintain energy levels if nothing else.

Oh and a snack of a grapes is way healthier than munching on a chocolate bar, so please don't cut fruit out.

@MissSingerbrains

Yeah fewer calories, sorry. I can lose a pound a week on 1800 but I weigh 17 stone and do 12k steps a day. The less you have to lose the lower the amount of calories you have to stick to.

Another one here who can't seem to shift a single gram whilst still breastfeeding and even whilst marathon training too! It seems so unfair. So much for the myth you're sold about Bf and weight loss! I'm blaming the hormones for now and hoping it will effortlessly fall off once the munchkin stops feeding (we've been trying to gently wean for weeks now but he's having none of it!)

Also, at 5'8", I only need 1400 to maintain so 1800 at your height seems like a lot. If you are consuming 600 extra calories per day, you are gaining a pound every 6 days!

1400 to maintain weight is not normal imo at all. I would be going up the wall with hunger and the weight would be dropping off me at that. According to Garmin I use an average of 2500 a day, and although I am a bit dubious about this I deffo have in excess of 2000. You must have a very low metabolism or have very low activity levels, have you dieted a lot or something?

Also, at 5'8", I only need 1400 to maintain

Metabolism differences through yo yo dieting make a miniscule difference.

Unless the poster is weighing correctly (cooked vs uncooked, milk in tea, butter on bread, oil in pan etc) every single thing its way more likely shes eating more calories than shes maintaining on 1400 cal at 5"8'

I started to do HITT classes and weights in the gym. Nothing much happened the first 3 weeks, it was quite frustrating, but after 4 weeks, the weight suddenly started to drop. 2 months on and I've lost 1/2 a stone.

This is exactly how it is for me too. When I’ve got a bit tubby, o just switch to eating more veg and protein with measured carbs and fats plus hit the gym. I try not to weigh too often because it takes a little while to get going but always works. Also, measuring with a tape measure better shows my weight loss. When I’m near my target weight, often the scales don’t move much but I lose inches.