Do you actually lose weight if you breast feed, or is it a myth?

[fussytodd]

I would love to hear some experiences as I've heard mixed things.

Lots of people say you lose weight.

Others say that you actually need to eat a lot, otherwise you don't produce enough milk - so you don't actually lose weight.

Personally, I couldn't breast feed for very long, as I wasn't producing enough milk. I was also not eating huge amounts of food though. So who knows ! Any experiences appreciated. I may be onto my second one next year and would really like to try again and see if I get more milk this time.

I did. I didn't find I ate more, and my supply was fine, so I lost weight.

I do know of women who have complained of raging appetites but that was not my experience.

I breastfed my first for twenty months and my second for fifteen months, and I had about half a stone to lose that wouldn’t shift until I stopped nursing. For me, I suspect it was hormonal rather than what I was eating.

I didn’t/aren’t.

I’m slowly losing weight. I’m 6 months postpartum and 4lbs under my pre pregnancy weight. I’m still around a stone overweight but comfortably in my regular clothing and in no great rush to lose weight.

I definitely did! And all the while still eating lots of what I wanted. But I wasn't drinking, and combined with 9 months of not drinking when pregnant, I think the wine weight I'd been carrying finally shifted! Also combine it with nervous energy and a lot of walking with the pram/sling. So I guess scientifically i can't really call it!

I didn't, I put on weight, however my friend lost so much she had to take food supplements

Depends. I lost a lot with my eldest, especially when I had to cut dairy and egg when she was about 6 months. Second time around I didn't lose much if any.

@gogohm

I didn't, I put on weight, however my friend lost so much she had to take food supplements

I see. It must be an individual thing then.

Posted too soon...I do know breastfeeding helped things shrink back to normal, I had a lot of very painful cramps whilst feeding which the midwife said were due to my uterus contracting back to its normal size but more quickly than it would have done if I hadn't been feeding? I think, anyway may have been in a sleep deprived blur

I gained weight (while breastfeeding twins). Lost it as soon as I stopped.

I didn't. I held on to 10 pounds no matter what I ate.

When I stopped BFing it melted off like magic.

@ColourMeExhausted

Posted too soon...I do know breastfeeding helped things shrink back to normal, I had a lot of very painful cramps whilst feeding which the midwife said were due to my uterus contracting back to its normal size but more quickly than it would have done if I hadn't been feeding? I think, anyway may have been in a sleep deprived blur

I had this massively when I was actually able to have a good feeding session. I would also always bleed ( sorry ) more during the session while I was cramping.

I haven't but also have been eating more

I was skinny as a rake for the first 18 months or so, but I also had a baby who fed rampantly and exuberantly and round the clock, and I lived off whole family-sized bars of dairy milk, caffeine and nervous energy. Piled on the weight once she started sleeping through. My scientific conclusion is that breastfeeding at night keeps you skinny, and to prove this thesis I shall continue my chocolate intake because that’s definitely not the problem

In the first weeks I ate a lot, drunk a lot of water/herbal tea and still lost weight. When I started going out I walked everywhere as well so I think the weight loss was also due to the exercise. The increased appetite lessend after a couple of weeks.

Your body normally takes from you to produce milk but it does need fuel to get going on the long run. I had a stomach bug when DD was 3 months and was told that for 2-3 days limited food had no impact on my milk supply as long as I manage to keep liquids down.

I've been breastfeeding for 15 months and the weight has absolutely fallen off me

It helped me, but I think it depends on the person

I did. But like PPs mine fed round the clock and I didn’t have a ravenous appetite. So hard to know which it was.

I was bloody starving the whole time and ate like a horse. Didn't lose any weight, but didn't gain any, either.

I lost weight BF with my first but not so much with 2ns. Mostly because she was such a poor sleeper I was a zombie surviving on cake and toast. Carbs seem to help me stay awake during night feeds

Well it burns between 200-500 extra calories a day, so if you ate normally, you'd lose weight. But I (and lots of other woman i know) found i was hungrier when BFing to normal.

I lost so much weight, I felt like I ate loads but probably didn’t and obviously didn’t drink so that lost loads of calories, I did it for a year then ate more to put on weight as was to small then but I only put a stone on in pregnancy.

Did anyone have more luck feeding their second baby?

My HV always said when I'd get upset that I didn't manage to feed as much as I wanted, that with the second one I'll be able to do it.

I did. I dieted though, but found that dieting while breast feeding meant that I could eat 1750 calories a day rather than a 1000 but lose weight as rapidly as if I was eating 1000.

I definitely did. The baby weight (and more) fell off and I was able to eat like a horse while BF.

Amongst my friends it seemed to be a mixed bag though, with some losing weight and some not.